The Sexualization of Early Childhood

I feel like the topic of sexualization should not be shared with young children, as the need to remain innocent and imaginative as they can be without thinking about sexualization. For example children who are exposed to topics of sexualization would make comments about others and will affect how they visualize themselves. A child will comment about a woman's breast due to how she is dressed. Another one is that a child will grow up to dress up in clothing that express their sexualization which attracts and expose them to risk. Child will lose self-respect, respecting their own body and define beauty in a whole different way. The topic of sexualization should be shared to children who are going through puberty instead of early childhood children. 

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Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

Living in a World of "-isms"

Though the world has been through so much changes, behaviors and perspectives from many years ago still are practiced to this day. Unfortunately, those people who were discriminated and unaccepted, many years ago, are the same people till present day who are still looked down upon, insulted and mistreated. As depressing as that sound, so many schools and societies are teaching younger children to live in a world with no bias, a world of peace and love. In the field of early childhood education, the professionals try their best to educate the children and their families in living an unbiased life, where they accept and kindly understand different cultures and religions.

Ableism

People are all different in their own uniqueness. One strength I have is the ability to understand and observe my environment to know when to act, and react and to whom. Though my limitation is overthinking situation, which creates so much mixed emotions that can affect my work and ability to perform, in other words, I am too emotional. I at most times take other people’s problem as my own, which can distract me from my daily routines, assignment and work duties. How I understand the world sometimes make people feel comfortable enough to open up to me and ask me for help, which is what I am passionate about doing, helping others. Sometimes I judge others based on their able-bodied, which makes them feel uncomfortable to interact with me, such as how we look at them with an "aww" facial expression, creates an atmosphere of feeling bad about their situation. My emotions always gets the best of me. 

At the end of the day, we are all different, with our own abilities, we are in no position to judge others of their lack of ability. I may feel bad for a person who was forced to amputate both hands, but it did not stop them there, they can do almost everything that people with two hands do. Sometimes people with disabilities do not want to be criticized for the lack of able-bodied, they want to be known for what they can do instead. It is time to ask before assuming. Ask a person if they need help, instead of always assuming that they do. 

Observing Communication

Observing Communication

At the store, while doing my grocery shopping I over heard a conversation between a child who is about three year old and his mother. The mother spoke in an angry tone, where he swore at the child for not keeping still, and keep touching everything. The mother told her I swear I will spank you in from of everyone if you do not listen. Earlier, the child was trying to make a conversation with his mother, but the mother told him that his distracting, that is when he started to act out. When the mother threatened him, he talked back to his mother. The boy responded to his mother in a tone that is so disrespectful. 

I notice that although the mother seem to show that she is in control and has the authority, the child does not respect her in a manner of communicating with her because of how she talks to him. The child talks back because that is what they do when they have disagreement. Both mother and child argue back and forth without anyone listening and other talking, and vice versa. What we say and do to our children, most likely what they will do back to us. 

If the mother gave the time to listen to her son, hear what he wanted to say, he would not be acting out. Even with a hyper active child, going to the grocery store, ask them to help to make use of their energy and active self. There are so many strategies that parents can use to keep their children from misbehaving and teach them appropriate manners. 

Creating Affirming Environments

“Anti-bias work is essentially optimistic work about the future of our children” . In a anti-bias setting, I believe that it is important to highlight the different diversity in the classroom. If there are no evident diversity, create and share the most common diversity in the classroom. The work of anti-bias education is integration of working together with the families to understand their diversity rather than make assumptions.

Setting:

• Classroom will be an open, safe and welcoming environment for everyone. 
• The classroom will present as a setting where parents are comfortable to ask for resources from teachers and to clarify any misunderstanding. The setting will make parents and families feel safe and welcome to leave their children and know that they do not need to worry too much. 
• The environment will be accessible for everyone regardless of their needs. 
• The setting will be an easy access for families and children with disabilities such as wheelchairs. 
• Classroom will provide diverse books and activities that children and families can engage in
• Diverse books and activities can help families and children understand and be exposed to other cultures and diversities.
• The classroom will present posters and other graphic arts of diversity. 
• Posters and arts that are diverse can help families understand images in different ways and learn diverse language. For example graphic images of tools and equipment around the classroom is stated in English and Spanish. 

These setting are set to increase diversity in the environment and setting. As :anti-bias work provides teachers a way to examine and transform their understanding of children’s lives and also do self-reflective work to more deeply understand their own lives”. We try and present a setting where we can stop and think of how we want it to be presented to ourselves as diverse family. If I was from a diverse family, how would I want the classroom setting to be like, to represent and to be presented.

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.