Thanks and Support

To my esteem colleagues:

It was a pleasure to have worked with each one of you. I truly thank you for giving me insight and deeping my knowledge in the field that I am passionate about. I would like to take this time to say thank you and I enjoyed working with you. I wish you the best in your future endeavours.

Blog 4

As a result of interviewing families in my chosen setting, I learned that the center sends letters home informing parents that their child needs an updated physical and dental examination. I spoke with one mother who was grateful for this service. She stated that "when she sees the envelope in her son's cubbie, she immediately schedules an appointment for him". However, another parent replied that when she reads the letters, she knows her children wont be able to attend class until the form is updated. The parents mentioned the types of meeting/workshop that the school provides once a month, which includes health and safety, nutrition, child abuse and literacy. After these trainings/meetings the program provides a nutritious meal for the family. A parent shared with me that during one of the nutrition workshops, she had her first experience tasting celery sticks.

Speaking With Director

I spoke with the director of the center. I learned that she is responsible for managing the daily operations of pre-school and school-age programs to ensure compliance of the program according to city, state, and federal guidelines and regulations.

I gained insight into how the program integrates health, nutrition and mental health into children's activities. The health, nutrition and mental health services are incorporated on a daily basis through activities, such as hand washing, teeth brushing, preparing food and talking about feelings. Teachers model good health practices and integrate then into the curriculum by talking about physical exams, dental exams and vision screenings before they occur to reduce fear.

Blog 3

I spoke with the director of the program as well as the family social worker. The director informed me that she is responsible for the operation of a comprehensive childcare program for children (2-12 years old) and related programs for their programs. She also coordinates parent-child activities, workshops and provides training to staff and and parents on parenting and child development. I asked the director about the difficulty of her job. She replied that managing the daily operations of pre-school and school-age programs to ensure compliance of programs according to city, state and federal guidelines and regulations is a tedious job. She went on to mention that she didn't mind having a difficult job because she's passionate about making a difference in the lives of children and families.

After speaking with the family social worker, she informed me that nutrition and assessments both fall under the category of health and I could use these components to focus on for my paper. This information gave me more insight into the area of health, which is the topic I chose for my paper.

Week 3 Blog: Interacting With Professionals/Colleagues in Your Setting

The name of Program/Setting I was interviewing at was an ECE facility. I spoke with the family Social Worker of the ECE facility. I learned about vaccine schedules and the importance of immunizations. I learned that without a vaccine, a person must actually be infected with a disease in order to become immune to the germ that causes that disease. I also learned that there are certain ages of which a vaccine works the best. For instance, if a child is given a measles shot before the age of one, the vaccine may not be as effective. I learned why it is so important that children have updated immunization records also. In this day and time, many diseases such as the measles and polio are at their lowest levels in history. If children don’t have updated immunization records, schools wouldn’t be aware of children who haven’t been vaccinated and those children pose a risk to exposing other children to diseases, which the un-vaccinated children are more likely to catching.

Two insights that I will share in my blog this week are health requirements and information that must appear on physical forms. The social worker of the ECE setting that I chose to complete my fieldwork hours gave me insight into the health requirements for a child to be found eligible for enrollment. Each child must have an up to date immunization record. Each child should also have a physical, which is as recent as six months. The physical form must indicate the child’s height, weight, blood pressure, hemoglobin/hemostat and a TB test.

Interviews: Health

The insights I gained from my interviews were very helpful and clear. I interviewed two ECE Teachers. We discussed many health issues and what should be done to enforce fitness in classrooms. We talked about nutritional foods and the importance of them in a child’s diet. We also talked about the importance of exercise being a part of the daily routine in classrooms. I think our most insightful conversation was when we discussed the importance of parents being aware of health issues in young children.

            My interviews influenced the decision of which area of interest I’ve chosen to write my research paper because my first intent was to write about poverty. I chose health instead because whilst my interviewees were talking, I found some of the health issues that were bought up important. Many people discuss how poverty affects young children, but the importance of health in young children is rarely discussed. I want to write about health because it is essential for young children and I don’t want the issue to be continually disregarded. Many of my colleagues prefer to discuss the stress poverty has on young children.

1.      Why are nutritional foods so important in a child’s diet?

2.      Should exercising become a routine performed in the classroom?

3.      How can making parents aware of health issues help enforce fitness in the classroom?