My Support

I am so lucky to have such a support network around me.  I live in a community that values early childhood education and the collaborative work that we do to ensure our youngest learners are ready to be successful in school and life.  I work in an environment where we truly love what we do and consistently support one another in our careers.  I have children who are proud of me for how hard I work and the values and standards I hold and am passing on to them.  My parents live in the community and have supported me in whatever adventure I sign up for and have for my whole life.  I have felt emotional support as well as physical support as they are very involved in my life and my children's lives as well.  My husband is definitely my rock; he is a sounding board, a sympathetic ear and my cheerleader all the way.  The animals in our home definitely support me as a stress reliever and source of great relaxation and satisfaction.  My church family supports my family and my faith in many ways.  Being in school and being able to attend trainings supports my yearning to be a life-long learner.  I also think my hobbies of music, reading and working out support me physically and emotionally on a daily basis.  They are good for the mind, body and soul! 

In some ways new challenges motivate and energize me but the unknown can also be very scary.  Our family is considering a move towards my husband's family a few hours from my home town.    For me this would mean new job, in a new city, away from my family and friends.  It may mean picking our children up and moving them away from the only community they have known.  It would mean being a supportive wife to a husband in a new area with a new job.  Because I have lived in the same town my whole life, I am not sure how I would respong Not only have my children had the same friends most of their lives, but I know the parents of the friends my children are spending time with. Careerwise I know it would be important to find a positive environment to work in, a team atmosphere.  I have experience working in a negative environment, and it makes it very hard for me to do my job well.  I also would love to work under supportive leadership.  It is important to me to do a great job and I would appreciate training, staff development as well as collaborative time.  I would hope we would feel the community was supportive and would fit our family right, as well as a place our children would thrive and feel a part of.  I realize much of the responsibility would fall on me to ensure I was making a informed decision and access to resources in that instance would be imperitive, whether it be resources provided to me or ones I seek out on my own.

My Connections to Play

                                 PLAY IS A CHILD’S WORK. PLAY CREATES THOUGHT!

 “When you asked me what I did in school today and I say, 'I just played.' Please don’t misunderstand me. For you see, I am learning as I play. I am learning to enjoy and be successful in my work. Today I am a child and my work is play.”    Anita Wadley, 1974.

I believe that play enhances language development, social competence, creativity, imagination, and thinking skills and see how play is the chief vehicle for the development of imagination and intelligence.  It needs to be self motivated, valued by the player, freely chosen and engaging.

As a child, and as a parent I have loved playing games with my family.  Whether it be a game night with extended family or a simple game of cards with my parents I love games. I also remember playing outside all the time.  Whether it was creating a fort, riding bikes or playing kick ball we played outside with friends, family and neighbors.  We knew we had to come in for dinner as a family but would go right back out after for more play time.  I also really enjoyed playing with other children, whether it be helping in the church nursery or babysitting around the neighborhood I have fun playing with children.  I think there were less demands placed on children when we were young, it was expected that we would have responsibililties yes, but one major one was to play.  My parents took time to play games with me and encourage good old fashioned outside play by letting be be creative.  I would use materials in many different ways depending on my elaborate life of the day.  I enjoyed having babysitters over that would bring fun and new things to play with and so when I became old enough I too brought a treasure bag along with me when I babysat.  As I continued to work with children I would bring fun game ideas from my childhood into the classroom and saw how that slowly changed.  In our busy society we are expected to go, go, go and do, do, do.  To me that means there is pressure for children to do their best at everything (not just enjoy the activity and process) and be involved in as many activities as they can.  There is much more expected out of children at school today and the time it takes outside of school to be prepared to be a successful student takes time away from play.  Add that to the pull of electronics and we have no chance.  We take my children to our cabin up North, play fun car games on the way and talk about what our weekend is going to be like.  We get there and it takes quite a while for my children to remember how to play outside.  They continuously ask if we can have a TV in the bedroom at the cabin (NO!) or can they bring their computers and playstation along too (NO!).  After encouragement and brainstorming with them to come up with ideas of things to do outside, I almost will resort to additional chores if I hear the word BORED one more time.  I think it is sad the lack of creative, imaginative play skills our children have today and think it is important to remember that just because their agendas may be different than ours, does not mean they are not benefitting greatly from good old fashioned play.

        

RELATIONSHIP REFLECTION

Reading this week’s resources has reiterated what I feel and have seen as the most important part of why I am doing what I am doing and what I continue to strive for: relationships.  As I think back to my childhood the memories are full of experiences, but more importantly are the relationships I held with the people I created memories with.  Sure I remember the special event when looking back at pictures but when I really think about what I remember most about childhood is the feelings that came along with the close relationships I held.  This is why I continue to work at relationships with my family, friends, colleagues and families I work with.  Because I know the difference a relationship can make.  I was lucky to grow up in a close family where I felt loved, supported and validated by my parents.  I continue to feel that consistent love and support today.  I have one sister who is 4 years younger than me, and although we had a few rough years growing up (who doesn’t?!)  I consider her my best friend.  Not only are we honest, respectful and loyal but loving, supportive and reciprocal in our relationship.  I have learned so much from her.  In becoming a wife and mother I have learned as much about myself as I did about relationships with others.  My biggest fan and supporter is my other best friend, my husband Tony.  I feel blessed to be able to spend my life with him and through lots of hard work we have the relationship I hoped for.  As a mother of 3 it is very important to me to continue to have a close personal relationship with each of my children individually and accept, love and cheer them on for who they are.  The relationships that are most positive for me personally are those that are consistent, trustworthy, supportive but also respectfully honest.  This leads into my professional life where I consider myself a lifelong learner.  I learn from others and appreciate being able to bounce ideas of others and share knowledge.  I appreciate honesty through respectful and caring interactions.  I realize the importance of cooperation, collaboration and compromise in a true partner relationship.  In my married life and my professional life I have seen the challenges of keeping open communication with others as we work together in diversity.  This may mean different ethnic, family or area cultures as well as different personality and learning styles.  What I continue to see though is, if we go in with an open mind, a positive attitude and a respectful nature we begin to take the steps to developing a positive relationship.  Relationships are the foundation to my professional career as a teacher I develop those relationships with students, family and staff and as a leader I hope to develop those relationships with other professionals in my community as well as policy makers and other leaders in our field.