I would like to thank all of my peers, without your comments and replies to my post and blogs, I don't think I would have survived this course. I recieved great responses, replies, and resources that I was able to utilize for my research. I have learned that it is not that easy to be an advocate, it is a lot of work, and you have to be very dedicated to what you are advocating for. In the long run it is worth it, I just didn't realize all the work that would need to be put into it.  I have been in the filed for 14 years, and I have been a director for 5 years now, and I feel that this course really has helped to be a better advocate for the families at my center and for the families that I cross paths with in a daily basis. I would also like to thank our professor, sometimes I feel like she went above and beyond to help us. I am a visual and hands on learner, and greatly appreciate all the visual instructions we got through email. Setting up the blog was not fun, but with the visual instructions we received, it made it much easier. I wish I would have been able to read all the research papers, but I can tell from the blogs and discussion post that it was everyone's best work. Good luck in your future, and I am sure most of us will meet again in Internship 2.

Module 4 Blog: Interacting with families

During my 4 hours of field work over the last two weeks, I was able to interact with the administration, a few families, the children, and also the Family Service Worker for the center. It was very nice to meet the Family Service Worker Ms. G. It almost seemed that she was an advocate for the childhood obesity. I spent also the whole two hours with her the one day and also observed her speaking with a parent about a nutrition plan, it was too perfect. Ms. G., reviewed the health plan form with me that they use for the children. First she explained that they weigh the children every 6 months to see what their BMI is. Once they get their BMI, they complete a Health plan for the child if they are over weight or under weight. The parent has to take the form to the doctor, and the doctor completes the Health plan giving the family information about diets, and restrictions if any. Ms. G, stated "It's great because we get most of the health plans back completed and the doctor gives the family good nutrition information". Ms. G. and the Director also explained that they do workshops with the parents regarding nutrition. They show the parents how to read food labels, explain how to look at servings, and also give them hand outs and information form MyPlate.org.

During my visit, Ms. G. met with a parent to review the health plan with her because she didn't understand it. I was able to sit in the lobby and observe their conversation. Ms. G. was very patient with the parent and went over the health plan step by step. She took the time to explain everything, and she used words that the parent could understand. Ms. G. also explained to the parent what kind of health issues can occur if the child doesn't start to eat healthier diet (which I felt may have been a little too much for the parent). Ms. G. gave the parent a lot of information and also offered to got to the doctor with her. I learned from this meeting that you have to talk to parents in a certain way if you want them to listen and respond. I learned that if you talk to parents and not at them, they are more receptive to your help and guidance. I spoke with the parent afterward and she stated "I always want to help my children, I just don't know how or where to start sometimes". I asked her if she was offended at all about what the Family Service Worker was talking to her about and she said "No, she was very helpful and she convinced me that my child's weight is an issue and it's not something that he will grow out of". I learned that if you know what you are talking about, and you have the right information, parents want to learn and want to help their children. I learned that in order to be an advocate, you really need to know what you are advocating for and believe in it. Sometimes I think it may be kind of scary to speak to parents about childhood obesity or children being overweight because you never know how they will react, but I have learned from last few interactions at the school that parents actually want to learn, and want help, it just has to be done in the right way.

These last few weeks really have helped me be more comfortable with my advocacy efforts, and even writing my advocacy paper.

Administrative Observation Post

This week, for module 3, i spent 4 hours at my site on two different days. It was very different getting to observe and interact with the director, cook, and administrative assistant. I got to the center at 8:00am, and stayed in the lobby for a while where the director and assistant were greeting the children and families. While we were in the lobby, a child came in the door eating a donut and the director said to the child "A donut for breakfast, you need a healthy breakfast, why don't you give that donut to your mom and you can have oatmeal and oranges with your friends". I looked at the parent to see her reaction and she smiled at the  director and said "sorry, i stopped for coffee and I couldn't say No". The child gave the donut to her mom and told her to save it for later after dinner. The director walked the child in the back and they were talking about the oranges and oatmeal. I thought that was the greatest thing, it was good to see that someone cares about the health and nutrition of children. I asked the director if that was something she always did, and she told me she can't be up front all the time but that the teachers would do the same. In the front lobby, there is a whole section on nutrition for children, SNAP applications (Food stamps), healthy breakfast items, and a ton of resources from MyPlate (which the director told me to help myself to the resources so I can use them for my paper). The director of the center seems to be very involved in the center, and seems to know all of the families, and even the first names of parents (which was surprising to me).

On another day when i was observing, the director went to the different rooms and ate lunch with the children. She put a little of everything on her plate in each room and ate with the children, she stayed int he rooms for about 5 minutes. She spoke about the benefits of the foods they were eating (green beans, applesauce, and chicken alfredo). The director also used positive reinforcement to get the children to eat their foods. She would say things like "Wow, look A.H. ate all her vegetables" and then all of the children wanted to finish their vegetables to get praise as well. I didn't speak with the administrative assistant as much because she sat at the desk int he front lobby and basically answered phones, didn't really seem like she wanted to be bothered. I did observe the director asking the administrative assistant to give the children healthy snacks when they leave. At 12pm, some of the children go home after preschool hours and the administrative assistant was handing out candy tot he children that were leaving. The director asked her if she could hand out something other than candy, like fruit snacks, animal crackers, or just give out stickers. During my observation I also noticed that in the lobby there are a lot of resources for the parents to take. They had copies of the menu, which seems very nutritious, how to get physical activity at home, and more resources for healthy eating.

