Reflecting on Learning

As an early childhood professional I have many hopes for the children and families that I work with. My hope is for children to grow up in world where they don’t have to hide their identity. My want is for children to be proud of who they are, where they come from, and what they will become. How can this be accomplished when we live in a world where people are treated badly because of their differences (Laureate Education Inc., 2011)?

My continued hope is that there will be a time when our differences are celebrated and no one is treated badly because of their diversity.  We need to start teaching children at a young age to embrace diversity and challenge the misconceptions that surround them. My hope is for educators to get comfortable talking about how we are similar and different and create a caring environment where children feel safe asking questions so misunderstandings can be kept to a minimum. My hope is to use my new found knowledge as a tool to make a difference in the lives of our children and their families so they have the chance and opportunity to live their lives to the fullest without being treated unfairly.

It is that time once again to take a moment and thank everyone for all of your support, knowledge, and experiences that you have shared for the past eight weeks. I have learned so much from all of you. I feel lucky to be surrounded by so many caring, loving, and dedicated educators who only want the best for children and their families. Having the opportunity to read your Blogs and Discussion Board assignments have made me realize how lucky the children and families you work with are!!  Dr. Kien, I want to thank you for all of your support and encouragement that you have provided for us over the past eight weeks. The feedback that you provided me each week as helped me grow both professionally and personally and helped to challenge my thoughts. I am truly grateful for that!

Well……as we move on towards our final class, I just want to wish all of you the best and my hope is for all of you to have continued success! WE ARE ALMOST THERE!!!!

Take care,

Stephanie J

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc., (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Your commitment to anti-bias work. Baltimore, MD:Author

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

This week we were asked to visit the UNICEF website and choose one of the eight regions of the world to investigate. I chose Latin America and the Caribbean because many people view this area of the world as a vacation destination and may not realize the challenges that children face who live in this region. 

One of the biggest challenges that children face in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean is  poverty.

Here are some facts provided from the website regarding poverty:
In Latin America, the poorest 20% receive less than 10% of total income, while the richest 20% receive roughly between 50 and 60%.
* 37% of the rural population of Latin America is indigent, compared to 13% of the urban population.
* The incidence of extreme poverty affects more children than any other population group. Approximately 30% of children under 12 living in extreme poverty, compared with 14% of those over 20 years.
* Indigenous and African descent are the poorest, have the worst socioeconomic indicators and their access to knowledge and political participation is lower.
* Although the region produces enough food to meet the nutritional needs of three times the current population, 8.8 million suffer from chronic malnutrition (UNICEF, 2015).

Education is another challenge that children in this region face.

     Children in this region who have disabilities and those from poor households in rural areas have lower rates of access, enrollment, and completion of school. When we look at the differences among the gender of children, boys tend to get lower results in the Caribbean, while in some countries in the region, indigenous girls face greater obstacles to achieving good results in education. The level of education that children are receiving is not meeting expectations. The increase of poverty, unemployment, natural disasters, and violence continue to bring challenges and threaten the progrss that is being made; therefore, limiting the growth opportunities in education (UNICEF ,2015). 

     Child mortality is another challenge that children face. According to the website, the inequities in income and ethnicity have a marked impact on infant mortality. Child mortality is consistently higher in the lower income groups and affects large-scale rural people.

     According to the website, In Latin America and the Caribbean, chronic malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies are the nutritional problems affecting mostly children under 3 years and pregnant women. It is now recognized that the period between pregnancy and 2 years of age is crucial for optimal growth and development. Among the many causes influencing the low nutrition of stage are;

* low breastfeeding exclusively until the first 6 months of life;

* inadequate or delayed introduction of complementary foods with poor nutritional quality of food;

* high prevalence of diarrhea, respiratory infections, and other diseases (UNICEF, 2015).

     When I take the time to take a closer look at websites such as UNICEF it reinforces within me the impact that poverty has on children’s growth, development, learning, and opportunities. We strive for ALL children to develop to their fullest and it saddens me how children all over the world do not have the same opportunities, access to food, clean water, and education. It is hopeful to know that there are organizations such as UNICEF who wants all children to have a good start in life.

     According to the website, UNICEF's vision is to contribute to a good start in life, help children to obtain the necessary learning abilities and ensure that no discrimination of gender, ability, ethnicity and class. It also promotes the participation of adolescents, families, communities and schools for better culturally appropriate, inclusive and healthy upbringing (UNICEF, 2015).

Reference

Website

UNICEF

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

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

“Children growing up today are bombarded from a very early age with graphic messages about sex and sexiness in the media and popular culture."

                                                                                        (Levin & Kilbourn, 2009, p. 2)                                                                           

When working with children we want them to believe in and respect themselves as well as valuing and liking who they are. With that said how do we try and reinforce this when we are faced with the sexualization of childhood?

