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BETTER BEGINNINGS
PENNY PATTER
July 22, 2003
I suppose I should be glad that the talk shows are on a rant about elder drivers; at least it diverts them somewhat from the newest distorted accounts of child-care research. If I had any teeth left, I would be grinding them over the hand-ling of both these issues. What have we here? Ageism? Childcareism? Sensationalism? Whatever: The Associated Press version reports that seventeen percent of children in day care for more than 30 hours a week had problem behaviors. |
Hello! Does this mean that our glass is half empty or, actually, more than three-quarters full? Shall we celebrate that eighty-three percent do NOT have problem behaviors? Oh, yes, mention is made of the "vast majority" way now in the fifth paragraph. Not sensational enough for the first paragraph? In fact, if you read all the way to the sixth paragraph, you will read that the "strongest predictor of child behavior was not day care but how sensitive mothers were to their child's needs." |
| Once upon a time child care proponents had to regularly fight all kinds of allegations just in order to survive. (Probably that was when I wore my teeth out, grinding them to powder.) Thanks to our supporters, we made it. And a good thing, too, because child care is desperately needed. There is just not enough to go around. Nowadays child care is a given. What is NOT given is enough funding. We still struggle. A large subsidy comes from devoted staff who accept low salaries in order to use their gift. | Hard to believe in this country where we worship youth that we continue to pay someone more to watch our cars than we do to watch our kids! Still, pity the poor working parents: already suffering from guilt and separation anxiety; add to that reports of how BAD it is for the kids? Fortunately, we can comfort them with all the recent research that shows the advantages and benefits of early childhood education. I can, if you like, cite them chapter and verse, and WILL at the drop of a chapeau. |
| Come on guys! Did you ever stop to think what percent of kids NOT in day care might have behavior problems? Is it even a possibility that maybe twenty-five percent of those enrolled had behavior problems and after a year of good quality child care, it was modified it down by eight percent? From another view, children who are placed with us because they have been abandoned, abused or neglected are almost |
certain to have some resultant behaviors. They may be hostile; they are more likely to be sad, shy, withdrawn, and distrustful. Our job is to help to restore their childhood and their faith in humankind. From still another view, day care providers often provide early intervention (and, therefore, more likely alleviation) for possible learning impairments. |
| Unfortunately when a study is sensa-tionalized, and we become alarmed and/or defensive, we miss the chance to view it as a way to learn and improve. In this instance, we are reminded to give special attention to children who are shy and withdrawn, to creating a warm and caring environment, and to give positive attention to those who are hostile/ aggressive. We also note that parenting workshops and family involvement are still just as important as NAEYC, our | professional organization, has instructed us. Pay us a visit! See and hear for yourself. Everyone talks about the happy sounds that come forth from our classrooms. Sure, we have behaviors (including the shy and withdrawn) that we are working on moderating. That is part of what we do. Give us some credit here. Better still, come on over and help us. Without volunteers, we would not be able to do such a good job. Our kids need you! |
| Oh, and about taking away elders' drivers licenses! (Smile) But that's another rant for another day. Ok, but just think about this: if more men have | more accidents, should all the men have their licenses taken away? (genderism?) Get real. |
| The Pincher loves those "baby wipes." Of course she hates to throw away those cylindrical types of containers with the hole in top. She also likes to | crochet. When the wipes are "all gone", she places her yarn in the container which keeps her yarn from tangling. |
| "If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems, as possessing strengths instead of weak-nesses, as unlimited rather that dull and |
unresponsive, then they thrive and grow to their capabilities." -- Barbara Bush |
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Our United Way is a problem solver in many ways. Besides the process of collecting and distributing funds, they also collect items that are useful to the agencies. Case in point: John Perdoni of the United Way of Greater Mercer (our United Way) brought eight boxes of paper donated by a corporation. Such donations, of course, save us the expense of buying paper. Many others, also, continue to donate items. We have a set of antique blocks donated by Mr. Jonathan Craig, |
also a box of small toys and animals that didn't get out of my office before some children began to ooooh and aahhh. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Horowitz made a very generous gift to our endowment fund in memory of Georgia Katsifis. A generous contribution arrived from Howard Vassall. Joyce Abbott contributed a collection of pennies. Two children are very happy with 2 Fisher Price bicycles donated by Betsy Bloemeke, along with a useful easel. |
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Further information about Better Beginnings can be found at www.princetonol.com/groups/bbcdc. If you have suggestions, contributions, comments, positive |
consequences, or ideas for Penny Pincher, please write to Bettie Witherspoon at PO Box 187, Hightstown, NJ 08520 or bewith@mail2peace.com. |
Imagine That!
