In 1991, my mother gave birth to a new baby girl my new little sister. It was the moment that my love of children started, I would do everything for her. She had become mine, as she got older I realized she was not a baby anymore and I had to put more into doing for her. By the time I was 15 years old, my cousin gave birth to a little boy. And I would babysit my sister and cousin, I thought it was so fun. So, by this time I had become the new family babysitter. This was the time I knew I wanted to work with children, I knew I wanted to be a teacher.
In 1996, I attended Northern High School in Durham NC, and took parenting and childcare classes. In the parenting class we had to take a fake baby home, but the baby did all the things of a real child. When we were given the computerized baby it came with five feelings cards, each card had a different feeling they were feeding, wet, sleepy, love, and want to be held. When the baby would cry, you would have to figure out what the problem was by sticking one of the cards in the baby 's back and holding it until it stopped crying if not you would have to change the card. At the end of your time with the baby, the teacher would give you a printout of the time and minutes of what the baby wanted or needed. When taken this class, it showed me that babies cry for different reasons at different times. In 2000 which was my senior year of high school I took Childcare classes, this class put me on the path of working with children. We would
When I became a mommy at the age of 23, I became aware of how much there was to learn. As a new parent I became overwhelmed by all the duties I had in order to take care of my daughter. She had to be fed, change, bathe, put to sleep, etc. It seemed unconceivable to me that I could cope with any other additional activity, such as going to college or working at the same time. There was a point in my life that I felt discouraged and felt I needed guidance and support to keep on going. I wanted her to experience what I experience during my childhood. However, by the time my 3rd daughter was born, I was aware of everything I had learned and I was actually an excellent mommy. I was able to analyze in detail what every parent must do raise their family in becoming productive citizens of our society and the reason why it was so important to become an excellent caregiver.
Every young child has unique ways of communicating his or her needs. Babies develop trust and emotional security when their needs are met promptly in a positive, and caring manner. As a childcare provider, it
Babies have learned how to express a wide variety of emotions by the time they are nine months old. Their emotions are all over the place. They can go from intense happiness to intense sadness extremely quickly. By the time they are twelve months, babies are aware of other people’s expressions and their emotional states. At this time they are making the connection that expressions match feelings on the inside and show on the outside. By age two, toddlers can show a wide range of emotions and are becoming more aware and are able to cope with their emotions. Their ability to use language becomes more apparent, learning words that mean something to them. They are known to use a single word with an emotional emphasis to express a complete thought, question or request. During the second year their language becomes more sophisticated. Toddlers began to put 2 to 3 words together forming easy phrases. Their vocabulary grows from there. From infancy to toddler and onward, language and emotional development are
It was when I went to a career fair, and expressed my interest in becoming a non-traditional teacher, as well as working in a hospital setting, that I learn about the Child Life profession.
When I was only four years old, my life changed forever. It was the year I moved to North Carolina. My dad’s friend got him a job opportunity that he simply couldn’t give up. So, he quit his job and found a nice rental house to live in. I had moved before but I don’t remember. I moved from Indiana to North Carolina with my brother my cat and my parents. When I moved to North Carolina, I was aware of what was happening, but I never realized how different everything would be. The house we moved into we only lived in for a year, but it was a pretty hectic year.
I first found my passion for early childhood education soon after my son was born.
My experiences working with children aged birth to five has contributed to my interest in working in the field of infant mental health. I’ve co-facilitated a bereavement group working with children age three and a half to seven and I have also had the opportunity to volunteer in a children’s hospital setting. In addition to these experiences working with young children, I have taken a course on play therapy.
Before my first child was born, I studied child development. I learned the importance of responsive caregiving. I learned that I would soon be able to read my baby’s cries. I would know what was wrong and what I could do by the sound of the cry. After my baby was born, I responded quickly when he cried. To my surprise, I had difficulty calming him. I realized I did not always know what was wrong by the sound of his cry. I became very frustrated and decided that if my baby was dry, fed, and not tired. I would just let him cry it out. I didn’t know what else to do.
