Reflecting on Learning

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” –Harriet Tubman

I can’t believe another 8 weeks have flown by! First, thank you to all of my colleagues who have helped support me and my learning throughout this course. You have offered me insights, feedback, and have shared your ideas, experiences, and knowledge; you have helped make this experience enriching and worthwhile! It has been wonderful getting to know so many amazing people who are also on this journey and have a passion to work with children and families, to make a difference. I am looking forward to taking the last course (wow!) with you; I can’t believe the end is so near!!

Throughout this program, we have done a lot of self-reflecting and goal setting. I have grown, both personally and professionally, and although my goals have changed a little from the beginning, I realize that there is one thing in common: helping children reach their full developmental potential. This week, I have been thinking about my most passionate hope for my future as an early childhood professional and for the children and families I work with. So, after much thought, I have realized that my most passionate hope is to create an accepting, welcoming environment that will help all children reach their full developmental potential regardless of their background and/or identities.

All of things that we have been learning about and discussing throughout this program are tools that can help me achieve this goal; becoming a more competent communicator and discussing differences and diversity, building partnerships with families, and embracing anti-bias education are all ways that I can reach my goal. Thank you again for helping me on this journey! I have enjoyed learning and growing with you; best of luck to you all!

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

I was really excited about this week’s blog assignment because I love learning about child development in other parts of the world. As an undergraduate, I majored in International Studies/Sociology and my region of focus was Latin America; I am particularly interested in this part of the world and have some background knowledge of it. Because of this, I chose to look at this region of the world for this week’s blog entry.

According to UNICEF’s Latin American Regional Office, there are many challenges that children in Latin America may face. These include economic disparities, social exclusion, malnutrition, violence, HIV/AIDS, and emergencies (UNICEF, n.d.).  All of these factors play a role in a child’s emotional well-being and can impact his/her development.

One of the biggest challenges that this region faces is that “Latin America and the Caribbean is considered the most unequal region in the world” (UNICEF, n.d.); this means that there are many economic disparities, many children and families living in poverty, and many people unable to access services. Economic disparities are linked to poverty and malnutrition, factors that affect children in all areas of development, physical, cognitive, and social-emotional. Not having enough to eat, young children working to help support their families, and lack of basic necessities all take a toll on a child’s emotional well-being as they add extra stresses to both the family and child. Stress not only negatively impacts a child’s emotional development and can take a toll on their emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being.

Latin America and the Caribbean are very culturally diverse with indigenous people and people of African descent. However, children and families from these groups may face social exclusion, higher rates of poverty, and lack of services (UNICEF, n.d.). As we have been learning, culture is a large part of a young child’s identity. Social exclusion and racism create cultural discontinuity, unequal access to services, and ultimately, negatively impact a child’s emotional well-being and healthy identity development.

In addition to this, “the Caribbean has the 2nd highest prevalence of AIDS in the world, after sub-Saharan Africa” (UNICEF, n.d.); which means that many children are more likely have a close family member or parent with HIV/AIDS or may even have it themselves. This would greatly impact a child’s well-being; having a disease with no cure would definitely be a traumatic experience and I would imagine would be very scary to a young child. If a child or family member has HIV/AIDS, they not only may face social exclusion but may not be able to receive adequate medication or treatment. I imagine that this would be very straining to a family and could affect the relationships and stability within the family; again greatly impacting a child’s emotional development.

The high rates of violence in the region can add extra stress to a young child living here as well. Living in fear or witnessing violent acts are traumatic experiences that greatly affect a young child’s emotional development.  Fear and lack of stability make it hard to create the safe and loving environment that helps foster a young child’s healthy development.

Lastly, many natural disasters occur in the region of Latin America and the Caribbean. Natural disasters may include hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes and the results can include homelessness, injuries, illnesses, and deaths (UNICEF, n.d.). Again, this can greatly impact a young child’s emotional well-being and development as these are frightening, life-changing, traumatic experiences. Even if the natural disaster is smaller-scale and the child is not displaced or orphaned, schooling or services may be interrupted or may be harder to access.

