My hopes for the future as an early childhood professional, and for the children and families with whom I will work

It is my greatest hope that all children will grow, develop and learn in an environment that affirms their self identity. Children should feel welcomed, accepted and nurtured by their families, school and community. My hope is for current and future early childhood educators to learn to recognize and respond to children's curiosity and questions about others and their differences, and to learn to approach those differences not as something to be afraid of, but as something to embrace and enjoy, because those differences are what make us beautiful. Jimmy Carter (39th President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient) once said that "We have become not a melting pot, but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams." While many of these hopes and dreams may differ on the surface, many parents have a common hope and dream for their child to grow up healthy, strong and successful, by whatever means their culture uses to define these characteristics. It is also my hope that educators regardless of whether they work in early childhood or with older students, learn to put aside their prejudices and foster the growth and development of all students and families. Henry David Thoreau once said that "It is never too late to give up our prejudices.", and I believe that he is right. While it may never be too late, it is a long journey that requires commitment, dedication and deep reflection about why you think a certain way, and the action plan necessary to change that thinking. These are my hopes for the future as an early childhood professional.

Notable Quotes

If tolerance, respect and equity permeate family life, they will translate into values that shape societies, nations and the world.
—Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations (1997-2007)

 

We may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.
- Kofi Annan

 

Diversity is not about how we differ. It is about embracing one another's uniqueness.
—Ola Joseph, Nigerian author and inspirational speaker

 

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
—Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

 

When I am able to resist the temptation to judge others,
I can see them as teachers.
- Gerald Jampolsky

 

Children Learn What They Live
By Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D.

                             
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

Copyright © 1972 by Dorothy Law Nolte

 

Finally, I would like to close with a note of sincere thanks to all of my colleagues this term at Walden. We have learned much from each other, and I hope to take my learning back to the classroom and use it to enrich the lives of others. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, inspiration, and experiences. Seeing things from other perspectives and listening to others who have dealt with challenging situations is inspiring. Good luck to everyone in our final course at Walden, I wish everyone the best of luck in the future!

 

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

We have been learning about the many challenges that face children in early childhood, including but not limited to poverty, war, terrorism, abuse and other forms of trauma. For our assignment this week I chose to explore the regional office website of the Central and Eastern Europe Commonwealth of Independent States section of the UNICEF website. I chose this area of the world due to two main factors: first, because many of the children I work with on a daily basis have ethnic ties to this group of countries, some with relatives still living there; and secondly because of the recent turmoil and unrest facing this area of the world, particularly Ukraine. Children in this region of the world are facing challenges related to poverty, war, and lack of access to education. Many families have parents who are unemployed and must rely on social welfare to help meet their daily needs. This social welfare does not meet many of the family's basic needs, including food, adequate shelter with heat, and adequate winter clothing. Children are living in bomb shelters without access to basic sanitation, heat, and education. Many children can only attend school two days a week at the most, leaving many gaps in their studies and negatively impacting their social, emotional and cognitive development. Children and families are living in constant fear about whether or not they will survive, if they will have enough food, how they will stay warm, and if and when their regular routine regarding school attendance will resume. According to UNICEF, there are nearly 1 million people in Ukraine displaced by the conflict, including more than 130,000 children (www.unicef.org). Children in Serbia are not faring much better, due to the widespread flooding that has displaced many families and children. Children here are living in poverty and their families do not have the resources to provide adequate food, shelter, clothing, winter gear (such as boots) and school materials.

Emotionally, all of these situations seem to be taking a severe emotional toll on children. The constant stress of day to day survival is something many people who have not experienced war and/or poverty have difficulty relating to. Children's studies and future development as productive citizens is at risk due to the uncertainty of the outcome of this conflict and children's inconsistent access to education.

