Start Seeing Diversity

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.