"Human relationships, and the effects of relationships on relationships, are the building blocks of healthy development" (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000, p. 4).   I am a single mother of 4 children (all of them are adults now) and with the help of my immediate family I was able to raise them.  Damian (my oldest) has always been the mature child and always there when I ran into problems with the younger ones, Gabriel (my second oldest) was the one demanding most of my attention when he was a teenager, Jessica (my only daughter) is my best friend, she is the one who takes care of me when I am ill, and my youngest, Adrian, is the one who has given me the most challenges, even as an adult.  The relationship I have with my children has been very meaningful because I have always had an open relationship with them.  I made sure that I was conscious of their needs and tried to not be judgmental whenever they did something they weren’t supposed to.  To me, a relationship has to be open, caring, respectful of each other, be there in case of emergencies, have an open heart and yet not be dominant.  I thank my parents for the background they provided me with and taught me and my siblings to tackle every problem instead of giving up and not finding a solution.  I come from a large family (9 girls and 3 boys) and we were raised that we gave each other the space we needed, however, to be there whenever one of us needed help. 

 

I think that some of the special characteristics that make up these relationships are that we must be caring, respectful, loving, dependable, be a good listener.  A healthy relationship builds self-esteem and good social skills in our lives.  A healthy relationship also helps us out with our own health, our blood pressure will be lower, risk of heart problems will be minimized and our overall healthy outlook will improve.

 

My experiences with relationships/partnerships might, including my ability to be an active, reflective contributor,  will impact my work as an effective early childhood professional by preparing me to be a better listener and this in turn will produce more effective work from my co-workers.  I have good communication skills and am very good in the area of customer service.  I treat parents we work with as if I was the parent at the other end of the phone line.  I try very hard to have an open mind and agree with the parent and try to link them up with the best possible resource they are needing.