Reflecting on Learning

As my journey towards completing my master’s degree comes to end, I can sit and reflect on how far I have grown in my understanding of diversity and families. I have become more passionate about bridging the gap than ever before and I hope one day more major advances and resources are made available to families regardless of socioeconomic class, race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation or varying abilities.  I plan to continue my education in the early childhood field and move one-step closer to influencing the world of all young learners.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for sharing your ideas and stories, which gave me a glimpse of the wonderful professionals you all are. I can honestly say that we have come a long way and the end is drawing near. I wish you all the very best and good luck in all your future endeavors.

I would like to thank Dr. Nanette Schonleber for being a wonderful and most of all patient teacher.  You have been a joy to learn from these past several weeks and I can say you made me discover my strengths as a student. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and all the best to you and your family.

                            “Good Teachers Teach. Great Teachers Inspire”- Unknown

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

For this week’s blog assignment, I wanted to learn more about West and Central Africa. I decided upon this region because currently in my class I have two families from Nigeria and during high school and undergrad, I knew several people who were also from Nigeria. I would often ask them about their country and I was amazed because they gave me both positive and negative insight on the country. I am happy to complete this assignment, because I get to learn about how the country and/or region as a whole, is influencing child development.

According to the UNICEF website, many things effect a child’s healthy overall development. “Nearly 2 children out of 10 never reach their fifth birthday,” (UNICEF). These items include:

·         Polio immunization

·         Nutrition

·         HIV/AIDS

·         Water and sanitation

·         Gender disparity in primary and secondary education 

·         Child/women sexual violence

·         Maternal and newborn health/death

·         Child exploitation

·         Poverty

In my opinion, all of these adversities affect how children develop emotionally, mentally, and physically.  As a professional, I found the above items extremely alarming and I wondered how I would have been if I were born into this region. I can imagine that often times, these children suffer from losing a limb due to polio and other infectious diseases, dying from mal/under nutrition, loss of a parent or both due to HIV/AIDS, and emotional scars and physical scars from sexual exploitation and sexual violence.  I believe that those children who have lost a parent suffer a great deal; because they may or may not have another family member who can adequately care for them.

After looking over the UNICEF website and the information about West and Central Africa, I wish there was something that can be done to end the situation in West and Central Africa.  As a professional in the education field, it saddens me to see that girls are not allowed to be educated and makes me appreciate the little things and being able to educate all children.   Here below are a few videos that I found helpful in learning about the region of West and Central Africa.

The links to video are as follows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CE9M2R1nuIo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmtvcJZKXrw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCPY6n8t-R8

References

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

According to the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls (2010), sexualization occurs when:

·         a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics

·         a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness (narrowly defined) with being sexy;

·         a person is sexually objectified—that is, made into a thing for others’ sexual use, rather than seen as a person with the capacity for independent action and decision making;

·         sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person.

As a professional in the field of early childhood education, I have seen an increase of suggestive sexual messages geared towards young children on today. Growing up I remember being shielded from my family members if something came on television provocative, but today there are sexual images plastered everywhere. There are more dolls/toys showing off girl’s bodies than ever before and suggestive sayings in music and even television programs designed for children. It disturbs me to see how times have changed and makes me weary of what will come next for future generations.

As a child growing up, I can remember only two or three young girls engaging in sex. In recent years, that once small number has nearly quadrupled.  There have been an increase in teenage pregnancies and this is the generation for the new age grandparents, ranging between the ages of 30-40. When I was in college this show, “Teen Mom” aired, and from the very beginning, I was against and still against watching the show. I refused to watch a television program in a sense glorifying teen pregnancy while those teen mothers gain a profit. So many of my classmates just fell in love with the show but deep down I knew how being a teen mom influenced and changed lives. My mother was pregnant with me at age 16 and had both my younger siblings by the time she was 21 years old, and I know how rough and hard it was growing up to a single mother. Although my mother did the best she could there were days that I wondered how life would be if my siblings and I came much later in our mother’s life.

