Week 8---Reflecting and Moving Forward

            The one hope that I have is that all people will respect that “we are all the same; we are all different” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2012, p. 67).  With looking beyond this country I can see that there is a lot of children that need support in order to live, thrive, survive and become the best that they can be.  My hope is that all early childhood professionals will remember what Julia Olsen Edwards said that we take two steps forward and one step backwards (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  This is a big challenge for me as I tend to give up if I do not see progress.  If I keep in mind that the one step headway that I gained is just a small start; however, if we are all making that one step headway then we have made progress towards a better future a better tomorrow.  All children deserve a better tomorrow.  So the ultimate hope for the future of our children is that we do not give up on the tiny progress that we have made.  Dr. Olsen Edwards said that it is a long hard journey (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) and during this journey we will have to be brave and help each other.

            With this being said I would like to thank each and every one of my colleagues.  You have helped be begin this long hard journey.  I am here for you as you travel on this challenging journey.  I hope that we can celebrate each step forward and help each other when challenging issues arise.  Thank you again for your support throughout this educational experience and the beginning of the anti-bias journey.  Looking forward to hearing about your accomplishments and I am here if I can help you through the issues that arise in your journey.

 

Thank you,

Luci

 

References

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. (2012). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). EDUC 6358-1 Strategies for Working with the Diverse Child [Webcast]. Your commitment to anti-bias work. Baltimore, MD: Author. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2819834_1%26url%3D

Week 7: Impacts on Early Emotional Development

            There are many things that affect emotional development.  The way that we are raised, how people relate to us, what is happening in the world around us, etc.  The list could go on and on.  During my visit to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) website (http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html) I chose to explore Latin America and Caribbean region.  I am not really sure why I chose to explore this region over the others, I just did.

            Some of the challenges that this region faces are similar to some that are faced in the United States.  Poverty is a big challenge.  The UNICEF website states that 60% of children under the age of 12 live in poverty.  That is a lot of children that have to wonder about where their next meal might come from or when it might arrive.  According to UNICEF website children face social exclusions.  Children may be socially excluded because of the HIV/AIDS; the Caribbean is the second highest prevalence of AIDS in the world, and disabilities.  This “dramatically affects the indigenous and Afro-descendent communities” (http://www.unicef.org/lac/english_9818.htm).  UNICEF website states that this is one of the most culturally diverse regions in the world.  There are 40-50 million indigenous and 150 million Afro-descendants living here and close to half of these are children under the age of 18.  These children have poor nutrition and non-existent access to basic services.

            This all leads to another threat that children face in this region, chronic malnutrition.  This website compares chronic malnutrition with severe malnutrition in the following way: severe malnutrition is equivalent to a death sentence and chronic malnutrition is equivalent to life imprisonment.  They go on to state that 1 out of every 5 children has chronic malnutrition.  This to me is very scary that so many children have a life sentence put on them at such an early age. 

            Violence and natural disasters are other challenges that this region faces.  UNICEF states that 85,000 children die annually as a result of violence in the home.  They go on to say that violence affects over 6 million children and adolescents.  The natural disasters are hurricanes and flooding occurs yearly.

            All of the challenges that I listed above could affect children’s emotional wellbeing.  These challenges affect how children view themselves as well as how others view them.  These challenges may have children thinking that they are not worthy of things.  Poverty and malnutrition leave children focusing on when and/or what they are going to eat.  Being excluded and violence often leaves you wondering if you are worthy.  All of these affect are emotional wellbeing.

            Personally I have lived in poverty and understand what it is like to go to bed hungry.  I was excluded by my peers because I was poor and just did not fit in with them.  This is totally different from what the children in this region is faced with.  So many children are suffering in this region.  I can only phantom what they are going through.  Professionally this exploration helps me to understand about the different cultures and beliefs that need to be considered when planning our curriculum and daily classroom activities.  A common example would be a sensory table full of rice or noodle necklaces.

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

While reading the book excerpt, So Sex, So Soon I was picturing what my eldest daughter asked me when she was just a kindergartener, or better yet what she informed me of.  Her question was “Is this finger (holding up her middle finger) dirty?”  My response was to carefully look at her finger and I said “It doesn’t look dirty to me. However, there are people that associate dirty thoughts when holding up that finger.”  A couple of days later she comes up to me and says “Mom, do you know what this means?” While she moves her lose fisted hand up and down.  She did inform me of what the little boy told her it meant.  This book excerpt also reminded me of a time that my young daughter was sing along with a song on the radio.  Something like “I want to sex you up” I do not remember if that was the title or just some lyrics in the song.  Anyway, I asked my daughter what it meant and she told me that it only meant kissing.  I told her that I only asked because she should not sing or say things that she does not know what they mean.

 The images that society puts on young girls are really tough to follow.  To be sexy and popular you have to fit a certain image (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).  I have never fit that image and probably never well.  The fourth-grade girl that wrote that letter on page 3 of the book excerpt could have been me.  As a young child I always felt unloved and a failure.  I felt this way because I was not thin or pretty (at least no one ever said I was pretty).  The image that we are giving children about sex and being a sexual being is hurting them (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).  It is no wonder that children cannot figure out who they are and have relationship issues.  How do we move past the images that society has been giving for many, many years?  I still feel that my looks hinder my abilities to be loved and I am very insecure in my relationships.  Knowing this about myself helps me to look past societies images when working with others; however, I can only see what I think others see when looking in the mirror.

Reference

Levin, D. & 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

Isms: Evaluating its Impacts on our Professional Practices

            Growing up in a lower economic class with a big family left me a victim to many isms.  People face isms all around us.  In my experience a lot of people have difficulty with change.  Without change we cannot break the cycle of isms, bias, or prejudice.  Isms can be taught to us in a covert or overt manner (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2012).  Often we do not even realize that we are being stereotyped when it happens naturally in your culture.  For example I was always called a tomboy and often dressed and acted the part.  I was always teased about it.  The one thing that really got me as a young teenager was when my cousins and uncle called me Cindy the cow because they used to have a cow named Cindy and my nickname was Cindy.  I refused to answer to Cindy anymore and often thought of myself as fat.  Talk about self-esteem issues.

            I think that if we as professionals were the victim of isms it would affect how we function in our life and in our classroom.  Being the victim of an ism would harm our self-esteem and self-worth.  This would make us unsure of our teaching and communications with families.  Without being able to build trusting and reliable relationships with the children in our care and their families we would not be able to partner up with them and provide a safe learning environment.  We might pass on the bias, stereotype, or prejudge on to the children without even realizing that it was happening.  This would be detrimental in our work to become anti-bias educators.  As professionals we need to work to overcome isms, biases, stereotypes, and prejudges so that we can help children to become anti-bias.

Reference

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. (2012). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.