Me! (Blog Assignment Week 2) Earlychildhood Studies

It was hard to find a photo of myself when I was a child. When I moved away from home my mom wouldn’t let me take any childhood photos with me. (It must be a mom thing.) How I obtained this photo is a secret! This is a photo of me and my older sister. I thought I would put one up years later when my sister got married. My sister and I are about 9 months apart. As I was growing up most people thought of us as twins. You can make your own determination on these photos.

I chose this photo because when the child gave it to me she had the biggest smile on her face and she said “That’s you Ms. Jay.” When I look at this drawing I think as a child this is how I look through her eyes. “A happy caregiver with long hair and rainbow colored hair bows.”

     There are so many great children’s stories that I love but one that crossed my mind first were The “Amelia Bedelia” Series of books by Peggy Parish. I struggled in school when learning how to read and was really frustrated when I couldn’t understand what I was reading. I remember in my 1^st or 2^nd grade class it was library day and I was looking through the first readers section. I came across a book with a maid on the front. I took the book home and started reading and the simple things that Amelia Bedelia did was just so funny to me. Just in case no one has ever read an Amelia Bedelia book the story is about a silly maid that does exactly as she is told to do for example it would say something like “Amelia Bedelia help me pin up my dress” Amelia Bedelia would grab some push pins and try to pin the dress up on a wall and ask if it is too high.  Now my mom was happy that I was reading and when she read an Amelia Bedelia book herself she sort of banned me from reading the books because I would imitate some of the things that Amelia did in the stories. I am going to argue that I was not really a bad child growing up I was doing simple things that I was told to do.

     I had an experience that really fueled my passion for the early childhood field and encouraged me to set a dream to reach. In either 2007 or 2008 I was attending a Baptist Church at the time and was asked if I wanted to go to this 1 day training in California with a church member. The church member happens to be the head of the nursery and the children’s church. I said sure and when I arrived I thought I was walking into just a church. It was not only a church but also a school. I was unaware that a facility such as a school and a church together existed. I always thought all churches and all schools were separate facilities. I became excited when I saw that each classroom was divided into age groups from young adult to as young as 6 weeks old. Each age group held about 45 minutes of training about the best way to teach and reach them. When I entered the infant, toddler, and pre-school classrooms they looked similar to a child care facility and what the leader taught us was from a different perspective then that of a public school teacher. After 45 minutes in each room we would rotate from one room to another. I was so thrilled to learn how each age group was special and took down notes on how to incorporate not only general subjects of education,  but also bible teachings and values in the classroom. From the moment I left that training I was uplifted spiritually and was hooked on wanting to reach young children.  I determined I wanted to create a facility similar to what I saw but maybe incorporate some recreational facilities for youth before and after school care. A place where parents feel there kids are learning and are safe.