The type of play I enjoyed and what play meant to me as a child

The type of play I enjoyed as a child was jump rope and singing what we called cheers.  We would wake up in the morning anxious to get to school because we would have jump rope competitions in the playground.  After school we would come home and once we did our homework there we was back outside again jumping rope.  We also used to sing cheers.  It was forbidden for my cousins and I to sing cheers so we would go to the other end of the block with our friends.  My grandmother used to say singing cheers was for fast girls so if we were to get caught we were definitely going to be in trouble.  So I don't know if we enjoyed it so much because it was something we weren't supposed to be doing or if it was just plain fun either or we loved doing it.  Another game we used to play was hide go seek.  We found joy in trying to find those who were hiding running after them to catch them before they touched the tree you counted at.  For some reason I loved to play marbles too. I enjoyed when our parents used to take us to the playground to swing on the swings and go down the slide.  I was always afraid to climb the monkey bars.  Another thing I can remember doing in the house with my cousins is pretending to have talent shows we would get the broom to use as our microphone and my brother played his keyboard while we all took turns singing.  We even played outside in the winter having snowball fights and making snowmen and snow angels.  There was also games we played like rock teacher and red light green light.  On days we couldn't go outside we would stay in the house and play board games or Atari and Nintendo  Play meant a lot to me as a child because it was a time to share and have fun with not only my family but also my friends.  We all looked forward to this play time everyday and we loved summer because it meant we could play all day. 

How my family, community, and culture has had an impact on me

My family has had the most impact on me.  They have always pushed me to excel.  I was always praised and encouraged by my family not only as a child but well into my adulthood.  I come from a small family so we are all very close.  There are not many college graduates in my family because during the upbringing of my mother's generation this was not encouraged.  My mother and her siblings had to go work after high school to help their mom, being she was a single mother.  They always wanted the best for my generation because unlike them we had the opportunity to go to school.  This is probably why I have always had the desire to become successful in life.  My community has also played a role in my decision to choose early childhood as a profession.  I know that there are so many children our there that need a individual like myself to be a role model and a teacher of not only educational but life-long experiences.  I have always played a role in my community with helping our youth have positive experiences, keeping them motivated, and encouraging them to love learning.  In my culture we don't have many people that are interested in becoming successful by working hard and dedicating themselves to positive environments.  That is what pushes me so hard.  I don't want my kids and I to become products of our environments so I try to bring them up the way I was instead of letting them learn from what they see on the outside.

The area that was challenging to me as a child

The area that was challenging to me as a child was social emotional.  As a child I was very shy and didn't really do well with interacting with not only my peers but also adults.  I was always smart and caught on to things very quickly, but I always use to stay to myself.  I had a very big vocabulary at a young age, but for some reason I never wanted to express myself and open up to other people.  I would never forget the day my mother scolded me because I was so shy I was afraid to speak to my half brothers on my dad's side.  I always knew them and had spent a lot of time with them while I was young but I still didn't feel comfortable enough to express myself in front of them.  In grade school I used to hate when the teacher made us go to the board to work out problems because I knew that she would ask us to explain how we got the answer and it was hard for me to speak in front of the class.  This shyness lasted all the way through grade school and up into high school.  I think somewhere in my mind I felt like I didn't fit in so I just stayed to myself in fear of being rejected.  Things changed for me as I grew into an adult.  I don't know what came over me, but now I am very open to talking to people and I'm not shy at all.

The child development theorist that has the greatest influence on my thinking and practices

The child development theorist that has the greatest influence on my thinking and practices is Erik Erikson. I truly believe that every person must pass through a series of eight interrelated stages over the entire life cycle.  For an example a child who is nurtured and cared for properly will gain trust while a child who does not experience this trust will have mistrust.  I have seen this happen in many children and in each situation things turned out exactly as he explained.  I witnessed hands on the toddler stage with my own children being vulnerable and throwing temper tantrums but yet very sure of themselves because of the care they received.  Working in the class I witnessed that preschool aged children love to copy what they see adults do.  Many of them act out the things they see in the dramatic play area.  If you go into a preschool class and observe you will see that this is one of the most visited areas by all children.  Now take a look at the school aged child and you will see that this is a very social stage of development and if feelings of inferiority are unresolved amongst peers children can have serious problems with self esteem.  You find children doing so many things may they be positive or negative because they want to be accepted by their peers.  At the adolescent age children are trying to find their own identity and to fit in with their peers but some may attempt to delay entering into adulthood and try to withdraw from responsibilities.  I am experiencing this with my 16 year old son.  Now the young adult on the other hand usually seeks companions love and at this stage some people begin to settle down and start families.  This is the age bracket I fell into when I started to love my mate and we had our first child.  Now that I have reached 35 I can relate to the theory of Erikson's stage he considers middle-aged because I am at the stage where my career is very important.  I am working to establish stability and I want to make a difference in society.  Last but not least late adulthood the time when you reflect on your life.  Some can look back a feel a sense of integrity knowing they have lived a meaningful life while others may have a sense of despair reflecting upon their failures and fearing death.  This is the stage I am experiencing with my mom.  She only reflects on her failures and questions whether their was a point to her life.  She also fears death because of the many negative choices she has made in life, she fears that they may cause her to have an early death.

Why I chose to become an early childhood professional

The reason why I chose to become an early childhood professional is because of the love I have for children.  I enjoy not only teaching them but their company and the interesting things they have to say.  Nothing is more rewarding then to see a child learn something for the first time and to know you played a major part in teaching what they have learned.  I love being a positive role model for young children, someone they can look up to and want to be like when they become adults.  I also decided to become an early childhood professional because not only do I love children, they love me.  I treat them with the respect and dignity they so much deserve.  I want to be that teacher who makes such a great impact on young children that they remember me well into their adult life.  I want to be that person who helps make and mold these young children into successful adults.  I also chose this position because I want to know how children develop cognitively from birth.  I even enjoy the pleasure of starting relationships with families so that not only will I be making an impact on the children I teach but helping the families with resources and information they may not know is available.  I want to be able to help them so they are knowledgeable and can help their children at home because that's where teaching starts.  After volunteering in the class with my own kids for many years I thought why not turn this into a career.  I want to keep our children smiling and teach them to love the joy of learning.