Reflecting on Learning

When I think of my future as an early childhood professional, and for the children and families with whom I work or will work, I can only hope that I am able to give my all regardless of the circumstances, challenges, hurdles and hardships that will come my way. When I decided to advance my education and pursue a Master’s in Early Childhood Education, I told my husband that I wanted to make a difference.  I want to make a difference in the lives and hearts of the children and families that I serve, and hope that children will remember me, and the positive impact on their lives.

My hope is that my knowledge, experience, drive and passion that I will be able to touch these lives. It is my prayer that I will have a positive, life changing impact on staff, families and children as well as the community. I believe that an anti-bias education is such an incredible tool for children’s social-emotional development that I would like to become proficient in establishing it in my classroom.

I want to thank all of you for sharing your personal stories and giving me access to a part of your lives that I would have not been able to experience had you not all been so open, honest and willing to share. I have learned so much from you during this course; the course materials are excellent, but the experiences that we share and the diversity that we bring to the table made this course fantastic! I wish all of you the best of luck as we move forward! For some of us, we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Just the capstone course left and we will be on our way!

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

I choose West and Central Africa.  Africa is a country that I have always wanted to visit and would someday like to do some volunteer work in this country.  My research disclosed that children in West and Central Africa have their rights violated on a daily basis. This is worse than anywhere else in the world. Nearly two children out of 10 never reach their fifth birthday. They die from malaria, diarrheal diseases and vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles.  Malnutrition is widespread in the region.  In the Sahel countries, half of the child mortality is related to under-nutrition in children.  1.1 million children under five will suffer acute malnutrition, and 3 million will suffer moderate acute malnutrition.  Poverty and traditional beliefs keep 40% of children out of school and girls in particular are penalized the most.

In examining the site, some of the challenges the children of this region of the world are faced with daily basis are little to none secondary education or any education at all. A severe lack of adequate housing, clean drinking water, and sanitary means of waste matter disposal. The majority of the children and their families live in extreme poverty. If children are allowed to attend school, they are faced with sexual and other forms of violence in school.  Many of the children in this region are being exploited and sold into child trafficking, child labor, children in armed conflicts, child victims of harmful traditional practices.  There are many children who are orphaned by AIDS.  In West and Central Africa today there are close to 5 million children who have been left without the caring and protection of one or both of their parents.

Reading this information, I am heart broken.  Hearing about the daily struggles of the people in West and Central Africa puts so much into perspective for me.  I take so much for granted and sometimes don't realize just how good we have it.  I want to do more to help.  I spoke with my husband, and we decided to make a monthly donation to UNICEF to help these children and families.  In my professional role as an early childhood educator, I can affect the lives of the young children in my care and ensure they have positive early experiences that will promote their cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional development.

Reference: UNICEF (2011). http://www.unicef.org

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

My reaction to the topic Sexualization of early childhood was shock.  I was shocked at the incidents that occurred with young children.  I am aware of the sexualized culture or society we live in.  Children are being exposed to sexual and graphic depicts very early on from every forum of media to the exclusion of emotional bonds, feelings, and repercussions.  Children “learn to associate physical appearance and buying the right products not only with being sexy but also with being successful as a person.  Such lessons will shape their gender identity, sexual attitudes, and values and their capacity for relationships or love and connection, that they take into adulthood” (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p 2).  

After I read the article, I immediately thought of my niece Kalynn.  She was a huge fan of the Bratz dolls and I will admit that I bought her everyone that came out.  I did not pay attention to what they were wearing.  I was just happy that she still wanted to play with dolls.  We recently were at the mall and she was approached by a grown man that was hitting on her.  I had walked away to look at something and when I turned around I saw him standing in front of her.  When I approached them he had the nerve to have an attitude with me.  Kalynn wasn’t saying anything to him and I could see that she was uncomfortable.  I stepped in front of her and told the man to leave.  He stood there for a moment and continued to speak to my ten-year-old niece and did not leave until I became angry.  In so many words, I told him that he was a disgusting human being and should be ashamed of himself for even speaking to a ten-year-old child.  At this point the manager walked over and told him that she would call the police if he didn’t leave.

When we left the mall I took a long hard look at my niece.  She was not dressed inappropriate, but her young body has become quite developed.  As we road home, I also noticed that she knew every word to all the songs on the radio.  I turned the radio off and we talked.  I was amazed at all the “grown up” things she knew and almost panicked with worry.  Once we got to my house, she went upstairs to her room there and began watching TV.  I joined her to see that she was watching an episode of Scandal on the DVR and knew the entire plot.  I have not paid attention to what my niece has been doing.  She lives with my parents, but spends a lot of time with me.  She has had such a hard life and I wanted to be the cool aunt and let her have some freedom.  I have since changed my approach and have put parental blocks on both the tv and the computers.  I have begun talking to her about boys, sex, the changes happening with her body and was relieved when she told me that she thought all of it was gross.

The messages that children are witnessing in the media in my opinion are harmful to their perspectives of relationships.  After watching much of what the media provides today someone might think that a relationship is only sexual and might cause children to feel that they must be sexually attractive to be in a relationship.  They do not see caring and warmth and respect in relationships on TV, in movies and in commercials.  This could be devastating to their development and self- image.  As an early childhood professional what I would do to respond to young children’s negative behavior would be to communicate with them.  I would find out where they learned the inappropriate behavior and discuss it with them.  I would try to explain what they saw and share with them alternative behaviors.

