Theoria Technical College ECE-200 Assignment: Child, Family, Community

This assignment, prepared by a student, delves into the interconnectedness of child, family, and community, drawing from the course ECE-200 at Theoria Technical College. It begins with an examination of the bio-ecological model and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, analyzing how these frameworks influence child development. The assignment includes personal reflections on childhood experiences and a newsletter to parents outlining various play-based learning approaches. Furthermore, it addresses child guidance strategies, pro-social skill development, and the impact of societal influences on children. The paper also explores family goals, values, community resources, and the role of early care and education as a community resource. It incorporates practical elements such as a brochure on child guidance approaches and a discussion on the role of diverse cultures in shaping children's behavior, providing a comprehensive view of child development within its broader context.

Running head: CHILD, FAMILY AND COMMUNITY
Child, Family and Community
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
1. Bio-Ecological Model..............................................................................................................2
2. Maslow Hierarchy of Needs.....................................................................................................2
3. Personal Reflections.................................................................................................................3
4. Newsletter to Parents................................................................................................................4
5. Child Guidance Approaches.....................................................................................................7
5.1. Identification of Behavioral Issues...................................................................................7
5.2. One on One Counseling with Children.............................................................................7
5.3. Problem Solving................................................................................................................7
6. Teaching Pro-Social Skills.......................................................................................................8
6.1. Part 1.................................................................................................................................8
6.2. Part 2.................................................................................................................................8
7. Societal Influences on Children...............................................................................................9
8. Family Goals, Values and Culture.........................................................................................11
9. Community Resources...........................................................................................................12
10. Early Care and Education as a Community Resource........................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................15

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1. Bio-Ecological Model
There are a number of ways by which I was affected by the above structures as a child. My
family was guarded and protective always, giving me a secure environment in which to grow up
in. My peers were friendly and supportive. I never lacked for companionship because of them.
My community was largely indifferent to me during my growing up years but the school I
attended was marvelous. I had the best teachers and best child care facilities in school. I
remember the matron at my play school. She loved me so much and always singled me out from
the rest. My religion did not have a significant role to play in my upbringing but at the very least,
it taught me to believe in God.
Child
Family
Religion
Peers
School
Child care
Community

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2. Maslow Hierarchy of Needs
Being given plenty of food to eat and water to drink, especially food that is highly
nutritious in value is what will help children to meet their bodily and mental needs and
requirements at the first level. By eating on time, sleeping on time and eating foods which are
nutritious, children are going to be able to grow and development well enough at the pace they
are expected to grow at (Burford 2017).
At levels 2, 3 and 4, children are overcome by the need of belonging. They simply need
to feel safe and secure at these levels and their self-esteem is also something that is shaped at this
point of time. It is therefore important for interactions between teachers and children and parents
and children to be characterized by a great degree of positivity at this point of time. Parents and
teachers need to encourage children when they do their school work or homework or whenever
they perform any little errand. Children need to be complimented on their appearance too from
time to time, and must be rewarded in a small way if they do well in the tasks and activities that
are assigned to them. This will help children to develop positive self-esteem, while feeling safe
and feeling desired or wanted by their teachers and parents at the same given time (Burford
2017).
The types and structures that fulfill all of the five levels of Maslow’s pyramid or
Hierarchy of Needs are a safe, secure and happy domestic or family environment and a positive
and secure school environment. Both such environments are likely to fulfill the needs and
requirements of children, as they progress through the different levels that are mentioned in
Maslow’s hierarchical model of needs (Dearing et al. 2016).

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3. Personal Reflections
From what I remember, I was quite a demanding baby. I was seldom away from my
mother’s lap and I would cry very hard if I was put down or if someone else tried to hold me. Of
course my memories in this respect are really faint but from whatever it is that I can recall, I was
a spoilt little baby and if I am to go by what my parents tell me, then yes I lived up to their
expectations. They wanted me to want them to fuss over me and spoil me.
I agree with the above statement. I do know that adults who have grown up without any
parental care or affection tend to seek out the same from other adults later in life, as is the case
with my best friend. She grew up in a foster home and she now lives in a rented apartment and is
quite close to her aged landlady. She treats this lady like the mother she never had and shares a
warm and loving relationship with her, which I find to be quite touching.
To be honest, no I am not a person who has trust issues. I grew up with a loving set of
parents who always thought the world of me, and the environment in which I was raised was
quite safe and secure as well. For this reason, I am often unable to empathize with fellow adults
who do suffer from trust related issues. My parents were open and honest with me when raising
me, and I was not in the habit of keeping secrets from them. They never let me down or betrayed
my trust and lived up to my expectations. Consequently, issues pertaining to trust and
abandonment are quite negligible as far as my upbringing is concerned.
4. Newsletter to Parents

