“Potentially” contaminating behavioural practices in the preparation, feeding and storage of “ogi” — an infant cereal in a rural Nigerian community

Thirty households with children aged 6-18 months from four villages in the Badagry Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria were studied. Open-ended unstructured ethnographic interviews were used to collect information on “potentially” contaminating food handling behaviour with particular reference to the preparation, feeding and storage of “ogi” an infant cereal. Focus group studies were conducted for women aged 18-45 years in the four villages to obtain more information.

Improper handwashing, widespread acceptance and use of feeding bottles, long storage and safety of place of storage were some of the “potentially” contaminating behavioural patterns identified.

Intensive health education on the dangers of feeding bottles, improper hand-washing and long storage of cooked “ogi” to the health of infants and young children is strongly recommended.     

Effects of a prenatal “Information and Insights about Infants” program on the knowledge base of first-time low-education fathers one month postnatally

Pregnant women, in two clinics, one serving “low-risk” and the other serving “high risk” pregnancies, helped to recruit their male partners into a prenatal program. The 67 men, first-time fathers, all of low socio-economic status, were randomly assigned either to a control group or to an experimental group. The intervention group received two intensive 1 1#sh2 hour sessions of information and insights about infants in a small group within a clinical setting.

Father interviews and measures provided data on family parenting background; father attitudes towards infants; father perception of infants; father knowledge of when certain infant behaviors could be expected, couple dyadic adjustment, father social support, and father self-image. Postnatally fathers were videotaped with their infants during a feeding interaction. During the training sessions, detailed information about the behavioral capacities of the unborn#shnewborn and of infants during the first months of life were provided. Post test knowledge of infant scores of the experimental group were significantly higher #opp = 0.0001#cp than those of the comparison group.     

Teaching art appreciation in the nursery school -- it's relevance for 3 and 4 year olds

This article, a report on recent research, draws attention to the positive response shown by nursery school children to art appreciation when it was introduced into their curriculum.

It explains how art appreciation was integrated into an intercurriculum approach and “taught” through activities that are a normal part of a nursery school day viz. mime, movement, telling stories, expressing feelings, games and puzzles. The method and content of each session is outlined and findings reported. It is noted how art appreciation allows for reflective and physical participation, cognitive growth, observation, the development of vocabulary, and can lead to children responding to paintings sensitively yet critically -- many four year olds can “spot” stylistic similarities and make cross references between paintings.

As art appreciation is a useful means to learning and children find it an enjoyable activity, it would be beneficial if it was “written-in” to the forthcoming National Curriculum document for art education.     

Children's conceptions of their own play

This paper described a research project, Play and Learning, to investigate the mental processes that underlie children's activities in “free play” and “structured learning” situations in preschool. Interviews of children about “what they did” were used to investigate children's own views of play and learning.     

Forms of knowledge, the curriculum and the young child

Children need to learn many matters, but not all their learning is of the same epistemological kind.There are something like eight fundamental and fundamentally different ways in which human beings encounter the world: Knowledge of Mathematics and Logic, Empiricist Knowledge, Scientific Knowledge, Knowledge of Persons and their Minds, Moral Knowledge, Knowledge and Experience in the Aesthetic Domain, Religion, Philosophy. These Forms structure children's learning, understanding, and experience both formal and informal, at all ages.Moreover they structure not just “scholarly knowledge and experience”, but also, “commonsense knowledge and experience”.

A suitable curriculum will be one which in one way or another provides diverse experiences of these Forms. Because there is no “transfer of training” between Forms as such, children need to be introduced to them all and to be shown how they differ. To say this is not to beg any questions about the best way in which to teach young children: no matter how we decide to organize a curriculum,we are still able to use a range of modern methods.

Although much learning in pre-school and early elementary school ought not to be directly concerned for the deliberate acquisition of the Forms as such, much of the casual learning in schools (and outside them) does indeed involve the Forms-with examples drawn from the child world.

