My Connection to Play

Play to me means outside and exploration.  I grew up on a farm in western Oklahoma and I spent hours outside playing in the dirt making mud pies and my other favorite was playing school with all of my dolls.  The following quotes I think are instrumental in my believes about play in my own personal life.

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life's realities.

Dr. Seuss
US author & illustrator (1904 - 1991)

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go....

Dr. Seuss, Oh! The Places You'll Go!
US author & illustrator (1904 - 1991)

I have included pictures of the books that I loved to read and use to play school with my dolls and some good old fashion dirt to represent my play in making mud pies with the picture of the old tin dish set.  This dish set looks exactly like the set I had a child.  Great memories.

My parents always allowed me to play and dream of all the possibilities that would come to life over the course of my lifetime.  I was a very independent child and have grown to be an independent adult.  Play was critical for me to figure out what I wanted in my life.  I wanted to help people as a teacher, but what I did not know was I wanted to help many teachers of young children.  Play is still an important part of my life and I am a firm believer that play is a necessary task in everyone's life.  Play opens the door for exploration and opens the mind to be creative.  My parents allowed me to explore and play all day everyday. 

I think one of the greatest issues for children today is that they are not allowed to play outside because of parental fear of danger in our neighborhoods.  I think it is crtical in today's society that we afford children the opportunity to learn to play in safe settings.  Child care centers are the perfect place for children to have the ability to explore, dream and think about the possibilities.  I have worked to create an environment in my home where my children played, explored and dreamed.  It is amazing to me that today as 22, 20, and 18 year olds they still have dreams and play still plays a major role in their lives as young adults.  If we teach children to play they will play for LIFE!!!

 

Relationship Reflection

My best friend Dawn

 Relations are extremely important to me and I have a variety of friends from a variety of diffent facets of my life.  My best friend Dawn is very important to me and she means the world to me, she is like a sister to me.  I lost my sister 12 years ago and while no one could replace my sister Dawn feels like a sister.  My children call her Auntie Dawn and her children call me Aunt Jill.  She is extremely important to me.

College Friends

College Friends

 My husband Jairo and I met while working at a Mexican food restaurant 24 years ago and of the people working there at that time there are 9 couples that got married and all are still married over 20 years later.  We have remained friends with several of these couples over the years.  The challenges we have faced in maintaining these realtionships include we all have children of various ages and get busy in our daily lives so it takes special care to maintain these long term relationships.  I am proud that we have worked to keep these friendships alive and well.  Both pictures of college friends are couples from our work at Bobo's the Mexican food restrautant. 

The next picture of me and my middle child and baby daughter Lauren is us taking a picture of ourselves while looking at the ceiling at Graceland.  One of the things the characteristics of our relationship is that we always have lots of fun.  My husband and I worked hard to do lots of fun things with our children.  We are a fun group!

My and my daughter Lauren

Me and my friends from the Missouri Registry

My mom, me, my cousins Teresa and Joe and my mom's twin sister Aunt Jerry.

My Sister Jan

My friend Lezley and me

My best friend Kelly and me getting our Thunder on!!!

My Momtana Registry Friends

My dad, my son Hunter, my mom and me

Me and my son Hunter

My friend Denise from the Missouri Registry has become one of my very best friends and we started out really just being collegues that do the same type of work in different states.  We served on the National Registry Alliance board together, but our parternship has grown and strengthened into a personal friendship type of relationship.  This picture was taken last fall at the OKState vs Missouri game in Missouri.  My husband, my son and I went and stayed with Denise and attended the football game together. 

The next couple of pictures are of my family my mom is a twin and me and Aunt Jerry's children are really close and spend all holidays together.  We are a constant support system for each other.  Then there is a picture of my sister from 1999 about 11 months before she passed away.  I have worked really hard to keep her spirit alive for my children.  Aunt Jan meant the world to them, but they were 5, 7 and 9 when she passed away so they have distant memories of her and it is important to me to keep her alive for them.  It has been a challenge just because they were so young when she passed away, but it is very important for me and my family.

This is a picture of my friend Lezley and I at the football game from today.  We have been friends for about 8 years.  She is my best friend from Blanchard the town that I live in and my Blanchard relationships seem very different from the rest of my relationships.  In Blanchard I am just a mom, but all other relationships I am a mom and I have an identiy associated with my work as an early childhood professional.  





This picture was from this summer when the OKC Thunder was playing in the NBA Finals.  We dressed up at work to support our team.  Kelly is one of my best friends and she is a jewel.  We have a lot in common our kids are similar in age and we are at similar places in our lives.  She is already an empty nester, but she is my one friend that understands both of my worlds the one that I am mother of three children and she understands my passion for my work as an early childhood professional.

Me and my oldest daughter Jordan

My Montana Registry friends are a group of ladies that do similar work that I do for the state of Oklahoma in the state of Montana.  We have become distant friends because of our common interests in Registry work.  I am excited to get to see these ladies this coming week at The National Registry Alliance conference in Panama City Beach, Florida.

My daughters Jordan and Lauren



My husband Jairo and I

I am finishing up with the most critical relationships in my life and they are my family.  My parents, my husband and my children.  This is my sons senior year in high school and he is playing football, which is a very important part of our lives.  We are huge football fans for both high school football and college football.  I am so proud of him and you can tell by looking at the picture that my parents are too.  They live over an hour away from us, but they are so dedicated to my children that they rarely miss any of my kids important games, programs, or just come to show them support for whatever they need. 













My daughters are Gamma Phi Beta's at Oklahoma State University and Gamma Phi is very important to my family because my sister was a Gamma Phi so that is connection she and the girls have so that is part of the legacy she leaves for our family.


Lastly, my husband of 22 years Jairo is extremely important to me.  We are very fortunate that both of us have parents that have been married 40 plus years so they have been great role models for us and that they have shown us that marriage is hard work and you have to be committed to each other.  I am hopeful that we have been the same type of role model for our children.

The committment to my personal relationship have been key to the foundation for the realtionships I have developed as an early childhood professional.  I am public policy fanatic just as my blog states and our my work in early childhood has been the foundation for my public policy efforts.  Just like we have read about all week relationships between teacher and the family is critical as a foundation for high quality.  As a public policy advocate I have worked to seek funding for high quality early childhood programs and high quality relationships lies at the foundation.