This course on how to build an inclusive, anti-bias learning environment that is developmentally, culturally and linguistically appropriate has been enriching. As an early childhood professional my hope is to build on the strategies and techniques that I learnt to help develop children’s strengths, capacities and skills needed to take step in the direction of what is right and stand up for what is fair I would not have been able to gain the insight and knowledge that I did without the collaborative support of my colleagues. I like to take this moment to thank each of my colleagues for the all the help, advice and ideas extended towards me.
Addressing something that hurts children is a proud and fulfilling moment. I continue to need your support in my anti- bias journey. I need allies to cheer me during my success, and stand by me during my failures. As I move forward in my professional goal of doing anti-bias work in early childhood classrooms, I request my colleagues to continue to be the allies I can talk to and the circle of groups I can come to. I wish you all the best in your role as the diversity/equity educator and wish that through our collaborative efforts we can together build a world in which children feel safe, supported and loved.
Favorite Quote on Childhood
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Saturday, June 22, 2013
An International look at Impacts on Early Emotional Development
The headline in our local newspaper read this morning “In Syria, the biggest losers are children” (Gulf News). Syria has been in war now for the past three years with more and more people fleeing the country every year. Even here in Abu Dhabi we have a lot of Syrian families and so seeing this article this morning I thought it apt to look into the impact of war on the early emotional development of children in Syria for this blog assignment.
War in Syria has taken an unacceptable and unbearable toll on children exposing them to grave human rights violations, poor conditions for survival, destruction of schools, unsanitary conditions and risking them of losing a generation (UNICEF).
This chart that I came across UNICEF website appalled me (http://storify.com/UNICEF/syrian-crisis/elements/b660f6994cda7f5d2deaee3e)
Indeed the biggest losers are children. Because of adults’ conflicts, it is children who lose homes, families and siblings, suffer injury and permanent disability, get uprooted and transplanted into circumstances beyond their control. They get denied of love, compassion, education, health and dignity and also lose their innocence when they are forced to look after their younger siblings and elderly grandparents becoming breadwinners overnight. All around them, their dreams and opportunities for the future are being lost. As a result of the trauma, they suffer profound long-lasting psychological effects. Children replicate killing scenes while playing, cover their faces and seek shelter when they hear planes flying overhead.
A child’s identity is constructed within his or her culture, ethnicity, language, family structure and home relationships. War and other forms of trauma affect the lives of children, challenging their well being and development and create psychological dynamics that can affect their individual sense of self and undermine their healthiest and fullest development as human beings. UNICEF and its partners are trying to combat the deteriorating state of children by providing them with safe drinking water, vaccination campaigns and organizing learning programs that will provide psychological services.
Children need a helping hand that would promote their strong sense of identity, feel pride in who they are, and have courage to stand up for what’s not fair. With appropriate adult guidance we can help lay a strong foundation that would provide the base for the next stages of healthy development and the skills they would need to thrive and succeed in our complex and diverse world.
References
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/files/Syria_2yr_Report.pdf
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/jordan_65808.html
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/syriancrisis_68134.html
http://gulfnews.com/news/region/syria/in-syria-the-biggest-losers-are-children-1.1199838
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/syriancrisis_69285.html
War in Syria has taken an unacceptable and unbearable toll on children exposing them to grave human rights violations, poor conditions for survival, destruction of schools, unsanitary conditions and risking them of losing a generation (UNICEF).
This chart that I came across UNICEF website appalled me (http://storify.com/UNICEF/syrian-crisis/elements/b660f6994cda7f5d2deaee3e)
Indeed the biggest losers are children. Because of adults’ conflicts, it is children who lose homes, families and siblings, suffer injury and permanent disability, get uprooted and transplanted into circumstances beyond their control. They get denied of love, compassion, education, health and dignity and also lose their innocence when they are forced to look after their younger siblings and elderly grandparents becoming breadwinners overnight. All around them, their dreams and opportunities for the future are being lost. As a result of the trauma, they suffer profound long-lasting psychological effects. Children replicate killing scenes while playing, cover their faces and seek shelter when they hear planes flying overhead.
A child’s identity is constructed within his or her culture, ethnicity, language, family structure and home relationships. War and other forms of trauma affect the lives of children, challenging their well being and development and create psychological dynamics that can affect their individual sense of self and undermine their healthiest and fullest development as human beings. UNICEF and its partners are trying to combat the deteriorating state of children by providing them with safe drinking water, vaccination campaigns and organizing learning programs that will provide psychological services.
Children need a helping hand that would promote their strong sense of identity, feel pride in who they are, and have courage to stand up for what’s not fair. With appropriate adult guidance we can help lay a strong foundation that would provide the base for the next stages of healthy development and the skills they would need to thrive and succeed in our complex and diverse world.