In introducing children to the Forms, those who care for and who teach young children have an enormous responsibility.     

The efficacy of the parent-teacher “partnership” of the 1990s

The 1990s are times of rapid social and technological change. There are many unknowns that face both adults and children. We all have problems that need resolution. The time when adults “knew” the answers and children learned by “watching” echo faintly in the whirl of scientific change which is impacting on most aspects of our daily life. As early childhood teachers we have to learn to enquire, to listen, to think together with children, their families and society. The concept of negotiation is central to communication while the basic tenet of the process focusses not on the person but the issue. It is in these times of rapid change that we need to deepen our understanding of the family and further our professional insights by “tapping” the wealth of crucial kndowledge that parents have about their children. Hurst asserts that the partnership of parents in issues of their children's education:

“is probably the greatest single opportunity for educational advance open to teachers today”.

Hurst: 1987; 109     

Alleviating the force of poverty on urban poor children

This pluralistic, highly advantaged society, with an ethnically diverse and class-divided population, has both moral and economic obligations to assist urban poor children to overcome the adverse conditions of their life circumstances. A network of socially-conscious child advocates is needed to help poor children, particularly those of color, to overcome the statistical odds against them. At bottom these advocates must be humanists who subscribe to the human capital concept and who apply it to our children. A national Urban Marshall Plan is needed, social policy designed to ameliorate the substandard condition of the poor. It must include the institution and maintenance of realistic policies and programs of effective schooling for poor children and their families. Schooling is their lifeline to the 21st century. The urban poor, in turn, have a responsibility to accept and use wisely the assistance offered them. Thus obligation is mutual and reciprocal between society and its urban poor, though the greater burden is on the society to make it possible for urban poor children to surmount adverse conditions under which they find themselves due to “accidents of birth” and the transformation of our economy.     

Children first: Protection & prevention in services for disabled children part II

SYNOPSIS

This paper is written in two parts.

Part I outlined the legislative and social economic contexts. A framework for analysing prevention and protection services for handicapped children was then presented. This framework was illustrated in relation to services at four levels of intervention: populations, early risks, significant harm and children already abused or “looked after”.     

Evaluating the social competence of young children: A review of the literature

Recent longitudinal studies of established federally funded educational programs designed for young children lacking educational experiences suggest that positive long-term effects were acquired through programs that focused on the development of the social competencies of the children. Although researchers differ on a specific definition and method of evaluation of social competence, the competencies generally accepted as social competence appear to be necessary for success in school and are advantageous to the child as he recognizes and becomes a part of the “culture of literacy”. Researchers agree on the complexity of the social competence construct. Research confirms cognition influences from family, community, and biological factors. Despite the widely accepted importance of social competence in programs for young children, measurement instruments vary. More research is being conducted in federal, state, and private programs on the effects of social competence on success in school. Organizations associated with early childhood programs as well as educational institutions are bringing into focus the need to establish present and future guidelines for developing curricula that enhance the development of social competence and appropriate assessment of social competence of young children.     

Some aspects of mother-child relationships following the birth of twins

In the outline of a research program on the process through which mothers of twins begin to make a differentiation between their children and succeed or do not succeed in individualizing each of them, we have undertaken a preliminary study to get closer to the psychological and social questions mothers have to face in the first weeks after the birth.

We followed up five triads mother-twins at the maternity unit and at home for the first three months. The observations of children's behaviour, babies' material environment, and of mother's behaviour as well as mothers interviews have brought evidence of the complexity and specificity of such a situation.

We have shown that the overloading of the nursing tasks obliges the mother to adopt a precise organization in which she cares not to favour one of the twins to the detriment of the other. Furthermore the mothers feel they will never be able to satisfy each child fully, despite those true “egalitarian strategies”.

To those behaviours which consist of “doing the same thing” with both babies, an individualized representation of each child opposes itself very early in the mother's speech.

