Amber Kalender

8/15/2016
ECD 300

1) The family of a child is the childs first teacher. Families have the power to promote
positive self-image and offer and environment that will foster a mentally healthy child. A
family also has the power to do the opposite and can create a child with low self-esteem
as well as an unhealthy mental state. Parent also have the power to be their childs
representative and seek or utilize resources provided to them to improve the mental state
of their child. I also believe that it is extremely important for educators and schools to
create an environment where parents feel comfortable and safe sharing issues they may
be having at home or conditions that their children have that can contribute to mental
health and self-image issues. If schools can create an environment that families do feel
safe and not judged they may be more willing to reach out to the school and seekt
resources that are available to them.
2) Communities play a key role in the development of the children who live in it.
Communities should offer families a number of different resources. Examples of this
could be a safe play area like a park for families to use. The community could offer
extracurricular activities like after school programs and athletic teams that the children
can join and develop skills they can use throughout their life such as conflict resolution,
respect, and many others. Communities that are in a food desert or have a population of
low income families can offer food banks to families through a number of different
organizations.