My awareness of the Sexualization of early childhood has been greatly increased though studying this topic. I was very unaware of many of the aspects discussed. I am much more knowledgeable about the ways children are being influenced and impacted by sexualization at such young ages. I am more aware of the signs to look out for. My awareness of the sexualization of early childhood has been influenced greatly because I did not realize that children were exposed to so much in the category of sex at such a young age.  As an early childhood professional I now know that I must be ready to expect so much and to try to help lay a positive foundation for these children.  “Early childhood is when the foundation is laid, and that is where we need to start our efforts to understand and respond” (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 5).

References

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

Throughout my coursework in this Early Childhood Studies program I have learned that situations that have occurred in my personal life, regarding issues related to diversity, can have a positive or negative impact on the way I function in the workplace and interact with children and their families.  I have had to confront issues that I thought I had buried as well as address and deal with any bias I had.  With the insights and strategies I have gained from this course and program, my hope is that I can make all interactions with children and families positive regardless of what I may be experiencing, or may have experienced in my personal life.

An “ism” that I have experienced in the past is racism. Because of the pain I still carried due to racism, I did not allow myself to develop relationships with white people.  I always had my guard up when I was around them and I carried this into my classroom.

I will be honest and say that if I had to deal with racist behavior on a daily basis it would be very difficult for me to do my job.  I work at a predominantly white school and I not sure if I would be able to separate my personal feelings from work.  Thank God that is not the case!

If there was an issue amongst the children in my class that involved any “ism”,   I would encourage discussions, using persona dolls, that would allow me and the children in my class to discuss any racism that we feel we have experienced and how it made us feel.  I could also ask families to send in pictures of them with their child or children to post on bulletin boards or the wall and talk about how each family is different.  These activities and discussions, as well as providing books and other materials for the learning environment, would help me to effectively communicate with children and their families, as well as help children learn to accept and respect racial similarities and differences.

Observing Communication

My observation took place yesterday at Target.  I was shopping for a friend's baby shower and I observed a conversation between a mother and her son.  I am not sure how old he was, but he could not have been any older that 3 or 4.

I overheard her the mother talking to a friend and learned that she was also buying a gift for a baby shower.  The little boy asked her if the baby was a boy or girl and his mother answered that it was a boy.  She told him that the baby's name was going to be Landon and he asked her who picked that name.  He then went on to ask who named him.  Before his mother could answer, he answered his question and said that he was born with his name.  His mother's friend looked at the child and told him that he was being stupid and that the reason he was born with his name was because his mother had chosen it before he was born. His mother said nothing.

The two women continued looking around the baby section and talking about the baby shower.  The child became really quiet and followed behind them.  I continued to observe them from afar but was having a constant battle with myself as to whether i should continue to be silent or speak up for this innocent child.  After a few minutes of being silent, the child asked if he could get a toy and the mother's friend answered first and told him that if he didn't say anything else she would buy him two. His mother laughed and told her that she was crazy.  Again, I watched this precious child withdraw and not utter another sound.

I could not watch them anymore because I was becoming more and more upset.  I kept playing the scene over in my head of this child being told he was stupid.  Honestly the only stupid person I saw was the one doing the name calling.  The definition of "stupid" is lacking intelligence or common sense and in my opinion anyone that would call someone, especially a child stupid fits that description .

The only effective communication I observed was at the beginning when the mother and child were talking about the sex of the baby.  That all changed as soon as the mothers friend became involved.  I don't know the nature of their relationship, but I can't believe this mother stood by and allowed her child to be called stupid.  She should have stood up for her son as soon as the word stupid left her mouth.  My heart broke for this child and I spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about him.  I kept asking myself why did she bring him with her if all she was going to do was ignore him.  I pray that this doesn't happen often, but something in my gut tells me that it does.

My communication with children is much better than what I observed.  I strive to be accepting, respectful, and sensitive in my communication with children (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  The one thing that I am working on is to be a more effective and reflective listener.  I want my verbal as well as my nonverbal behavior to reflect that I am interested in what they are saying, and that I am willing to see and try to understand situations from their perspective.

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Communicating with young children. [Course media].

Creating Affirming Environments

When I open my Family Childcare Home, I will strive to provide an anti-bias environment where children feel safe, welcome, and supported in all areas of development.  Children will be engaged in one-on-one conversations and interactions as well as group activities to promote that they are valued.   The families will be an integral part of the program with an open door policy and family members will be encouraged to volunteer and share their abilities and talents.  Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2010) convey “when we reach out to families to include them in every aspect of our program, families feel that they are teachers’ true partners” (p. 42).   Respect and appreciation for individual sociocultural factors will be a priority.            

Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2010) explain that children need materials that reflect and honor diversity not only from their identity groups, but also from identity groups that are different from theirs.  This will help children, and families, to appreciate, respect, and value similarities and differences.  The large family room will have a dramatic play area with clothing and uniforms representing various careers, diverse foods, and dolls reflecting different racial and ethnic background.  The block area will have various kinds of block and block play people with diverse abilities.  The music center will have diverse child musical instruments and music representing different cultures.  In the art area, there will be construction paper, crayons, multi-colored paints and an easel, as well as play dough for children to express their creativity.  There will also be an area where children can display their artwork.  The goal of my Family Child Care Home will be to promote a child’s healthy self-image and self-confidence and provide optimal opportunities to build a strong foundation for lifelong learning.    

References

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