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HDFS4860 Parent_Caregiver Interview
- 1. Ellie Jourolmon HDFS 4860, 27339 Dr. Amy M. Kay Parent/Caregiver of a Child Interview
- 2. Ellie Jourolmon Parent/Caregiver of a Child Interview Part 1 1. What do you enjoy most about parenting/caregiving? 2. What seems to be the most challenging thing you face? 3. Where do you get information on child development or new parenting techniques? 4. What are some things you do to specifically take care of you? 5. What is your top priority as a parent/caregiver? 6. Is there anything you wish you did better or differently as a parent/caregiver? 7. Are there any resources that you wish were more readily available to help parents/caregivers and families? 8. What works and doesn’t work in your parenting? 9. How do you think your family dynamic affected your parenting? 10. What effects do you believe your age has on your parenting techniques? 11. How has living in a bigger city impacted the opportunities available for you and your child? 12. Do you believe your parenting techniques would differ if you were to have more children? Part 2 I interviewed Kerri Bessinger, mother to three-year-old Sydney Bessinger. Kerri cohabitates with Sydney’s father, Devin Fisher, but is unmarried. The parents met in twenty-sixteen and moved in together in the spring of twenty-seventeen. Sydney was born in January of twenty-twenty. When Sydeney was born, Kerri was thirty-eight, and Devin was forty-three. Sydney is the only child of the family. The father currently works at home as an
- 3. Ellie Jourolmon Parent/Caregiver of a Child Interview account manager in the global sales division for Lenovo. In contrast, the mother works as a life and social science teacher at Chestnut Log Middle School in the Douglas County School System. I learned various lessons from my interview with Kerri. Since Kerri had her child at an older age, she has had many unique experiences. She also gives the perspective of an unmarried cohabitation parent, different from my family of origin. The lesson I learned about the joys of parenting came to light when asking what Kerri enjoys most about caregiving. Kerri began discussing how she enjoys watching Sydney grow and develop to be able to learn and figure out things for herself. She also discusses how Sydney loves to be independent and has many friends of different ethnicities at daycare. It was fascinating that the idea of a child increasing autonomy could bring so much joy into a parent’s life. It is intriguing to believe that a small act that is developmentally bound to happen can be so profound and bring delight to a parent. I also found it bewitching that having friends of different ethnicities impacted Kerri. A child having friends of other nationalities is not an ordinary answer to a parent’s joy. Ethnicity is not a topic generally of discussion when analyzing child development or experiences from a parent’s point of view. Kerri said Sydney having friends with various nationalities brought her joy, and this made me reflect on how I want to be as a parent. It is essential for a child to not start or face discrimination at a young age and to be able to keep this ideology as they grow and develop. The lessons I learned about the joys of parenting make me look at how I want to be a parent later in life. Kerri describes how Sydney developing autonomy brings so much pleasure in her life, alongside making friends with children of different ethnicities. Another lesson I learned involved the difficulties of parenting. The hardship of support became a topic of discussion when I asked Kerri how their family dynamic affected their parenting. Kerri began talking about how she and the father were not married and were not
- 4. Ellie Jourolmon Parent/Caregiver of a Child Interview planning to have children. Kerri said that Sydney was not a planned pregnancy even though she and Devin lived together; they had not discussed having children or getting married. Kerri said she believes they are creating their own family dynamic and identity. Kerri stated that since they are unmarried, they have not received the most support from their extended family. She said that even though their family is not the most supportive, all that matters is that Devin and her love each other and love Sydney more than anything in the world. Kerri says they are figuring things out together but agrees that everything they decide and do is what is best for Sydney. Learning that families are not always the most supportive was a hard lesson. Seeing Kerri talk about family being one of the most challenging things involving her parenting is hard to think about and discuss. Even though she experiences these difficulties, seeing how she puts a glimpse of positivity alongside them is enlightening. Even though she faces challenges, she still believes that the only true thing that matters is she and her partner love each other and always put Sydney’s best interest first. Part 3 While I learned many lessons from the interview with Kerri, I also gathered helpful information to inform future work with children and their families. In the interview with Kerri, I asked her if any resources she wished were more readily available to help parents and families. Kerri began talking about how most resources she found were for single-parent mothers, traditional families, or mothers in their twenties starting a family. She believed more resources needed to be available for diverse and non-traditional families. Kerri said more well-known resources should be available for these types of families. A way to inform future work with children and families is to create resources for diverse families. Child development experts could design websites and handouts to inform new mothers and families. The website can have a forum
- 5. Ellie Jourolmon Parent/Caregiver of a Child Interview to ask questions and have an "expert" and fellow caregivers viewing the website to answer. Child development experts do not know every possible experience someone could undergo, but allowing others to answer gives people a chance to share their experiences and make others not feel alone in their troubles. A great way to get information to the public about these websites is to have flyers around daycares, pediatrician offices, and public playgrounds. Alongside the scarcity of information, I learned about the effects of the lack of childcare workers. When I asked Kerri about what seems to be the most challenging thing she faces, she stated potty training. Kerri said that Sydney poops perfectly but seems to not want to stop what she is doing to tell the teacher she has to potty. Kerri said that Sydney's daycare class is large and thinks they could do more with the children's toileting but are unable due to the shortage of childcare workers. The reflection I made on Kerri's discussion about Sydney's toileting entails the involvement of childcare workers. I never realized there was a shortage of childcare workers. I mainly hear about nurse shortages. The lack of childcare workers makes just as much of an impact as nurse shortages. Based on the interview, I want to inform others of this shortage. It should be more well-known that this shortage exists. Due to this shortage, more information should be available to help parents with their child's toileting. Since childcare workers may not be able to give the proper amount of time to toileting in daycare settings, parents should get extra information on the appropriate and best ways to help a child through toileting. Childcare workers must also know the importance of toileting in daycare; the importance of toileting can be easy to forget when dealing with multiple children. A way to balance the responsibility between childcare workers and parents would be to have handouts available at the daycare to demonstrate the best ways to help a child with toileting at home and prepare for daycare.