My Connections to Play

Here are three quotes that I feel summarize what play represented for me in childhood:

Play fosters belonging and encourages cooperation.

Stuart Brown, M.D.

Play, while it cannot change the external realities of children’s lives, can be a vehicle for children to explore and enjoy their differences and similarities and to create, even for a brief time, a more just world where everyone is an equal and valued participant.

Patricia G. Ramsey, Contemporary American educational psychologist

It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.

Leo F. Buscaglia Education Specialist

The lilac bush brings back so many memories of my childhood. My siblings and I would play in the huge lilac bush behind our house for hours. We would play house, school, cops and robbers, and it also is where I would go and hide to just get away. It was a magical world that we brought to life with our imagination. It was even great in the winter with the snow, and then it became a winter wonderland to explore.

Crayons! My mother to this today still reminds me how picky I was and still am about what crayons I had. They had to be Crayola crayons. I could color for hours on end. I would just get lost while coloring. It was a way for me to relax and just think. I loved watching the colors fill the pages. I would color in coloring books and also draw pictures on my own. To this day I still love to color; it brings back a lot of great memories.

The swing set too brings back memories. It was not only a place for my sister, my brother and I to swing, and slide on, but it was a safe spot while playing tag. It was a hide out when playing cops and robbers with the neighbor children. It was the local hang out in the summer just to talk and be with everyone. 

My parents were very supportive of play when I was younger. They would sometimes participate in the play. I was very lucky because I was always surrounded with adults who would support imaginative play. My mother encouraged my love of art and coloring. My father was a wonderful story teller; my siblings and I would use some of his stories in our play outside. I was very lucky growing up because I grew up in a small neighborhood where it was safe to run around and all the adults would watch out for all the children.

I feel that play has changed since my childhood. I remember playing outside and running around the neighborhood without a care in the world. My parents would always know where we were because all the adults would keep an eye on us and let them know where we were. Nowadays I watch my children when they are outside. They barely live my sight. It makes me sad that they don’t get to experience the freedom that I had growing up. I think the main difference is where we live. I grew up in a small neighborhood where everyone knew everyone. Today we live in a city and we don’t even know the neighbors who live right beside us. My children have that same wild imagination that I had as a child but they play more in the house then outside. They get to go outside and play when they are visiting their grandparents but at times I feel they are missing out on their childhood because they can’t go outside at home and play as much as I wish they could.

I feel that play keeps me young. I would hate not being able to play. Play is a very important part of life. It lets us learn and explore new things. I love to interact and play with my own children and watch them learn while they play. As we grow older, our play does change a little but the underlying concept is always there. Play is fun, and for me learning needs to be fun. I feel that as educators we need to make sure our students are learning but also having fun while learning. They will take in so much more if they are enjoying what they are learning about.

One last thought, I know that I have already included this in my discussion but I feel that this poem really summarizes the importance of play.

Just Playing
By: Original Author Unknown

When I'm building in the block room,
Please don't say I'm "Just playing."
For, you see, I'm learning as I play,
About balance, I may be an architect someday.

When I'm getting all dressed up,
Setting the table, caring for the babies,
Don't get the idea I'm "Just Playing."
I may be a mother or a father someday.

When you see me up to my elbows in paint,
Or standing at an easel, or molding and shaping clay,
Please don't let me hear you say, "He is Just Playing."
For, you see, I'm learning as I play.
I just might be a teacher someday.

When you see me engrossed in a puzzle or some "playing" at my school,
Please don't feel the time is wasted in "play."
For you see, I'm learning as I play.
I'm learning to solve problems and concentrate.
I may be in business someday.

When you see me cooking or tasting foods,
Please don't think that because I enjoy it, it is "Just Play."
I'm learning to follow directions and see the differences.
I may be a cook someday.

When you see me learning to skip, hop, run, and move my body,
Please don't say I'm "Just Playing."
For, you see, I'm learning as I play.
I'm learning how my body works.
I may be a doctor, nurse, or athlete someday.

When you ask me what I've done at school today,
And I say, "I just played."
Please don't misunderstand me.
For, you see, I'm learning as I play.
I'm learning to enjoy and be successful in my work.
I'm preparing for tomorrow.
Today, I am a child and my work is play.

