working with families

In my feild work  course I observe one of the families that i have been in contact with from the two year old class.  The parents explain to me that they have been in the center for awhile now.  They had an older daughter that went to the school.  They really enjoyed the program.  I ask the parents did they have any concerns and they responded the activities involved in the classroom.  I ask them do they participate in any activities at home and they responded yes.  They love to go for walks and bikr rides with the children.  There concern was to do more indoor activities.  Thay had many great suggestion and they placed it in the drop box by the directors office.  It was great to hear that they enjoyed the program and was very active.  Being active was apart of my advocacy plan.

ADMINISTRATION TALK

While at my setting these last two weeks i interviewed my boss on my topic for my research paper. I asked her did she think that there was a need for more physical activity in our setting.  Her response to me was that there is a need for this issue to be spread ed.  She said that with in the last couple of years she has notice a change in the toys that the children bring in.  There are so many different electronic games that the children seem to be occupied with. There has even been a decline in the participation in the SIDS walk that the parents and children usually attend.  There is a parent advisory board at the center and she has discuss different outside activities with the parents and they do not seem all that interested.  Her quote to me was we may have to start with the parents.  There was another issue that concerned her and that was the fact that the staff to always be sitting around and not interacting with the children.  That's why she said that she ready to have a class on physical fitness that touch on child obesity.  That was right up my ally.  She informed me that i should take a poll with the parents to see what different activities that they do at home on the weekends. My research paper is something that she is looking forward to reading and want to pass on to the parent advisory board.
My next interview involved my other boss.  We talked about some different event that could help kick off more physical activities.  He planing a field day where the parents and staff can participate with the children.  He also planing different workshop that could help with different inside and outside activities.  He has notice the lack of activity with in the staff and want to do something about it.  He gave me some different websites to gather some more information on my research topic.  He thinks that my questions should lead me on the right path.
For the most part it seems that my bosses are behind the fact that there is a need for advocacy on this topic.  I believe that i will be able to get a lot of feed back from them as well as the parents and staff.

The Observation

I did my observation last week in a two year old class.  It was very interesting to see how much physical activity that they actually participate in.  They go outside twice a day for about an half an hour to forth five minutes.  While outside the children have bikes, a basketball court, sand box, slide and even a garden.  I notice that the children like to just run around chasing each other.  They really get a lot of gross motor skills.  The center provides the morning and evening snacks.  I had a chance to look at their snack menu.  It had apples,trail mix, fruit bars, waffles, bagels, and milk in the morning and juice in the evening.  Within that classroom they seem to be really active and providing healthy snacks.  I was wondering if the teachers provide physical activities while inside the classroom.  I had a chance to talk with one of the teachers n the classroom to ask question and get some feedback.I asked about the indoor physical activities.  She told me that the children love to dance and they do an activity where you have to move like different animals to a song.  They also have a playroom on the inside.  Inside the room has tunnels, hula hoops, bean bags, and balls, etc etc.  They play in their with different activities as well.  After talking with my host teacher i asked her a question before i left and that was who job does she think i is to provide activities and healthy food to the children.  She told me hat it's everyone job.  The director, teachers, and the parents play a major role.  She said the teachers can have the children take a weekly schedule home for the parents to do that involve physical activities.  The directors can establish a field day for the center to have or bring in people that specialize in different physical activities like My Gym.  The parents can bring in healthy lunches and plan outdoor activities.  This is not just one person job and we need to stick together to help each other stay healthy. 

Interview

When i did my interview with my professionals they had me thinking about a couple different topics.  One of the teachers was all about behavior.  The other teacher was about physical fitness.  I had an idea about early literacy.  When i was interviewing the teacher i also thought about what needed the most advocacy.  Well they all seem to be on the rise so i just had to pick one.  I chose physical fitness.  The related topic was eating healthy, activities, and child obesity.  I figured i could get alot of information about this topic.  If there is anyone who can add to the subject concerning physical fitness please coment on my blog!

Thanks