My Connections to play by Ms. Jay

When I was 5 years old I remember living in Germany and just beginning kindergarten. Kindergarten seemed like a comfortable place to play and paint. I remember playing and painting because those were the activities I enjoyed most. My parents often provided opportunities to let my older sister and me play together. My younger brother was not born yet and I was the baby. Other people thought my sister and I were twins because we are so close in age. Most of my time playing with my sister was not as enjoyable as playing with toys by myself. I say this because my sister often played “the boss” and as the younger sister I did everything she told me to do and I played with her always in a passive way. The times I was able to go into my own room and play with toys alone was great. So for this assignment I’m going to reminisce of playing alone in my room and with my three toys. I’m so happy to share pictures of some of the toys I played with when I was five.

As I’m in my room I feel I’m in my own territory in my own world. I become “The boss” and I can play with anything I wanted without having to share with anyone.  I go to my toy shelf and pull out

this fisher price camera. This is the closest one I could find, the one I had the actual camera was white and all the strap colors were the same on mine. I received this as a gift from my dad for Christmas. I took this toy everywhere I could take it and pretended to take pictures of everything! I was greatly influenced by my dad because he had a real camera with the same upright features and a big lens. As we lived in Germany I found that he liked taking pictures of where we lived and all the places to visit while traveling throughout Germany. I thought I would be just like my dad and walk around taking pretend pictures of everything. I think if this camera was real, I would have taken thousands of photos. This was a toy I carried around my neck all the time. I remember looking out my bedroom‘s giant window and taking pretend pictures of the weather outside looking at people below. My room had an awesome view of green grass, a nearby park with trees, and hills. Our family household was like living in an apartment building and our apartment was located towards the very top floor of the building.

As the camera got heavy I decide to take it from around my neck set it down and pull out my

 karaoke radio I absolutely loved this toy; I was always singing, dancing, listening to music around the house. With this toy I was able to sing with songs on the radio as well as trying hard not to be so loud when my mother was sleeping. Believe it or not I still have this toy; it is sitting on top of my desk cabinets with some pictures. I don’t have the heart to let anyone touch it or let my daughter play with it. I liked to pretend I was a famous singer like Whitney Houston or Chaka Khan; I was heavily influenced by watching female groups harmonize and sing and dance like En Vogue. Often times my mom would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I told her “a famous singer”

            As my sister got annoyed with my singing I would put this toy away and pull out my

play Mobil toys. I also kept these toys and these pictures represent the exact toys I had when I was 5. I enjoyed these toys because they were not quite like Legos but some of the pieces still had to be put together. These toys brought me into a miniature world. Almost everywhere I went when I was in Germany the houses looked the same as well as the parks and play grounds. Germany was a different culture than my own that I was exposed to and found other children my age also played with these similar toys. By the time I was 8 I had a collection of them.

I believe play today is not as enjoyable as when I was a child because of all the technology. Toys today seem like computers, although I don’t have too much of a problem with computer toys, maybe I think some toys could be losing sight of letting the child explore and use their imagination with them. Today’s generation’s toys seem easy to push a button and something happens and they seem a little high tech. At some point I’m a little jealous of some toys because they were not available like a touch screen or an electronic notebook or babies that cry, wet, eat, and tell you when they are “all better” but I would hope that as a parent I provide my child some tools that encourage her to learn about her world a little independently. I also see these children will be living on earth long after our generation is gone and despite all our parental efforts of raising children to learning academically what ultimately describes the definition of fun is play.  As I grew into adulthood I found that after school, work, and responsibility is finished I sit back and reminisce about my own childhood and not having any adult responsibilities and want to do nothing but play or have free time

The two quotes I would like to share that I feel summarizes play within my childhood and also early childhood education are those by Jean Marc Itard “Begin with the nature of the child and his interests.”(Lieberman, L (1982) I think by my parents giving me opportunities to play based upon my interest encouraged me to explore the toys I had and learn about my world through these toys. With the camera I began to see pictures of my environment and somehow without really realizing it Germany is different from the United States. With my microphone and radio I explored dance, music, singing and playing with spoken words. With my miniature toys my world and imagination with these toys and nature of these toys was endless I played with them for hours. I literally went to sleep and couldn’t wait to wake up in the morning to play with them again or go to the store and add to my collection, I saw that play and toys opens doors to new culture and discovery. Jean Marc Itard also mentions “Education must be in harmony with the dynamic nature of life.” Lieberman, L. (1982) I couldn’t describe how the world naturally influences a growing, playing child better. Whether or not adults see children learning through play, play is essential to enjoying and creating meaningful experience for life.

