Relationship Reflection

Never explain yourself. Your friends don't need it and your enemies won't believe it -Anonymous


Relationships and friendships are very beautiful pieces in life, as we all need someone to share our happiness, sadness and joy with. That alone is why relationships and partnerships are so important. Some relationships are short lived but there are some that are long lasting and can leave an impact on your life. I will share a few of those people who I have a positive relationship with which has influenced my life.

Without God, I am nothing. He is truly the head of my life and a true friend indeed. In life, sadness and pain is guaranteed but a word with him is comforting and eases the many tribulations in life. My personal relationship has grown stronger over the years with him. When all else fails and there is no one there to talk to, I know that I can lean on him for understanding and comfort. We continue to maintain our relationship as I respectfully follow his path and he showers down his many blessings on me; signaling that I am doing a good deed.

This is my cousin and most of all, my best friend. We have been the best of friends since we were babies, literally! She has always taught me to pray more and worry less when things get a little rough. We enjoyed our childhood, highs chool, and now our adulthood years together. I couldn't imagine not having a friend like her on my side. We love to have fun and laugh all the time when we're together. Today, we continue to talk about our problems or issues that we may be facing in life, to show that we are still there for one another. I thank God for placing such an amazing young woman in my life.

My college experience was very stressful, but there are two individuals who were there to consol me. Financially, I was broken, but they took me under their wing and helped me with anything I needed. The many laughs and gatherings we had were very helpful during that stressful time. They encouraged me to hang in there and to finish up my education for better opportunities. Even now, we are still able to have a good time when we are together, inspiring each other to accomplish our many goals. A true friendship indeed; one that I will always cherish and be thankful for.

Who says I can't have a relationship with what I love doing? Dance is therapy for me and allows me to step out of my element for a while and be free from the world. It is so powerful, and has been apart of my life since I was a little girl. I love everything about it; the soreness it brings to my body and the sweat that touches my body which burns the unwanted fat and calories :) Our relationship continues to grow as I use it as a tool to stay in shape and to live a healthy lifestyle. I am in love with dance, and dance is in love with me. We have history!

This young man here is my father. We did not have the best of a relationship; in fact, we didn't have a relationship at all. I often times would shed tears when I was a little girl, wondering why my dad was not present in my life as much as he should. I was very active in middle school and high school in extra curriculum activities and I always wanted him to attend events to see my many talents. I am happy to say that my dad is now my father (there is a difference), and I can call him a friend. I am very comfortable when I talk with him and feel very relaxed and accomplished when we communicate together. We are working on building our relationship as we continue to communicate through our many text messages and family functions. This is something I've been wanting and waiting for all my life and I am happy that we can overlook the past and focus on the future.

This handsome guy here is the love of my life. I've never been so comfortable around a person until I met this individual. I can be open and free with him and he loves everything about it. Even when I'm a bit moody and grumpy, he is there to hold me and assure me that everything will be okay. He makes life worth living and I appreciate him for being so supportive of me in everything I desire. He is a loving father, firefighter, and most of all, a friend. If we have a problem in our relationship, we talk it out and build a deeper understanding of each other. He has made a huge impact in my life, allowing me to love again and to be comfortable in my own skin. I continue to Love everything about him.

Communication is the key to any relationship. Without it, I have learned that this can hinder a relationship and can make it very challenging to maintain. The relationships I have shared are true partnerships as I am able to communicate with each of them, come to for comfort and provide comfort to, and are very supportive people in my life. With this experience, I can use this as a tool in my career and will leave an impact on my work as a professional. In the education field, it is important to build relationships with families and I am comfortable with taking on the challenge in building a foundation with them. A strong relationship with families is a good way to make the child feel comfortable in his or her school work, creating success and a prosperous future. This will not only have an impact on families and children, but myself as well.

To my colleagues and supporters...

Is it that time again?


I do not know where to begin to thank each of you for your love and support. Your many encouraging words and feedbacks on my blog and discussion questions has never went unnoticed. As I continue through this path, I find myself becoming more passionate about the well being of our children and the nourishments of their bodies. I hope the best for everyone in this world who are focusing on making a difference in a child's life like myself. Continue to feel free to visit my blog at any time as your comments and feedbacks are well appreciated. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU!

"Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate."-Anonymous


And the journey continues......

Assessing School Aged Children

Are standardized testing enough to measure a child's intelligence?

That's a debatable question amongst professionals who are looking for many different ways to assess the whole child. Me personally, I do not think standardized testing is enough to determine just how intelligent a child is and what they have to offer academically. Firstly, pressuring a child to take a test that they have no interest is a failure that is ready to happen. They barely have the opportunity to ask any adults for help during the time of testing and is told to "do the best you can". For that reason and from my experience with testing, children will began marking any answers just to finish with that portion of the test. Naturally, children are not comfortable with sitting for a long period of time focusing on something that they feel has no value to them.

I think as professionals, if we are going to assess the whole of a child then we should do just that. For instance, I think measuring a child's health is a well-needed assessment. I say this because it is vital for a child to have a healthy lifestyle to fully function to their capacity. A healthy body makes for a healthy brain and if a child is ill or unhealthy, how are they able to perform as a whole? Also, homework assessments and discussions involving the entire class can be beneficial. With homework assessments, the children are allowed to take home certain materials to get help from their caregivers. This is the time a teacher will be able to notify what type of support does that child have at home. Discussion activities amongst children are helpful because they tend to perform better with their peers and do not feel pressured. The teacher will then see their intelligence flourish as they interact and engage in the many activities. Children aged 11 spend almost three weeks practicing and testing in their final year of primary school in England — while teachers waste five weeks preparing exams. It has been said that the long testing process has damaged the children pupils in this area and are currently looking for other ways to assess their children. The government however has rejected the findings and feel that a change is not needed.

As of now, I strongly believe that there should be different approaches when measuring the child as a whole. Not just mentally, but physically as well preparing a well-nourished body for better achievements.
Take a peep down low of the children enjoying eating healthy and staying active:

Let's Show Love

                        

It is so unfortunate that a lot of our children today become isolated from the world because they feel unwanted. I can recall meeting a wonderful young girl by the name of Kaylah, who I assisted when I was an assistant teacher for a summer program. She was very shy and distance from everyone, as she would play alone most days during recess. When she came into the class, she always laid her head on her desk and it was very hard for the teacher to keep her active on her assignments. The teacher communicated to me that Kaylah's mother had a hectic work schedule and rarely had time for her. Her father was not in her life and she was the only child at that time. One day during recess, I ask her, "Kaylah, are you not going to play with the other kids? It looks like they are having fun". She replied, "no one wants to play with me, they are mean to me". I thought, why would the other children treat her so bad? Of course I went to the playground where the other kids were and asked them why were they being so negative towards Kaylah. Their response was, "she's a cry baby". I told them that their behavior was inappropriate and that we all cry sometimes from sadness and pain. I told them that if they would play with her and make her feel included, then maybe she wouldn't cry often. I then told Kaylah that it was okay to cry sometimes but you have to be the big girl that you are to just hold your head up and smile. I complimented her in every way I could to make her feel appreciated and wanted. For the rest of that day, she came to me and talked with me and was very happy that someone was willing to listen to her. She eventually became more comfortable and started communicating with the other children. It wasn't much communication, however, it was a good start for her.

In Canada, one out of every five kids shows signs of an emotional or behavioral problem. There, they feel as though stress is needed for children at a young age so that they can know how to deal with it in the future. However, if the stress becomes a bit too much for the child, then the parent needs to be more attentive and to seek help. They have developed a new program called the Stress Lesson program that introduces stress management strategies for parents and teachers to use for kids in grades 4 through 6. The program offers health information, activities, conversation starters and breathing techniques that can help them during the time of their stress. They also offer strategies as well for younger children.

Indeed, isolation and stress is a very crucial matter as we now see today that a lot of our youth have resulted in taking their own lives because they did not know how to deal with certain issues. Hopefully, we as people can do a better job in making our children feel wanted and to teach them that it is very important for them to respect and to make their peers feel wanted as well.

