Poverty in China
Since I have not heard back from the emails I sent I am sharing insights about poverty in China.
- Rural poverty in China has been reduced from 250 million in 1978 to 35 million in 2000.
- 4.2 million Chinese children live in absolute poverty. These numbers have declined over the years.
- Education and health levels in China are higher than in many countries with equivalent incomes
- Life expectancy at birth is 71 years and 85% of the population aed over 15 are literate.
- In 1997 a Minimum Living Standards system was developed and covered 23% of poor urban households. There is concern that the relief is not enough to meet people's basic needs of food and shelter.
www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php
"My Connections to Play"
Two quotes:
Vygotsky - "Children use private speech in play to regulate behavior"
"Creative play is a central activity in the lives of healthy children."
Almon, K. (2002) The vital role of play in early childhood
education. Gateways, 43.
My family, especially my mom, was very supportive of play. She recognized its importance. My sister and I loved to play with our friends. She would take us to the community pool and parks and we would play all day. When we got a little older we got a trampoline and jumped on it for much of the day. We had a playroom above our garage in Tennessee and we played there for many hours even though it got very hot at times. My sister and I loved to play with dolls. My mom always said she would be my best friend and as we got older did not encourage many outside friendships. I think that hurt our social skills a little. Now we talk every once in a while, have very different lives and see each other about 2-3 times per year. Even though we are still very close and had many years of play as children, we have drifted apart. My dad was really good at playing with us also. He took us on our boat all the time and encouraged more of the rough and tumble type of play. Both my mom and taught us to be resourceful and take care of ourselves, almost to a fault.
As I attempt to write my blog assignement I feel play has changed a great deal since when we were younger. We would go all day without seeing the inside of our house and find things to play with. All three of my boys are sitting around my table asking me questions and saying they are bored. I live about 2 blocks from one of the most beautiful lakes and beaches in the country and 1 block from an elementary school playground. There are children all over this neighborhood to play with and they are asking me what they can do. Where have I gone wrong in this scenario? They have come to rely on me as their "social director" and I have probably enabled that. Play is very different. I am going to cancel cable and hide the playstation and nintendo ds's for the summer. My kids are older and possibly beyond help. I hope that young children will be pulled away from the computers, tv and other electronic devices. I hope they will be in a safe place to be able to venture out and make friends. Parents need to be more confident in their childrens ability and need to become independent players. I think sometimes parents protect their children and don't let them make mistakes at an early age.
I have included pictures of my boys below at the beach. This is what we love to do these days. This was on a spring break vacation. My youngest sons favorite toy was a palm branch he found the first day. Again, an item from nature that I didn't have to purchase that entertained him. Nice!!
My Favorites
- Scott
- Boating
- Summer in Northern Michigan
- Elk Rapids Public Schools
- Ice cream
- My horses
- My family
- Preschool children
- My 3 sons
- My 2 dogs
This is me with one of my preschoolers who has been with me 5 days a week for the past 2 years. He is moving to Ohio. It is difficult when they leave. Good news is he will be back in 2 years. He is also one of my favorites.
Tracy:
ReplyDeleteAlthough I did get a response to an email during our first week. I have not had any luck since then. I am now trying to reach new contacts. This has been a challenging part of this course. I sometimes get messages for unknown addresses. It makes me wonder if other emails have been 'bad' or if some just feel uncomfortable responding for view it may be spam or a virus. I am not giving up just yet, though. Good luck in any of your future attempts.
LouAnn Rhodes
Tracy -
ReplyDeleteAs one of the most populous countries in the world, I am not at all surprised by the information you have shared about China. I do find it interesting that so many children live in poverty even though the country has very high levels of education and health.
I haven't had any luck communicating with professionals from other countries either. I'm inclined to agree with LouAnn that they may be uncomfortable in responding.
Teri
Tracy, I read over China's and India's information and was hoping for more current information/statistics then what we were able to read and research from the website. I do find it interesting the life expectancy to be interesting in China, a part of me thought it may be higher then 71 partly because of the diet. Thank you for the information
ReplyDelete