References
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/files/Syria_2yr_Report.pdf
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/jordan_65808.html
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/syriancrisis_68134.html
http://gulfnews.com/news/region/syria/in-syria-the-biggest-losers-are-children-1.1199838
http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/syriancrisis_69285.html
Saturday, June 15, 2013
The Sexualization of Early Childhood
Children as young as preschoolers are brainwashed by the institutional and cultural socialization they encounter such as media, language, and song lyrics. The media culture has become an educational force playing a significant role as “teaching machines” in influencing young children on the institutional and cultural expectation about normalized race and sexuality. Today’s media and commercial culture bombard children with graphic sexual images and information that they may not even understand.
Just a couple of days back a 3 year old child in my class was signing ‘oppa gangnam style, hey sexy lady” and doing the gangnam style dance steps. Another 4 year old child was singing, Scream and Shout by Britney Spears “…..you gotta turn the shit up… All eyes on us…” They may have been just singing a song that they found catchy, without knowing what the lyrics meant. Observing how these children as young as three years pick such songs is quite alarming.
It may be cute to see my 2 year old niece flaunt a dress, swirling around pretending to be a princess. This is what most of the little girls want to be ‘a princess’, ‘the prettiest of them all’ because of the influence of the animated movies. But when she refuses to wear any other clothes and insists on wearing only frocks that she can swirl around in, it can be disturbing. What is observed is that even at an older age of 5 years, girls are still obsessed at being ‘lovely’. My colleague’s daughter wears only pink frocks. After she gets dressed, she parades before her parents tossing her head, and waving her hair asking “am I not lovely?” This emphasis on beauty can push them from being the prettiest little girl to being the being the hottest little girl.
It was quite shocking to see how my Lebanese colleague’s 9 year old daughter walks out the house in micro mini shorts, high heels, and tiny tops that expose midriff. My colleague does not seem to mind her daughter walking out the door looking like that. Somehow letting a young girl dress like that has become Ok, part of their culture. As a result of such thinking we find clothing these days outright sexy.
Children think listening to secular songs is ‘cool’ and they idolize the artists. I see around how boys as small as 6 year olds imitate the current popular boy band – ‘one direction’ in their hair styles and clothing.
The authors of the book ‘So sexy so soon’ (Levin, & Kilbourne, 2009) has rightly asserted how young children’s exposure to an overly sexualized environment plays a significant role in undermining their healthy gender and sexual development and negatively impact their sense of self worth. Children learn narrow definitions of gender and sexuality that focus primarily on appearance.
When children adopt the values that dominate commercial culture—materialism, self-indulgence, conformity, impulse buying, and unthinking brand loyalty—the health of democracy and sustainability of our planet are threatened (CCFC). Therefore as early childhood educators, we need to partner with parents and provide positive age-appropriate experiences that can help children begin to sort out their ideas and feelings about themselves and others, deal with issues of sexualization that would support the healthy sexual development of children.
Reference
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC). Retrieved from http://commercialfreechildhood.org/actions/home.html
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
Just a couple of days back a 3 year old child in my class was signing ‘oppa gangnam style, hey sexy lady” and doing the gangnam style dance steps. Another 4 year old child was singing, Scream and Shout by Britney Spears “…..you gotta turn the shit up… All eyes on us…” They may have been just singing a song that they found catchy, without knowing what the lyrics meant. Observing how these children as young as three years pick such songs is quite alarming.
It may be cute to see my 2 year old niece flaunt a dress, swirling around pretending to be a princess. This is what most of the little girls want to be ‘a princess’, ‘the prettiest of them all’ because of the influence of the animated movies. But when she refuses to wear any other clothes and insists on wearing only frocks that she can swirl around in, it can be disturbing. What is observed is that even at an older age of 5 years, girls are still obsessed at being ‘lovely’. My colleague’s daughter wears only pink frocks. After she gets dressed, she parades before her parents tossing her head, and waving her hair asking “am I not lovely?” This emphasis on beauty can push them from being the prettiest little girl to being the being the hottest little girl.
It was quite shocking to see how my Lebanese colleague’s 9 year old daughter walks out the house in micro mini shorts, high heels, and tiny tops that expose midriff. My colleague does not seem to mind her daughter walking out the door looking like that. Somehow letting a young girl dress like that has become Ok, part of their culture. As a result of such thinking we find clothing these days outright sexy.
Children think listening to secular songs is ‘cool’ and they idolize the artists. I see around how boys as small as 6 year olds imitate the current popular boy band – ‘one direction’ in their hair styles and clothing.
The authors of the book ‘So sexy so soon’ (Levin, & Kilbourne, 2009) has rightly asserted how young children’s exposure to an overly sexualized environment plays a significant role in undermining their healthy gender and sexual development and negatively impact their sense of self worth. Children learn narrow definitions of gender and sexuality that focus primarily on appearance.
