Sharing Web Resources

Over the last few weeks of exploring the Zero to Three website, I have found a lot of information on the website to be relevant to my current professional development.  Currently, I find the section of public policy to be closely related to this week’s topic.  It has also helped me to gain a better understanding of how and why economist, and the business world have an interest in supporting the early childhood field.  I found two articles on the Zero to Three website that discussed early childhood field and Economist and the Business Community.  One of the articles discussed ways that partnerships can be established with business communities, economists and early childhood professionals so that investments and advocating for infants and toddlers can be successful (Dugger & Rappaport, 2007). The second article shared tips and strategies for encouraging businesses to invest (Pearson, 2009).  The following two links will take you to the articles. 

Partnering with the Business Community & Economists to Advance a Birth to Five Policy Agenda (Zero to Three). http://zttcfn.convio.net/site/DocServer/Partnering_with_the_Business_Community_final.pdf?docID=4361

A Proven Return on Investment: Economist and the Business Community Advance a Birth to Five Policy Agenda (Zero to Three). http://zttcfn.convio.net/site/DocServer/Return_on_Investment.pdf?docID=9421

Reading these article has furthered my understanding on why it is important that business and economist invest in the field of early childhood.  After all if early childhood is not supported then our hopes of a future strong productive economy and business world may be in jeopardy as the young population is our future of tomorrow. Further, it is in our best interest to provide our young generations with the best start possible because it is easier to build it right the first time than to have to spend large amounts of money trying to fix and repair later down the road. 

References

Dugger, R. & Rappaport, D. (2007). Partnering with the Business Community & Economists to Advance a Birth to Five Policy Agenda. Retrieved from http://zttcfn.convio.net/site/DocServer/

Partnering_with_the_Business_Community_final.pdf?docID=4361

Pearson, K. (2009). A Proven Return on Investment: Economist and the Business Community Advance a Birth to Five Policy Agenda. Retrieved from http://zttcfn.convio.net/site/DocServer/

Return_on_Investment.pdf?docID=9421

Zero to Three. (2012). Connecting with the Business Community to Advance Early Education. Retrieved from https://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50400/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_

KEY=1222579

Getting to Know Your International Contacts Part 1

Since I have not heard back from any of the individuals that I have attempted to contact I listened to a podcast from the World Forum Radio.  The individual I listened to speak was Delfena Mitchell, she is the director of Liberty Children’s Home, which is on the outskirts of Belize a City in Central America.  She explained, that when children come to the children’s home they have been abandoned, neglected or physically or sexually abused.  Further, in the podcast she shared information about a nine year old boy that had shut down and not spoken for over a year.  He was living in a bad situation before coming to the home he was physically abused and also saw his sister being abused. He came to the home with his six older brothers and sisters.  Delfena took him for a horseback ride and during the ride he began talking to her.  He shared some event that he had been through.  Such as he had to take his food and hide under his bed in order to eat it, so his siblings or other family members would not take it from him. He also shared how he had been beaten by a stick and how there was a particular uncle that he missed.  As he shared with Delfena during the horseback ride he also began to regress in his talking ability, but most importantly he was talking with her.  Once the horse ride was over he discontinued talking.  After several weeks he would talk a few words her and there.  The children’s home schooled in instead of enrolling him in school and allowed him to hang out in the gardens.  After a few weeks he began talking and they were able to enroll him in school.  When the other children would hear him talking, they would stop to listen as they were amazed that he was talking (World Forum Radio,2014) . 

This story touched my heart dearly and I decided to learn about the poverty in the city of Belize. Unfortunately, poverty is an obstacle to children’s well- being in Belize (Humanium, n.d).  I found it interesting that 1/3 of Belize's population is under 15 years old (Humanium, n.d).  Due to natural disaster such as hurricanes and floods that are increasing in numbers and strength (Unicef, n.d.) and global economic crisis, forty-five percent of the population of Belize live in poverty (Humanium, n.d).  Many children are with out health care because they were not registered at birth (Humanium, n.d).  Belize has the highest rate of HIV in all of Central America (Humanium, n.d ).  Access to water is very poor, the schools discriminate against children with disabilities because their buildings are not equipped to handle them and brooms, belts and other tools are used to discipline as corporal punishment is a routine still (Humanium, n.d.). 

Humanium. (n.d.). Children of Belize. Retrieved from http://www.humanium.org/en/belize/

Unicef. (n.d.). The Children in Belize. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/belize/20582.htm

World Forum Radio. (2014). Episode 3: Delfena Mitchell. Retrieved from http://sarah-

dev.worldforumfoundation.com/world-forum-radio/

Sharing Web Resources

As I mentioned last week, the website I decided to explore was Zero to Three.  You can visit the website by clicking on the following link http://www.zerotothree.org/. Their mission is to make sure all babies and toddlers get a strong start in life. They are a non-profit organization.  This is a beneficial resource for parents, educators, and policy makers as it provides a wealth of information on how to nurture early development.  On their website you will find a variety of information on topics such as behavior, development, Early Care and education, maltreatment and information in the public policy area.  Further, I found a section that had parent handouts in both English and Spanish on a variety of topics pertaining to infants and toddlers that can be printed out.  An article that I found on their website, which I found to relate to the topic of changing demographics and diversity was under the care and education tab.  This article is titled Effective Communication with Parents and can be found at the following link http://www.zerotothree.org/early-care-education/family-friend-neighbor-care/effective-communication-with-parents.html. The article stressed how important it is for educators to partner with parents.  As educators it is important to not make assumptions and to learn why a parent handles situations the way that they do.  Most importantly a key factor for an educator to remember is that there needs to be room for compromising, because there is more than one way to solve a situation. It doesn’t mean that you or the parent are wrong, however, we all come from different backgrounds, therefore, we have different ideas on how to handle situations.  When we take the time to communicate a relationship can be established and we will be able to work as partners in the best interest of the family and child (Zero to Three, 2012).

            Further, I found a section that had parent handouts in both English and Spanish on a variety of topics pertaining to infants and toddlers that can be printed out. They also have a journal that is available through subscription in hardcopy or e-copy and there were pod-casts and other resources available for purchase through links on their website. 

Zero to Three. (2012). Effective Communication with Parents. Retrieved from

            http://www.zerotothree.org/early-care-education/family-friend-neighbor-care/effective-

            communication-with-parents.html

Establishing Professional Contacts

I began by trying to email several contacts that were on the Global Alliance page from NAEYC, however, most of my attempts were non-deliverable and bounced back.  I am still hoping to get a response from the rest of the emails that I have sent that did not bounce back as non-deliverable.  I also have sent out some messages through face book in hopes that I will get a response this way. So far I haven’t heard from anyone.  If not I guess I will have to look into option two as the way of completing my blog assignments for this class.   

Below is the list of contacts that I hope I will get a response from:

·         Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario

·         Home Sweet 2^nd Home Childcare in British, Columbia.  I thought that this would be an interesting contact as she works in family childcare like I do.  

·         International Step by Step Association in Netherlands.

·         Camp Darby – Livorno Child Development Center in Italy. 

·         Early Childhood Australia Non-Profit Organization

 Expanding Resources

The early childhood website that I have chosen to learn more about is Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families.  I have chosen this website because I have used it several times for a resource in the past, but, I have not had the opportunity to see what all it has to offer me.  I also chose this website as it is closely related to the age of children that I currently have enrolled in my family childcare program.