This week’s videos asked us to reflect
on gender and sexual orientation anti-bias.
For those who believe centers should avoid the inclusion of books
depicting gay or lesbian individuals, my response is shame on you! Just as
children do not all fit the same mold, neither do peoples sexual orientation.
Teaching is power and so is learning. Just as I would not deprive my students from
working with children of all abilities, I should not shun a family that isn’t what
is thought to be the majority.
If a parent or family member
requested that they did not want a homosexual or transgender adult caring for
or interacting with their child I would first question why, what do they think will happen? Then I would use that
opportunity to educate them that a staff members sexual orientation is none of their
business. I would also educate them on
the fact that homosexuals are not pedophiles and all of our staff go through a
rigorous background check to work with children. If the parents are really pushing and cannot
accept a staff member, I might ultimately decide to tell them that this may not
be a best fit for them because of their personal views.
When thinking of children’s toys,
many are gender specific by the color they are – pink is perceived as girly and
blue is for boys. While shopping in big
box stores like Wal-mart or Meijer, toys are divided by infants, girls,
boys. I find it interesting that many baby
toys are gender neutral and then all of a sudden there are boy toys and girl
toys. I like the idea of toys being separated
by age and not by gender. One of the
best toys I bought my two year old (son) for Christmas this year was a box of
magna-tiles. All of his boy cousins and
girl cousins have LOVED playing with them.
They are gender-less and age-less.
I have watched my infant daughter knock them down all the way to adults
tinkering with constructing with them. As
an early childhood teacher, I have a hard time selecting toys for my children
as I want them to have ones that will stimulate their brain and interests and
yet I want my daughter to have cute pink things and my son to have boy trucks! I love that my son will “care” for my
daughters dolls and loves to vacuum or carry around my purse. I know that he is
playing what he sees me do – my husband shakes his head but I know that it
bothers him a little. Moving toward an
anti-bias world seems near impossible when we ingrain these gender identities
into our children from the day they are born by the colors they wear and toys
we select for them.
