Welcoming Diverse Families

If I had a family coming into my classroom from a country that I was not familiar with, there are several steps I would take to make sure that I am providing a high-quality and culturally-sensitive environment for this child and their family. If the child was from Guatemala, I would first do a quick internet search about Guatemala. I would want to know about the financial and economic resources of the country and what social classes exist. I would also want to know about the attractions, the climate, and other variables. These may seem insignificant, but small details about a child's family may be helpful. A family from a warmer climate, for example, may not appreciate the extremes in temperatures here in New Hampshire. There are also specific licensing regulations about clothing, so these would be important things to know if the family had not yet purchased winter gear. The next thing I would do is make sure I have a thorough interview with the family in a format that they understand. This may include using an interpreter and would involve the family and I having an open-ended conversation about their child and their family characteristics. This would also be an opportunity for the family to meet me, get introduced to the program, and have any questions they have answered. Another thing I would do is research the religions most prominent in Guatemala. This would be useful information because it would help me to be more aware of what culturally I might expect from the family. Finally, I would want to ensure (and ask specifically) if I was pronouncing each word correctly, including the child's name and the name's of the family member. Depending on the age of the child and the strength of my relationship with the family after our first meeting, I might ask the family to translate a few words for me in their language, like "mommy" "daddy" (or some variation) and "grandma" or "auntie" or "all done". The age of the child and his or her language skills are very important here because it influences what kind of communication you can have. These are the things I would do to begin a relationship with a family and child from Guatemala and have a basic understanding of their culture so that we can begin our journey onto a strengths-based firm-ground relationship that works toward mutual goals in order to support the child.

Oppression

When I was doing my undergraduate program for early childhood education, a professor of mine told a story about a child in her daughter's fifth grade class. The fifth grade class had gone to a local children's science museum for a field trip. The field trip permission form stated it was a science field trip. My professor's daughter enjoyed the trip, but one of her classmates suffered a sense of oppression because of one of the trip's activities. The museum was offering a special exhibit that day; a cow, and a discussion on the milking of cows and their uses for beef. One of the children in the classroom was Hindu- many Hindu's view the cow as sacred. The child went home and discussed the experience with her family who were quite upset- they had not consented to a farming experience at the museum. This is an example of the dominant culture not taking into consideration the experiences of other people and of early childhood professionals lacking the skills and dispositions to function well in a diverse classroom setting. The teacher assumed that this would be an appropriate activity for all the children, despite knowing that one of the children was Hindu. This incident diminished equity on many levels by taking a sense of control and cultural pride away from the Hindu family. It also demonstrated to the other children that their culture is dominant and that it is acceptable for people to eat cows. I was saddened for the child in the story that may have been confused or afraid of what she was seeing. I do not know the specifics of the situation, but I equate it to a Catholic seeing Mary in a television sitcom. If I was the parent in this situation, I would be furious. It is easy to see how microaggressions occur in daily life and how they work to segregate society into dominant and non-dominant cultures. I think this situation would not have happened if the teacher had training in anti-bias education and had a basic knowledge of Hindu culture.

Microaggressions

This week we have been tasked with identifying microaggressions in our environment. I found two microaggressions over the last week. The first was from my employer, who is a man. He had recieved a large package at the bottom of a doorstep which leads to a long flight of stairs. I am his nanny, so I instinctively grabbed the package to try to be helpful. He said "no, no, put that down" and I said "why?" and he said "it's too big for you". I know that my boss was being well-intentioned and trying to be considerate of me, but I have to admit being offended and feeling as though it was a microaggression because of my gender. I think he was implying that because I am a woman, I am not strong enough to carry the package or that women should not be expected to do heavy lifting. The package was not at all too heavy for me. This microaggression was very surprising. I have known my boss and his family for about a year now and have been working very closely with them for several weeks. I thought that culturally, our views were very similar and I found it discouraging that he made me put the package down. I almost got the sense that he thought lesser of me because I am a woman, which is surprising because he and I have always had a strong professional relationship. I thought that our views were strongly aligned with each other, but this certainly proves the intersectionality between and among cultures. The second microaggression was when I was working with a friend on her Jeep. She is very handy with cars and she and her husband do all the work on their vehicles. We went to a parts shop for some brakes and rotors and my friend vaguely knew the clerk. The clerk went to high school with her husband. She ordered the parts and the clerk told her "When Trapper [her husband] changes these, make sure he uses (car lingo that I can't remember)". The clerk had implied that my friend's husband would be changing the brakes and not she and I. This is again an example of a sexist microaggression because it felt like the clerk was disempowering us to work on her vehicle because we are women. While the man was right about me (I know nothing about cars), I spoke with my friend about the issue and she agreed that he had committed a microaggression and made her feel discouraged.
What I am realizing about microaggressions is that I think society is relatively desensitized to them. Sometimes we commit them or are victims of them and do not really even think about it. As educators, this is alarming because it is critical that we respect and nurture the home culture of all young children in our programs. Microaggressions are an important topic of discussion in early childhood teacher preparation programs.

