While at JoAnn's Craft store on Wednesday waiting for my jewelry class to start I had heard a conversation between a mother and a young daughter. Seeing the mother and daughter it made me think how my mother and I used to do things together until my younger sister had kids and now my mother does more for my younger sister than me. This week I had observed a mother and daugter figuring out what they wanted to make for Valentines Day. The little girl is three years old and this year instead of buying cards for her classmates she wanted to make Valentine's Cards for the class and also one for her father. I thought it was great that this little girl looks up to her father and that her father is a big part of his life.

   The things I have noticed was that the mother was just standing there while the daughter decided on what she wanted to make. The mother felt that since this was her daughter's project the daughter should be able to pick out what she wanted to make. The daughter would ask questions such as how many pieces of paper are in the book because she needed to make 12 cards total. After the mother told her that yes the book has 50 sheets of paper, the daughter said okay mom, I'm ready.  I had noticed that the mother does a lot of projects with her daughter and that while she was shopping with her daughter, the mother did not talk on her cell phone. I think it is great that the mother had put her daughter first and that the mother values her time with her daughter.
   The connection I made between what I observed and the effective communication strategies that were presented in this weeks learning resources is the mother gave her full attention to her daughter and the daughter had valued her mother's opinion. The daughter looks up to her mother and loves spending time with her mother. I think it is important for parents to spend time with their children and to set time aside to do things with their children instead of having the television watch the children. I feel that children who do things their parents treasure these moments and it teaches them the importance of family.
  I think that the communication interactions I had observed may affect the child's feelings and how it influences the child's self worth is that it makes the child feel important. The mother spends time with her child and will not answer her cell phone. This shows that the mother cares about her daughter and wants to build a relationship with her daughter. It is important to build a relationship at a young age and to build a trust because if a child feels safe talking to a parent when they are young they will more than likely come to their parents when they get older nad have more presonal issues to share such as gay/lesbian relationships and bullying.
  This week's observation has taught me about the importance of spending time with children and allowing them to make decisions. I feel if children can make decisions at a young age they will be able to make more difficult decisions when they get older. I have also learned that children need to have people to look up to for guidance which teaches me how important teachers are to young children since teachers are the second people children spend a lot of time with. As a person who wants children I had learned that parents need to spend quality time with their children and do projects that will allow children to be creative and allow them to do things their own way.