Chantrell: "My Connections to Play"

Chantrell: "My Connections to Play"

"My Connections to Play"

"Children need the freedom and time to play.  Play is not a luxury.  Play is a necessity." Kay Redfield Jamison

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." Plato

When I was a little girl, my family supported play by purchasing the types of items I loved to play with.  I grew up in a close family with plenty of children.  My family would take all of the children to different places that allowed us to be creative and play in our surroundings.  My aunts would make authentic doll houses for me to be creative with.  My mother would introduce me to different types of items to use my imagination with.  I feel that my entire family always encouraged all of the children in my family to play and most importantly, to be creative.  Whenever I wanted to try something new, my family would encourage me to try it.  They never stopped me from playing!  My family would assist me with building things while letting me be creative.

I feel that play today has lost the since of creativity and imagination.  When I was younger, I would play with my peers or alone for hours at a time.  Now, it seems that children expect to be guided in play.  I can recall having one video game system that I hardly played with because it just seemed too boring for me.   The children today have several video game systems that don't stimulate the growing child.  I notice children who have the same items that I would play with but the difference would be that they did not understand what to do with it.  I feel that if the educators and parents don't allow children the chance to explore then our future inventors will be lost.

The role of play in my childhood gave me the confidence to know that I can dream big and do anything.  It gave me the courage to know that nothing is impossible!  Without play in my childhood, I might not be where I am today.  I was given the opportunity to explore creativity and imagination on my own terms.  I feel that play must be reevaluated by adults in order for our children to truly play.

Public Health Topic: Immunization

 

 

This topic is meaningful to me because I always kept all of my children appointments especially the ones that included vaccinations. Now that I am in the child care field, I am learning
that their are so many children that have not been immunized. I recently have a
family member who wanted to enroll her two children into my daycare. It was then
that I learned her children had not been immunized since she brought them home
from the hospital which was 2-3 years ago. I found this information to be
esstonishing to me because her children aren't protected. I also know that their
are many people who do not believe in immunizing their children due to religious
reasons or personaly beliefs.

Immunizations for children in the U.S. are
doubled the amount for children in the Western countries (Generation rescue,
2009). A study was performed to see if the higher vaccination requirements lead
to autism and under 5 mortality rate. At the end of the study, the idea that
vaccinations cause autism was dismissed due to the implications that a lesser
vaccination requirement would increase infant mortality and other diseases
(Generation rescue, 2009). Iceland and Sweden have a vaccination requirement of
11 manadatory shots. Iceland infant mortality rate is 3.9 and Sweden is 4.0 per
1,000 children. Although these rates are low compared to the United States
additional studies are needed to actually reduce the amount of required
immunizations in the U.S.

This information could change the amount of
immunizations that are required for children in the U.S. to begin daycare.
Considering their isn't enough evidence to support this theory, I still feel
that parents should be knowledgable about the importance of vaccinating.


Generation rescue inc., (2009) Retrieved on November 11, 2010 from www.rescuepost.com/file/gr-autism_and_vaccines_world_special

Hello Class,

Hello everyone,

I am looking forward to working with everyone in group 2 of this course.  I am a current daycare owner/provider in Baltimore, Maryland.  I also have three children of my own.  I have recently decided to enter into the childcare field (2 years now).  I had been in the healthcare field for about 10 years.  I decided to enter early childhood because I have always been surrounded by children with my mother owning her daycare for 12 years now.  This has truly been one of the best life decisions I have made thus far.  I enjoy my "work" and love caring for children.  I feel that I have found my purpose in life which is to make a difference in the lives of others.