When children adopt the values that dominate commercial culture—materialism, self-indulgence, conformity, impulse buying, and unthinking brand loyalty—the health of democracy and sustainability of our planet are threatened (CCFC). Therefore as early childhood educators, we need to partner with parents and provide positive age-appropriate experiences that can help children begin to sort out their ideas and feelings about themselves and others, deal with issues of sexualization that would support the healthy sexual development of children.
Reference
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC). Retrieved from http://commercialfreechildhood.org/actions/home.html
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
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice
Being an Indian and living in an Arab country, an ‘ism’ that I definitely experience on a daily basis is ‘racism’. Arabs think high of ‘white colored’ people. They value their identity above everyone else. Therefore, even at my work place my colleagues, who do not have the teaching experience or qualification as much as I have, get paid more than me just because they are ‘white’. Arab parents want their children to be taught by British irrespective of the teacher’s credentials just so that their child can pick up the British accent. There are times when families enter my classroom with preconceived prejudice and stereotypes regarding an Indian teacher. Their difficulty to give me a smile or even acknowledge my position as a teacher pronounces their attitudes. Let me share a personal experience that occurred very recently to illustrate this further.
I have a local Emirati girl in my class. She has an older sister in the next grade whose class teacher is a British. When this girl joined my class, she was such a timid and shy girl who would not utter a word even if she had a need. But during the course of the year, with lots of encouragement and support she has emerged to be a confident girl. I was so pleased to see her perform for our school concert last week on the stage in front of all the audience. Her mother too was happy to see her become the person she came out to be. However, at the end of the concert, the mother brought a gift of appreciation for her sister’s teacher. I felt hurt not because I did not get a gift. I felt hurt because my job is taken for granted just because I am Indian, while the other teacher being a British is honored for her role.
However, as an early childhood professional working in a multinational setting, I consider it my responsibility to be culturally and linguistically responsive and emotionally intelligent to welcome all children and their families into my classroom irrespective of the way people react to me or the ‘ism’ I experience. I do not in any way let my experience affect my interaction with the children of these families or impact my professional practice. I believe these children are innocent and before their families communicate their culture’s values, beliefs, rules and expectations to their children, as the first adult outside their family, I need to make an impact on the child’s life and thereby on the family’s lives. In all these years of my teaching experience, I have only done themes like ‘Me and My family’. However, ever since learning on anti-bias education and the importance of making cultural sameness and differences real, I realize the need to incorporate cultural awareness theme and talk about how everyone is similar and yet different in my curriculum. Persona dolls and appropriate books can also help to widen their circle of experience beyond the cultural rules and practices of their own family. At this point I would like to ask all my colleagues to offer advice and suggestions of what books to read and activities to include exploring cultural diversity and similarities.
Early years are an auspicious time of childhood and childrearing, that with special attention and nurturing we can help children become sensitive human beings as they venture into the world beyond their homes.
I have a local Emirati girl in my class. She has an older sister in the next grade whose class teacher is a British. When this girl joined my class, she was such a timid and shy girl who would not utter a word even if she had a need. But during the course of the year, with lots of encouragement and support she has emerged to be a confident girl. I was so pleased to see her perform for our school concert last week on the stage in front of all the audience. Her mother too was happy to see her become the person she came out to be. However, at the end of the concert, the mother brought a gift of appreciation for her sister’s teacher. I felt hurt not because I did not get a gift. I felt hurt because my job is taken for granted just because I am Indian, while the other teacher being a British is honored for her role.
However, as an early childhood professional working in a multinational setting, I consider it my responsibility to be culturally and linguistically responsive and emotionally intelligent to welcome all children and their families into my classroom irrespective of the way people react to me or the ‘ism’ I experience. I do not in any way let my experience affect my interaction with the children of these families or impact my professional practice. I believe these children are innocent and before their families communicate their culture’s values, beliefs, rules and expectations to their children, as the first adult outside their family, I need to make an impact on the child’s life and thereby on the family’s lives. In all these years of my teaching experience, I have only done themes like ‘Me and My family’. However, ever since learning on anti-bias education and the importance of making cultural sameness and differences real, I realize the need to incorporate cultural awareness theme and talk about how everyone is similar and yet different in my curriculum. Persona dolls and appropriate books can also help to widen their circle of experience beyond the cultural rules and practices of their own family. At this point I would like to ask all my colleagues to offer advice and suggestions of what books to read and activities to include exploring cultural diversity and similarities.
Early years are an auspicious time of childhood and childrearing, that with special attention and nurturing we can help children become sensitive human beings as they venture into the world beyond their homes.
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