Now on the other hand....middle class child neglect?

Just found another article suggesting the opposite to the other's i just posted....are professional middle class parents not giving enough time to our children of today?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/family/8850638/Britains-middle-class-children-are-so-privileged-and-so-neglected.html

British Social Class

The British society has often been considered to be divided into three main groups of classes:

• The Upper Class
  Often people with inherited wealth. Includes some of the oldest families, with many of them being titled aristocrats.
• The Middle Class
  The majority of the population of Britain. They include industrialists, professionals, business people and shop owners.
• Lower or Working Class
  People who are agricultural, mine and factory workers.

Here is an interesting article study about how professionals within a higher social class are supposedly more influencial on children rather than nurturing them with bedtime stories etc....not sure i agree with this one!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/dec/07/social-class-parenting-study

Here's another article suggesting why children from lower classes are being disadvantaged within the class system

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jan/12/social-mobility-disadvantage

Gender socialization...UNICEF

Here is a good article i have found whilst browsing google.....  it gives you a run down of stereotype gender roles through  early gender socialization:

2007, ' Early Gender Socialization' (Online Article) Available at:

http://www.unicef.org/earlychildhood/index_40749.html

Accessed on 20th Oct 2011

Gender in the jungle room......!!!!

http://youtu.be/XTmGCOmOyYs

Baby beauty queens

Looking back to Rachel's lesson today about the changing nature of family life in contemporary Britain and the discussion we had on whether children are becoming the projects of adults - are children being shaped and moulded by society and parents?? Here is a you tube clip i thought was a good example:

http://youtu.be/CPG7LWGL2js

I personally don't think its right especially when a 9 year old girl has had plastic surgery and made not to wear her glasses because "they wouldnt look right" it's not acceptable.  Open to thoughts on this??

Time line

Reflecting back to Lin's lesson the history of childhood she asked us to put together a time line from our own childhood logging anything that could be of any influence to me or my family. Have had to ask my mum for dates and to refresh my memory it has brought alot back! Here go's:

1979 - I was born!

1980 - My mum went back to work when i was 18months old

1982 - Mum separated from my dad

1982 - Brian moved in

1983 - Moved house

1983 - Started swimming lessons Nuneaton baths/ dancing & shows / rollerskating at school

1984-85 - Miners strikes

1984 - Started Racemeadow school, Atherstone, but soon moved to Nathaniel Newton school - as my family felt it better for me to be with friends from the neighbourhood 

1984 - First family holiday abroad

1988 - Mum married Brian

1989 - Baddesley pit closure (where Brian worked) - invested redundancy money

1989 - Celebrated 10th birthday in London (first time visit)

1989 - Went on adventure holiday for a week

1990 - Started playing keyboard

1990 - Poll tax introduced - impact on household bills

1990 - Toured France, Spain, Germany , and Denmark.  Attended Roger Waters 'The Wall' tour at Pottsdamer Place (no mans land) Berlin and visited East Germany

1990/91 - Had braces fitted!!

1991 - Cadair (our first rescue dog) turned up!

1991 - Mum separated from Brian

1992 - Went to Finland

1992/93 - Had hair permed! including frindge ooops!!!

 1993 - Mum met Alan

1993 - Went to see Take That with Kelly!

1993 -  Appendicitus operation

1994 - Moved into house in Atherstone - travelled to school on bus

1995 - School Exams

 1997 - Job as barmaid/waitress at Three Tuns

1997 - Celebrated 18th birthday

2000 - Celebrated 21st birthday in New York

2002 - Went travelling for 2 years where i met Bobby

2004 - Started Holistic therapies @ NWHC

2005 - Little Emily May (half sister) was born x

2006 - Imogen Eve (my first baby) was born x

2006 - I started my cache level 2 in teaching assistant course

2007 - Me & Bobby married

2008 - Reef Bobby (my second baby) was born x

2009 - Recession hit, Bobby was self employed so had to work away

2009 - Moved to Surrey for 6 months

2010- Moved back to Nuneaton and we seperated

2010 - Immie started school

2011 - Reef started nursery

2011 - I started my 2+2 degree in Early Childhood Studies!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

:0) x

 

 

 

Ready for tomorrow.....

Here is my summary ready for Lin's lesson tommorow, i found some information on childhood within the middle ages that i found really interesting:

Re – Inventing Childhood Summary:

The Middle Ages

There were many different views on the ideas of childhood during the middle ages. The most dominant institution was the Catholic Church. During baptism one preacher once said, babies, “are simple, without gyle, innocent without harme, and all pure without corruption”.