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Dear Parents
Welcome to yet another edition of our school’s b-monthly newsletter. This semester we
have decided to introduce some exciting measures for children in the classroom in order to better
engage them with what it is that is being taught to them and to give them more incentive to come
to school. We would like to therefore take the opportunity to brief you on some of the types and
categories of play that we will be initiating in the classroom setup, that are certain to keep your
little ones happy and content when they are in school.
We will allow the children to engage in unoccupied play for a certain hour or so in the
day. Unoccupied play gives children the opportunity to be on their own and to explore their
interests and hobbies while they sit idle, having nothing to do. This is the time during which they
will be likely to look around them and observe their environment and learn about this
environment in a conscious or unconscious way, which in turn is going to contribute quite
significantly to their wellbeing (Di Marino et al. 2018).

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Onlooker play is also something that we are going to encourage in the classroom. For this
purpose, some children will be divided into groups for play activities while other children will
get the scope to sit and watch them play. This onlooker play will also help to develop in children,
the act of observing their peers and their surroundings and learning about them in an informal
way (Eruvar et al. 2018).
Parallel play is a third form of play which we are going to be introducing. Here, children
in the class will be given specific toys or puzzles and they will be encouraged to play on their
own, but side by side next to one another. We believe that this is a form of play which will help
children to focus on their tasks or activities at hand even though others around them are doing
something that is different (Eruvar et al. 2018).
On behalf of our school and administrator, we sincerely hope that you are on board with
such initiatives and we look forward to receiving our feedback and suggestions concerning the
same.

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With gratitude and warm wishes,
Mandy Robinson
Coordinator – Tiny Tots Play School
5. Child Guidance Approaches
Please refer to the attached brochure for information on this section.
6. Teaching Pro-Social Skills
6.1. Part 1
Ten positive behaviors that have been listed down by the students are the desire and the
incentive to achieve more in what they do, the passion and excitement with which they do their
school work, the commitment that they make to doing their work as perfectly as possible, to take
the risk and do things others would not want to usually do, to believe in what is impossible, to
focus on vision more than anything else, to be optimistic, to be goal oriented at all times, to be
disciplined and to be punctual. All these positive traits when inculcated are certain to help
students to grow up into positive and productive adults (Goldfeld et al. 2018).
When it comes to understanding the types of culture that are prevalent in the societies and
communities that the students are growing up in, mention has been made about the fact that the
students are exposed to cultures such as Chinese culture, Indonesian culture, African American
culture, Indian culture and Korean culture. In other words, the students are well exposed to Asian
and African cultures, to quite a considerable degree and as a part of the social interaction

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process, have managed to acquire some essential traits and elements associated with each of
these cultures, and that too in a positive way, more of which will be discussed in part 2.
6.2. Part 2
`All of the cultures that have been mentioned above are those that have influenced the
behavior and the growing up experiences of the students in a number of different ways. To begin
with, the African American culture in the immediate social environment is something that has
taught the students to appreciate good church music, blues and jazz. The members of the African
American community partake in and host jazz and blues events on a regular basis in society, and
some of the students have had the privilege of attending such events, more than once. The
Indonesian culture has exposes students to spicy food and has taught them to appreciate different
types of flavors when eating food, something that children who hail from Caucasian
communities were not too familiar with before at all (Heerman et al. 2018). The exposure to
Indian culture has taught the students to appreciate song and dance of a different culture, and it is
clear from the responses that have been provided by the students that they are quite obsessed
with Bollywood culture and everything to do with it, including the loud music and the dramatic
roles performed by actors. The exposure to Korean and Chinese culture appears to have had a
strong impact on the eating behavior and the culinary habits of some of the students. They have
learnt to use chopsticks for eating food, something that they were unfamiliar with in the initial
years of growing up, as it is not practiced in their immediate home environment. In learning how
to use chopsticks, they have come to appreciate and understand how food is consumed in parts of
the world that are different from their own, and the uniqueness associated with the same
(Goldfeld et al. 2018).

