After completing the six observation assignments I have learned first-hand the importance of relationships between child and caregivers. I have also seen how age appropriate toys and activities support children's development. All six observations were similar in the fact that each caregiver interacted with the children and had respectful, responsive, and reciprocal relationships with the children. I also learned the importance for creating these respectful, responsive, and reciprocal relationships is based on meeting the children's social, emotional, and physical needs.
The caregivers respected each child as individuals by speaking to them at eye level, listening to the children, and being readily available to provide the children with assistance when needed. Another important factor I seen in all six observations was daily routines. The children followed a schedule for feedings and naps. Caring for infants and toddlers is much more complicated than just feeding them, changing them, and playing with them. The caregivers implemented the ten principles of respect in all of the observations also.
These principles include involve infants and toddlers in things that concern them, invest in quality time, learn each child's unique ways of communicating and teach yours, invest time and energy to build a total person, respect infants and toddlers as worthy people, be honest about your feelings, model behavior you want to teach, recognize problems as learning opportunities and let infants and toddlers try to solve their own, build security by teaching trust, and be concerned about the quality of development in each stage.
[...] Another important factor I seen in all six observations was daily routines. The children followed a schedule for feedings and naps. Caring for infants and toddlers is much more complicated than just feeding them, changing them, and playing with them. The caregivers implemented the ten principles of respect in all of the observations also. These principles include involve infants and toddlers in things that concern them, invest in quality time, learn each child's unique ways of communicating and teach yours, invest time and energy to build a total person, respect infants and toddlers as worthy people, be honest about your feelings, model behavior you want to teach, recognize problems as learning opportunities and let infants and toddlers try to solve their own, build security by teaching trust, and be concerned about the quality of development in each stage. [...]
[...] “You'll see that given a safe, developmentally appropriate, and rich environment, they create their own objectives and lessons, which are far more effective than you set (Gonzalez-mena and Eyer, 2010) I personally believe that the most important thing I learned from the observations was that caregivers and teachers learn more and more from children through first-hand experiences. Understanding that all children are unique individuals and that not all teaching strategies will work for every child is essential in providing quality care. I will take the information I've learned from my observations and utilize it in my own classroom in the future. Refernces Gonzalez-Mena, J., & Eyer, D. W. (2011). Infants, toddlers, and caregivers. [...]
[...] When caring for infants and toddlers attachment, environment, and play and exploration are critical in their development. Attachment is enduring affectionate bond between a child and a person who cares for the child, giving the child a feeling of safety or security. Building a trusting secure attachment through consistency, responsiveness, and predictability shows children they can trust the caregiver to meet their needs (physical, mental, emotional). Attachment allows children to feel safe in their environment and therefore comfortable to explore and venture out”. [...]
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