Thank You

I would like to thank all of my classmates for their  support, ideas, and feedback on my assignments. The support that I received through this class has helped me learn so much about what it takes to become a good advocate. I know that I will use all the things that I have learned in this class to guide me in the future. This class has been very challenging and I have worked hard to learn all I need to know about being the voice for something that I believe in. I want to thank all of you once again and I wish everyone the best of luck in everything that  you do. I hope that each and every one you accomplish all of your goals and dreams.

Enlisting and Providing Support

Enlisting and Providing Support

 

 

•Questions you have with which your colleagues may be able to provide help and support

The first question that I would like for someone to answer is childhood obesity has both immediate and long-term effects on health and well-being. Once we work with the parents to make sure that they understand the importance of healthy eating and daily exercise, how can I keep track of the families to make sure that their child continues to stay healthy? I know that there is only so much that a teacher can do but I would like to check on that family from time to time to make sure that they are on the right track. I know that school play a critical role in promoting the health and safety of children and helping them establish lifelong healthy behavior but once that child is no longer at the school what can I do to continue to support the family.

The next question is if the parent is offended when they are told that their child is obese or at risk for being obese, what would be the best way to handle the situation. I know that most parents are sensitive when it comes to their children and once they are offended what can I say or do to make them understand that my best interest is their child’s health? How can I turn a negative situation into a positive one? I have never been in a situation like this but I have seen parents upset and offended in situation. I would need to know to handle this or what to say if I get in a situation like this.

•Resources and information you are seeking

I am not seeking too much information because I have found so much information and research, and resources on childhood obesity. But if you would like to share web-sites, flyers, or anything with me, I would really appreciate it. It might be information that I have overlooked or haven’t found as of yet.

•Resources and/or information you have found helpful and insightful

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/schoolhealth/index.htm

This web-site talks about how schools can help children and adopt and maintain healthy eating and physical activity behaviors. It provides evidence-based guidance for schools on how to implement policies and practices that effectively promote healthy choices and behaviors among children.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/childhood-obesity/DS00698

It tells about how obesity is a serious medical condition that affects children and adolescents. It occurs when a child is well above the normal weight for his or her age and height. Childhood obesity is particularly troubling because the extra pounds often start children on the path to health problems that were once confined to adults, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Childhood obesity can also lead to poor self-esteem and depression.

http://www.medicinenet.com/childhood_obesity/article.htm

 

It gives facts about how adult and childhood obesity have increased substantially in the last 30 years. It states that currently, 31% of adults and 18% of children are obese. It says that the vast majority of obesity represents an imbalance in calories ingested vs. calories expended. It states that other causes of obesity metabolic, medicines, and other diseases are very rare. It also describe how is childhood obesity diagnosed. In order to systematically describe obesity, the concept of body mass index (BMI) was developed. BMI is the ratio between an individual's weight to height relative to their gender and age. BMI addresses the following question: Is the weight of the subject in excess of what is healthy for a given height? Generally (but not always), BMI correlates with the amount of body fat, but it is not a measurement of fat. An individual who has more than the average muscle mass for a given height (for example, weight lifters) will have an elevated BMI but clearly will not be obese.

References

Kieff, J. (2009). Informed advocacy in early childhood care and education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

            http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/schoolhealth/index.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/childhood-obesity/DS00698

http://www.medicinenet.com/childhood_obesity/article.htm

Personal Advocacy Journey

“This is my passion. This is my mission. I am determined to work with folks across this country to change the way a generation of kids thinks about food and nutrition”. (First Lady Michelle Obama).

What inspires me most about advocating for childhood obesity is I know that the research and information that I share will help young child and their families to live longer and stay healthy. Whether a child is at risk of being overweight, becoming overweight or currently at a healthy weight, I will do everything that I can to help them get or stay on the right track. What excites me is that I know that I will be able to help some of our families and children avoid becoming obese.  I know that I can do this by practicing and modeling healthy eat habits in the classroom, and planning and encouraging our children to participate in regular physical activity during inside and outside play.