Culture

This week I spoke with three people I know and asked them to define culture and diversity.

"Diversity means that there are a lot of different ways to live and that many people can live together with different ideas and morals and can help one another be more tolerant. Culture is the fuel behind diversity, it is essentially everything you do- all your behaviors, your values, your food, your traditions" (M. Night, personal communication, 27 May, 2017.

"Culture means the way you were raised by your family and by society, it defines you as a person. It includes things like the way you dress, your gender role, the food you eat, and how you raise children. Diversity is the idea that everyone has a unique personal culture and, in any area, there exists a level of diversity because of the people that are around you" (R. Hill, personal communication, 27 May, 2017).

"Culture stems from where you live geographically, your ethnicity and family history, your likes and dislikes, and more. It just means the way you live and how you navigate through society. As a teacher, I see children's cultures come out in their play on a daily basis. People sometimes think that children do not have culture, but in fact, they are learning culture by learning ways to behave and think. Diversity means that everyone has different values and ideals about how to live" (R. Frazier, personal communication, 27 May, 2017).

In our course, we have studied culture to mean the ways in which you live your life, including your behaviors, your values, your social identities, and more. My three contacts this week touched on each of these points, noting that culture means the way you live, demonstrating how "everything we do and think is related to culture" (Laureaute Education, Inc., 2011, 0:24). Janet Gonzales-Mena describes a set of unconscious rules that govern us and that are learned and inherited by the people around us, including perspectives, beliefs, world-views, food, music, customs, literature, and more (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). Additionally, Smidt (2013) demonstrates culture as highly visible in the early years in the ways that children play and take on roles, something that Frazier discussed during my interview.

Some things that my interviewees did not discuss are things like raising your own children, clashing of cultures, dominant cultures, cultural alignment, and culture loss or cultural tension. Even when I spoke to an early childhood educator, Frazier did not mention any kind of issues that have arisen in recent years about cultures in the United States. Derman-Sparks & Edwards (2010) detail the challenges of the early childhood educator (and of parents and families) to help children maintain strong ties to their family cultures even when it does not align with a dominant culture.

What I am realizing is that people in dominant cultures may not have a lot of knowledge about the difficulties of raising children in today's society and helping them maintain strong social identities. For me, this is important knowledge to have because I eventually want to teach professionals in the early childhood field. Many professionals that choose to embark on careers in early childhood may not be aware that they are strongly aligned with a dominant culture and may not know the ways in which having this priviledge has changed their perspective. I hope to help new and young educators learn more about cultural loss and how to support family cultures in the classroom.

References

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: NAEYC.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Culture and diversity [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
 
Smidt, S. (2006). The developing child in the 21st century: A global perspective on child development. New York, NY: Routledge.

Three objects

If there was a catastrophic event and I could only bring three objects with me to my new destination, I would bring my wedding and engagement rings, a dolphin figurine my mother gave me, and a glass Ball jar from the 1950's that my father-in-law gave me. These items are representative of my culture because each of them has a significant meaning to my past and my life.  The first item, my wedding rings, mean a lot to me because they represent the promise that my husband and I made to one another and they identify him as one of the most significant and supportive people in my life. These rings are important to me because they help me remember that I am supported and loved. Culturally, they represent my ideals about marriage and living a life together with a partner. Second, the dolphin my mom gave me, represents the love as a family we have for each other. For some reason, when I was very young, my mom (who is not my biological mom) began using dolphins to symbolize our family of two. We had pictures of two dolphins together a lot and we also had figures of two dolphins together. To her, these statues and photographs represented her and I. If I had to guess, I would guess that the dolphin is symbolic of swimming together and valuing intelligence and serenity for her, and this is how I would explain it to someone. Finally, the Ball jar that my father-in-law gave me represents the only family history I identify with, which is the history of my husband's family. As an adopted child, I never truly identified with either of my families until I was married, and then I aligned myself closely with my in-laws. The Ball jar was found by my father-in-law underneath the foundation of their house, and it is suspected that it was used for canning by my husband's relatives. It reminds me that my husband's family were farmers and worked hard for their food and living and that they were determined laborers. These three items are truly representative of my family's culture.

