Professionals in Early Childhood Interviews

     Hello my fellow bloggers and bloggets, I had the priviledge of interviewing two experienced professionals in the Early Childhood field from the Head Start program at One Hope United. The first person that I interviewed is a ten year veteren teacher. The second person that I interviewed is an administrator with sixteen years experience.
     Before I began my interviews I made sure that I explained to my colleagues that I was doing my internship at Kendall College this quarter and that it was a course that was going to focus on Advocacy in the field of Early Childhood. I mentioned to my colleagues that I had a few areas of interest in what I wanted to pursue my research paper on. I was very anxious to hear what they believed were some of the related topics and current issues. Interestingly enough, both of the professionals that I interviewed mentioned and made comments on similar topics. Some of the topics that were discussed were the same issues that I wanted to focus and research on.
     Families, and Male Involvement was a big topic on the minds of both of the professionals that I interviewed. It was a topic in an area that I have had much experience with, and something that I also felt was very important to advocate for. Current issues related to these topics recognized by the Early Childhood professionals are:

• Getting dads, uncles, grandfathers, etc. to get involved
• Getting families involved in the classroom, agency meetings, etc.
• Supporting families in need, sometimes difficult for families to acknowledge that they need help

 Other issues commonly encountered at work or discussed with other colleagues:

• Early dental treatment is needed, families need to be educated regarding importance of dental health practices
• Access to medicare insurance for adults, affordable housing, jobs that offer benefits, time to spend with children

What advocacy efforts are currently under way:

• Monthly male involvement group meetings
• Father and child sport outings
• Family support in place

Topics or issues of most concern and most in need of advocacy:

• Supporting families in need is ever present-the difficulty lies in the restrictions that come with certain resources & those limitations
• Families unfamiliar with the system, it is crucial that they are supported and guided in their language
• Dads and moms that have unstable relationships that may prevent them from both being part or having an active role in their childs school

     The two interviews that I conducted have influenced me a great deal in what I will decide to do my research paper on. The insight that I got was that we have the similar concerns and that we need to come up with a plan on how we need to get these advocacy issues started.

Male Involvement

The Importance for Young Children

Children learn from those that they are surrounded by. A child’s parent is their first and foremost teacher and creates a model for their child in ways that men and women should act. Children look up to their mothers and fathers throughout their lives for guidance. Men especially are strong role models for children. Sadly, not all children’s fathers are involved in their lives, but no choice of the child. What is important is that every child has a good male role model in their lives whether it is their father, grandfather, or a friend. 

thirtymag.com/male-involvement-and-the-importance-for-young-children

 Being in the field of Early Childhood for as long as I have been makes me wonder why more men are not involved in their children's lives. Is it because the childcare facilities are not male friendly? When you stop and think about it , you have to look at the way  some of these childcare organization environments are set up. I am a father of three boys, and I can honestly tell you that when I was involved with my boys in their school settings I felt left out. I felt that the focus was all about mom this,  and mom that, but never was their a mention of dad this ,and dad that. Things have obviously changed since I have been in this field but I feel that a whole lot more needs to be done in order to get more males in the Early Childhood environment.  -Roberto Recio

                                                                                        

My son and I after a high school football game.