This lag between the differentiating maternal representation and the maternal behaviour that tends to cancel such a differentiation allows us to suppose there exists a double process: the necessity of individualizing the twins and the desire to confound them in one unit.     

“pop-out” method of levonorgestrel implant removal

The “pop-out” technique is a method of levonorgestrel implant removal that uses digital pressure to direct implants through a small skin incision. This technique was developed, theoretically, to cause less bruising and patient discomfort by avoiding the use of instruments. The pop-out technique is the primary method used for levonorgestrel implant removal in the Magee-Womens Hospital resident clinic. We performed a retrospective analysis of levonorgestrel implant removals performed between July 1, 1995, and December 31, 1998. Of the 168 removals included in this analysis, 38 were performed by one of two attending physicians, and 130 were performed by the residents with attending supervision. The average time for removal was 12 ± 5 min (range 2.25–27 min) when the “pop-out” method could be used to remove all six implants, and 14 ± 7 min (range 2.25–59 min) for all removals. The removal time for residents was inversely proportional to the anticipated level of difficulty of the removal and to the number of previous removals performed. The removal time was significantly faster when residents were supervised by one of the attending physicians as compared with the other attending physician. Only 0.7% (7/1,008) of levonorgestrel implants were fragmented during removal. This review shows that the “pop-out” method is a reasonable alternative to other proposed methods of primary implant removal. The difference in the level of expertise of the attending physician may significantly influence removal time when training clinicians in levonorgestrel implant removal.     

The paradox of “wonderful children”: The case of child abuse

In our society young children are generally considered to be “wonderful”. This dominant concept pervades not only parental thinking, but professional thinking as well. In the case of child abuse, however, profound contradictions can arise as a result. Professionals are primarily focused on children's welfare, while parents' views are much more ambiguous.

In our example of a Family Centre these contradictions are clearly illustrated, and we hope to draw conclusions as to what change in theory and practice could result from an analysis of contradictions.     

Prosocial Behaviors of Handicapped and Typical Peers In An Integrated Preschool

This Study explores initiations of prosocial actions by mainstreamed handicapped and normal preschoolers to discover:

1. which preschool activity setting was more conducive to prosocial interactions.
2. which specific prosocial bids were more likely to occur in which setting.
3. whether frequency of prosocial behaviors was related to directionality, since typical children are reported to choose interactions with typical rather than atypical peers preferentially.
4. what proportion of prosocial behaviors were child initiated rather than teacher directed.

Six types of prosocial bids were recorded for 10 typical and 5 special (4 autistic, 1 multiply handicapped) children (mean age 4-4 years) in 4 activity settings (80 total minutes per child). Setting had a significant effect. Most of the 210 prosocial bids occurred during free play, many during structured play and gym, and the fewest during teacher-directed structured circle time. Sharing, cooperating and helping were the most frequent prosocial behaviors. Sympathy and praise were rare; no nurturing was observed.

No directionality preferences were found. Typical children initiated twice as many prosocial bids (X=20) as atypical peers (X=10-2). Taking into account the expected probabilities for interactions given the significantly different prosocial activity levels for each group and the different numbers of children per group, no preferences or “prejudices” were found.

Contact alone with typical children does not build interpersonal skills of atypical children. Teachers and therapists must specifically model and facilitate prosocial skills.     

More than just play: The significance of mutually directed adult-child activity

In much current writing on developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs, emphasis is laid on the importance for young children's development and learning of spontaneous, self-initiated exploration and autonomous play (e.g. Bredekamp, 1987; Rogers & Sawyers, 1988. Adults are seen in this literature as setters of the stage for children and as responsive facilitators of children's activities. They are seldom seen as initiators of those activities or even particularly as co-explorers with children. Yet there is evidence that where adults actively engage with children in mutual pursuits -- especially everyday, family-style pursuits -- there is enhancement of children's social, emotional and cognitive development. Some of this evidence, drawn from both past and current studies, is presented.