The challenges that I feel related to engaging in the advocacy efforts that I have target is parents involvement in changing their children eating habits at home. This is a challenge that I think will be one of my biggest problem. Another challenge would be getting the schools meal plan changed. These are the two things that I feel would be a challenging for me.

The best and most effective way to overcome challenges is to have that "never quit" attitude towards whatever accomplishments that I am are trying to make.  I must have the passion and believe in what I am doing. I must be willing to be the voice for the people in who I am advocating for. If I gain the confidence and believe, I know that I can achieve my goals and be successful.

I can encourage others by helping them find different resources and information about their topic. I will let them know that what they are fighting for are important and that he or she must stand up and be the voice for that topic. I will tell them that they must give it their all and in doing so, they will see positive outcomes in the end. I would tell them when they feel like giving up; remember why they held on and believed for so long in the first place.

EDU Internship 455 B-1 Childhood Obesity in Early Childhood

Hello everyone, I would like to wish everyone the best of luck.

Internship II ECE 455 B-1 Advocating for Childhood Obesity in Early Childhood

Hello everyone, I would like to thank each and every one of you for your feed-back and comments on my assignments. This has been an interesting journey for me but I must say that I have learned a lot about writing along the way.  I have enjoyed reading your discussion and blogs and I believe that we all have grown so much. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and comments with me. I have also learned and grown from each and everyone of your comments and discussions.

I have always had a fear of writing and when I started this class I realized that a lot of writing was involved and it made me so nervous. I got so caught up and overwhelmed in the beginning because I knew that writing is my weakest subject. As I went through each module it got a littler easier through each one.

      I would also like to thank Professor Puntil-Wilcek for her feed-back on my assignment because it has helped me to become a better writer. I really believe that she has helped me to improve my writing skills. I am not where I was when I first started this class because my writing skills have improved. I am a better writer now but I still have room for improvement. Once again thank all of you and I wish everyone the best of luck.

Observing and Interacting With Families of the Children in Your Setting

 

 

 

Observing and Interacting With Families of the Children in Your Setting

                                          Childhood Obesity

 

 

On February 15, 2013 I interacted with a parent of a student in my classroom. The parent was there to have lunch with his child and I took the opportunity to talk with him.   This parent always comes to the center to eat lunch with his daughter or help in the classroom so he and I have a good parent-teacher relationship. I know that he spends two days a week with his child in the classroom and I know that he have her every week-end. I told him that I wanted to get his in-put about how he feels about healthy eating habits and overweight children.  I started by asking him what kind of food that he and his daughter eat on the week-end. He said that he does not cook and when she is at his house, they mostly eat out every meal. He said that on Friday night he order pizza and make sure that she have plenty of juice to drink and snacks to eat. He said that on Saturday morning they go to McDonald’s for breakfast. He said that she normally get a sausage biscuit meal with orange juice. He stated that for lunch, he either heat up the left over pizza, takes her to Wendy’s or back to McDonald which ever she chooses. I asked him what do she drink with her lunch? “He said juice, coke, or sprite”. He then said that she snacks a lot. I asked him what do she eat for snack? ‘He said chips, cookies, popcorn, and candy”. I then asked him what do she have for dinner?  “He said most of the time she eats Popeye’s chicken or Kentucky fried chicken. I asked him what she eats before he takes her home on Sunday and he said he repeat the eating pattern. He was quiet for a moment and he said wow that’s not good is it. He said at that moment that he realized that the food that he gives her is not healthy at all. He stated that he had never thought about it before. I asked him did he think that she is overweight. He said no, but if I keep this up she is going to be. I asked him what kind of food he thought was healthy eating? He said vegetables, fruit, water, and probably baked food. He said that just thinking about it made him feel bad. I told him not to feel bad because it was something that he never thought about. He said that he had notice the food that we served them for lunch was kind of weird, but he never thought about it. I told him that we serve our children at the center healthy food because we want them to be healthy and prevent them from becoming overweight. He said that he is going to do things different after this conversation. He said he can’t cook but he is going to change their week-end eating habits. I told him that if he needed help just asks. I told him that he could talk to the cook in the kitchen if he wanted to. I told him that she will help him as much as she can. He stated that he know her because he grew up with her boys. I also told him that he could go on- line to find out information about healthy eating habits. I told him that I didn’t ask him these questions to make him feel bad; I had to get this information for a class that I was taking. He said, oh Ms. Brenda, I am glad that we had this conversation; I wish we could of have had it sooner. He said I am going to the store when I pick her up and I am going to get some oranges, apples, peaches, plums, chicken, bottled water, and some can vegetable’s. I can’t cook that good, but I can throw some chicken on the grill. We will not be eating out this week-end. I thanked him for his time and told him that if he needed anything or help with something just asks. I told him that if I don’t know that answers, I will find someone that can help him.  He told me that I was welcome and anytime I need to talk just asks.

