Week 2 is Here!!

Well this is week two in the Early Childhood Studies program, and I’m beginning to get more comfortable with the material. Everyone in my group is so sweet, and it makes it fun that everyone has these bubbly and friendly personalities.

This week’s assignment was one that I simply smiled when I read because it just reminded me that Early Childhood learning, work, education is so fun and rewarding. People tend to make the work rigid and boring, when it’s supposed to be light hearted and fun. After all, we are serving children or educating those who share our love for children. This was me when I was a young child.

This was when I was young and precious. I miss those days when life was easy!

I was so curious and full of life. Everything I looked at in wonder and wanted to know what it was. Stories from my mother and family painted me as a happy child who loved to read and watch tv. I was always inquisitive, and that is still true today! Speaking of today here is a recent picture as well.

This was taken maybe two weeks ago at work.

This is the woman who is on a journey to discovering just exactly what it means to be a child again. To me, that’s at the heart of Early Childhood Education. You can’t take yourself too seriously, but you have to remain focused on the task at hand, educating children, their parents and the community about the importance of the next generation. A quote that one of my co-workers shared with me about two years ago has stuck with me, and I believe it holds true even in the world that we live in today. The quote reads,”Tell me, and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me, and I learn”. This holds a special place in my heart because it’s how my mother raised me. She involved me in everything so that I would learn it for myself. She would often tell me things, and as the quote states, I would forget. This is what happens with children every day in centers and schools across the country. People spend so much time talking

A quote that one of my co-workers shared with me about two years ago has stuck with me, and I believe it holds true even in the world that we live in today. The quote reads,”Tell me, and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me, and I learn” Benjamin Franklin. This holds a special place in my heart because it’s how my mother raised me. She involved me in everything so that I would learn it for myself. She would often tell me things, and as the quote states, I would forget. This is what happens with children every day in centers and schools across the country. People spend so much time talking at children, that they don’t involve them in the learning and start talking to them to teach them. Learning is a process, and not everyone reaches the end goal the same way. Early Childhood practitioners should be aware and knowledgeable of the latest and newest trends so that they can nurture the whole child and not just the mind. The end goal is for them to learn and be happy, productive, and healthy adults, that starts with us.

One of the options to this assignment that made me smile was that we were instructed to list one of our favorite children’s books and what we love about it. Now, I immediately knew what book I was going to choose. Then I hopped on Amazon.com to grab a picture, and I immediately got confused! How can someone choose just one children’s book? OMG, I had the hardest time determining which one to choose, but I finally settled on this one:

The Monster at the End of this Book

This is my favorite childhood book! Grover is the most adorable muppet ever and the joys that this book brings is amazing. The reader is taken on a journey with Grover as he urges and begs the reader to stop turning pages because there is a monster at the end. This only makes the reader turn the pages all the more. The excitement and build up to the last page and you find out that Grover is simply frightened of himself, because he is the monster at the end of the book!  And he’s not that bad, right?

In my opinion, this book taught me that sometimes the fear of what’s on the next page can and will keep you from turning it, but it still doesn’t change the ending to the book. That’s the beautiful part about life, it gets scary, and sometimes things don’t and won’t go your way and you’ll be scared, and alone, and someone will always urge you to not turn the page, but you must get over the fear and the doubt and continue forward. You’ll soon discover the thing that you feared was holding you back, is the thing that has been pushing your forward. Great book for adults and children alike!

Well this week’s assignment was one that I really enjoyed completing. Hmmm, I think I’m starting to like this whole blogging thing! Might start a personal one of my own! Already such wonderful things coming from this journey, educational, professional, and personal!