As I think about what I have read about children and families living in this part of the world, I cannot help but be thankful for the fact that I can provide adequate food, shelter, warmth and access to education for my family, and that generally children and families in my area can do the same. We are fortunate to be able to send our children to school on a consistent basis (comparatively, since we have lost several days to snow). We do not have the stress of war in our country. Professionally, as I have read more about the experiences of children and families in this region, I feel I can be more sensitive to their needs and be ready to provide the resources they need to provide for their families if I encounter children and families who have recently arrived to this country from this region. Connecting children and families with other families who speak the same language, can be extremely helpful. Connecting families to community resources who can assist in locating and affording adequate shelter, heating and food while the family members search for work, and navigate which jobs they are qualified for based on their experience and education is also an important facet of helping families transition to life in the United States.

References
(2011). Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/ceecis

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

For a long time, I have held a strong opinion that today's children simply are not allowed to enjoy the innocence of childhood. Children are constantly exposed to messages about sex and violence from a very young age, and these messages are confusing and scary for children (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). As I read our course readings that discussed this issue this week, I found myself aligning with Levin and Kilbourne (2009) and did not want to stop reading when the introduction to the book ended. I may have to put this book on my "To read soon" list, since this is an issue I think children struggle with at increasing rates every day. The messages children receive from movies, television shows, popular video games, and toys sends the message that for girls to be feminine, they must be beautiful, thin, and sexy and that their accomplishments and intellect do not matter (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). This is an extremely narrow definition of femininity, and is one that needs to be contradicted strongly and with great urgency. Similarly, a narrow definition of masculinity is being conveyed, with messages that to be manly you must engage in acts that demonstrate physical prowess, insensitivity, and even violent behavior (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). Children learn that to fit in they must conform to these rigid ideals, and many struggle to fit in. They learn that relationships should be based on sex and do not have to contain emotions, attachment, love or friendship. This is extremely detrimental to children's development because it takes away from other developmental tasks children need for healthy development.

To illustrate children's exposure to a highly sexualized environment, I offer the following examples:

1) Elementary school students in our district, ages 6 through 10,  have demonstrated the acceptance of these rigid gender roles. Girls discount their intelligence, accomplishments, and even their athletic performance in favor of dressing provocatively (I've seen girls as young as third grade in shorts and skirts that left nothing to the imagination, and make comments about how beautiful and sexy they look), wearing makeup.

2) Children's movies and television shows sensationalize male choice and female sacrifice. This is further illustrated in the discussion of children's Disney movies in Lee (2008). Disney movies such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and Aladdin sensationalize male choice in life and women's sacrifice. Women do not hold leadership roles. Even in the three Toy Story movies, that tries to portray a strong female character (Jessie), she takes a backseat to the male characters in the story, and sexual relationships are suggested between Jessie and Buzz, and of course Barbie and Ken.

3) This leads me to children's toys and games. Video games are increasingly violent and desensitize children to violence. Barbie and Ken (by Mattel) show impossible to obtain physiques that lead to feelings of inadequacy for children that extend into teenage years and adulthood. In the relationship between Barbie and Ken, appearance is significant. Barbie is beautiful, fashionable, slender, and portrayed as someone who does not think for herself. Ken, also attractive, well dressed, and very masculine, is more powerful.

This is not the messages we want to send to our children. We want them to grow up to be healthy adults capable of engaging in healthy, fulfilling relationships that contain key elements such as friendship, trust, love, and being true to yourself.

Therefore, as early childhood professionals, we must reduce the negative impacts of the media on children by engaging children in discussions that center on gender equity and fairness. We can also observe children's play, and encourage children to engage in activities that  are not typical for those assigned to their gender. For example, Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2010) recommends observing children's activities during free choice time, and making sure girls are engaging in activities such as blocks and building or other action activities that are typically dominated by boys, and boys are engaging in puzzles, dramatic play, art and small manipulative materials typically dominated by girls.

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Lee, L. (2008). Understanding gender through Disney’s marriages: A study of young Korean immigrant girls. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(1), 11-18.

 

Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2009). [Introduction]. So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids (pp. 1-8). New York: Ballantine Books. Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

As an early childhood professional, I have the opportunity to interact with children and families from diverse backgrounds. This enables me to help children develop strong personal identities and learn to accept and embrace the diversity of others. It is also an opportunity to reflect on personal experiences and how those experiences shape my emotional, cognitive and physical well being, and how these experiences impact the work I do with young children and families.