References:

Preschool Education (1997-2010) Just Playing, Original Author Unknown. Retrieved from: http://www.preschooleducation.com/tpoem.shtml

PBWorks (2010) The Playful Learning Wiki: Play Quotes. Retrieved from:    http://playfullearning.pbworks.com/w/page/17219566/Play-Quotes

The Importance of Immunizations

The public health topic I choose to talk about is immunizations. This is a very important topic where I work. At Early Head Start, we work with families and educate them on why immunizations are important. We have had some families chose not to get the immunizations for their child. Being a Federal program we have to document that all children in the program are up-to-date with their immunizations, and if the family chooses not to get the immunizations we have to have them fill out a paper stating that.

Here in my hometown there was an outbreak of Pertussis (whooping cough) a couple of months ago. Everyone was concerned about getting their child to the doctor and getting a vaccination. My children are all up-to-date on their immunizations but I was still worried because I know that there were children that were in contact with my children that were not up-to-date. This is something that not only affects the child that doesn’t receive immunizations but it also affects the children they come in contact with.

The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) has been working in Thailand (World Health Organization [WHO], 2010). They have been planning and working systematically on the building of the disease immunity since 1977 in order to lower the illness and deaths due to the diseases that could be prevented by vaccination (WHO, 2010). With the passage of time, the work on expanding immunity cover has been increasing the varieties of vaccines and the target groups, and from time to time adjusting the schedule of vaccinations, according to the changing epidemiological conditions (WHO, 2010).

 “Researchers from the Faculty of Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University in Thailand and from Oxford University in the United Kingdom, together with the Communicable Disease Control Department (CDC) of the Thai Ministry of Public Health, will receive $4.7 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support a promising new initiative to control malaria in Thailand” (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [BMGF], 1999-2011). “The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant will help the Thai CDC and the research team to extend this new control strategy throughout Tak province in Northwestern Thailand” (BMGF, 1999-2011). “The most malaria-affected province in the country, Tak also harbors the greatest number of drug-resistant falciparum malaria parasites in the world” (BMGF, 1999-2011). "Malaria is a critical health issue in Thailand, and if this initiative proves successful in controlling falciparum malaria in Tak province, it will then become a model for malaria control throughout the region” (BMGF, 1999-2011).

There are some accomplishments from the past efforts (WHO, 2010). The last survey of the primary vaccine coverage in 2003 found 95 percent coverage of children less than one year of age, who had received BCG and 3 doses of DPT, Polio and hepatitis B (WHO, 2010). The coverage of pregnant women with TT was 90 percent (WHO, 2010).

I thought it was great that they were working on getting all the children immunized in Thailand. I know in the United States immunizations is a hot topic of discussions. Some people think that immunizations have side effects or cause medical issues. I think the research that I have been doing about Thailand will help me find different ways to work with families here in the United States.

I have included a link to the United States' Immunization schedule and also Thailand's Immunizations schedule to compare.

United States      Thailand

 References:

World Health Organization [WHO]. (2010) Thailand: National Health System Profile. Retrieved from http://searo.who.int/LinkFiles/Thailand_Thailand_final_031005_WT.pdf

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [BMGF]. (1999-2011) Thai-British University Collaboration to Receive $4.7 Million to Expand Promising Malaria Treatment in Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.gatesfoundation.org/press-releases/Pages/malaria-control-in-thailand-001121.aspx

Hello Everyone!

Hello to the familiar "faces" and to the new "faces'

 

Thought I would introduce myself again.

My name is Alison Carson. I am a proud mother of three children ages 6 years old, 3 years old, and 2 years old. I also have been married for 6 1/2 years. The past 6 1/2 years have been full of adventures and it's never been a dull moment in the Carson household.

In October of 2007 I started working for Community Services of Venango County in their Early Head Start Program as a Home Visitor. As a Home Visitor, I had a caseload of nine to twelve families. My goal was to teach the parents/caregivers that they were their child’s first and best teacher. In April of 2010, our agency expanded into another county and I became the Program Supervisor/Education Coordinator for the new county. I supervise six home visitors who serve seventy-two slots. Slots are either pregnant women or children birth to three years. As a Home Visitor and as a Program Supervisor/Education Coordinator we need to be careful about how we treat our families. We have to learn about their cultures and their beliefs so we can better serve them.