Contributing to social change and positive outcomes for young children and families

¶ … Social Change and Positive Outcomes for Young Children and Families

As an individual who has been involved in learning about and enacting various measures to implement early childhood education, I have entertained several different philosophies and methodologies on this subject. Therefore, I believe that I am more than qualified to identify what the aims of early childhood education are. Prior to denoting what those aims are, I believe it is relevant to discuss some of my experience within this field, which has encompassed working with small and large groups, individuals, and partaking in a number of conferences and conversations with both teachers, administrators and parents, which is a part of "school accountability" (Wong and Wang, 2010, p. 163). What I have learned from my experience within this field is that the principle objectives of this particular discipline are to provide the foundation for children to effectively mold and shape the future in a positive way. I have learned that my implementing some core values to these children at an early age instructors can actually help to foster positive social change by helping to cultivate the next individuals of society in a balanced, disciplined way so that they can positively impact that society. These aims are extremely lofty, yet the responsibility of the early childhood educator is no less serious.

Again, after involving myself in numerous aspects of early childhood education for the past couple of years now, I have learned that one can actually effect social change and create positive outcomes for both young children and their families by teaching the latter fundamental principles that are necessary to contribute to a progressive society. A large part of what we as early childhood educators do is help children to utilize the emotional, cognitive, and rudimentary physical tools that they have to cope with the vicissitudes of life. Moreover, by teaching them basic values such as temperance, patience, understanding, kindness, and consideration for others, we can actually help to mold these individuals into compassionate, intelligent, attuned people who are cognizant of themselves and of the others around them -- so that they can positively affect the latter. I have learned that the early childhood educator's approach to this goal typically works well when it is synthesized with a similar approach from parents and home connections, and when the child's family seeks the same sort of goals.

I believe that the current research which I am studying, "Spirituality in Young Children's Temperament and Self-Control," can succor the quality of care and education for every child I interact with. I am also confident that if other early childhood educators (as well as family members and parents) utilize the same sort of principles discussed in this research that it is possible for all children to reap the benefits of this approach as well. The spiritual component is an integral one towards properly facilitating early childhood education, because it assesses a degree of importance in the underlying explanation of human existence: the spirit. Moreover, it does so in a way in which the virtues of self-control and an even temperament are emphasized. It is highly difficult for children to learn and to progress to various stages of growing up if they do not have a certain balance and temperance about them. Instead of merely considering children as simply the sum of their physical and cognitive desires or impulses, educators can help children to become more well-rounded and to better control these two aforementioned aspects of their characters by recognizing the spiritual element of humanity. Doing so would certainly better the quality of care and education for all children.

Another fairly valuable aspect of my experience within the field of early childhood care is my opportunity to observe various methods of imparting care, both formally and informally. Thus, I have actually witnessed first hand how it is possible to foster social change and promote positive outcomes for children and their families. The way that I have seen being the most successful is to disseminate core values of society to the children at a young age. These values include patience, tolerance, balance, discipline, and other key attributes that people need to be non-judgmental and accepting of others. Furthermore, people need these attributes so that when they do encounter adversity, or perhaps some sort of conflict with another person, they know how to work out the conflict peacefully in a manner that will resolve it without sacrificing fundamental components of society. Thus, by combining the deliberate implementation of these values with aspects of spirituality that emphasize self-control and temperance in children, early childhood educators can successfully contribute to the education of individuals that will grow to have a positive impact upon society.