Short term goal continued.

This is a poem that I will be sending out tomorrow to continue my short term advocacy effort.

 by: Jennifer S. Williams

             "Father"

When I scratched my knee,
Or if I bumped my head,.
When I was afraid of the dark,
Or that thing under my bed,
When I cried in the night,
Or even in the day,.
You were there for me,
To make it all okay.


You tickled my feet,
And laughed at all my jokes.
You taught me to believe,
In having high hopes.
You are my father
You did what you had to do.
But more than a father
You are my friend too.
You made everything good,
That was once bad.
I just want you to know
I love you Dad.

Getting Started On My Short Term Goal To Promote "Males Matter"

As part of my short term goal I decided to do a board on the story book "Mister Seahorse" by: Eric Carle to remind fathers/males  everyday that they truly matter and that they can also be nurturing and caring with their children.

Observing and Interacting With Families of the Children in Your Setting

     The families that I came in contact with for this assignment were two families that I have become very close too. I have become close to these two families because of the fact that I am their child’s primary caregiver and have noticed that they are very involved. During this whole quarter I have been hinting to the families that I was on a journey to try and get more fathers/males involved at this center and that I may need some of their participation as well as support in the coming weeks. I mentioned that I was going to do some research on my advocacy efforts to inform the families of this center the importance of father/male participation.

     Needless to say, my parents were very eager to assist me in any way they could. Both of the parents that I interacted with on this subject immediately told me that I was the only male teacher that they had seen in a long time at this center other than the family support specialist Mr. Chi Li.

     My conversations on this effort with the two families in my classroom and others in the agency has given me that extra adrenaline rush that I need to come up with some strategies/ideas to get this movement going. I have made a promise to myself that I would do whatever I could to get this movement started by implementing something at the agency for the upcoming spring/summer.

     The interaction’s with some of these parents has made it clear to me that parents would be willing to participate if something would be put in place at the agency regarding fathers/males.  

Observing and Interacting with Program Director(s) and other Staff

I had the opportunity to meet with the director in the program and talked about what was their plan(s) to get more men involved in the program. I found out that alot of the responsibility fell on the male parent support specialist.  She mentioned that fathers are always welcome to the parent cafe's, which is a parent meeting that discusses topics of interest or concerns. The problem is that no male involvement is ever present. The majority of attendees are the mother's. I then mentioned to her that we needed to come up with some ideas as an agency, and not just from the male family support specialist to figure out a way to get fathers/males involved. I reminded her again that I am going to do my best to see if we could come up with some ideas to get fathers/males involved. I gave her an example like:

•  When we inform parents to discuss the progress of  their child do we ask to talk to the father
• If the mother is the custodial parent do we also mail materials regarding the child to the father (If approved and legally appropriate)
• Are there workshops/trainings provided for fathers only
• Is the environment father/male friendly 

The director that I spoke to is a very hardworking individual and she said that she would assist me anyway she could to make this a success. I then said to her that this effort to get fathers/males involved in the program is it not going to happen over night, but we need to start advocating on this issue together as an agency.
Advocacy is just like playing the lottery, you can't win if you don't make an effort to play!! So I say, we all need to play.

Harmon Clayton Killebrew Father's Quote



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.