11/26/09
EveryDay Exchange: Getting Unstuck
I enjoyed this article. I think from time to time we all fall into ruts. Having goals is very important. Setting your vision on your goals helps to keep you clarified and focused. When you have a goal it seems easier to work hard. It gives purpose to what you are doing.
Exercise also helps to get unstuck. I was getting up early and jogging…wow my day was so much better. It took some discipline to keep in the habit, but it’s well worth it.
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Chapter 7 & 8
Affordable programs for low-income families are of lower quality than government subsidized ones (Blau & Hagy, 1998). Page 177 Planning and Administrating Early Childhood Programs; Decker , Decker, Freeman & Knopf . Wow what a statement! According to who’s a criterion? What are they calling quality? I’ve seen quite the opposite. This kinda boils my blood. I can read these statements and I know we are supposed to accept the source, but my gut is yelling out “wrong”. I have worked in subsidized schools that had no concept of “love”. You could not hug a child, everything became generic and routines ruled the day. The classrooms were not cleaned to my expectation; however, they met the government’s approval so that’s all that mattered. The curriculum was “approved” and the children continually had “choice” but nothing was customized around a wonderful event that spontaneously happened. Ok…I’m leaving this now…sorry for the outburst. I think I see quality in terms of loving life and passion; where maybe “quality” cannot be measured in those terms. To me happy children are more important than perfect marks on Accreditation scoring sheet (accreditation is important). The development of Lifelong learners and children who feel safe in a crazy world are our greatest assets. Love is the strongest force in this world. A child that knows they are loved and believed in, will successes no matter what the obstacle, and yes they will face obstacles.
Developing a budget is very important. It gets easier once you have entered the “race”. Your line-item classification becomes more clear and unchanging. This gives you the ability to make pretty accurate projections. I’ve mentioned in the past I wrote and receive two large grants. What a blessing when you receive money that is above your budget! It enabled us to purchase things that we had dreamed about.
I hired a teacher who had been the director of a school. The school she directed had gone out of business. She described to me inflated teacher and director salaries, but over stuffed classrooms without proper teacher-student ratio. Yes, they could brag that they were paid more than anywhere else but the she was not following a budget that worked in Early Childhood education. There are many factors to look at. Page 191-192 of Planning and Administrating Early Childhood Programs; Decker, Decker, Freeman & Knopf, shows a budget. It does not mention insurance, not health insurance but liability. Liability insurance, in which you must have, is very expensive. Maybe I’m just not seeing it, but it’s worth talking about.
Isn’t it funny how we are study chapter 7 & 8 right when all the subsidy cut backs are happening in our state? I had a feeling something was coming down the pipe when people were getting cut off of subsidy for what I considered “silly things”. I had one mom tell me she was told they could not give her, her subsidy because she had not had her husband’s company use letterhead paper when writing concerning his income. Now he had been at the same company for years and Child Care Connection knows this. Later we found out “2009 fiscal year” was short on money.
Every day I’m being talked to by parents who are being affected by the cut backs. One single mother told me she was planning to quite work and go back on welfare. She had just got her medical assistant degree and is hired at Queens Medical center. Her husband’s in jail and she has one income with two children needing care. They have cut back her childcare to a place she cannot make it. What should I have said? I care for this family, but answers delude me. I find myself compassionately listening without conclusion. What would you say? Would you offer advice? Will it get better or worse before better?
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Hi Judith,
ReplyDeleteYou are positioned in an interesting place as you listen to your families. I suggest going back to the Sumison article and re-reading about advocacy and activism. Are there ways you can engage in this issue which can help families? Or even ways you could support families in engaging in advocacy and activism?
Your discussion of quality is intriguing. Throughout the semester I have been asking everyone about who decides quality. In our text, who do you think is determining quality, especially as you read the statement you shared. Should quality be defined from an outside agency? How can teachers and administrators be active in determining levels of quality as it applies to the community a school serves?
Jeanne
Goals are great because they give you something to work for, the anticipation of the reward is often enough to help us to persevere. By setting goals and working towards them your program is not as likely to get “stuck in a rut.”
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that many children are only given as least as possible. For some reason it is not thought to be important enough to receive top of the line services and funding. They always say that children are our future, but how well are we able to prepare the future?
It is great that you were able to buy things for your preschool that you did not think you would ever be able to afford. What is unfortunate is when child teacher ratio is not appropriate for everyone. When it comes to young children, the more eyes the better. Also children like attention from adults and when there are more adults the children receive more assistance as well as attention.
That is a very unfortunate story about the mom going on welfare and the dad in jail. Some children are dealing with so much.
Hi judith, I hadn't realized how bad things are becoming in the preschool systems do to the economy and the changes they have to make. It's really sad to hear that the first place they think of for cut backs are in the school systems. That just make me mad. Doesn't the government realize what they are doing to the future of our society. if our young generations miss out on education what becomes of them? Fore the matter what becomes of us? These children are our future- why doesn't any one see that.
ReplyDeleteHi Judith!
ReplyDelete“WOW!” Stories like this is not told to often in the NEWS media. “When a single mother is planning to quite her medical assistant job from Queens Medical Center and go back on welfare.” Why?! because of budget cuts and that early childhood care is not affordable. I’m a man of faith and to answer your question “Will it get better or worse before better?” I do believe it will get better now, because we are in the worse situation in Hawaii due to “furlough Friday”
I do not know how but it “WILL!”