The paper reviews a number of factors that appear to lie behind the present emphasis, in early childhood programs, on child rather than adult direction of activity, especially play. The proposal is advanced that young children's development and learning in a variety of settings would be better served and a more balanced curriculum achieved if adult roles as initiators and partners -- not only facilitators -- were recognized in a wide variety of activities -- not only play.

At an earlier time, it is suggested, children's developmental needs and individual interests were often largely disregarded as adults attempted to determine, in form and detail, the educational progress of their young tabulae rasae. The pendulum swing in educational theory is now giving central place, in the search for developmental appropriateness, to the autonomy of the child. This paper proposes a position between these two extremes, in order to draw more fully on the range of capacities of both adults and children. In short, it suggests that while retaining the baby and the bathwater, it is important not to throw mother (or caregiver or teacher) out instead.     

To Develop Young Children's Conception of Numbers

In a group of children, aged 2:7-3:1* years, the teachers have systematically been working with developing the children's conception of numbers. In the group there are eight children who are all fascinated by stars. The teacher takes this fascination as a starting point to develop the children's conception of numbers. She makes cards with 1,2,3, 4, or 5 stars on. The cards are sorted with regard to the numbers of stars and kept in a box with five compartments, one for each number. When the group is gathered the teacher lets the children choose one “star-card” each, which they are asked to put up on a board together with their name.

The teacher works with the children in steps which have partly been developed with regard to the children's comments. The children are invited to take a star-card with a pattern which they think is nice. Furthermore, they are invited to match cards with the same number of stars and to count the stars on their cards. The children are also asked to compare the length of the rows of cards and to work out how many cards there are in the different rows. They are also asked to pick a card with a given number of stars.

This article demonstrates how the work was carried out and how the children think and how they handle the different parts of the content. When the work is finished, another group of children of the same age is interviewed and the two different groups are compared with regard to the children's conception of numbers. The comparison group, called reference group is meant to illustrate an ordinary way of working with numbers in preschool.     

Professional and Parent Views of Early Childhood Programs: A Cross-Cultural Study

Interrelationships between the macro-, mesoand microsystems can affect the partnerships which parents and professionals form to effectively support the growth of young children. These “systems” were explored through a cross cultural study.

To study the mesosystem where family and early childhood progam meet, a fivesection survey was sent to a random sampling of ten per cent of parents and professionals involved in early childhood programs in Kronobergs Lan, Smaland, Sweden and St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States. In general, parents and professionals in Sweden agreed with each other that open-ended, creative, childcentered materials and activities were important. In the United States, however, there were many significant differences between parent and professional views. More parents than professionals favored academic tasks and conformity to rules, while more professionals than parents supported children's creative exploration of the environment. The views of the respondents were affected in diverse ways by the macro-system political and economic societal contexts.

This study suggests that parents and professionals, particularly those who have significantly different ideas, may need to discuss a common purpose and philosophy about what is important for young children in early childhood programs. This purpose needs to take seriously the societal context in which children live. Building on a common base, various formats for involvement can be created to maximize the support network among parents, professionals and young children.     

Children's work code: a Western Australian study

Children's Work Code is based on a Ph D thesis which documents the acquisition of ideas about work of children at the end of their final years of primary schooling. The research undertaken adopts an ethnographic perspective and involves over one hundred children in a rural setting. In documenting their ideas about work, due recognition is given to the ideas directly expressed by the children. However, the study goes beyond the children's explicit expressions to probe the organizing principles that generate their ideas about work. This is based on the thesis that knowledge of work is shared by individuals through a socially generated code similar to that of language. As with language, this “work code” is acquired by individuals in a social context and at an early age, but because the process of acquisition is largely unconscious, the code is rarely articulated. The ultimate task of this study is the articulation of the children's work code. Two central concepts are those of code and the culture of childhood.

This article looks at one aspect of the children's work code. It describes the three principal work domains through which the children in the study learnt about work, those of school, the domain of home chores and the world of adult work. These formed the immediate social context generating their “work code”.