week 8- Hopes, Goals, Thank you

My most passionate hope for the future as an early childhood professional is to have continued [local, state, federal] support in funding and advocacy to push for best practice in all early childhood settings.

My goal for the children and families I work for is to provide them with a safe and nurturing environment where the activities and experiences are rich in language, literacy, social-emotional and physical development, and is anti-bias.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues from this course.  You have provided me with support and also opened my eyes to anti- bias education through your personal experiences, discussions, and blogs.  We really have an amazing support group with in the early childhood field and I appreciate getting to know each of you and wish you all of the best in your next steps as an early childhood educator.  Thank you!

No way. The hundred is there.
The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.
The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.
They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.
And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.

-Loris Malaguzzi (translated by Lella Gandini)
Founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach

Week 7 Children around the world

I chose the Middle East and North Africa region because of it’s current status in the news with all of the war and turmoil happening in this region. I am interested to learn what children are experiencing in these nations. 

The nations in this region are:

Algeria Bahrain Djibouti Egypt Iran (Islamic Republic of) Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya

Morocco Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia State of Palestine Sudan Syrian Arab Republic Tunisia United Arab Emirates Yemen

Challenges children in this region are confronting:

Clean drinking water and other sanitation needs

HIV (Aids) Epidemics

Low birth weights

Anemia

Lack of fresh foods

Chronic Malnutrition

Access to education Or Children refusing education for the need to work to earn money for the family

Refugee camps

Family’s separation

Families in transitional housing

Teachers being trained on psychosocial support

Emotional Distress of children following emergencies

Lack of vaccinations - Polio epidemic, Measles

Unsafe living conditions (homes that are in rubble)

Female genital cutting

Child labor (All of the above learned from UNICEF, 2011) .

These challenges affect children in this region in many ways. Negative early experiences can impair children’s mental health and effect their cognitive, behavioral, social-emotional development (Trustees of Columbia University, 2010).  Children in the Middle East are experiencing many of these risk factors all at the same time.  When a child has lost a parent to death or displacement, they could have attachment disorders.  “Attachment is an important marker for social-emotional development. Poor attachment, especially maternal attachment, can negatively impact children’s social-emotional health, and development (Trustees of Columbia University, 2010). Children in this region are in the fight or flight mode.  Some are fighting to stay alive the best they can and some are fleeing to where they think they will have a better life – both are delaying physical, cognitive, and social growth the children need and gain from having a stable home life. 
 

My heart aches for these children and all of the turmoil they have experienced at such a young age.  As a mother, reading the things these children go through puts my children’s life into perspective. Just today I was frustrated with my son ignoring some of my requests and my daughter was over-emotional about everything today.  I snapped a few times and I feel terrible about it. My children are loved, they have two adoring parents, they have more food than they could ever want, they have a nice warm/cool home, they have age appropriate toys to challenge them, they have clothing, technology, and “peace” in their world. 

 

When I think about the students  I work with, they come from homes with turmoil – different than what the children of the middle east are experience, but still turmoil.  My children are experiencing divorce, homelessness, hunger (not to this extreme but…), fear in their safety as well as their mothers/siblings etc.  The children I teach are living in states of turmoil and this activity has definitely made me step back and realize that they need the basics before I can help them. They need to feel safe and loved first and then learning can occur. 

 

References

 

Trustees of Columbia University, The. (2010). National Center Center for Children Children in PovertyPoverty (NCCP). Retrieved from: http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_882.html

UNICEF (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/

Week 6 - The sexualization of early childhood

On the topic of sexualization of early childhood – my reaction is yes – it does happen way too soon! I have talked about this for several years (before I had children and even more now that I do have children of my own).  It is very disturbing to see what children are willing to do at such young ages – and then to think about when (age) I actually learned about some of the topics/behaviors. I am 32 years old – so I don’t feel like I am that out of touch!

1) Just this past school year, I was bent over helping a student.  A feel student of mine walked up behind me and “smacked” my bottom quite hard.  Stunned I shot up expecting to see a young boy and much to my surprise, one of my sweetest little girls! When I overcame my initial shock, I asked my little girl, why she would do that? Her response was, “That is what my dad does to my mom when she bends over!” I didn’t discipline her for this action but did speak with her privately that it’s not really appropriate to touch someone’s backside like that at school. I did say, if that is a fun game you play at home, ok! I also spoke with her mom about it and she apologized but did say they are very playful in the home with things like that and the girls think it’s funny to catch someone bent over…  Although this behavior is overly offensive, I think that it gives this young girl and her siblings, ideas that slapping is fun and playful in a sexual way – even though she thought the behavior was funny.  She could internalize this as I like someone and the way to let them know is to slap them.  “They learn that sex is the defining activity in relationships, to the exclusion of love and friendship. They learn that sex is often linked to violence” (Levin & Kilbourne , 2009). 

2) Children that doll play sometimes do some strange things.  This past year, I also had a student who used our classroom puppets to make kissing noises and had the puppets pretending to kiss each other.  Kissing in preschool was shocking to me. I decided to sit in on this play and see what I could learn from it and her.  I tried redirecting the play by asking her puppets to play with me and each time she refused, reverting back to the kissing.  Later in the day, I asked the child, when we were playing puppets earlier, what made you decide that they should kiss. Her response was that is what boys and girls do.  This was a new behavior for this child and highly concerning for me because during the school year, she went from one foster home, transferred to another foster home, and then released back to the care of her mother.  Because the behavior was new, it was frightening to me, wondering which environment triggered this behavior and was she witnessing age appropriate sexual behavior at home? The other implication I have for this behavior with this child, is that if someone did abuse her, would she know and understand that this behavior is not appropriate? She very much thought that is how you show someone you like them. I fear for her being taken advantage of. 

3)Lastly, I notice the over sexualization of children in the clothing that they wear or what is available or trendy in stores or what is seen out and about.  Little girls shorts are SHORT. Tanks and dresses are tight and revealing.  Little girls can buy shoes with heels on them.  Boys clothing is becoming very “fitted”. Shorts and shirts are a tighter fit and reveal more of the male body also.  Tween girls wear things I would never have been let out of the house wearing. It is often hard to find adult clothes that I feel are appropriate as a mother, teacher, and ones I feel comfortable in!  Implications of sexualizing the way children dress – are obvious. Children are exploring with sex at younger and younger ages.  Children are also internalizing what is appropriate based on what is trendy and available to them.  If a parent were to make their child wear clothing that weren’t as revealing as some, a child would most likely be made fun of for the choice.  Children and tweens need to be shown more of this http://www.ted.com/talks/cameron_russell_looks_aren_t_everything_believe_me_i_m_a_model?utm_campaign=&awesm=on.ted.com_CameronRussell&utm_content=awesm-publisher&utm_source=l.facebook.com&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static and less of what we see each day. 

My awareness of the sexualization of things and children in early childhood has been heightened this week.  I have been aware for a while, but I feel more empowered to address behaviors and issues as they arrive and definitely do not ignore them.  Creating conversation about them with parents will open their eyes too.  Many of the families I work with are younger parents and I don’t know if they know when things are not ok.

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

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/cameron_russell_looks_aren_t_everything_believe_me_i_m_a_model?utm_campaign=&awesm=on.ted.com_CameronRussell&utm_content=awesm-publisher&utm_source=l.facebook.com&utm_medium=on.ted.com-static