SHARING MY WEB RESOURCE

The NAEYC is  a site that requires membership commitment to access some of their materials while some can be viewed without such commitment.

Current Issues, November 2012 featured The role of relationships in early childhood education.

This is relevant to my current professional development because I am constantly interacting with young children and also working with those who work directly with young children. How to I ensure quality in this relationship is in a lot of ways my responsibility. So I seek opportunities to learn.

The article caught my interest and it focuses on NAEYC’s Technology and Young Children Interest Forum’s Resources for Teachers and Families.

Technology makes our world of work easier and a topic as this is a must read as there are obvious  disadvantages to the issue.  The article offers teachers guidance on making informed decision on the use of technology and interactive media tools with young children, and considers both benefits and challenges of implementation.

It stresses that any tool whose usage is not properly guided can cause imbalance and technology tools are very good examples .Teachers and caregivers have raised and are raising concerns on the facts about how they might use these gadgets considering that there are issues already on with regards to how it is anti developmental for children to sustitute building relationships with ordinary tech instrument.

Early childhood professionals make decisions “to improve program quality by intentionally leveraging the potential of technology and media for the benefit of every child” and responses were given by key organizers like Technology in Early Childhood (TEC) in collaboration with the Technology dept of YC, (Tech &YC). They supplied websites that can help with such resources.
(www.ecetech.net)
(www.techandyoungchildren.org)
www.techandyoungchildren.org/children.html
www.techandyoungchildren. org/educators.html


This Idea about technology being  a form of relationship is a new dimension to supports for young children.

In relation to the issues of how economists, neurosciences and politicians support the field of early childhood, there is a need to meet the needs in the life of children even if the nation want to build its future economy. To develop strong brain architecture, babies and toddlers require consistent quality  relationships in their lives. An attempt to look away from the essence of childhood, fun, play, and learn all in stimulating environments, is a misnomer because the quality adulthood that we seek may never form.

Relationship should be integrated and promoted in a child's life because they are his TRUE SUPPORTS and they are what will guide the child in quality nurturing to the quality adults that the economist and the politician seeks. The field of neuroscience has provided evidences in research based evidences in support of what makes quality childhood into adulthood.

Shokoff (2009) articulated it well when he said:

 Exciting new discoveries at the intersection of the biological, behavioral, and social sciences can now explain how healthy development happens, how it is derailed, and what society can do to keep it on track. It is well established, for example, that the interaction of genetics and early experience builds a foundation for all subsequent learning, behavior, and health. That is to say, genes provide the blueprint for building brain architecture, but early experiences determine how the circuitry actually gets wired, and together they influence whether that foundation is strong or weak. Families and communities clearly play the central role (and bear most of the costs) in providing the supportive relationships and positive experiences that all children need, yet public policies that promote healthier environments for children can also have significant positive effects. 

 Relationship is to be nurtured and cherished in children. We cannot afford to treat them as mere data or commodities

References

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 Technology and Young Children Interest Forum’s Resources for Teachers and Familieshttp
//www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/201211/OnOurMinds1112.pdf

Shonkoff, J. P. (2009). Mobilizing science to revitalize early childhood policy. Issues in Science & Technology, 26(1), 79–85.
http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/pqdweb?did=1992254101&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=70192&RQT=309&VName=PQD

The role of relationships in early childhood                                                                             http://www.naeyc.org/yc/currentissue