As we have learned, emotional trauma negatively affects a child’s development. It is unfortunate that so many children face adversities early on in life that impact their development. As I was reading the information from the UNICEF Regional Office, I felt saddened that this is the way of life for millions of children. Sometimes I take for granted the opportunities, resources, and fortune that my son and I have. We are lucky that we are not struggling to simply survive as millions of children and families are worldwide; we have access to immunizations and social services, stability, and resources. Learning more about the multiple challenges children living in Latin America and the Caribbean may be facing helped me put things in perspective and gave me a new respect for what UNICEF and other humanitarian agencies are doing.

Some statistics about this region according to UNICEF’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean:

-“60% of children under 12 years of age and 50% of adolescents between the ages of 13-19 live in poverty” in this region

-“52 million people do not have access to sufficient food” in this region

-“As one of the most culturally diverse regions in the world, there are 40-50 million indigenous and 150 million Afro-descendants living here, close to half of which are under 18 years of age“

-In Latin America and the Caribbean, “nearly 85,000 children die annually as a result of violence in the home, violence affects over 6 million children and adolescents”

-“Region wide, 83% of children reach the fifth grade…Children from poor families are six times less likely to receive full primary education compared to wealthy families”

(UNICEF, n.d.)

As professionals here in the US, we hear about parents wanting their preschoolers to be doing elementary school curriculum, prepping their toddlers with extracurricular activities to get them into better schools, and concerns about children’s academic success. I think that we need to take a step back and look at what truly matters and remember that we are fortunate that our children have the chance to play and be children. As a professional, this awareness is important because it really helps me put things in perspective and learn about other factors that impact a child’s emotional development and well-being. In my sheltered world, I have not worked with a child who has been displaced due to a natural disaster or who has not been able to receive medical services because there are none available for them, but as a professional I need to know that these challenges exist and that many children are facing them daily. We are not able to fix all of the global problems and adversities children and families may face, but we can become advocates and raise awareness for these issues. Using anti-bias education and teaching children about global issues can help raise awareness and foster respect for humankind. As our world becomes more interdependent, this awareness and respect will play a big role.

References:

UNICEF. n.d. UNICEF Oficina Regional para América Latina y el Caribe. UNICEF. Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/lac/english_4842.htm

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

While reading the intro to Levin & Kilbourne (2009)’s So sexy so soon, I was disturbed; the thought that kept running through my mind was “I have a two-year old…how can I protect him from this?!” I don’t think any parent wants their child exposed to blatant messages of sexuality at a young age, yet in our society children are bombarded daily by messages about sexuality (mainly through the media) at very young ages. Sexuality includes many factors that children of young ages are simply not ready to comprehend and seeing, hearing, and being exposed to so much sexuality creates confusion and can be undermining to gender and sexuality development. Since our children today are exposed more blatantly and frequently to sexuality than children in the past, different issues are coming up for parents, children, and early childhood professionals.

Some examples of young children being exposed to a highly sexualized environment that I have seen:

1. A 2 ½ -year old boy at the park was singing and dancing to LMFAO’s “I’m Sexy and I Know It” song. After singing it a few times by himself, he wandered over to his caregiver and asked if she could play it for him. She turned on a “child’s” version of the song on her phone (it was sung by Alvin and the Chipmunks I was informed) and he began to sing and dance loudly. She turned to me and said “he just can’t get enough of this song!”

2. While shopping at Target, I went in the clothing section to pick up some socks for my son. I happened to see that they were starting to get in their spring clothes and bathing suits…and saw that apparently you can buy your infant a bikini! Although it may be easier to wrestle an infant or toddler into a two-piece (I am lucky I have a boy!), these were not just two-pieces: they were low-cut and had thin string ties. (I actually saw a blog post similar to this a while back, “17 Kids Fashions we Hope Disappear by2012,” while skimming through this I was shocked to see some of the “sexy” clothing sold for kids-mainly girls-that include lingerie and padded bras for 8-year olds and high heels for toddlers!) 