 

       I interacted with the second person on February 19, 2013. The second person that I interacted with was a co-worker that was hired about four weeks ago that has an issue with her fifteen old weight. She has talked about this issue with several teachers during break.  I went to her classroom and asked her if she would talk to me about her daughter weight situation. She agreed to talk with me during our break. When we meet she stated that she is doing everything that she can to help her daughter with her eating habits. I ask her if she think her daughter is overweight or obese. She said that the doctor told her that her daughter was obese at this point. I asked her if she can remember when she notices her daughter getting overweight. She said that it started back when her husband got orders to go overseas for the first time. She said that her daughter were about twelve at the time. She said that she had a night job and her sister was taking care of her daughter. She said that her sister love to eat out and eat snack all the time but that was the only help that she had. She said that she notice her daughter picking up weight in a three months’ time. She said that at first she didn’t think too much of it because she was dealing with her husband being away. She said that she then got a day job and were able to be home with her daughter at night. She said that it was a difficult time because her duties at that time were very overwhelming. She said that when her husband returned home the first thing that he notice was their daughter weight gain. He questions her about it and told her that she needed to help their daughter cut back on eating out and eating so much junk food. She said she tried to help her cut back on the cokes, junk food, and fast food but her daughter got really upset about it. She said she started fixing healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner but her daughter didn’t eat what she cooked. She said her daughter continues to eat food that wasn’t good for her and the weight kept coming. She said that her daughter and her start having problems with their relationship because of the help she was trying to give her. Her daughter kept eating and the weight kept coming and before she knew it her daughter was very overweight. She said that she had to work on their relationship and try to build it back up and approach it another way. She said when her daughter turn fourteen she asked her daughter to go on a diet and told her that she would go on a diet with her. She told her that they could do it together but her daughter refused. She said she realized that the weight was out of control. She took her daughter to the doctor and the doctor told to her daughter and suggested that she cut back because a weight problem can cause a lot of health issues. After the doctor visit her daughter really didn’t want to talk about it anymore and she became rebellious. Her daughter is now fifteen and weighs about 289lbs and does not care what she eats or how she looks. She said that she is going to continue to talk to her daughter and be there for her in the time of need. She said that at this point she does not know what to do. She said that she hopes that her daughter realize that she is overweight and unhealthy and let someone help her even if it’s not her. She said that the situation is very stressful because she loves her child so much .I told her that I hope everything work out for her and her family.  I told her that I would be thinking of her and her daughter and that I would keep them in my prayers. I thanked her for sharing her time and story with me.

 My learning experiences and insights that I have gained is how important it is to watch what our children eat. The parents have to make sure that they are keeping up with their child’s eating habit and weight gain. I am glad that I choose childhood obesity because there is much work that needs to be to done to help our children.

 One insight that I have gained from my observation is parents need to be aware of what and how their children are eating from the start. I know that there are many things going on in the home but we need to take the time to make sure that our children is eating the right type of food and getting plenty of water and good exercise.

