Early Childhood Education

When I think in terms of the whole child, my mind immediately shift focus on the well-being of that child. This can include their health, safety, their support system, how they are engaged and even how they are challenged. A standardized test in my opinion only measures the child’s skill level as it pertains to a subject. I think their ability to cope with any given situation whether good or bad should be assessed. Many families face stressful situations, including parental depression, community violence, and poverty. Adversities like these can be painful for the children in these families. But the hopeful news is that research on children facing such problems has shown that many children show resilience and do surprisingly well. Resilience is the ability to cope with the stress caused by such challenging situations. You can encourage resilience in your child and develop it in yourself. Remember, even those children who are facing the most difficult life situations do not all turn ou...

Poverty creates long-term disadvantages for children. The consequences of poverty—emotional issues, delayed development and lower academic achievement, among others—put a child behind peers who do not struggle with poverty. Poverty affects an increasing number of children every day. As a child and even some of my adulthood I lived in poverty. I can remember countless time my mother struggling to get the bills paid. My mother was a single parent raising four children on her very small salary. It wasn’t until I started living on my own I realized I too was living in poverty. I would attend school in the day and work at night to maintain my household. It was a struggle trying to make ends meet. I was determined to break the barrier of poverty that had held so many of family members hostage. I worked extremely hard and earned my bachelor degree.   I was able to maintain employment that release some of the burden off my family. For this week, I decided to focus on Indonesia....