3. In the Pre-K classroom at my center a 4-year old girl walked into class wearing bright red lipstick and announced “My new lipstick makes me look awesome!” Some other girls in the class agreed with her and proceeded to have a discussion about make-up (comparing the nail polish colors they were wearing, talking about a coveted Hello Kitty make-up set, showing each other their “lip gloss” ie. chapstick, etc.)

What was most saddening and shocking to me about these scenarios was that to many people things like this are seen as “funny” or “cute”; some people are not thinking twice about their 2 ½ year old singing that he is sexy, nor are they thinking about the message they may be passing on to their young daughter by dressing her in a bikini with string ties when she is still wearing a diaper, nor are they thinking about why a 4-year old “needs” lipstick to make her look “awesome.” These may seem like small incidents, but they are just part of the larger picture. The implication of things like this is that a child who is exposed to a highly sexualized environment is going to get unhealthy messages about sexuality, their sense of self-worth, and their body image. This includes thinking that you need to be “sexy,” seeing unrealistic and inappropriate images of what “sexy” is, getting messages of what boys should be like (macho, attracted to “sexy” girls) and of what girls should be like (“sexy” as related to body images and clothing to attract boys).  

Unfortunately, the issue of the sexualization of early childhood is not new to me, if anything this reading was a reminder that this issue is becoming more prominent. As a preschool teacher, I have had incidents and discussions about “boyfriends and girlfriends” with children as young as 3 and have had classroom discussions about who we can kiss because the young children in my class are trying to figure out the messages they are seeing and hearing. Every year at my center we have to take a child abuse prevention course and there is a section on sexual abuse and how it is not just adults abusing children, it is all too likely that another child is acting out sexually with another child. While this is heartbreaking, it is an important issue that we have to deal with. As early childhood professionals, we can counter the messages that children are seeing and hearing with positive ones; teaching that beauty comes in many different forms, showing them positive (and realistic) male and female role models, not allowing inappropriate behavior, language, or clothing in the classroom, and having age-appropriate discussions about gender and sexuality. Reading this article was a reminder that this issue is not going away nor is it one that we can ignore. While I know that I cannot protect my son from everything, I know that as a parent I can set firm boundaries and have honest discussions with him to hopefully lessen the impact of what he will see and hear. As an educator, I can work with parents to help them do the same and make my classroom a healthy environment for gender and sexuality development.  

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

We have learned how biases and stereotypes can turn into –isms, and how harmful –isms can be to a person’s well-being. We have learned the impact of cultural discontinuity in young children, but what about an adult, an early childhood professional, who experiences discontinuity and an –ism? How might this affect them and their work with children and families?

To answer this question, I imagined that I was a professional who is experiencing an –ism. If I were experiencing an –ism, I would unfortunately meet many people (including children and their families) who would hold untrue stereotypes and ideas about me, not respect me, and ultimately make me feel unwelcome. In this position, my work would be impacted because it would be very hard to foster relationships with the children and families I work with. When someone is experiencing an –ism, there is neither an equal balance of power nor respect so it would not be comfortable to speak openly or honestly, there would be many communication barriers. If I were not able to take pride in an aspect of myself (culture, religion, language, sexuality, disability, etc.  ), it would be hard to encourage children to take pride in themselves. If there were negative views about the way I dress, the holidays I celebrate, the foods I eat, or the words I speak, I would be hesitant to bring that part of myself into the classroom. Instead of teaching children and families the beauty of my culture and life, I may feel ashamed and unwilling to share it because of the fear of what children and families will say and think about me; I may be worried about losing my job if I say or do something they do not agree with.

While experiencing an –ism, I do not think that I would be living or working to my fullest potential, therefore, the children and families I work with would not be getting quality service or experiences from my program. I may begin to have negative feelings and attitudes, which in turn parents and children may pick up on; some may even believe in the stereotypes they've heard about “people like me” because I am not making an effort to get to know them and build a relationship with them.

As an early childhood professional, we are in the position to touch so many lives, to help so many children reach their full developmental potentials. However, if there is something that is impacting us negatively, such as an –ism, then we are not working our hardest and in turn, we are not creating a positive environment that can benefit and impact so many children.