I thought this activity was very interesting and fun; some of the most interesting information I have found has been through what I call "side research" and it was interesting to see what others are looking at.
As I was reading the textbook I notice that one of the items of the list of characteristics of a "Healthy growth and healing environment" is the "use of reflective practices"(Nicholson, Perez, & Kurtz, 2019, p. 48). I have previously heard of reflective practices in regards to learning something new, or in the context of creating lesson plans, curriculums, and class environment based on your findings from reflecting on student feedback, and observation to decide how to best meet student need.
The content of the text was largely about the home environment and parenting so I began thinking about what reflective practices would look like in the context of a home environment. I came across several resources that referred to reflective parenting so I looked into that some more:
This resource is the overview of a class that parents can take on using reflection techniques to try and figure out the meaning of child behavior and then using it to make parenting choices that meet the needs of the child.
http://reflectivecommunities.org/programs/reflective-parenting-groups-rpp/
The next resource I was interested in is a PowerPoint presentation published on the website of UCP of Alabama. This presentation outlines topics such as reflective thinking, reflective functioning, and reflective parenting techniques. The main idea is that reflective parenting is based on the theory that all behaviors are connected to some aspect of a child's mental state (emotions, thoughts, values, etc.) and that parents should observe, analyze and name, and reflect on behavior and use what they gain in their response to meet the child's needs. This resource was both interesting and thorough; I got a clear picture of reflective parenting/ the use of reflective practices in the context of a home environment and moved on to other subjects.
http://ucpalabama.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Reflective-Parenting-Techniques.-Snead.-EI-Conference-2019.pdf
Reference:
Nicholson, J., Perez, L., & Kurtz, J. (2019). Trauma informed practices for early childhood educators: Relationship-based approaches that support healing and build resilience in young children. New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.