As a professional female, I have noticed that many aspects of my personal life have affected the way I respond to children and families and the situations we encounter in and out of the classroom. Personally, I have experienced gender stereotyping and sexism. For example, I often get surprised or disgusted responses when people hear that I was able to do something for myself that is a typical "man's job". People are surprised that as a female, I am able to chop wood using an ax, use some power tools, build things, and get cars unstuck from all the snow we have been getting! The last situation was much to the embarrassment of the men in my family when my sister and I were able to accomplish this task after the men had tried and failed. These experiences have made me sensitive to gender stereotyping and sexism in the classroom. I notice I am more likely to intervene when children make comments that portray gender stereotypical roles. Unfortunately, it has also made me less likely to notice and intervene when children make comments that fall outside of this realm. Many learning opportunities are lost when I fail to hear or respond to comments that are racist or classist, for example. It has also meant that these situations must be brought to my attention by other staff members, which is embarrassing for me because I feel that as the lead teacher in the classroom I should notice more of these situations and respond to them appropriately. Therefore it is reasonable to conclude that our personal life can both positively and negatively influence our professional performance. Our unique experiences can lead us to respond to situations of prejudice in the classroom in areas we have experience in a more meaningful way (positive),  while it can lead to us overlooking other instances of bias, which is detrimental to the identity development of the children and families experiencing this bias.

Observing Communication

This week we were requested to observe an adult and young child communicating in a real world setting. I observed my son's toddler teacher communicating with a small group of children one afternoon when I picked him up from his childcare center. She was attempting to engage the children in a sensory activity using water, tissue paper, and sea animals. During the interaction, she sat on the floor next to the sensory table. She asked the children to describe how the wet tissue paper felt. She was met with much babbling, (these are very young toddlers), and responded by saying, Yes, I noticed that the tissue paper felt wet and squishy too!

I noticed that during this brief interaction the teacher utilized some methods that we learned were effective communication strategies. She attempted to engage children in conversation by acknowledging each child by name (Kovach & Da Ros-Voseles, 2011) and getting down to the child's eye level. I also noticed she attempted to challenge children's cognitive response by asking them to describe what they were feeling (Rainer Dangel & Durden, 2010).

I noticed many similarities between the way my son's toddler teacher and I interact with young children. We both get down to children's eye level, we both attempt to challenge children's cognitive responses, we both acknowledge children by name, and we both try to include our observation of the child's response in our conversation.

Based on our readings this week, I learned the importance of listening, really listening, to children and stepping back from my own expectations and agenda (Stephenson, 2010).

 

References

Kovach, B., & Da Ros-Voseles, D. (2011). Communicating with babies. YC: Young Children, 66(2), 48-50

Rainer Dangel, J., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The nature of teacher talk during small group activities. YC: Young Children, 65(1), 74-81

Stephenson, A. (2009). Conversations with a 2-year-old. YC: Young Children, 64(2), 90-95.

 

Creating Affirming Environments

"What children do not see in the classroom teaches children as much as what they do see."

                                (Derman-Sparks and Edwards, 2010, p. 43)

This week we have been asked to describe what our own Family Child Care Home would look like, ensuring that the environment we create allows every child and family to feel welcome and respected.

In the family child care home I envision, children and families would  see their family structure and culture reflected within the school environment, through the languages spoken within the program, the artwork on display, the art materials offered, and the variety of books, toys, games and activities available for children's and families use.  If I am unfamiliar with the home language of a family, I will make every effort to properly learn key words and phrases from the family's home language, and hire staff that speak that language if possible.  If that is not possible, inviting family and other community members who speak this language into the program for regular visits will be crucial to supporting the child's development of language skills in their home language and to show value to this language in the child's life.

