Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

As an aspiring early childhood professional, I am willing to dedicate my life, time, and energy to helping children and impacting their lives in a positive way.  If had the ability to make things happen at the snap of my finger, no child in this world would experience any hurt, pain, stress, and would basically grow up feeling like they are on top of the world.  However, in the world we live in, children are placed in situations that they cannot control and have to deal with things that no child should have to go through.  Of all the things that I can name that a child experiences, I feel that child hunger is one that should not even be an issue.  According to Share Our Strength (2013), “48.8 million Americans - including 16.2 million children - live in households that lack the means to get enough nutritious food on a regular basis.  As a result, they struggle with hunger at some time during the year" (para. 2).  No child in this world should go with daily balanced and nutritional meals.  There is too much food in this world for children to go hungry and someone has to do something about it.  Therefore if I had the ability to conduct a study it would focus on the impact of hunger on children and ways to eradicate it.  

The focus of the study would be to show the world the harsh realities of child hunger and the fact that it is destroying the lives of children and negatively affecting society as a whole.  To see a child go hungry should not sit well with any human being who considers themselves a part of society.  Children are the most innocent human beings on this earth and deserve a fair chance at receiving the necessities of life.  The study would change the minds of every person in the world including the poor, middle class, the rich, the politicians, business owners, and every person that can make an impact on the lives of children will be affected.  This is an issue that cannot be changed by one person but the entire world.  According to the Food Effect (2014), “Fortunately, the issue is solvable. It will take a concerted, focused effort on the part of our society, our lawmakers, our charitable organizations and ourselves to feed our children and feed them well” (para. 2). 

Therefore in order to make positive contributions to the well-being of children and their families, I would have to get everyone on the same page and join the fight to end child hunger.  Once everyone is on the same page we would be able to make several positive contributions which would include no child going hungry, constant supply of foods, relieve of stress from families and children, uniting society as one, rebuilding the communities, and promoting the healthy development of children.  This will allow all children the opportunity to focusing on learning, enjoy life, and become productive citizens who are willing to give back to their communities.  In conclusion, my study will not talk about the situation of child hunger but actually do something about it.       

References

Share Our Strength.  (2013). Food insecurity. Retrieved from http://www.nokidhungry.org/problem/hunger-facts.

The Food Effect. All about hunger. Retrieved from https://www.thefoodeffect.org/all-about-hunger/.

My Research Journey

I am a person that loves to learn new things and seek new knowledge especially when it focuses on the well-being of children.  Since the beginning of this program I have been able to obtain information from many different sources that have given me an idea of the issues and problems that children, families, and early childhood professionals are faced with.  Also during my current course, I have been introduced to the research process and also given the opportunity to select a topic of interest that I have in regards to the early childhood field for my simulation.  After careful consideration of things that I have learned and resources I have read, I decided to select poverty as the topic for my simulation.  Poverty is situation that many children and families are living in which has a major impact on their lives as well as their development.  Living in poverty is very stressful for children in which it affects them in all areas of development.  This is a topic that every early childhood professionals should be informed on especially when it comes to the impact it can have on children academically.  Early childhood professional should be aware of the living conditions of their students and also be able to provide them with different resources and services that can help the families address their situation.  Basically my simulation will provide every early childhood professional with important information regarding how living in poverty effects a child socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physically.  

The process of conducting research can be very difficult in which I must make sure that I keep my topic in mind at all times when going through the research process.  However, after being provided with information on how to identify scholarly resources, I feel more comfortable with selecting sources that will be used in my research.  In addition, I was able to gain an even clearer view of research by conducting the research chart in which I was able to identify different topics and terminology I did not understand and eventually convert it into information that is understandable.  I feel that going through each process individually and taking time to understand each part will allow me to successfully complete my simulation and have a stronger view and position on poverty and its effect on children.  I was also able to begin looking for resources on poverty in which I was able to identify several resources that will provide me with a great deal of information on poverty.  The articles I identified are as follows:

• The Effects of Poverty on Children retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/07_02_03.pdf.
• The Effect of Child Poverty on Child Development and Educational Outcomes retrieved from http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=psycd_fac.
• The Impact of Poverty on a Child's Social and Emotional Competence retrieved from http://poverty.ucdavis.edu/policy-brief/impact-poverty-childs-social-and-emotional-competence.

I look forward to finding more information on this topic, learning more about research, and successfully completing my simulation.  I also look forward to sharing resources with my classmates and I encourage them to share resources with me as well as we continue to learn about the early childhood field.    

Networking in the Early Childhood Field

As I think about the experience I have had these last seven weeks, all I can say that it has truly been worthwhile.  The information that I have learned from my international contact has allowed me to view things in a different manner and has also informed me that children from all over the world are experiencing some of the same problems.  Stephanie has shared with me her views on the early childhood field and initiatives that the NAEYC has taken on to address the issues that the early childhood field is faced with.  I am honored to say that my international contact has basically given me that extra boost needed in order to achieve my ultimate goal which is to help improve the lives of children all over the world.      

As I reflect on the things I have learned and my experience networking with international early childhood professionals, I have developed several consequences of my learning on both a professional and personal note.

1. There are professionals all over the world that possess the same desire to address the negative issues that exist in the early childhood field in order to allow children to reach their full potential and develop into model citizens.
2. In order to become a quality early childhood professional I must make sure that I am aware of the issues, policies, and initiatives that currently exist within the early childhood field.
3. In order to make changes in the lives of children I must dedicated myself to a life to impacting as many children as possible and remember it’s not the number of children but the quality of the service. 

Communicating with Ms. Olmore has basically made my journey a little easier in which I know that there are many people out there already in the field waiting on new people to join in the fight for children.  However, as I continue my journey and work towards receiving my degree, I will always keep in the back of my mind the goal that I have to achieve which is:

1. To one day receive a position in the early childhood field that will allow to network with people all over the world in order to connect with them and develop a team that will be unstoppable and big enough to eradicate any issues that serves as a disservice to children.

 As I end my blog for this class I would like to leave you all with the following quote:

"I continue to believe that if children are given the necessary tools to succeed, they will succeed beyond their wildest dreams!"

David Vitter, U.S. Senator

References

Compassion.  (2014). Famous quotes about children.  Retrieved from http://www.compassion.com/child-advocacy/find-your-voice/famous-quotes/.