Over the past, few months I have noticed that one of my students insist on kissing the other little girls. The student, in which I am referring to, has two mommies and often speaks on how she does not have a daddy. The other day during circle time, the students were sitting on the mat when the little girl turned, grabbed her friend’s cheeks and began kissing her. I was shocked because it was as if she absolutely knew what she was doing and had no regard. I immediately stepped in and informed the child that although we like our friends that it was not okay to kiss them and that hugs were how we showed our friends we liked them.  The little girl nodded her head showing that she understood but I had to figure out the best possible solution of expressing that to her parents without making them uncomfortable, which was not a hard task.

            My niece is such a joy to be around and we have discovered her love for music. Now I was always the singer in the family but my sisters were the dancers (I have two right feet, not left).  My niece has the complex that all electronic devices are hers and is often times trying to get to the music. One day my sister, my niece and I were in the living room, when my sister began dancing. My niece then climbed off the sofa, bent over, and started shaking her behind. Before I knew it I picked her up and expressed how little girls should not dance like that, but my sister on the other hand did not agree.  She laughed and talked how it was cute but I felt it was inappropriate to allow a child to dance in such a provocative manner.

According to the article, “So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids”, authors Levin & Kilbourne concluded the following (2009):

“Both boys and girls are routinely exposed to images of sexual behavior devoid of emotions, attachment, or consequences. They learn that sex is the defining activity in relationships, to the exclusion of love and friendship. They learn that sex is often linked to violence. And they 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, for love and connection that they take into adulthood. While they struggle to make sense of all this, children are robbed of valuable time for age-appropriate developmental tasks, and they may begin to engage in precocious sexual behavior”.

Sexualization can influence and shape gender identity, values and other things, but it is our jobs as adults to show young children the importance of valuing themselves and not relying on others to validate them. I believe if we as adults model good behavior that young children will feed off it and do the same. I also believe that by building confidence that children will step away from what others around them are doing and follow their own lead.

This week has opened my eyes in my awareness of sexualization of early childhood and has shaped how I want to shield young children from these images, even though they are healthy images. I just believe it is important to keep young children pure and innocent and it is my hope that one day the rest of society will do the same. Here below is a link to a video in which I found helpful in exposing sexualization among young children. The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWLdSwO_cwo

References

American Psychological Association (2010).  Report of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/report-full.pdf

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

Last year I became the youngest Lead Teacher on the Infant/Toddler side in my center and that was a huge adjustment for not only me but also the families in which I worked with. I had three strikes against me from the moment I agreed to the position, I was the youngest, I have no children and I am a lesbian.  The teachers in which I worked with knew about my sexual orientation, but I made it my business to shield that from the families, because I did not want that to be an issue in which the parents questioned my teaching ability. From the beginning, the families fought with me and on the sly questioned my ability to care for their children. I followed and still follow all guidelines and show my students as much love and care as my heart and their heart can hold, but at times it still feels like it is not enough. I must admit that it is very frustrating and I even go home crying and feel defeated because all I want from the families is to see that I care about their child’s well-being, that I am their advocate, that I am competent and that this is not a baby-sitting job for me.   From looking at the demographics in my classroom, most would believe it would be a breeze, but to their surprise, it is not. Most of the families I service are between the ages of 22-29 and I even have a lesbian headed family.  These family structures are the ones in which at times makes my workday a stressful one. In my experience, I have had the following issues in working with these families. They include:

·         Families do not read daily grams, flyers, newsletters or etc.

·         Families do not complete Home Enrichment's/class projects

·         Families do not show up for center wide events

·         Families do not come to parent-teacher conference meetings

·         Families do not volunteer/donate

Although my first year has not been ideal, I have built a few lasting partnerships with some of the families in my classroom. I can honestly say that I can see the progression that some of my children have made and they tug at my heartstrings. I believe that we as professionals go the extra mile to welcome families and invite families in the learning environment regardless of classism, race, age, cultural background, sexual preference or even family make-up. It is my hope that families remove their own biasness and see the greater picture, which is to build strong, independent, intelligent, diverse, respectful young children.