 

Reference

 Lieberman, L. M. (1982). Itard: The Great Problem Solver. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 15(9), Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Relationship Reflection by Ms. Jay

                The top two pictures represent the top 3 relationships on my list that are important to me. Family and Marriage. The very first relationship that is important to me and I have been slacking quite a bit is building my personal relationship with my spiritual beliefs (God) because ultimately I believe I have absolutely no control over the events that will happen in the future and my future plans. I can personally make plans and goals but my plans don’t always follow through and may change. I know situations occur based on my relationship with the "one above" and he teaches me that my life is in his hands.

                The second relationship that is important to me is family. If there is one thing I have learned is that: when all the material possessions are gone, situations in life become difficult to handle, and I feel like I have nothing I remembered that having a personal relationship with those who care about me highly matters.  Some readers may not know that I have the pleasure of having several family members from two different cultures. My mom is from the Philippines and my dad is African American born and raised mostly in Tennessee.  I have an older sister and a younger brother. The positive twist within this family is that I also grew up with my father serving in the United States Air Force. Growing up as a military family has several challenges and puts a strain on family bonding.  The family relationship was shown through different ways. Like simple home movie nights, sitting together during family meals, and now that I live far from home occasional phone calls. Even though my parent’s cultures were different my parents did their best to work together raising three children.

                I would describe my relationship with my parents as “tough love.” By tough love I mean my parents did not just give me the things that I wanted just because I asked for it, or just to show their love, or just that they cared. They not only did those things considering the majority of the time I had to earn and work for the things I wanted. I had to show them that I deserved to have those things.  I know they love me and they care. I didn’t realize the situation then, but I know now that this was the only way my parents were teaching me to be independent. Occasionally I would receive certain things and advice that I didn’t ask for. Personally they knew what I desperately needed like guidance and discipline. (A must with three kids!)  I also learned that if I really needed something they would always provide and take care of us (kids). I came to a decision that my relationship with my parents and family members is important because family relationships between members is needed. Although I am the middle child my parents instill in me that I am the glue that holds my siblings relationship together.Hence I get along great with my sister and brother independently, but my brother and sister always argue and still do growing up. My relationship with my syblings as well as my parents has to stay constant. Without constant positive contact with them the relationship will fall and the group called my family is broken.

As I continue to grow and look at situations that happened in the past I know my family and the relationships that still continue to change has provided me a foundation of what it means to become a positive family within the one that I’m trying to raise. My parents and siblings have set examples for me. And I'm going to apply those experience tools to build a positive relationship within my marriage and raising my own children.

This picture was taken years ago!

The next relationship I would like to mention is marriage.

A promise made and not meant to be broken.

Marriage is special to me because it is definitely a partnership between two people especially when it comes to raising a child. Not to mention my husband was also serving within the United States Air Force. The special characteristics within this relationship are love, communication and support, despite confrontation. My husband is my "rock" and I recieve his love and support as well as I support and love him. We have gone through several difficult milestones within our marriage and continue to work together. I saw how my parents worked together,though part of my dad's duty was to travel they bonded in ways to guide my brother, sister and I.  I often look at my parents long, ongoing love and partnership as encouragement to want to build a strong relationship with my husband. I want to set positive examples just as they did for me for my children. Marriage is a partnership that can be challenging to maintain but it takes both people to keep the marriage relationship strong, healthy and continuous throughout the years.

The last relationship is the relationship between me and my daughter

My daughter is definitely a blessing. Remember my statement on making plans and that plans change? When she came into my life she definitely changed my plans for the best! Her birth symbolized a change in my attitude towards life and she made an impact in defining my personal goals. Instead of quiting school and everything to stay home to raise her (which was a difficult decision)I continued to work hard to obtain my Bachelors degree to become an early childhood educator. I use the practices of early childhood and caring for children along with raising my child. I think learning about children helps me view her thoughts and current development differently. And because I have some knowledge of child development I relate almost everything I see and do around her. She impacts my world and contributes to my work as an effective early childhood professional. She sets my tone as an early childhood professional by watching my interactions with other children within my role as a caregiver for school age children. She is developing a distinction between “mommy role” and “caregiver role” , while I’m constantly developing within my different roles from: wife, parent, student, to professional. I watch the way that she continues to grow and hope our relationship as mother and daughter builds to a healthy relationship even when it comes time to let her go out into the world.

As a person I play different roles within the world of relationships: daughter, sister, wife, mother, student and caregiver just to name a few. Each relationship is special and contributes to different sections in my life. All these relationships are essential for me to function. They represent a piece of my life puzzle. If I lost any of these relationship pieces I would not be complete.