Personal Childhood Web

Susan Nussbaum:
My mother taught me to be respectful of the rules and made me feel special by always coming first to her. It I couldn't be included in an activity then she would stay with me or if something was not appropriate for me to do, she wouldn't do it either. It made me feel like I was her equal and that I meant the most to her. My mother doesn't believe in punishment. She did not yell at me when I did something wrong. Instead, she would remove me from a situation and would explain that she loves me but that my behaviour was not acceptable. If I didn't apologize, she would remove me from the situation and would not bring up the subject again. She was always very consistent and never changed her mind about something. If I had a temper tantrum, she would comfort me and hold me but explain that the answer was still "no." The rules that I was given applied to everyone in the household. For example, I was only allowed to have some candy on Mondays, which meant everyone else in the family could only have candy on Mondays. This taught me about consistency and respect whilst making me feel like an equal. It has allowed me to treat others the way that I would like to be treated myself.

Kaye Veldhuisen:
Kaye was my first preschool teacher. Even at 3.5 years old, she taught me about conflict resolution. When I had a conflict with a classmate, she would break the situation down explaining what happened, what my role was, and ask how I thought I could solve the problem. She would ask the same of the other person and once we had talked through the problem we would realize what we did wrong and what we should do. Kay showed me activities to develop my fine motor skills, such as by picking peas with tweezers, using chopsticks, threading on cards, etc. She was very caring, and still is. My mum worked in the same school and Kay would create a secure environment and keep me engaged whenever my mum was running late. I still keep in touch with her and try to visit whenever we are in the US.

Joyce Becker:
My second grade teacher helped me with my transition from Malaysia to Sweden when my skills in Swedish were relatively low. I had come back to a country that I had very little memory of and she went out of her way to make us, as individuals in the class, feel special. For example, Ms. Becker had the girls over for a sleepover at her house and took the boys out for pizza on separate occasions. Ms. Becker made sure that the other students were accepting of me and kind even though I was different, being in a class of mostly Swedish students whilst I was only half Swedish and had not really spent a lot of time in Sweden at that time. When I give tours to parents and their children at the school I currently work at, I reassure them that the school will help with their transition. Most, if not all, parents worry about their children being picked on for being different or not fitting in. Academics is important but I would say that the emotional welfare of a child is more important.