Helping Others

I grew up having a very fortunate life. I did not have to go through half of the problems that most have experienced, however in my early teens when I was in high school I went through a rough couple of years mentally and physically. I became anorexic and very depressed to the point that my parents tried to hospitalize me for both diseases. Being a young teen and thinking that I knew what was best for me I promised to change my habits. When my weight hit an all time low, and I got mono because my body was so emaciated, I had no choice but to stay at home for six weeks to recover. During that "mental break" I rested, I did a lot of soul searching, and that is where I learned the importance of meditation. I refused to let anyone help, however I knew I wanted to get better. Thankfully I did recover and after the sickness returned to a healthier weight and continued to live an active life. As much as I helped myself, looking back I wish I would have had someone there who I felt comfortable to talk to. I had all the "stresses" of a high school student along with extracurricular stresses as well. I pushed too hard and tried to do too much and be too perfect for everyone and it ended up with me almost in the hospital. Today's society of children I feel have way more stresses simply because you add social media into the development stages. Anorexia and depression are serious diseases that hit young teens especially hard that could unfortunately lead to death. For more information: www.teenhealth.com
                     www.teendepression.org

The country I chose to learn about is Africa. The children are the future, but how can they be the future and concentrate when they are afraid to get sick or where their food is coming from. Here are some facts: "17 million children die from malnutrition and starvation each year  
                      1.4 million children under the age of 15 are living with HIV
                      19,000 African children die daily from easily curable diseases
                      80 per cent of children under the age of 15 living with HIV are African children"
 (http://senweb.lr.k12.nj.us)

People/groups have been trying to help the children in Africa for years. You may see the commercial while watching tv that asks to donate some money to help the children and give them support and food. Any amount can help but it is going to take a lot more work to reach the children and make a difference. There is an organization called Save the Children who focuses on the malnutrition of the children and they want to get food to these starving places. Some of what this organization does:

"We have screened over 51,000 children across South Sudan and found that nearly 1 in 4 are suffering from malnutrition. In response we have set up stabilization centers to treat malnourished children with special therapeutic foods. We're distributing seeds, tools and equipment to those who have lost their livelihoods as a result of the conflict, helping families to get back on their feet. We’re providing lifesaving medicines and helping make sure communities are educated on how to reduce the spread of cholera. And in Nimule hospital alone, Save the Children has already vaccinated more than 15,000 children against life threatening diseases such as measles and polio." (www.savethechildren.org)

I believe it is very important to have perspective. As an American I have been very fortunate. I get caught up in my day to day life and feel like I take a lot for granted. Taking a moment to reflect and learn about what other people are going through is an eye opener. I hope this helps others get some perspective, look at their lives and realize it could always be worse, and what could we do to help others.


Health of African Children (n.d.) Retrieved May 31, 2015 from http://senweb.lr.k12.nj.us/
Helping Starving African Children (2015). Retrieved May 31, 2015 from www.savethechildren.org

Nutrition is Key

When thinking about a child's development, one huge factor that in the past few years has come to light is children's nutrition/malnutrition. Good nutrition is a huge part of a child's development and unfortunately if a child is not getting the proper nutrition outside of the school, it could affect their academic development. And with that, not every teacher knows what goes on at home unless the child speaks up. All of Tennessee's public schools are a part of the National School Lunch Program.

"The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to children each school day. The program was established under the National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946." (www.usda.gov)

I think this is a great program because the children who are worried about where their next meal is coming from know that they have at least five days of good healthy meals. This will help them be able to concentrate more on their studies and less on when they are going to eat next.

My first early childhood education job was at a low-income daycare. Many of the children's families were on state assistance with single parents living pay check to pay check. Once a month the teachers (most like myself were students at the university in the town) would get together Friday morning and would pool together money and one of us would go shopping and get food to put in "weekend bags" for the children. We had a sign up sheet and the parents who would want the weekend bags would sign up and we would send home a sack full of food like dry goods, snack foods, and even baby food or formula for some families. We did this so we knew that some of the children would have food for the weekend.

A cool website I found while researching school nutrition around the world is about International School Meals Day (March 6th, 2015). The USA and the UK have joined forces to spread the word about good school nutrition and the importance of eating healthy for school children. This program has been going on since 2013 and each year the program educates the importance of good eating practices at school and at home.

"Overall, the aims of International School Meals Day are to:

• Raise awareness of the importance of the nutritional quality of school meal programs worldwide
• Emphasise (Emphasize) the connection between healthy eating, education and better learning
• Connect children around the world to foster healthy eating habits and promote well-being in schools
• Share success stories of school meal programs around the globe
• Highlight research activities in school meal programs around the globe
• Raise awareness of the hunger and poverty issues being addressed through school feeding programmes (programs)" (www.internationalschoolmealsday.com)

I think this is one of many great programs out there for school children and for teachers to take advantage of to incorporate healthy eating and introducing different foods from other cultures to the children. It can be a fun, exciting way to break up the curriculum and have some hands on activities also being able to send some information home to the parents maybe helping educate them as well.

Child Birth Around the World

Because they only thing I know about my birth is that when I came out I had a head full of black hair and everyone called me Don King (oh the 80s) I am choosing to write about my friend Miaya giving birth to her twin boys (and my godsons). I was not in the actual delivery, there were complications, but I was there from start to finish and everything in between. I remember her sending me the ultra sound picture when she was only a few weeks along, asking me what I saw. A baby duh! I thought but then looked closer and saw TWO bubbles! Twins! We knew she was going to be a high risk pregnancy because she was with her older son so she was prepared and she prepared her job because she was going to be out for a while before and after the birth. Sure enough she was put on bed rest with still four months to go! She was in the hospital for two of those four months and then the twins (two boys) arrived over a month early. When the time came, it was an emergency because something was wrong with one of the boys. She didn't have time to have an epidural so natural it was. The first came out vaginally but he was the healthy twin, it was the one still in the belly that needed help. He was breech and would not turn, and his brothers cord was wrapped around his neck and when the brother came out, the cord tightened leaving him to loose oxygen. They had to do an emergency C-section to get him out. Yes, you heard that correctly. She had one naturally and one C-section. Needless to say she was messed up for a while after;) The whole experience was unsettling and nail biting, but once we found out all three were ok there was a sigh of relief. The twins had to stay in the hospital for a few weeks, one longer than the other, but this year they just turned two and are as handsome and crazy as two year old boys should be!

 I do not have children of my own and do not plan to have children of my own so I do not really know how child birth affects the child's development except for special needs cases. I definitely think that with the hard experience Miaya went through she is a little more lenient on the boys. She is more cautious of them than she is with the older one.

I researched Germany's birthing customs. Midwives are more respected than doctors and are required to be at each birth whereas a doctor is not required to be there. Women who are pregnant take child birth seriously. They think of it as what they are meant to do so if something goes wrong and they have to have a C-section, they look at that as starting off on the wrong foot (or as a failure) because they were not strong enough or couldn't give birth naturally. If a mother has a full time job, if they tell their boss that they are pregnant they can not loose their job. They can take up to six weeks off before the birth and up to eight weeks off after with full pay! They can also take up to three years off after the birth unpaid but still have their job! That is a walk in the park compared to some places in the United States! I know at the preschool I work for you can take six weeks off after the birth but are expected to work as long as you can up until the day you give birth. Also maternity leave is unpaid but you can file for disability and get a portion of your check each month so that is a little something.

As I said before I do not have children and even though I work with children I have not spent a lot of time with infants so this is something very new to me. It has been exciting and a little scary learning about what these brave women go through!