When I think about the topic of the sexualization of early childhood, I think about loss of innocence and the loss of the inner beauty that make us special. The media uses violent content and sexual imagery to sells products to both boys and girls (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). Children should be exposed to developmentally appropriate experiences, not inappropriate messages that are represented by the media. According to Diane Levin (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010), she explained that we are surrounded by a highly sexualized environment that is marked by gender stereotyping of both girls and boys in the media.

The music children listen, sing and dance to, the clothes that some children wear, and the obsession with make-up and nail polish are some of the examples from my personal and professional experience that further illustrate the exposure of young children to a highly sexualized environment. I just took my daughter shopping for shorts……could they be any shorter?? Thank goodness for Old Navy…the only store we found that had more than short shorts!!Whatever happened to the toys that I used to play with when I was a child? Have any of you seen how "Strawberry Shortcake” has been transformed? Why the need to sexualize Strawberry Shortcake?  She was fine the way she was!!!

My daughter is 11 and I am at times stunned by the “hidden” messages that she sees on television about how she needs to dress or to look in order to be a girl. I think it was about a year ago, I was brushing her hair while she was standing in front of the mirror and she asked me, “Mommy, am I pretty?” I looked at her and I said, “Yes. You are beautiful because you are kind, generous, loving, funny, and caring.”  She looked at me through the mirror and smiled back at me. My daughter is also beautiful, but I wanted to take that moment and make it a teachable moment, so she understood that beauty is also what is inside us not primarily about our appearance.

There are so many implications that sexualization has on children’s healthy development. Diane Levin (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010) explained that children’s ideas about what it means to be a boy or girl and sexuality is greatly influenced by what surrounds them. “Children begin to learn narrow definitions of gender and sexuality that focus primarily on appearance (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010, p. 96).The article, "So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids" explained that, "the socialization of childhood is having a profoundly disturbing impact on children's understanding of gender, sexuality, and relationships" (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 3). The sexualization of childhood can teach children that sex is the defining activity in relationships, to the exclusion of love and friendship (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).

Diane Levin (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010) identified how we can respond to these concerns and reduce the negative impact on children. She explained that we need to protect children from popular culture’s sexual attack, help children to look beyond the stereotypes they see around them, be a role model, stop blaming children for the sexualized behavior they have learned from the sexualized environment, talk to children and answer their questions (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010).

This topic of sexualization of childhood has reinforced within me the power that the media has over children and the messages they give to children about gender. As educators we need to help children develop to their fullest as a boys and girls so they can understand what makes healthy relationships when they are older (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010).

References 

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

Levin, D.E., & Kilbouren, J. (2009). [Introducation]. 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://dianelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

     Many of us may have experienced some form of discrimination whether it was a result of our race, socio-economic background, abilities, gender, sexual orientation, or age. The discrimination we face denies us many opportunities based on our social identities (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). Throughout my life I have experienced times when I have been discriminated against due to my abilities, gender, and body type; however, there is one form of “ism” that I experienced while working as an educator in a preschool program and this “ism” was ageism. After I graduated from University I was hired as the head/lead educator in the preschool program and I was very excited to begin working with the children, families, and the other educators in the program. I knew I was hired based on my skills, knowledge, abilities, and my dispositions and I was ready to work! I was the youngest educator in the program and I could sense that my presence was not embraced with open arms. I was constantly questioned by the other educators and my ideas were always shut down.  I began to doubt my abilities even though I knew I was hired based on my skills, knowledge, and dispositions. I remember one educator telling me that she should talk with the parents as how could they take me seriously when I was so young, didn’t have my own children, and didn’t share the same life experiences. This group of educators were denying me the opportunity to do the work I was hired to do. I began to shy away and I allowed them to “bully” me. I had to figure out a way to stand up for myself and not let my age stand in my way of building relationships with the children and families.

I began to work hard trying to prove to the families, children, and the other educators that even though I didn’t have children or the same life experiences that I had lots to offer the children, families, and the program; however, the educators were not making it easy for me. I didn’t want my relationships with the children and families to become undermined, but I knew that they could hear and see how the other educators treated me.

There were consequences that impacted our program due to the fact that I was being discriminated against due to my age. I was becoming frustrated as I wasn’t being respected, listened to, and I did not feel welcome. I remember one child telling me that he didn’t have to listen to me because I was just a teenager! Tension lived and breathed within our program because others felt I was too young to be good and effective educator.  I could see that families were becoming uncomfortable as they could see how I was not being respected.

I don’t know where I got the power or strength from, but I knew that this environment was not only healthy for myself, but it was not a good environment for the children and the families. I worked extra hard to gain respect from the children so they would respond to my expectations and I began to approach the parents to share information about their child’s day even though I got the evil eye!! Families began to make sure that would approach me and share information about their child before they left for the day. I tried hard not treat anyone differently.....even the educators who were denying me the opportunities I deserved. It got better over time, but it was a long ride. I know that if I would have experienced this today, I would have had the skills needed to communicate more effectively with the educators, children, and families.

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).