Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

Persistent gaps in education and health associated with socioeconomic disadvantage impose enormous burdens on individuals, communities, and societies worldwide. Recent reports estimate that 200 million children fail to reach their full developmental potential by age 5. Drawing on our experience in North America, the Center on the Developing Child works globally to build a broader movement to achieve breakthrough outcomes for children around the world(Working Globally,2017).

In Brazil The collaborative Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância (NCPI) has been highly successful in creating a science-driven early childhood movement in Brazil, most notably through training Brazilian policy makers on how to apply developmental science to inform programs and policies and launching the iLab Primeira Infância, one of the Latin American Innovation Clusters.


In Mexico, The Aceleradora de Innovación para la Primera Infancia, one of the Latin American Innovation Clusters, is anchored in Monterrey at the Universidad Regiomontana, a pioneering institution at the forefront of an extensive urban revitalization effort. A strong interest in adding a human development focus to their work led the Monterrey team to connect with the Center and learn more about our strategy for enhancing child outcomes through adult capacity building.

In Canada, The Alberta Family Wellness Initiative (AFWI) shares our strong belief in the power of translating the science of child development to inform public policy. AFWI was created to counter the separation between science, policy, and practice work, which hinders the real-world application of scientific knowledge. Drawing upon the Center’s scientific resources, the initiative fulfills two key mandates:

1. supporting research in early brain and biological development, mental health, and addiction, and
2. translating that research for policy makers, healthcare communities, and the general public

Working Globally - Center on the Developing Child. (n.d.). Retrieved April 08, 2017, from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/

Sharing Web Resources

The website of my choice is NAEYC, the topic Technology and Young Children. During the earliest years, infants and toddlers interact primarily with people. Their interactions with toys are usually in the context of human interaction as well. They need to freely explore, manipulate, and test everything in the environment. Increasingly in today’s world, this includes the exploration of technology tools and interactive media. Children of this age are drawn to push-button switches and controls. Technology tools that infants and toddlers might use must be safe, sturdy, and not easily damaged. If technology is used, it must be in the context of conversation and interactions with an adult(Technology & Young Children, 2017).

When it comes to technology lots of parents think their children shouldn't be exposed. But the truth is now more and more classrooms are introducing computer's, laptop's, Ipad's etc. I will admit I was one of those parents but until I saw the interaction with my own child and device I was able to see how much it can help with development. Use technology as an active and engaging tool when appropriate to provide infants and toddlers with access to images of their families and friends, animals and objects in the environment, and a wide range of diverse images of people and things they might not otherwise encounter (photos of children from other countries, for example) (Technology & Young Children, 2017). By reading this article I got more insight on how important it is to introduce technology to younger children.


Technology and Young Children. (n.d.). Retrieved April 01, 2017, from http://www.naeyc.org/content/technology-and-young-children/infants-and-toddlers

Getting to Know Your International Contacts

The country I picked to learn about poverty is the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic is a special interest of mine since my mother was born there and half of my family is from this country.





One of the most serious problems affecting the population of Dominican boys, girls, and adolescents is the level of poverty. Over 55% of the population between 0 and 2 years of age and 49% of those aged between 13 and 18 are poor. 47% of total Dominican population is between the ages of 0 and 17. In the DR children age 10-17 work which affects their education and development. Apart from access to the formal education system, the adolescent population has limited access to technical/vocational education through institutes and schools, because enrolment costs are not affordable for many families.

In the Dominican Republic the rates of child labour, abuse and commercial sexual exploitation of children between the ages of 6 and 12, imply situations of severe violation of their rights. The National Child Labour Survey (ENTI by its initials in Spanish) carried out by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2000, indicates that close to 66% of the children who work (436,000) are between the ages of 5 and 14; and that 42% of this population entered the labour market before the age of 10. The early age at which children start working, which competes with school attendance, and its degree of danger, expose many children to situations that endanger their health, education and personal security.


Looking at this information troubles me because children can't be children in these conditions, not having the proper help in place will never end the cycle of poverty. I know for my family the best thing they sought to improve in their living conditions was to come to the United States, I have thought about what if my family never came here and what my current life would be like living in the DR now.

Sharing Web Resources

A website that I love is the Zero to Three site. Which is located here https://www.zerotothree.org/

Our mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life.
At ZERO TO THREE we envision a society that has the knowledge and will to support all infants and toddlers in reaching their full potential.

The website is extremely helpful with links and videos. It gives information about the early stages of a child's life, their developments, and information if you think your child isn't on track.


A current article on the site is Helping Children Learn Right From Wrong. As parents we want to make sure our children are learning the correct way to interact with others. The article gives helpful tips on how to teach your child right from wrong.

https://www.zerotothree.org/resources/1689-helping-children-learn-right-from-wrong





Its a easy to navigate website with a lot of helpful and useful information, this is a website you would want to bookmark.

Getting Ready—E stablishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Part 1
Establishing Professional Contacts

For this part I choose to do some research on The Global Fund For Children, their vision is to provide a place for children to grow and become great citizens.

The Mission


We work to advance the dignity of children worldwide. We pursue this mission by making small grants to innovative community-based organizations working with many of the world’s most vulnerable children and youth.

The website gives great information on their cause, approach, and grants that they give. They also have blogs you can visit and videos you can view.

http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/



Part 2
Expanding Resources

The early childhood organization that I picked for this section is The Zero To Three organization. I have always bookmarked this website whenever I needed some information for work or for my home life.

Our mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life.

At ZERO TO THREE we envision a society that has the knowledge and will to support all infants and toddlers in reaching their full potential.

This website is great with giving information on child development and tools to help if their is any concerns.

https://www.zerotothree.org/

My Supports

Having a supportive team is very important in everyone's life. I have my wonderful husband, children, and my family who support any thing I put my mind to. If I didn't have such support I wouldn't do most of the things I have done. Right now my family is being very supportive on my next venture to lose weight.

I have been battling my weight for years and now its to a point where I need medical help. At first I was ashamed I couldn't lose the weight the natural way, it took me a few years to find out that it wouldn't work for me. As I came to the conclusion that I would need surgery to help me lose the weight, my family was very supportive. My husband has attended some meetings with me, my family have even done research on their own and told me what procedure they think would be best for me even though they aren't doctors.

I'm glad I have such support and I hope other people can say the same about their family and friends.

My Connections to Play

I have always been a firm believer that children learn through play, here are two of my favorite quotes:












The items I loved playing with when I was a kid are shown below! I loved playing with them when I was growing up.

 I loved Jem growing up, I was so happy that my parents fed into my obsession!

 Who didn't love this game? I could play it for hours!

While growing up my parents that it was necessary to play to develop social skills. I'm a Army brat so meeting new people every 3-4 years was stressful as a child. Play lets you be yourself and be free so that you don't even think about being the new person. I don't think play has changed much since I was a child, it stills provides the same social skills, and learning skills as before.

Play has helped me develop great social skills, I'm very friendly and love social gatherings with others. I believe if I didn't participate in play I would be less social and not really a party person.