Prepping Parents

All my life I have struggled to decide “what I want to be when I grow up”. First a princess, then a veterinarian, next a professional basketball player, or maybe a preschool teacher. Now I am very close to being “grown up”, and still I am unsure of what exactly I want to be. All I know is that I have two passions: athletics, and working with young children. So this semester I have decided to look into work as an infant teacher/caregiver through taking an ELI.

At first I wanted to look into the development of the five senses in infants, what they can perceive, and how their brain develops. I quickly discovered that infant senses are almost entirely developed at birth. This led me to look into general infant development. My focus was changed to infant development in four categories: social, language, large motor, and small motor. I decided that communication and learning went hand in hand with development, and incorporated those into my research. This is an important area of study because so many people take part in raising children, and the first year of life is such a crucial time in development, so people need to know how infants are supposed to develop.

My mom is an owner and executive director of a daycare. Time and time again as I walk through stores and down streets with her, I notice her looking concerned as she witnesses acts of poor parenting going on all around her. She sees parents chasing three-year-olds when children of this age ought to follow simple orders such as “come here”. She watches crazed mothers yell at two-year-olds who need to be soothed, not punished. Through my ELI I hope to give parents(present and future) the ability to better understand their children by knowing what their children know and are capable of.

My research so far has included reading two books on learning and development, and observing in an infant classroom at a local daycare.

A vast majority of people become parents as adults (in fact this is the one thing that I know I want to be when I grow up). But do all of these parents know what their children should be able to do at any given age? Do parents understand just how crucial the first year of a child’s life is? I do not believe that they do. Those who attend my ELI presentation or read my portfolio will be enlightened in the area of infant development. I hope that any future parents who are exposed to my ELI will one day look back and remember at what age infants are able to understand words or follow orders. It is important for parents to know these things so that they are able to understand their children, effectively communicate with children, and catch developmental setbacks that their children might be having. The earlier developmental issues are discovered, the better so that parents can start working to improve development in areas of concern, and get children back on track as soon as possible. My long term goal for my project is that it will help future parents understand the development of their children.

The topic of infant development is important for all parents to know, and even more important to infants whose parents know or do not know anything about what children are capable of. This project will also help me discover new professions that might interest me. Already I have discovered developmental screening and interesting professions that branch off of that. I look forward to learning more about infants and infant related professions this semester.

What do I want to be when I grow up? I have no idea. I do know, however, that I want to help people, and my ELI this semester will help people understand infant development, and be more prepared for, or effective in parenthood.

~Rachel

The works I have read are:

Galinsky, Ellen. Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010.

Needham, Amy; Woodward, Amanda. Learning and the infant mind. New York, Oxford University Press, 2009.