July 15, 2003
Let your child come out to play! Let your creative, imaginative, frolicsome self emerge! Children, by nature, are playful and very creative. When does that nature go into hiding and why? Are we suppressing our happier selves beneath a serious exterior? I asked friends and readers to fill in a blank, and I got some really imaginative responses, with lots of room for reflection:
I asked, "If you foster creativity and imagination in a child, he/she …. "
* will learn and grow and believe in him/herself. (Mrs. Cenaida).
* will have the skills to create and imagine wonderful lives for him/herself. (Karenabotta)
* will seek the world with a positive outlook. (Diane)
Thank you, everyone who responded, for all the thoughtful answers. It surely inspires us to want to open the door to original thinking. More responses will follow. I think.
Here's what President J. Q. Adams said, "Let us consider an alternative style of thinking, which we can call 'creative thinking.' It is playfully instructive to note that the word 'reactive' and the word 'creative' are made up of exactly the same letters. The only difference between the two is that you 'C' [see] differently." No, President Adams did not rear up and speak to me! Imagine if he had!
The response was more earthly from Nick, our retired detective/policeman friend now living in South Carolina: His fill-ins:
Nick, as you see, rewards us with his imaginative/realistic wit and wisdom. He always makes us laugh, a creative talent he does not, to our joy, suppress.
Has this whetted your appetite for some ideas to stimulate creativity? Not just for kids, let’s start with art: Coloring books may have their place, but tend to stifle and stereotype. Provide tools (paper, crayons, markers, pencils, paints, brushes, clay, glue, scissors, whatever) and let the creative juices flow. A place where such tools can be kept and found is helpful for all, especially me.
We often ask a student to draw a picture, perhaps of what he saw on a walk. This helps to imprint the experience, and underline the learning. The drawing, of course, is always quite wonderful. Sometimes we ask the child to tell us a story about the drawing. We then print the dictated story, verbatim, on the bottom of the drawing or on another paper. The pre- and emergent literacy student can then "read" his own story. For adults, the drawing, or a word picture, may serve as a diary, a thing I regret not keeping more of.
Some people have the nerve to open up their mouths and say to me, "I am not creative." Bosh*! You just put the words together to create that sentence, I respond. Someone, maybe you, may have stifled your creative instincts. To stimulate someone, anyone, even yourself, but particularly our budding genius (the young student) use encouraging words, such as "That looks like fun," or "I see you enjoy using finger paint." Refrain, please from saying something like, "That is so pretty," or anything that alludes judgmentally to the drawing as a representation. Referring to the "process rather than the product" helps us keep this in mind.
___*a Hungarian word my paterfamilias often employed to deride a foolish notion.)
Imagination Runs Wild:
Creative thinking is to be encouraged, whether the artist is three, thirteen, thirty, or thirty times three. Art is one aspect. There is more, much more: music and movement, pretend play, rhyming, woodworking, storytelling, making up silly songs, supplying new words for old favorites, playing/making rhythm instruments, exploration, block building, discovering, using all the senses, open-ended stories and questions, problem-solving, acting out stories, puppetry, gardening, cooking, crafting, writing, to name a few. More later, but for now:
Imaginative Thinking:
Ask open ended questions, ask questions with many possible answers, ask (drops eyes) for "fill in the blanks", ask what would happen if …. Examples: "What would happen if no-one had shoes?" "What are the people doing in this photograph?" "What do you think they are saying?" "What are they feeling?" "What would it be like if you could not see?" "What if you could fly: what is the first thing you would do?" You get the idea, right?
Images of flowers dance in my head:
Also books, baskets, ribbon, cards, a stroller, paper tablets, games, toys and computer games donated by our caring friends, Anna E. Ward, Diane Zellner, Laura Staubus of First Presbyterian Church, Dr. David Goldstein, and others.
Our Good Will Ambassador, "Mr. Jonathan" Craig, recognizing what a valuable tool music is for nursery school learning, gifted us with a bongo drum and many, many tapes. Through him, Bernard Wright donated a portable radio and tape player.
Mr. Segundo Conde continues to assist us in providing nutritious food for the children through his generous donations.
Some say Penny Pincher is a Figment of my Imagination:
She seems real enough to me. She suggests using inexpensive shampoo for many things, including pre laundry treatment for oil stains. Think about it: it is designed to take excessive oil out of hair, right?
Imagine it and ... Maybe TWO million will come!
Our penny collection is nearing the million and a half mark. With the help of Sunny Young Deli and Helping Hands this week, it reached 1,498,191 with 559.55 going towards our playground improvement fund.
Contributions and volunteers are needed: Visit our website for details.