Greek and Romans idea’s were a big influence on the church when it came to the stages of life, infancy lasted up to the age of 7, childhood up to the age of 14 and to be succeeded by adolescence. Childhood then wasn’t seen as it is today in the sense that  personality and character were massively important.

An abbot once confided in St Anselm The Arch Bishop of Canterbury about the difficulties he was having bringing up two boys in his care and how to discipline them he’d beat them. Anselm didn’t agree with this and burst out “the boys need encouragement and help of fatherly sympathy and gentleness” not just blows.

It has been frequently cited that in the middle-ages children were just referred to and known as ‘little adults’. They were not and childhood was clearly recognised as a distinct time of life.

Child Development Theorist Research

Lev Vygotsky (1896 - 1933) 

Vygotsky was a Russian teacher, psycologist & philosopher. His theories have had a major impact on educational developments and influenced the UK and other Western countries. His academic career ended when he died prematurely of TB, although his work has been carried on and reworked. Vygotsky placed great emphasis on the importance of social context where children explore and learn.  The child he suggested has already  the skills and they then add to them through experiences. Here are a few areas Vygotsky believed to have a great impact on development:

• Skilled adults and social interaction with peers were a vital part to play within the childs cognitive development.
• The Zone Of Proximal Development ('Proximal' is the English translation for a russian word meaning 'nearby')means the area of potential learning for an individual child at a certain time. He believed that  the childs learning could be tested between the level of cognitive learning and potential learning through ineteraction and support from an adult and also his thoughts were that children help one another in the zone through play and social interactions with each other.
• Through analysing play he came to the conclusion that it was important for cognitive development as well as emotional and physical.
• He also saw language as a really strong social tool. He beleived that when children spoke out loud to themselves during play then this was the child instrumenting their thoughts.

Here is a short clip explaining the different approaches Vygotsky and Piaget had:


http://youtu.be/yY-SXM8f0gU

The History of Childhood

Google Key Word search for websites relating to The History Of Childhood:

2006, ‘Re-inventing childhood’ (Online article). Available at:

http://www.open2.net/theinventionofchildhood/childhood_inventions.html

Accessed on 08^th October 2011

Thomas, H. (undated) ‘To what extent were there important changes in the way children were brought up in this period?’ (Online article). Available at:

http://www.elizabethi.org/uk/essays/childhood.htm

Accessed on 08^th October 2011

Emotional Day!

Well today was'nt mapped out how i planned it. After throwing away Lin's module(not sure why!) and scouting through the bin to find it to put back in my folder it dawned on me i am loosing it! This morning i hit an all time 'low' after doing a group activity showing the good and bad highlights of the past week. I realised that my week has been pretty tough after not getting the support i need at home. I have decicded that things have got to change and people need to realise that my prioritys have changed and i am changing as a person(for the better!)..i am doing this degree to educate myself at a higher level but also to make a better future for my family. After a good burst of emotion i am adamant i am going to be stronger and get throught this!Thankyou to my fellow study buddies for making me feel a whole lot better about things its amazing what a few words or just a smile can do x

I found Lin's lesson very interesting and am getting to grips with the structure i think its almost like a spider web of thoughts and ideas all connecting to each other (if this makes sense!)......i especially liked the part about the psychological big five personality traits...me being the emotional, imaginative openess trait (i think anyway!). This lead me to think about the nature v nuture debate and where i stand with it, i feel i am on the fence at the moment as both contribute immensly to children and childhood. I grew up with a step dad and although i have the biological structure from my paternal dad i beleive i have absorbed traits from my step dad. This course not only teaches you about children past and present but also about your own childhood it really gets you thinking!

Anyway enough of my ranting for now i am going to study... things have definatley changed who would have thought on a Friday nght i would be sitting with my head stuck in a book! so bye for now will be back later with more ha x

First Day

After what seems like an enmormous wait i found out Friday that i am now offically a Warwick student!  Tomorrow is our first proper day and i think i am now ready for it to start after managing to get my head round the modules......blogging......virtual learning( i am not used to all the high class technology!).....the list could go on but at least now i dont feel my head is going to explode, if i can hang glide from a mile high then i think i can do this! Really looking forward to getting stuck in and having a day out at Warwick on Tuesday with my new school buddies! ha...here is another link to a short documentary i thought was really interesting about children with delayed speech and language. Enjoy x

http://webplayer.clickview.co.uk/?p=pyy9