Favorite Quotes About Children

If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do well matters very much.

- Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body.

- Elizabeth Stone

The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.

- Theodore Hesburgh

Considering the Whole Child

In viewing a young child holistically, there are several areas that I think need to be measured when assessing the young child.  The areas that I think should be measured are physical, social/emotional, language and cognitive development, and economic conditions. 

Physical, social/emotional, language and cognitive development are areas that are examined in most standardized tests.  They measure the child’s development individually.  I believe outside sources also affect a child’s development.  Knowing the economic conditions child is living in would be help in considering a child as a whole.  A child who comes to school hungry has more difficult time learning than a child who has had breakfast.    UNICEF states, “Evidence from pediatrics, psychology, nutrition, child development and anthropology  tells us that survival, growth, and development are inter-linked; each depends to some extent on the others (UNICEF, 2006).”

In the UK and Australia, they use an assessment called Early Years Learning Framework. 

The EYLF:

◆◆ outlines the kinds of environments in which children’s learning is facilitated

◆◆ highlights the desirable knowledge, skills and attitudes held by early childhood educators

◆◆ addresses ways children’s learning opportunities may be enhanced.

The goal is to provide children’s learning experiences through purposeful actions by

educators in collaboration with children and families. The early learning environments the

Framework applies to services that cater for children in the birth to five age group,

such as preschools, kindergartens, family day care, home-based care, occasional care,

playgroups and long day care (Goodfellow, 2009).  This would be a very good assessment for the

USA because it considers many factors when teaching young children.

Sources –

Goodfellow, J. (2009) The Early Years Learning Framework Getting Started. Retrieved from http://synarbor.com.au/images/What_is_the_EYLF.pdf on June 9, 2011

UNICEF (2006) Programming Experiences In Early Childhood.  Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/earlychildhood/files/programming%20experiences%20in%20early%20childhood.pdf. on June 9, 2011