Entry One - People, Places, Things and Events

When I think about an event that had a big impact in my life, the first thing that comes to mind in the birth of my niece. I was eight years old when she was born and she became my first constant interaction with a young child. It was from this event that inspired me to become an early childhood teacher. It is because of my niece and my love of children that influences the choices that I make towards my future.

I believe that people, places, things and events and affect everything you do and every choice you make. People could be family members, friends or strangers that you walk past or make a comment. The first thing that I think of when I am asked to think of a place I imagine home because my family and all of the closeness and events that have taken place has made me who I am today. Things to a child may be their favourite blanket or toy that gives them comfort or reassurance. I imagine a thing as being something significant and came to be because of your past or what could be a part of your future. An event could be positive or negative.  A birth or death, a successful job interview or a disaster, making a new friend or not being able to see your family because they are stuck in another country.

“In early childhood, children are developing more elaborate and useful working theories about themselves and about the people, places, and things in their lives. These working theories contain a combination of knowledge about the world, skills and strategies, attitudes, and expectations” (Ministry of Education, 1996).

A situation that a child is facing in my centre is that her sister moved to India and didn’t come back. Since the move she has been telling me that she gets to see her sister on the computer and draws pictures for her at day care. When I ask her if she will see her again she will say that no she won’t because she won’t be coming back. This was evident when her aunty came to visit because the child would ask her not to leave because she was afraid that she wouldn’t see her again. I think this is because a big event in her life was the loss of her family either by death or leaving her and not coming back.

I have not yet meet a child that was affected by the earthquakes in Christchurch but I can imagine that moving anywhere else at a young age would impact on how aware they are in their environment. Being paced in an unfamiliar environment filled with strangers and the constant fear that something could go wrong I how I feel the child would be reacting. The most important people in their live would be the family they are with and how safe they would feel with the people that they know and have been in their situation before. This is their people, place, thing and event. It is because of the event that happened in Christchurch involving the people that the child was with that lead the child to where they are now and the choices that they will make in the future.