What I've Learned

One hope for diverse families....

Not be afraid to ask and to open up. Sometimes it takes time, but a simple question can lead to a conversation, that will in return provide you with all the help you need. 

* I migrated to the United States, and like most diverse families, I felt left out, stupid at times, and lost. It is simply because of culture, values, and moral differences. I felt ashame to ask, as I thought people will think I am stupid, which is not the case. I made things up in my mind that made me not feel comfortable not to open up. As I finally had no choice, I asked, and that led me to a whole new level of knowledge and understanding. 

One hope for early childhood professionals with diverse families....

Do not begin to judge other families for what they do and who they are, and to never give up on hope that they do not care. 

* Sometimes it takes a person to change another's life, and sometimes it takes time for others to realize the help they need. As an early childhood professionals, we will encounter so many different types of families, those who care and those who do not. We need to encourage and motivate them to be active in their children's education, and to understand the importance of helping their child. It may take time, and sometimes it may not be you who changed the person's life, but at least you never gave up. 

Thank you everyone for participating in the discussion and helping me expand my knowledge, understanding and perspective. I wish everyone good luck with your journey through early childhood, and hope to hear from you with other EDUC courses. 

Start Seeing Diversity: Creative Arts

We are all one family, but different yet we are all the same. We are all related, we have our own talent and skills that makes us who we are. We all have our own diversity, coming from different nationality background.We are all different and unique individuals, but we are all the same, from the same island, related to each other and share the same values. 

We Don't Say Those Words

I remember a time when my daughter was 3 years old, we went to the store, and she saw this man driving a scooter in the store. Truthfully, the man was big. My daughter pointed at him and said “wow mom he is fat”. I quickly took my daughter’s hand down and walked away real fast. I felt so embarrassed. My daughter looked at me with a reaction that questioned why I did what I did. I always talk to my daughter about honesty and to tell us how she feels or what she thinks. Later in the store, I told my daughter that it is so rude to tell a person that they are fat, big or something is wrong with them. Yes, it might be the truth, but sometimes somethings like those, such as our opinions about others should not be said out loud. We will often times hurt people’s feelings when we say such things. After that day, how my daughter describes people changed. Instead of saying do you remember the fat guy, she would say remember the guy that riding the scooter in the store. She now tries to eliminate what she feels is rude to be saying about people, and describing the environment or situation a person was in. She would at times ask if a certain word is rude to use or not.

My daughter felt confused about my respond to her honesty, I felt like I had to explain myself quickly afterwards to eliminate the confusion and help her understand why I did what I did. She later understood how some of our opinions about others can hurt their feelings. Afterwards, I taught my daughter how to replace some negative descriptive words with positive words, such as fat or big with husky or tall. Even some words we use as command or request such as shut up with please lower your voice or indoor voice please.