Self esteem

I had the privilege of teaching so many different children during the course of my teaching. It was a big challenge for me as they were all unique and had different interests & needs. Here are some snapshots of my experience:-

1.    A four year old Italian girl came into my class with her pacifier. Her mom informed me that it should be taken off during class but the child insisted on keeping her pacifier in her mouth.

      After three weeks of constantly reminding her to remove the pacifier, I finally decided to remove it from her mouth and kept it in her bag. She was so close to tears and was miserable the whole day. Nevertheless, I found her so adorable with the tears around the corners of her big green eyes. 

     The next day, I was so worried, thinking how she will be when she comes to school. Again, she had her pacifier. And again, I removed it. This lasted for the next three days. But, on the fourth day, she took it off by herself and asked her mom to keep it.

2.    A French boy has just scribbled his tree with black color. I told him that trees are mostly green, but can be brown or yellow and that he was supposed to color inside the line. I gave him a new picture of a tree to color and again, he coloured it black. So, I decided to colour for him and put it up on the wall.

     The next day, he asked me where was his black tree. I pointed to the tree that i coloured for him and the child said, “Oh no, Miss Ruby, that is not my tree!.” Seeing his disapointment, I pinned up his black tree up and there was instantly a smile on his face.

3.   An American girl with a speech impediment in my class love story telling. The children seated in the front row will usually move with excitement as they followed the story. This girl usually sat at the back row and I saw her attempt to tell her friends at the front row to stop moving around so much so that she can follow the story telling. But due to her speech impediment, she could not communicate this to her friends. So, she pushed or hit her friends at the front row.I can see her frustration when her friends did not understand her and I was trying to find a solution for her.  

     So, one day, before I started the story telling session, I asked her to sit on the chair at the back so that she can see well. She was quite reluctant at first but after seeing the comfort of having the best view without being interrupted, she eventually took the back seat without being told every time we had story telling.

Looking back, I really do wonder whether I made a positive impact in their lives & how many I have lifted up or crushed in terms of their self esteem.   

Have a date?

A mother of three recently told me that her husband will pick their daughters up after school and go on a date with them. I was puzzled as I have never thought you need to date your child.

The next morning, I asked the mother about this "dating your child" business.  They have two girls, age 4 and 7, and a year old baby boy. She told me that their father will have a date with each of their girls every time he comes home as he is usually travelling. They set a rule that there shall be no buying of things during these dates except on their birthdays. I asked her if she too went on dates with the girls. She said no but she will "date" her son when he is old enough.

She told me that they found this very effective as the girls will share with their father things they won’t say to her. She also said, the girls have a better communication and relationship with their father. She also added that what they are trying to do here was to be there for their children whenever they face any problem.

Inspired by this mother's story, I searched for information on how to build a positive relationship with young children. I came across the articles below and I found that in order to build a positive relationship with young children, you must first build on their positive emotions.

This drew me back to Erikson’s theory which states that during the first year of your children's lives, they go through the stage of trust versus mistrust. When children's needs are met consistently by their parents or caregivers, a sense of trust is developed. And when this sense of trust exists, a healthy attachment and relationship will be fostered.

To find out more, do read the articles below. They will give you a better a insight on how to develop healthy and secure attachments with young children.

Have a good read!

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/famsci/fs631w.htm

http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/H/HE-0684/

My 1st year in teaching.

My six years working at Preschool Stepping Stone in Abu Dhabi was truly an eye opening experience. Back then, I had no clue of any child development theories, developmentally appropriate practices (DAP), milestones and practising professionalism while interacting with parents.

I found it extremely stressful speaking to parents. The expectations and requirements were sky high and I was not ready (mentally and emotionally) on how to handle them.  I felt I was not fit even to be an assistant teacher!

I remembered during my 1^st year being an assistant teacher, a child was pulled out from my class . Her Canadian mother’s complaint was that I could not pronounce the word "water" correctly. The poor child cried for two weeks in her new class before her parents decided to put her back into my class. My heart was crushed when she sat crying at the door not wanting to go back to her new class, banging the door and begging to come in.  Worst, the rest of the children in my class begged that she should be let in.  Those children were only three years old. It was the lowest moment in my life.

Relating this to what I know now, Piaget’s theory on preoperational stage states that children are able to represent their world with word and images. This child has been familiar with her class, friends and surrounding for the last eight months. An attachment and relationship has been built; and to be put in a new place while your friends are just next door, this child was confused, felt abandoned and not knowing how to cope with the stress.

Looking back, I found that it is just not enough to teach young children with love and dedication. You need to equip yourself with information and knowledge on child development theories. Only then will you be able to bring out the best in them as well as yourself.

Education and the future of technology

This is a video I would like to share with all the parents, future parents, teachers and soon to be teachers in the world. I do not know how true is the information, but I do somehow believe in this video. The information actually make sense and this video makes me realize that technology actually plays a very important role in our future. Enjoy!

Cute Doggie cookies

I came across this baking blog with such an awesome shape cute doggie cookies. Hmmm...ya ya..i know, it is the year of the Rabbit, but I can't resist not to bake this little cute thing. Plus, it has no sugar and egg! They don't only look cute, they taste great too!

 Ingredients:
adapted from Selby's Food Corner
200g butter
80g milo or ovaltine or horlicks ( Horlicks is the original flavour)
200g flour
25g corn flour
25g milk powder
 Fillings:
60g chocolate chips (or more)
20g cornflakes (crushed)


Toppings:
Koko Krunch (for the ears)
Chocolate chips (for the nose)
Chocolate rice (for the eyes)


Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to medium level (about 320 F)
- Cream butter till it becomes pale color
- Add flour, corn flour and milk powder then mix together
- Divide the dough into 10g each, flatten each piece of dough and add in the fillings (some chocolate chips and crushed cornflakes). Roll into balls. Note: If you like sweet, then you can be generous filling with more chocolate chips
- Decorate to make a dog's head feature. Insert 2 koko krunch to form the ears and chocolate chips in the center for the nose.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown
- Leave to cool
- Make the eyes with black food marker or 2 chocolate sprinkles
- Store in an air-tight container



Don't they just look too cute to be eaten? Children ( and adults) will be asking for more!

Happy baking everyone!