Tuesday 20 September 2011

I find it all rather depressing

I am currently mid way through an assignment for my behaviour management unit at uni,
And my topic is depression,
So I have spent the last few hours pouring over pages and pages of facts, statistics and information about depression in zero to eight year olds!
It is shockingly grounding!
What could possibly have gone wrong for such young children to be burdened with one of the worst disorders?
And then reading about suicide rates in under 12s!!!
It is so upsetting!
I would even suggest that it is depressing just reading about this!
Of course, I have been dealing with my own depression for years now,
But 6 year olds? They are meant to be playing and enjoying the simplicity of life!
Not contemplating their own morbidity!!!
What happened to protecting the innocence of children?
Why has that rate of depression in early childhood increased by 580% in the last 10 years?
And the government keeps sending money overseas with our military?
The biggest problem of all is that everyone is still in denial over this prevalent issue!
No one believes that children can get such an atrocious disorder!
I am currently studying a unit which is based around creating a learning environment for early childhood, that reflects personal beliefs. And you can all be assured that when I am let loose on the world of teaching, my classroom will be a haven of childishness!
A kindergarten is scary enough when you are a tiny child coming straight from spending all of your days at home with mum...
Why make it worse, by having set desks, and homework?
My classroom will be colourful, it will have a home corner, it will most importantly be personal!
I will spend the first few weeks focusing on the students,
Making posters about their families to display, and getting them to bring in photos, toys and trinkets from home.
The transition period into school is what students will base their entire reaction to the idea of schooling from!
If I can create a positive reaction, then hopefully that will have an even larger positive influence on their future learning and emotional development!!!

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