To be honest, I have never been a materialistic person, and if I was told that I could only keep one item, I would not be very upset. I would choose to keep my wedding/engagement rings and get rid of the jar and the dolphin. What is important to me is that my children hear the stories of their family rather than have concrete objects to remind them of their heritage. Since my heritage and culture is different from that of my birth family and my adoptive family, it is not very upsetting to me to lose touch with the objects that represent my own culture. I am satisfied with having memories of these objects instead, but I do understand how upsetting it might be to someone who held a strong attachment to objects to be told that they could not keep them.

This assignment has really made me aware of cultural differences. I suspect that many of my colleagues have items from their family's histories that they would choose to bring with them, and this highlights the diversity that is seen among even citizens of the same nation. While objects are not important to my cultural perspective, I do recognize the importance of objects to other people. I also remember looking at an article with pictures of Syrian refugees' belongings; many of these people carried only a backpack with toiletries inside to help them journey from  Syria to their destinations. I do not remember the location of this article, but if I find it, I will definitely post it to our doc sharing board. I do not think that many of these refugees carried with them cultural objects, but rather survivalist essentials.

Wrapping up

Over the past eight weeks, my knowledge about research has expanded and made me feel more confident as an early childhood professional to be a competent and informed consumer of research. I have recognized the importance of research in its many varieties to the early childhood field. I now realize that there is a vast amount of information that can be gathered using research including people's ideas about things, statistics, information from the past, generational or cohort information, information that informs further research, and so on. I also have made the connection between pairing what the researcher wants to learn with what methods the researcher chooses and how different methods can provide different types of information and carry their own specific limitations. Further, I realize that ethics play a major role in research, but that ethics play an even greater role when the research is about or on young children. There are historical examples of deception, abuse, and even exploitation of young children in research projects which illustrates the need for researchers to utilize institutional review boards (IRB's) which will compare their proposal with current ethical and procedural standards. Research ethics is not only about the types of actions that are performed on or with children and their families but also deal with the location of the study, the logistics of the data collection, and the amount of information available to consumers of the research about the participants (privacy and confidentiality included). Despite the wealth of knowledge I have gained over this course, I feel much more confident in my ability to understand the nuances in research designs and have the ability to read complex research with comprehension. I also think that my future courses at Walden will become easier as I am now a more efficient reader of research. I encountered few challenges in this course other than having difficulty finding research of the type I was seeking- it is sometimes hard to discern the research methods of a study from the title, and looking into the methods takes time and practice to identify what type of research method is being used. This was the hardest part of the course for me. As an early childhood professional, I feel more empowered to teach other adults about research and its significance and complexities.

The European Early Childhood Education Research Association

I looked through the website for the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) and found a lot of similarities between research being conducted in Europe and the topics that I have found in recent research in the United States. I also noticed that topics from my undergraduate and graduate studies are ones that also seem to be in the spotlight in Europe. The last several EECERA annual conferences have had focuses on birth through three early experiences, diversity in classroom settings, and early relationships (EECERA, 2016). I think many of my colleagues agree that these are significant timely topics in our field here in the United States. I was surprised to note that these conferences, all serving one organization, take place in many different countries. I wonder how cohesive the early childhood education culture is across European nations and how the EECERA manages these nuances in their literature and professional development opportunities (EECERA, 2016). I think this simple fact suggests a universality of the basic principles of what is known of child development and quality early experiences; despite cultural differences across nations, underlying themes of how children learn can be applied in all or most contexts. Similar to the United States' association for the education of young children (NAEYC) and other organizations (the Division for Early Childhood, Association for Childhood Education International), the EECERA has a Code of Ethics that applies to those professionals working with young children (EECERA, 2015). The topics of their Code of Ethics, too, mimic those that we have discussed in class and those that we would hear from in Institutional Review boards. They include confidentiality, informed consent, participants as subjects versus objects, and more (EECERA, 2015). Again, the underlying theme is a universality of research principles and ethical guidelines for treating children. Perhaps this universality stems from international organizational influence such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Young Child which penetrates cultural boundaries in one unified document (Mac NAughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010). 
References
 European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). (2015, May). EECERA ethical code for early childhood researchers. Retrieved from http://www.eecera.org/custom/uploads/2016/07/EECERA-Ethical-Code.pdf

European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). (2016). Previous conferences. Retrieved from http://www.eecera.org/conference/

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2^nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.