Observing Communication

This past weekend I had a blast hanging out with my sister’s and also my niece and nephew.  It was so amazing to see how much they had grown and how intensive their vocabulary had gotten since the last time I had saw them.  My nephew, Josiah is Tee-Tee’s little monkey man, and he is is 2 years old. My niece a.k.a. my punkin Nylah, is 20 months old and those two little people just light up my life.

Friday my sister’s and I decided to get together, cook, and watch movies. I was sitting down in the floor and my niece and nephew went over to Tee-Tee Tam and just started playing and talking. Tee- Tee Tam was bouncing Nylah on her leg, when Josiah walked up and said, “Tee-Tee, do me. I wanna do it.” My girlfriend and I looked at each in amazement because usually my nephew is very quiet and does not say very much.  My girlfriend turned and looked at Josiah and said in response, “Okay Jo, Tee-Tee can bounce you and Nylah. Is that fine? See you guys are sharing time with Tee-Tee”. Josiah ad Nylah laughed so hard and had several back and forth exchanges with all of the adults there, which made for a good time.

I felt my girlfriend did a wonderful job in connecting the importance of sharing and taking turns. I also appreciated the fact that real words were used and that she disregarded their age and communicated with them as if they were older. I could see that because the adults surrounded by my niece and nephew were talking and being very expressive that it made them want to be a part of the conversation and engage in real-life conversations.  In looking back at the situation with my girlfriend, our niece, and nephew, I could see that she incorporated the following strategies, as presented in the article “Communicating with Babies”. The strategies included (2011):

·         Acknowledge the baby by name

·         Wait for the baby’s response

·         Include your observation of the baby’s response in your next message

·         Say what you see or think you see and include those responses

I believe because Tee-Tee Tam acknowledged and referenced both children, that it allowed them to feel important and included in the conversation.  I also believe it allowed them to make connections and see the importance of sharing and taking turns, which would aid them in future situations.  I will never say that I am the most effective communicator, so by competing this assignment and looking over the articles and resources provided, that it has furthered my knowledge on the importance of effective communication. I feel as if the more I learn, the more insight I can offer the families and children I reach every single day.

Reference

Kovach, B., & Da Ros-Voseles, D. (2011). Communicating with babies. YC: Young Children, 66(2), 48-50. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=60001533&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Creating Affirming Environments

For this week’s blog assignment, I have been given the task to imagine I have my very own Family Child Care Home.  I would first incorporate structure and independence building in a free play curriculum. I believe that although I am allowing the child to develop at his or her own speed that the child will be able to gain the knowledge and skills needed to flourish academically and developmentally.

In creating and opening my very own Family Child Care Home, I would like to service families with children six (6) weeks to four (4) years old. I would like the various age groups to stay together and have a very small class teacher to student ratio. I would first create an in-take process which will allow me to better get to know the families in which I will be servicing and also allow the families to express their views, concerns, and highlight their culture in a more intimate setting. I would love to work with families from all different kinds of cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds.  In order to build a lasting partnership I am aware as an early childhood professional, that it is important that I make all the families being serviced visible inside the classroom and the center or home as a whole, and that I should also gain input from the families about their traditions and beliefs. One thing that I found useful inside my current classroom was creating a family tree and having the children bring in photos of their family and have the children and parents and/or guardians create “All about Me” books. It was during this time when the families got more involved into the lesson and became creative with highlighting their family inside the classroom. I also found that the children loved displaying their creations during Friday Show & Tell hour.  Creating an anti-bias environment deals greatly with visual effects and here below are a few things professionals need to take into account when displaying families (2010). They include:

v  Display children and adults from various racial and ethnic identity groups in your community

v  Display families from a range of economic groups performing all types of work (e.g., working class, professionals; work I  home, work outside of home)

v  Incorporate visual images of persons with disabilities of various backgrounds working, playing, spending time with their family

v  Display diverse family structures (single parent, adoptive families, gay/lesbian families, mixed race etc.)

v  Be sure images chosen reflect both similarities and differences within every group as well as between groups

v  Do not show images that depict misinformation or stereotypes about a group

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.  (pp. 43 & 45). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).