Better Beginnings, a product of someone's Imagination: Now you can visit us for real at 318 North Main St. in Hightstown, providing affordable child care since 1967, or electronically (a creation of our guru Liston Abbott) at www.princetonol.com/groups/bbcdc . If you have ideas, comments or suggestions, email me at bewith@mail2peace.com
July 08, 2003
A World of Information
A Changing World
The web also offers transformation. You can chat with someone in Australia who can help with a problem you are struggling with. A homebound heart patient in Maine can connect on a bulletin board with someone with similar interests in South Dakota. You may wish to learn more about the technology, develop thoughts, compare them with others' ideas, build a website.
You can sort out the interaction of medications, or find out about a newly diagnosed ailment. You can educate yourself through online learning. You can read a book. You can have a meditation delivered daily to your e-mail site. A child can have a book read to him. You can translate languages and get parenting ideas. An elder can find a game room where she can chat with others her age. You can pay bills. A young student can find many educational games.
I have read that a four-year-old with a computer and learning games can advance as much as one year in his cognitive skills. The possibilities are, well, wide.
A World of Help
The Children’s Project at Teamchildren.com, located in Norristown, Pa., calls their venture "Transforming Children One Computer At A Time ." Their original goal was to help "economically challenged families" directly receive a computer. To date, they have distributed computers to over 3,500 families, impacting over 12,000 children.
"Computers are quickly becoming the essential tool of education and communication in our rapidly changing world. "Computer literacy" is the norm in school, business, and society as a whole. Those without regular access to a computer are in danger of being cut off from opportunity and advancement…" Teamchildren.com website.
Haves and Have-Nots: Two Different Worlds
Thanks to our guru, Liston Abbott, Better Beginnings is connected. Soon thereafter, our after-school children began asking me to look something up on the internet to help them with their homework. By this time we had our little computer lab (4 computers) set up which the after-school kids could use. Of course, time they could spend on them, playing educational games, was limited.
The disparity struck me. Those who could be helped the most through computer use were the very ones who could least afford to have access to a computer at home. I learned next that this was far from a local problem; it was, in fact, as world wide as the web itself. It even had a name, the digital divide. Is there a between the fact that low-income kids have low tests scores, and the fact they are also unlikely to have computer access?
Thereupon, we decided to attempt a little "digital inclusion" right here. Our aim is to have a computer in the home of every one of our students. Remember that enrollment in Better Beginnings gives priority to the poorest of the poor, as well as the abused, abandoned or neglected. We got a lot of enthusiastic help from our friends, corporate and individual, as well as from our computer volunteers, in soliciting, repairing, and distributing usable computers.
A World of Potential
"Pulling oneself up by one’s boot straps" attains a whole new meaning. Penny Pincher says you haven’t lived until you "boot up", get "booted", or have to "re-boot." The Pincher, of course, likes the idea of re-using almost anything instead of adding it to our growing mound of rubbish.
We distribute the computers as a "door prize" at Family/Parent/Staff meeting/workshops. Thus, they double as an incentive to attend these gatherings, enhancing parent involvement and our motto, "Encouraging families and children to reach their full potential."
"The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be released and channeled toward some great good." -- Brian Tracy
Answer to all of the following: Yes
Do we need more computers?
Do we need more volunteers to repair them?
Will you be making a big difference in someone's life?
Positive Consequence: a World of Wonder
If you give a child the tools, he will be curious, investigate, achieve.
A World of Caring
Books, flowers, baskets, ribbon, cards, a stroller, paper tablets, games, toys and computer games were donated this week by our caring friends, Anna E. Ward, Diane Zellner, Laura Staubus of First Presbyterian Church and others.
Our Good Will Ambassador, "Mr. Jonathan" Craig, recognizing what a valuable tool music is for nursery school learning, gifted us with a bongo drum and many, many tapes. Through him, Bernard Wright donated a portable radio and tape player.
Mr. Segundo Conde continues to assist us in providing nutritious food for the children through his generous donations.
Our penny collection is nearing the million and a half mark. With with the help of Sunny Young Deli and Helping Hands this week, it reached 1,498,191 with 559.55 going towards our playground improvement fund.
Positive Consequences
We got some interesting responses to our fill in the blank from last week. Here are a few. (More next time)
If you foster creativity and imagination in a child, he/she will learn and grow and believe in him/herself. (Miss Cenaida).
If you foster creativity and imagination in children, they will have the skills to create & imagine a wonderful life for themselves. (Karen)
If you foster creativity and imagination in a child, he/she will seek the world in a positive outlook. (Diane)
Here's what President J. Q. Adams said, ""Let us consider an alternative style of thinking, which we can call 'creative thinking.' It is playfully instructive to note that the word 'reactive' and the word 'creative' are made up of exactly the same letters. The only difference between the two is that you 'C' [see] differently."
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