Children and families would enter my home through the front door and directly into the living room, which would be set up with comfortable armchairs and a couch with plenty of pillows and (depending on the weather) blankets. Since children are often tired in the morning, (as Adrianna Castillo mentioned, Laureate Education Inc., 2011), children would be welcome to rest on the couch or in a chair until they are ready to begin their day. A portable crib would be available for younger children who arrive sleeping (Laureate Education  Inc., 2011). Children ready for the day or not wanting to rest would be encouraged to choose a book, puzzle, or other toy to play with from a collection of materials reflective of the variety of children and families enrolled in the program and present in the community.  Books would be available in the languages spoken  at home by children and families both at the program and within the community.  Parents would be encouraged to stay and help their child engage in an activity if they have time before leaving for work to do so. If the parent was unable to stay and  the child was having difficulty separating from the parent, the child would be comforted in a way that allows the child to express his or her feelings in a safe way.

A display of family photos would be displayed at children's eye level for children to view at any time. Families would also be encouraged to bring any items from home that offer their child comfort, such as a special blanket, toy, music, etc. Similar to the culture share described by Adriana Castillo (Laureate Education Inc., 2011), each child and family would have a space to display items that represent their family. Parents would be free to change these items as often as they wish and to share with the staff and children in the program what makes each item special to their family. Children and families would be encouraged to share family traditions through these objects or through other media (songs, stories, books, games, etc.). If these traditions are connected to a holiday or other celebration, children and families would be encouraged to share this at the time of the year when the holiday or celebration occurs.

A schedule of the day's activities would be posted in a conspicuous place for families to view, with space available for families to write about their child's specific needs for the day or things the family would like to work on. This would be in the same notebook as the sign in log. The daily schedule would also be posted in picture and word form at the children's eye level so children would know what to anticipate for the day. The schedule would remain as consistent as possible from day to day to promote children's feelings of safety and security in knowing what to expect for the day.

At snack and meal times, foods offered would be varied and  be reflective of the varied cultures of children and families within the program and community.

Other things you would see within the environment are pictures, posters, and wall hangings reflective of the cultures and family structures of the children in the program. Pictures of children, families and staff engaging in daily activities would also be displayed and would be changed  as children's activities change. Art materials would be reflective of the children's cultures, and all use of all colors of paper, crayons, paint, markers would be encouraged. Sensory materials would never include food, since food is a resource and should not be wasted. Dolls and other people props would be multicultural and would reflect varying abilities. Books (purchased and homemade) would reflect the daily lives of children, families and staff members. I especially liked the section in Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2010) that gave anti bias homework ideas for families. Making a book report about the family's favorite book shows the many different books children and families enjoy. Writing a story about when a child or family member sees something unfair and does something to make it fair shows children that everyone can make a difference. Sharing the many different games children's adult family members played as a child can also be interesting and show diversity.  I would also be open to incorporating other elements as requested by the children and families in the program.

 

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Welcome to an anti-bias learning community. Baltimore, MD: Author

What I have learned

It's hard to believe that it's our last week of our course already. This course has taught me many things about myself that I was surprised to discover, and has helped me uncover more about who I am and why I am who I am and how I came to be that way. It has helped me uncover bias within myself that I did not know existed, and work to become a better person, both in and out of the classroom.

One hope I have when I think about working with children and families from diverse backgrounds is that classroom teachers, center directors, other program staff and families will establish mutually respectful and trusting relationships where no assumptions are made about others and potential issues are discussed whenever possible before problems arise and feelings are hurt. I hope for every child to grow and be educated in an environment where their identity is nurtured and everyone is respected and feels validated for who they are.

My goal for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice pertains to early childhood programs becoming more inclusive, especially of children with varying needs. It is my hope that more programs adopt approaches similar to the one described by Kate Kissinger (Pelo, 2008) when she describes her journey of developing a meaningful relationship with a child in her classroom with varying abilities. Many teachers shy away from this, even when adopting an anti-bias curriculum in other ways. When teachers include children with varying needs and accept them, it opens the door for children to view the child as a classmate, fellow learner, friend and human being. It encourages children to think critically about how to treat others who are different from them, and how to advocate for others who may not be able to advocate for themselves.

Finally, I want to say a brief thank you to all of my colleagues during this course for all of their support and varying perspectives. Learning from each of you has been enlightening for me and I hope to see you next semester. Otherwise, I wish my colleagues well in their endeavors.



Reference

Pelo, A. (Ed.). (2008). Rethinking early childhood education. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.