The Political will to improve Early Childhood Systems

First Lady Michelle Obama has used her position and stature publicizing to the public about the impact of raising a healthier generation of kids, through eating healthier, getting active, taking action, and joining in. 

To me it’s about taking your personal strengths and teaming up to make a difference, everyone has something that they can add to this society in making it a better place to live, especially for our young people. The pillars of the First Lady’s initiative consists of 

1. Creating a healthy start for children

2. Empowering parents and caregivers

3. Providing healthy food in schools

4. Improving access to healthy, affordable foods

5. Increasing physical activity 

In doing these things and creating bench marks to check status for sucessfulness it means it’s a step in the right direction of families making smarter food choice decisions and giving children long and lasting life style habits to show their children. What drives anyone to do something and be sucessful at it is passion. In the words of Harriet Tubman, “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world”. 

Parent family and community engagement

I watched the interview with Melinda George as she discussed the role of parents as teachers in the home and reaching goals.

      The professional and personal significance you drew from this story.

In listening to Melinda speak it sent chills up my spine in hearing how dedicated, ambitious and inspired she was to one believe in her self, second take flight to an opportunity presented to her by challenging herself to obtain numerous degrees. She is a shinning example of allowing a system to work in your favor, in that Mrs. George reaped the benefits of staying faithful and allowing all things to work together for good.
     Professionally, hearing Melinda's story has aided me by being reminiscent of the families that we serve and how they come from various situations and backgrounds and in some cases have gone through troubling times. Having a circle of support can make all the difference sometimes in giving a person the respect and honor individually. In addition to being encouraged by family, friends, and the community, through maintaining positive relationships.

Why involvement opportunities for parents and family members benefit young children, families,and the early childhood field.

Connecting home and school can be a challenging effort however not an impossible one. Keeping parents involved in the learning that happens at school will help aid in parents being more involved at home. Allowing for opportunities of getting the parents voices heard through parent meetings, and increasing volunteer hours to stay informed in the day to day operation of the child's center by doing so will allow parents to connect with other parents.

Creating action plans for parents by goal setting is beneficial in many ways it open up areas of opportunity for advancement with jobs, and education thus encouraging the child to go further in life and not give up when life's trials or tribulations become to tough.

Quality Programs for all Children

It was very insightful to see the various forms of systems. I particularly learned more about Kindergarten and its origin. In the multimedia presentation I was able to learn about public opinion regarding the value of quality early care and education programs for all children and how these opinions have evolved over the last 100 or more years. It has streamed from a focus on the children, their individual learning styles, emotional needs, and their individual families, interests and strengths to a focus on testing, assessing, and scoring young children, thereby ramping up the academic demands and pressures on them. 

In today's society the standards have changed, I can recall children doing half day programs and being able to take naps because the day was too long for a child to have to stay alert and maintain positive behavior throughout the entire day. There is a national push, related to the push for increased academics in Early Childhood classrooms, to cut play out of the kindergarten classroom.  Many kindergartens across the country no longer have sand tables, block areas, drama areas and arts and crafts centers.  This is a deeply ill-informed movement, as all early childhood experts continuously report that 4, 5 and 6 year olds learn largely through play.  Play is essential to healthy development and deep foundational learning at the kindergarten level. 

Programs are sprouting up more and more than ever before based off a inclination to service children and their families. Early Head Starts, home childcares, schools for the gifted etc. Accessibility to such programs are making it easier for parents to sign up and allow their children to be included. Transportation is being provided, breakfast, lunch and snack, some cover the use of diapers, wipes, and offer programs to educate parents. Acknowledging parents face many challenges one being in the "working poor" where they earn well above the official poverty line and still barely stay afloat and maintain a quality relationship with their children. 

 I wish that over the next five years parents take a greater stance in their children's education and begin the process in the home first and not simply wait until the child is of age to attend school and believe they will learn everything there is to know from school, yet their exposure will greatly be balanced from home and school. 

I believe there are many benefits to a shift taking place in the family dynamic.  Family cohesiveness will gear and set the tone of making these units closely bonded while reducing issues and the need of programs such as "scared straight", boot camps, jails, etc and an increase in mentoring programs, camps, and the ability to expose the youth to positive more rewarding experiences. 

Children's first teachers come from the home and what they are exposed too that can set the stage to all other possibilities. I recently read an article where a child shot and killed himself because the lack of education and awareness of a gun being inside of a vehicle and the child gained access to it. As adults we have a say in who our elected officials are and we have to rally together to do a better job at voting and making our voices heard which being involved and active in our children's lives will be impactful.