    

Public Health

 

There are numerous of public health issues that can affect a child's development. One issue that is meaningful and personal to me is SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). On February 17, 2005, my nephew Ashaud Oliver was born and seemed to be a healthy baby boy with a promised future ahead. I do not recall his mother having any severe complications during birth or after birth. I would babysit him some nights and hold him, wondering what and who he will be when he grew up. I told him "baby Shaud, you will be an excellent football player and will have opportunities waiting for you." I wanted him to hear that because I know that babies can feel vibes and hear everything that is going on around them. I would lay him across my chest and rock him to sleep as he would leave a little surprise on my clothes (urine). It was always funny to me when he did that because I never felt it on my clothes until I got up the next morning to fix his bottles.  On April 22, 2005, on a normal day and no complications, Ashaud Oliver passed away in his bed and left the world way too soon. Doctor's said it was said to be SIDS, in which I had never heard of this before as I was a senior in high school at the time. I thought how could this happen to him? What went wrong? Many questions played through my mind as I just couldn't understand why my precious nephew was taken away from us so sudden. I often wonder how he would be and what he would look like if he was still with us. Although he was only with us for two months, he indeed left a huge impact on my family. We miss you dearly Ashaud and your mother posted this wonderful picture of you with a nice poem. Rest in Love my baby.

SIDS deaths occur unexpectedly and quickly to apparently healthy infants, usually during periods of sleep. It is not caused by suffocation, choking, smothering, child abuse or neglect. It is something that cannot be prevented even if the parents are doing everything right to raise their healthy baby. Meanwhile, in Mid-Atlantic, researchers feel that there are ways to avoid SIDS from infants. One way to avoid it is to omit the baby from sleeping from his/her tummy. According to their studies, sleeping on the tummy can cause trapped carbon dioxide around the baby's face. They also feel that the parents should not use a pacifier during sleep time because it causes the baby to get into a deep sleep and they are less likely to respond to complications through the night. In the future, I will keep this research in mind as it may be helpful to share with soon to be mothers, although other studies have showed that SIDS cannot be prevented. Hopefully, in the near future, researchers will find ways to prevent SIDS and find out what causes this to happen to our innocent babies.

Around the World-Africa

              Could you imagine having to give birth without any medical attention and if any complications arise, you will have to literally walk while in labor to the nearest help? This is common for Africa women, as they have no choice but to give birth at home without any medical assistance. In 2010, more than 170,000 Africa women died in pregnancy and childbirth due to lack of access to basic medical care. They are most likely to die from high blood pressure, breech births, and hemorrhaging. In fact, almost 4 million children under the age 5, die every year in Africa due to malaria, acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, and AIDS related diseases. Although some women in the United States prefer to have home births, most are surrounded with some assistants and if anything becomes critical, they have access to help. Unfortunately, African women are very limited to access and treatment, which can result in death for them and the child.
            Although my mother was experiencing pain after birth, I am happy that if she needed assistants, it was in her reach. For these women it is almost impossible.

Child Birth in my Life

          I have never witnessed anyone give birth and I could not imagine in a million years giving birth! Watching the women on television giving birth and to see the pain it caused my mother is the reason why I can't imagine this, as it seems like the women are always having a hard time with complications. I can recall when I was eight years old when my mother was pregnant with my little sister. During her pregnancy, everything was fine until after she gave birth. When my mother came home with my baby sister, she was very weak and sore and had a hard time standing up on her feet. Whenever she would lay in the bed, she didn't allow anyone to touch the bed because I am assuming that the movement of the bed was a bit much for her. Watching her experience the pain is partially the reason why I am not ready to have a baby of my own.
             I chose this example to share with everyone because this is the only memory I have of someone giving birth. I am not sure if I am ready to witness anyone give birth yet because I am afraid to watch anyone going through such pain. I have been told that some women have had  a smooth pregnancy and did not experience complications while giving birth. I'll take their word for it :)
            My thoughts regarding giving birth is that I would recommend all women to try their best to have a healthy experience. Smoking, drinking, being involved with violence, etc should be prohibited from your birth experience as these things can harm a child's development. Take care of yourself, eat healthy, and exercise from time to time and continue to do these things after birth.