Ella and I goofing around. We enjoy spending the day together. She is growing and learning fast.
Quote: "In the first months of life, attachment is the primary driving force in sculpting the brain of the infant into its final configuration" (Teicher, 2002)
I chose the above quote because I feel that sometimes this can be missing from the way day cares provide quality care to infants, babies and toddlers. Programs are more worried about the child "learning" to be independent (ie. learning to self soothe) that they sometimes oversee the need for attachment. I feel if they've worried more on building strong attachments, the infants would on their own develop independence. However, I am here to keep an open mind and also learn what the current literature state.
Story I love about a child: When my oldest daughter, Emmalee, was learning to read we took out these short books from the library to help her learn phonics. She was sitting on the floor of the kitchen reading out loud and asking me how to pronounce certain words while I was cooking. Then she asked me "Is this word N-O-T pronounced 'naut'?" I replied "No, honey is 'not'?" She concentrated harder and asked again "Is it 'noot' then?" "No, Emma is 'NOT'?" I was getting annoyed by her lack of understanding. My mind was occupied by the cooking and not her questions. Emma looked sadder and once again asked me "then how do you say it?" I lost it, how could this child ask me the same question three times I had given her the answer already! "What do you mean 'how do you say it?' I told you Emmalee is NOT, NOT, NOT!" then I caught what I was saying and realized why my little girls was so confused. "I'm sorry Emmalee, I was not thinking. The word N-O-T is pronounced 'not'" I said "Oh, now I get it!" she replied and moved on. This taught me to think before I reply to children's questions. Read the story out loud if you didn't get it the first time!
References
Teicher, M. (2002). Developmental neurobiology of childhood stress and trauma. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 25, 397-426.
Adorable picture! Early learning is vital to the development of a person, we all need to find a way to inform more people of its benefits!
ReplyDeleteHi Angela,
ReplyDeleteThat was a lovely story. It is so true that we need to think before we speak but often we tend to do the other way round speak first and then think of what we said and feel all miserable about it.
Hi Angela,
ReplyDeleteThat was a lovely story. It is so true that we need to think before we speak but often we tend to do the other way round speak first and then think of what we said and feel all miserable about it.
LOl. This is actually a pretty funny story but so true! During the early years children take everything so literally and they're so impressionable. It is so important to teach and correct things at this stage before the info. is permanently stored. Great job mom!!
ReplyDelete