 

     Another insight that I have gain from my observation is sometime parents are unaware of the food that they feed their children. Sometimes parents don’t know what to do or where to turn to make sure their child is getting the proper nutrition that they need. Talking to the parent and my co-worker made me realize how important it is that we do everything that we can to help our children learn how to eat the right kinds of food and stay healthy.

Observing and Interacting With Professionals, Children, and Families in an Early Childhood Setting

      I interacted with Shelia Fuller on February 07, 2013. Ms. Fuller is the Early Childhood manger for Okaloosa County Head Start. I explained my assignment to Ms. Fuller about becoming an advocate for childhood obesity and she think that I made a good choice. Ms. Fuller and I discuss the process of how it is determine if a child in our program is overweight or obese. The step that is taking to determined if a child is over weight is done by our family service specialist. They check each child weight and height every three months to make sure that the children stay healthy.  The assessment and guidelines that they use to determine if a child is overweight or obese is through job plus.

        Ms. Fuller said that each year during training, she makes sure that her staff  understand how important it is for  the children in the program to learn to use their self help skill, learn healthy habits, and the importance of  keeping all children safe from harm. She stated that learning in one area of development can enhance learning in other areas. Each child is unique and each child develops and learns differently and at their own pace. Ms. Fuller said that this is another important issue that my staff needs to be aware of.

     Ms. Shelia then thought about the conversation that she and I had about two weeks ago. She reminded me about the conversation that she and I had about a child in my classroom. The family specialist screen the students in my classroom and one little boy was label overweight. The family specialist referred the child to the nurse and the nurse had a conference with the parents to discuss the outcomes. The parents were really upset about the discussion that the nurse had with them about their child. The next day the parent went to Ms. Shelia offices and talked with her about what the nurse had to say about the child . The parent told Ms. Shelia that he had made his son an appointment with his doctor the very next day. The day after the child’s appointment, he stop by Ms. Shelia office and told her that the nurse was wrong and didn’t know what she was talking about, and that the scales was wrong and that his child doctor said that he was not overweight.  I shared this because it is very important how we talk to the parents, and we must be very careful about the information that we share with the parents about their child.  I thanked Ms. Sheila for talking with me and sharing her thoughts with me.

    The second person that I spoke with was Mrs. Angela on February 8, 2013. She works with the family specialist team at Okaloosa County Head Start. I asked her about the process of screening children weight. She stated that what they use body mass index screening. She said that they screen each child every three months to calculate their weight and height. She said that it is called a BMI screening and it helps identify who may be at risk for weight problems. She said that if it places a child below the 5^th percentile that may mean that a child I not growing well. It also means that a child is at risk for an eating disorder. Children with a (BMI) that places them above the 85^th percentile are consider overweight. The children that are placed above the 95^th percentile are consider obese. Mrs. Angela stated that this is what concerns them the most because the 85^th percentile put the child at risk for type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. If a child in our program is 85 percentile or over then, we recommend them to have their child examine by their physician which can conduct a complete evaluation.

     Mrs. Angela stated that the first place to start is with the child doctor. She feels that all children are different and the parents should discuss possible changes in nutrition and physical activity with a qualified health-care professional. The parent should discuss the child’s growth, nutrition, activity level, sleep and fluid intake are the most important that can affect your child health.

   She said that if the parent is concern about their child (BMI) the doctors and the health care professionals are the best people to determine whether your child weight is healthy, and they can help check for medical problems that can cause unhealthy weight. If a doctor determines that the child is overweight or obese, the doctor can help develop a weight-loss strategy that includes exercise and changes in diet. I thank Mrs. Angela for speaking with me and sharing her time with me.

    The time that I spent with Ms. Shelia and Mrs. Angela was very interesting. I leaned so much and became knowledgeable about the way the children in our center height and weight are checked and processed. I feel that the information that was shared with me is going to be useful when doing my research.