Assignment: Personal Childhood Web

1.
The first person in my childhood web would be my mom.
While I was growing up, she worked a lot, but she was there when I needed something. She had office jobs and worked a lot of over time to make enough money to support us. She taught my brothers and I to work hard. My mom was my biggest advocate in school if they weren’t providing me with what I needed to be successful.
When I was a child, my mom would read bed time stories, we’d watch TV together, I’d help her with yard work and sometimes she’d play with me with blocks or dolls. One of her goals for me was to further my education beyond high school which I’ve done. She thinks education is the key to a better life and it provides opportunities that she was unable to have. The things she taught me that influence me today are to have a strong work ethic and to be kind to others. I’d put a picture of her up on the blog, but she is nervous about having her picture online.

2. The next two people on my childhood web would have to be my grandparents. I was closer to my grandfather because he lived a lot longer, but I can’t talk about him without at least mentioning my grandmother. My grandfather was an electrician who had his own business. My grandmother was a homemaker and they were married for over fifty years. She passed away when I was young, but my favorite memories of her were in her kitchen. She’d let me help her bake cakes and pies. I always liked rolling out the dough or making the dough into little balls for cookies. I remember her being a kind and caring person. My grandfather also had a strong work ethic and was kind to people. Since my father wasn’t around, he was the closest thing I had to a dad. I’d go to his house almost everyday until he came to live with us when I was in my teens.

One favorite memory is when he made a boat for me for a contest for my second grade class. I thought the boat was really cool and it actually floated! He painted it white and blue which were my favorite colors.

My other memories included hanging out in the shop and learning about all the tools, playing card games, helping him with his garden and his stories about the times when phone numbers had only three digits or there were only silent black and white movies. He grew up in a totally different time and it was interesting to hear about. He walked to school instead of taking a bus and grew up with eight brothers and sisters that he had to help raise and support. He wanted me to do well in school and find something that makes me happy. He also taught me to work hard, to be honest and taught me how to help others.


That candy dish was the last present I got to give my grandfather. We both loved candy so I thought having a big candy dish would be nice for him. The things along the side are shaped like different candies like Hersheys kisses, lollypops, peanut butter cups, life savers etc.


3.
The third person on my childhood web is Alicia. She was my best friend during elementary school. Alicia was a happy girl who laughed a lot, very outgoing and fun to be around. I met her in second grade and we quickly became best friends. For a few years, we’d spend just about every weekend at each others houses. Some of my favorite memories are going to the beach together, playing video games and laughing at things that now would seem dumb, but were funny to us as children. We would always be putting on makeup, nail polish etc and talking about how when we grew up, we’d have our own salon business. By the end of elementary school, we drifted apart and our friendship ended. She started hanging out with a different group of people and became interested in different things and didn’t have time for me anymore. I see her around at the store, but we don’t keep in touch. We are totally different people now.
Our friendship was great at first, but then there was a lot of fighting. I’m still influenced today by our friendship because it changed the way I look at friendships and how I make friends. The picture below is us on graduation day in 2002. She came to see her class graduate, but unfortunately, she wasn’t one of them.


4.
The fourth person on my childhood web is another childhood friend, Jenny. We met in kindergarten and I still remember her from the first day of school. Jenny was quiet, but after talking to her for a while you’d find that she was a nice person. We spent a lot of time together during our elementary school years. She’d come to my house and birthday parties. We used to talk a lot on the phone, play Nintendo and spent time together at school. Even though Jenny and I had our arguments, it wasn’t the same as the arguments with other girls. It didn’t feel like she’d stop being your friend over something stupid. She’d usually talk to me even when the other girls wouldn’t. We drifted apart too because our interests changed and we just never saw each other around, but once in a while we’d catch up. Although we don’t keep in touch today, she also influenced the way I view friendships and what a real friend should be. Unfortunately, I can’t find any of our childhood pictures together.

5.

The fifth person on my childhood web is Mrs. Bailey, my art teacher from elementary school. She was my teacher from kindergarten to sixth grade. She inspired me to love art and creativity. She loved all types of art. Anything from painting, drawing, collages, to basket weaving. Not only was she nice, but I could count on her to come up with an activity that I could do. Since I couldn’t draw or paint well, she’d come up with other activities like making things out of wood scraps, weaving on a loom, 3d collages with shells etc. She also inspired my love of pottery. Even though we didn’t have all the materials available in elementary school, I started working with clay back then. I was pretty good at making shapes and designs. In high school, I was able to make my first usable pottery. She treated me like everyone else, made her classes fun and inspired me and hopefully others by her creativity. Now that I work with kids, I try to teach using creative activities and by treating children with respect and kindness like Mrs. Bailey did.

Some of my best pottery:







There are several other people I could’ve included in my childhood web, but I chose these people to represent family, friends and school. These people and others who were around during my childhood helped me grow into the person I am today.