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7. Societal Influences on Children
One of the most important socializing events in my life was when I was taken by my parents
to attend a Chinese wedding. It was a fantastic experience and I got to see firsthand, the type of
traditional costumes and the numerous rituals that are performed as part of such weddings.
The status of my family did have a certain factor to play in my socialization. I do come
from an upper middle class family which is why I got to interact with elite people for the most
part during my growing up years.
I was never the target of bias and I am very fortunate about the fact that I am not. I grew up
in a society and in a community where respect was fostered and shown for people of all types of
races and communities. It was a truly egalitarian society in which I was raised.
I was not raised in a biased family. As a result, I was not affected by bias, nor was I
encouraged to ever engage in bias at a young age. My parents and other family members have
always taught me to respect people from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds.
The income level of my family allowed me to receive my education in a private school. I was
quite sheltered and protected in my growing up years and I had little knowledge about the grave
realities of life. The income level of my family allowed me to enjoy a very secure childhood.
Racism had no part to play in my socialization. As I have said before, I grew up in a society
and in a community where respect was shown for people of all types of religions and ethnicities
and so I was encouraged to do the same.
One of the best things that I remember about starting Kindergarten is the autonomy that
was given to me by my teachers when doing classwork. My teachers would not always stand by

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my side and observe what I was doing, which they would do when I was in playschool and upper
nursery.
I was quite content with the school that I was sent to and I believe that it was one of the
best in the locality. That having been said, I am unaware of any schools that were better than the
one I attended or worse than the school I attended.
I was not much of a mixer when I was in school. However, I was fairly interactive in the
class and had a group of friends, about four or five in number, who I could always turn to for
support and companionship and who made my growing up years quite pleasant.
Television had a significant impact on my childhood. I remember being quite an avid viewer
of television, and I would especially love to watch cartoons a lot
I did learn something from watching television, and that was the value of honesty. That
time when Jerry puts a soap bar in Tom’s mouth because he appears to be lying about his golf
score (Tom and Jerry cartoon), was one that convinced me back then, that lying is just not okay.
8. Family Goals, Values and Culture
Yes I am aware that I am an American by birth and I greatly appreciate the American culture
because it is truly diverse in its nature and scope. In the United States of America, we are
encouraged to pay respect to all types of creeds and cultures since we are a nation that has
descended from immigrants and value therefore, people of diverse cultures, ethnic and religious
backgrounds (Horii et al. 2017).
If a person walked into my home, they would not notice anything specific about the
culture to which I belong. This is because my home is a typical American apartment with the

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regular TV, bed, refrigerator, family photos etc. Nothing that is intrinsic to culture in particular
do I keep at my apartment. I like to consider myself as a valuable member of the community and
society where I live and I like to show the world that I am a non-biased individual who respects
all cultures of the world and who does not adhere to any particular or type of culture (Hueber et
al. 2018).
I am always open to learning new things about other cultures, especially given my
growing up years and the fact that I grew up in such an ethnically diverse society. I got to learn
about Chinese and Indian culture during my growing up years, and this made me appreciate the
culture of my family a lot too, especially in the area of eating habits. Chinese and Indian people
love spicy food, but I am not too fond of spice and appreciate the blander dishes that are typical
of American culinary culture (Huebner et al. 2018).
In order to include the diversity of culture in the classroom setup, I would encourage students
to speak in the classroom about the cultural backgrounds from which they hail and to talk about
such cultures through the form of drawings, creative writing and paintings. I personally believe
that students, even the not so creative ones, always express themselves best through the medium
of art. I would therefore encourage them to show what their culture is and what it means to them
through drawings and paintings and discuss these with them in the class, in front of a wide
audience (Horii et al. 2017).
9. Community Resources
The ten resources that a community needs to always have are affordable housing, shelter and
housing, immigration issue centers, health programs, drug and alcohol prevention programs,
food bank, legal assistance, public assistance and local clinics (McCallum and Cheng 2016).

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Affordable housing is something that is going to put all members of the society or community in
position to lead a dignified life Affordable housing will ensure that most members of the
community have a roof over their heads, and that they do not have to worry about being out on
the streets once their lease agreement happens to run out or expire. Shelter and housing
authorities will ensure that homeless people have some form of accommodation that they can go
back to in the night, from where they are not going to be turned out easily, and where they can go
and enjoy at least a good night’s sleep. The immigration issue centers will play an active role in
helping people from migrant communities especially those who have newly arrived in the
country of America to settle down well enough over here. The basic needs, requirements and
issues upon arrival will be looked into by these centers (McKean et al. 2016). Drug and alcohol
prevention programs will help community members who suffer from addiction related problems
to overcome their issues and will help them to go back to leading a normal life once again.
Health programs like regular health check-up camps, will put members of the community in a
position to understand how they are doing in terms of health and whether or not they need to take
better care of their health, how they ought to go about doing so, etc. Local clinics similarly will
help in addressing the health related needs of community members. Food banks will come to the
aid of the homeless and those suffering from financial issues and who are not able to meet their
day to day requirements as a consequence. Public assistance and legal assistance will assist
people who are in jeopardy, regardless of whether they are immigrants, homeless or are
established members of the community and society (Nabi 2017).

