Children and Media

I think that as long as its not excessive TV can be good for children, its a nice down time and can be very informative as well. I would have to say that for young children maybe an hour to 2 a day of cartoons that are stimulating like little Einstein's is good and then of course Saturday morning cartoons is a necessary, it gives parents and children a chance to sit and snuggle and watch some funny stuff. But keep it short enjoy having an active life so you don't start relying on the TV to babysit your children.

I think my Home media had good influences on me because I mostly watch Disney movies and shows which all have good stories and happy endings, although it could have gave me a little bit of a false outlook on how great the world is. But on another hand it influenced me to be kinda to others and always find a smile.

I think in order to monitor the television viewed by our children we need to know what they are watching, sit with them and watch what they are make sure its something you want them to be watching. Make sure you set a limit as to how much they can watch and make sure when that time is up you offer them a fun alternative to the TV. If needed you parental controls on your TV so that anything you do not want your children to be able to view will be blocked. But I think most importantly just be involved and be aware.

Best and Worst Teachers!

The best teacher I would have to say was my kindergarten and first grade teacher, she was so kind and nurturing when we first came to school it wasn't scary becuase she felt like family. My personal reason for her being my favorite is because all through my schooling she was there for me, always guiding me and helping me make the right choices. She was and still is a constant in mine and my families life.

I would have to say my worst teacher was my grade 8/9 math science teacher, he wasn't sensitive to anyone's feelings and didnt seem to want to help me when I was struggling with the course. He tended to be semi sexist, he seemed to favor the boys a lot more then the girls. He also would do some not so appropriate things to the girls like watch when the bent over and what not which eventually he was fired for. He just didnt do a good job making me comfortable to ask him questions when I needed to.

My memories of school in general are actually mostly negative when it came to academics becuase once I was in junior high school I really struggled with most classes, I basically felt stupid cause I didnt understand a lot but I think a lot of it was I didnt apply myself completely to my studies. Most of my positive memories of school are things like my P.E recreation course where every week we had a field trip based on the sport we were learning. Also all my art courses and seeing what different minds come up with when giving a blank slate and little direction, I love art and I think that's why I remember so much of it.

Preschools

I really like the idea of Preschools, they offer a child a chance to adapt to education outside the home and the transition, it also helps the parents adjust to having other people care for and teach their children. Preschool gives children a chance to interact with other kids their age which helps their social development greatly.

I personally did not attend preschool because my mom was a stay at home mom at the time, my brother however did and growing up he always was a lot more comfortable then me with meeting new people and could deal with change a lot better then I could. I think a lot of this is because of early exposure to good change and interactions with other people then just the family.

I have worked in numerous preschools and day cares over the last 10 years. My favorite and to me the most beneficial to the children attending was the Preschool/daycare program offered to young moms on our High school campus. There were a lot of different types of children at this school and it was amazing how much interaction goes on between kids this young. The teachers at this school focused on teaching all the kids sign language with every action they did with the children. I really think this is such an important thing to educate children 5 and under on, it not only helps young babies communicate their wants and feelings but as they get old they can understand and interact with younger children and with hearing impaired children which in turn helps these children with their social development.

Stressors

Here are 10 stressors on Families today.
(1) Divorce is a huge stress on families, children have to endure so much when their parents are getting divorced, fighting before leads to stress and if continued, going to court adds long lasting stresses as well. Then there is stress on the parents on having to juggle either being a single parent or being alone and having to come up with funds to pay support.
(2) Community can cause a lot of stress in a family, when a community makes decisions it can directly affect a family. If schools are closed a family has to relocate their children causing them to have to go someone where new which can be very stressful and scary.
(3) The media holds a huge amount of stress in families everyday life, with the news showing all the bad things around the world stressing parents out, to adults having to worry about censoring there children’s shows aggravating them. A lot of stress also comes from the media on the computer, spam ads that pop up on a child's PC can be very stressful on a parent to have to watch for and worry about.
(4) Another stress on families a lot of time is Religion; if the two parents come from a different religious background it can cause difficulties in raising their children stress the parents and the kids. Or an outer family member may have a different religious view and try and push their views on a family which can upset children who don’t understand and parents who don’t appreciate it.
(5) Right now a big stress on family is the War, whether you have to go through having a family member who is deploy and you are worried about, or you see all the destruction and deaths happening to the people in War. Also the money being taken from your government can lead to financial problems in your country which leads to stressing over the possibilities of depression.
(6) Not having enough time in a day, a week, or a month can be a big stress on a family as well. A lot of people have so many things planned for a day they rarely get them all done and if they do it puts a ton of stress on them to do it all. People often feel like they run out of time or they are looking for more time leading to melt downs and freak outs from people who are..."Stressed for time".
(7) Kids can help to add stress on a family from time to time especially if the kids aren’t well behaved. If you have a child who acts out while you are at the grocery store you tend to get stressed very easily. But other kids can be stressors as well like handicap children or catholic babies or when kids get illnesses all these can be very stressful on not only the parents but all the family members.
(8)School is a big stress on families. Some kids don’t perform well in school leading to parents having to discipline which is a stress on its own but also f a parent wishes to go back to school they have to endure all the stresses that come with school and on top of it finding the money to be able to support their school and their family.
(9)A parents job can add extra stressors on a family, if they have a rough day at work people tend to take it out on their home life, upsetting there family. Or if a parents job goes through a pay cut or something along those lines the family has to endure money crunching which can stress young and old out.
(10) Finally a lot of these stressors lead to stressing over money which is a stress on its own. Families who have to learn how to budget finances and making sure those bills are paid before pleasure can happen, this can make people stressed out. Know how much you owe can be stressful, not being able to by the recreational things can be stressful. And things like not being able to buy your family the gifts they really want for things like Christmas can be a huge stress on a family.

Child of the 80's

Yay 80's well late 80's but still, growing up in this decade people started getting really into team sports and activities. Going to a child's baseball or soccer game became a social event, more and more kids started to play so more and more parents started to turn out to watch. Enrolling your children in ballet or cub scouts started to become a norm for most families, parents got a great chance to let there children discover there own interests. The children in this decade are very similar in the aspect of team sports and doing multiple activities. Starting at a young age kids are enrolled in a variety of after school and weekend activities, and usually most pick one or two they develop a strong liking to and continue through into there teens with them.

A big difference I see in children of the 80's and children now is how fast they "grow-up". When I was younger I looked at myself as a kid until I turned 16 and could drive. Whereas I see more and more little kids grown up before there youth should be over. Little girls start wearing makeup at 9 or 10 thinking it makes them older, I didn't wear makeup till I was 14. The way kids are dressing older at a younger age and how they feel the need to date earlier are examples of how fast kids are growing up these days compared to back when.

If this continues on, these kids wont have a chance to be children. They will eventually go from being little kids to being young adults and after years of believing they are grown up we will eventually start treating them as so, inevitably loosing out on being just a kid. A side effect of this is as they grow up they might abandon responsibility in an attempt to regain there lost childhood.

Wow

Hey all,

So this is my first time using the "blog" its kinda weird typing a little journal, I haven't done anything like this since elementry school so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

I just started college for the first time and im a bit overwhelmed and it seems very quick to snap on my poor husband the past few days haha. Hopefully for him I will relax and get confortable soon.