When I spoke with the director she seems very passionate about the health and nutrition needs of the children. She said she goes into the classrooms to model for the teachers because they don't encourage the children to eat their food, and it bothers her. She also stated that she doesn't allow the teachers to eat anything other than what the children are eating in the classroom, no pop, chips, or any other kind of food. I was very pleased with my observations and interview because i feel the director is a good example of how we can be advocates for our children and families. I would have liked to spend more time talking with the director, but she had her hands full, and was running around most of the time.  

Module 2 Blog

It was very interesting and fun observing in the Pre-k classroom. The children are very active and hav e a lot of energy. I also feel like they were showing off because I was in the room observing. The teacher stated to me “they don’t usually act like this”. The children were doing silly things, and the teacher had to repeat herself a few times before they would listen. Some important things that I observed is that the parents didn’t really come into the classrooms to speak with the teachers. They dropped the kids off, signed them in and left right away. During pick-up at 12:00pm, the parents came in the front door, signed them out and the teachers sent the children to them. I also noticed that the teachers didn’t encourage conversation. The children would ask the teachers questions or tell them something and the teachers would give them short answers and walk away. For example, one of the children said “Yesterday I went to the doctor”, the teacher said “oh really” and continued what she was doing. I felt so bad for the child because you can tell he really wanted to tell the teacher about his experience.

I also observed a little in the kitchen to observe food prep. I also interviewed the cook. One thing she told me that I was pleased with is “All of our food is purchased from local vendors and I cook it onsite, we usually purchase fresh fruits and vegetables”. I thought that was great. I also looked at their menu and they didn’t have any cookies, juice, or anything processed besides breads or crackers. The cook also stated that she doesn’t really use any butters, oils, or added spices or salt. The cook was clean and seemed to be very sanitary, wore a hair net, gloves and constantly sanitized and cleaned her cabinet. Before she served the food, she took the temp and covered the food before bringing it to the room. The teachers also did a good job of encouraging the children to eat and try everything.

Childhood Obesity Interview

For my Interview I chose to interview the cook at the school, and also the teacher. I felt that these are two very important people when it comes to childhood obesity and nutrition. When I started my interview with both the teacher and the cook, they both said that my topic was very good and they felt like it was an important subject to discuss. For the interview with the teacher, she had suggested that I use the topics of children's eating habits, children are not active enough, and parents are not educated enough about what their children should and should not eat. She went on to say that children come in the room eating junk for breakfast like donuts, cookies, cheetos, and soda, and when she ask the children what they did after school, most of them reply "watched tv", or "played video games". The teacher stated that one day she informed a parent that it probably isn't a good idea to let her child eat a donut everyday on her way to school because then she wasn't going to eat our heatlhy nutritious breakfast, and the mom didn't understand why. Parents think that because their children are young, they can eat whatever they want (we must stop this madness). The teacher stated that she encourages the children to eat their fruits and vegetables at school, and they also discuss the benfits of the foods. She said they also do food expereinces so that the children can learn about new foods (how they grow, taste,). The teacher stated that the director offers nutrition workshops for parents and I also noticed in the front lobby that there is a board of nutriton tips and resources.

When I spoke with the cook, she stated very similar things that the teacher did. She notices that the children don't really eat vegetables, but they do like a lot of the fruits. The cook stated that she really likes the menu at the school, and that a Dietican looks over and approves the menu before the school starts using it. The cook stated that she feels that the children are not active enough with their horrible diets and that's why so many of the children are overweight or obese. She feels that the children don't want to try new foods because they are so used to the way they are eating at home, beans, rice, and tortillas, and that the families don't prepare enough healthy foods like vegetables and fruits for their children. Another issue the cook brought up was that there are way too many people going out to eat for fast food. She also feels that parents need to be educated on how to cook and prepare healthy meals for their children so they are not always going out for fast food. The cook feels that the bigger issue is that parents are not educated and aware of proper diets and nutrition for their children.

I really enjoyed interviewing both the teacher and the cook, and they have a lot of the same views that I do. I also feel much better about my topic because they brought to light more issues surrounding hte topic.

Childhood Obesity

As I am sure you can tell that I have chose childhood obestiy for my topic. I am very passionate about helping families understand what leads and causes childhood obesity and what later affects it can have on a person. I am also very interested in proper nutriton and diets for children, and activity levels for them. There are not many people that know how nutrition and children diets affect there ability to learn and focus. These are all subjects that parents and children need to be educated on. There are many resources for childhood obesity, child nutrition, and nutrition in general. Ms. Obama is also very passionate about this topic and has created websites like Let's move, and also has been a huge advocate for children and families. I feel that I will have a very easy time finding resources, information, and research on childhood obesity, children's nutrition, and proper diets. What do you think?

Well setting up a blog wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.