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10. Early Care and Education as a Community Resource
The quality of child care in the community in which I live is not of a very high standard.
There aren’t too many play schools or crèches as there ought to be to look into the needs and
requirements of working parents. I believe that funds ought to be solicited for the purpose of
setting up crèches or play schools where working parents can send their children to while they
attend to their jobs during the day (Wallace et al. 2018). There ought to be community run child
care centers as well that will help to address the needs of children who are orphans or who do not
have a proper or stable family life. The quality of child care needs to significantly improve in the
community and society that I come from as there aren’t enough provisions to address children’s
needs at the community level. Only children who come from upper or middle income
backgrounds can afford good services and access to privileges while those who hail from poor
immigrant families or who come from impoverished backgrounds do not have the right to the
same privileges be it education or their welfare in general. I would certainly recommend that
funds be raised, resources be gathered and investments be encouraged for setting up child care
centers in different parts of the city so that all children living in the city have a place to go to for
proper care and nourishment, in the event that they are not able to receive the same from their
own parents (Zegrac and Burgund 2017).

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References
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family practice. Routledge
Dearing, E., Walsh, M.E., Sibley, E., Lee‐St. John, T., Foley, C. and Raczek, A.E., 2016. Can
Community and School‐Based Supports Improve the Achievement of First‐Generation
Immigrant Children Attending High‐Poverty Schools?. Child development, 87(3), pp.883-897.
Di Marino, E., Tremblay, S., Khetani, M. and Anaby, D., 2018. The effect of child, family and
environmental factors on the participation of young children with disabilities. Disability and
health journal, 11(1), pp.36-42.
Eruyar, S., Huemer, J. and Vostanis, P., 2018. How should child mental health services respond
to the refugee crisis?. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 23(4), pp.303-312.
Goldfeld, S., O’Connor, M., Cloney, D., Gray, S., Redmond, G., Badland, H., Williams, K.,
Mensah, F., Woolfenden, S., Kvalsvig, A. and Kochanoff, A.T., 2018. Understanding child
disadvantage from a social determinants perspective. J Epidemiol Community Health, 72(3),
pp.223-229.
Heerman, W.J., Burgess, L.E., Escarfuller, J., Teeters, L., Slesur, L., Liu, J., Qi, A., Samuels,
L.R. and Singer-Gabella, M., 2018. Competency Based Approach to Community Health
(COACH): The methods of a family-centered, community-based, individually adaptive obesity
randomized trial for pre-school child-parent pairs. Contemporary clinical trials, 73, pp.1-7

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Horii, N., Allman, J., Martin-Prével, Y. and Waltisperger, D., 2017. Determinants of early
initiation of breastfeeding in rural Niger: cross-sectional study of community based child
healthcare promotion. International breastfeeding journal, 12(1), p.41.
Huebner, R.A., Hall, M.T., Smead, E., Willauer, T. and Posze, L., 2018. Peer mentoring services,
opportunities, and outcomes for child welfare families with substance use disorders. Children
and Youth Services Review, 84, pp.239-246.
McCallum, K. and Cheng, A.L., 2016. Community factors in differential responses of child
protective services. Public health nursing, 33(2), pp.107-117.
McKean, C., Law, J., Mensah, F., Cini, E., Eadie, P., Frazer, K. and Reilly, S., 2016. Predicting
meaningful differences in school-entry language skills from child and family factors measured at
12 months of age. International Journal of Early Childhood, 48(3), pp.329-351.
Nabi, G., 2016. Family profile of victims of child abuse and neglect in the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia. Saudi medical journal, 37(12), p.1418.
Sampson, R.J., 2017. Family management and child development: Insights from social
disorganization theory. In Facts, frameworks, and forecasts (pp. 63-94). Routledge.
Wallace, S., Ahmed, A., Coddington, J. and Spoerner, D., 2018. Child Wellness Day: An
Interdisciplinary Community Engagement Service.
Zegarac, N. and Burgund, A., 2017. Caseworkers' perceptions of the strengths of the child family
and community. Child & Family Social Work, 22, pp.41-50.

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