It 's 2:30 in the morning, and the only thing that surrounds me are the continuous sounds of dry heaves and vomit, spewing into the toilet in front of me. This is my third pregnancy. Hyperemesis Gravidarum - the diagnosis I have now heard three times. But this time, the circumstances were a bit different. Just a few short months ago, my husband and I made the decision to have my tubal ligation reversed. We had previously talked about the possibility of having more children and knew the challenges we were likely to face. But it wasn 't until my diagnosis that it became a reality that it was no longer on my time.
My Mom knew she was pregnant with me when she took a pregnancy test. During the first trimester she tried eating healthy when she was hungry which was not often. My Mom lost eleven pounds the doctors became very concerned and threatened to put her in the hospital if she did not gain weight. They told her to go the grocery store and buy anything she wanted and not worry about eating healthy until she gained weight, so she bought a lot of chocolate cakes and donuts. At 9 in the morning she would get morning sickness every Sunday. During the second trimester my Mom started to get cravings such as nachos and pickles. Every two weeks my Mom had to go and get an ultrasound. The ultra sounds continued into the third trimester. My Mom gained 35 pounds during the time.
I grew up loving children of all ages and wanting to be a caregiver. I was the baby sitter and nanny to the neighborhood and my church ward. When I was in High School’s it was no surprise to anyone that I chose to work in the school’s child care center. I continued working with children at several child care centers until I went to school.
After the birth of a child, it is the decision from the parents whether or not their child will be vaccinated. Jenn firmly believes that immunizations in children is a must. Being updated on shots is not only important for the children, it is for adults as well. A major immunization for adults that are around an infant is a booster, to aid in protection of the child contracting whooping cough. Without the adult being vaccinated they can easily spread any disease to an infant with an extremely weak immune system. Jenn finds that immunizing children on the other hand is crucial if the parent plans to send their child to a day care or where they are exposed to viral germs. Jenn says that if she were to have a child and decided not to vaccinate them she would not only put my child at risk but someone else’s in a matter if they also chose not to vaccinate. One child could become infected with a germ that could easily spread to another child that is not immune to the effects. If a child has the chicken pox they can easily spread it to another if that child has not already had the illness or the vaccination. It is also required to vaccinate children before they can begin school in the note of spreading unwanted illnesses from child to child. Even before Jenn was allowed to attend school she had to provide an immunization record to ensure she was up to date on all those required such as the meningitis vaccination. Her parents believe that immunizing her
Although babies spend most of their time sleeping and eating they still have transitions to different stages. For example, reflexes are the most common for people to recognize the organized patterns of behavior. Also, a crying baby is what everyone recognizes. However, it is somewhat good when the baby cries, because it stimulates strong discomfort that the adults can realize. Usually the baby just needs a diaper change or needs to be feed, but sometimes its more and it is the parent's job to figure out why the baby is crying. The parents have to soothe them; they can do this by rocking, walking, swaddling, and talking softly. The baby also is developing their five senses, so it is important that the parents do not interfere with the development. For example, using screaming very loudly can ruin a baby's hearing. Vision is the one that develops the least. Nerveless, newborns can recognize human faces and want the mother's familiar face instead of a stranger. The most widely used instrument for helping the behavior of the newborn infant is Brazelton's Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale (NBAS). It has helped researchers understand newborns better.
From the beginning, babies are born with their own personalities. Crying is the first sense of emotion and is used to communicate many different things. Psychosocial development increases, as they are able to express more emotions. Between zero to three months of age, babies can smile. They start to become curious and show interest in certain things. By three to six months, infants can
It wasn’t until the morning of Saturday, May 21, 2016 that I realized what the true feeling of unconditional love was. The moment a parent looks into his or her child’s eyes there is just so much love it’s unbelievable. People think they know what love is when they love a significant other, family member, or a close friend; however, that love is nothing compared to the love a parent experiences the day his or her child is born. That is the love I felt the moment I placed my beautiful baby boy on my chest.