Reflecting on Learning

As an anti-bias educator, my hope is that each family and child that I come into contact with feels accepted and heard.  I am aware of the importance of connecting with each individual and will strive to learn more about each family and who they are. My hope for the future is help children feel good about who they are and to collaborate with other early childhood professionals to continue growing as an anti-bias educator. 

Thank you to all my colleagues for sharing and inspiring me throughout this journey.  I have learned a great deal from your discussions and blogs and hope to continue to learn from you in the future.  I wish you all the best!

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

I chose to look deeper into Latin America and the Caribbean because this is a region I have yet to have the opportunity to explore.  This region has six significant threats to child survival and development.  The number one threat is disparity.  60% of children under twelve years of age and 50% of adolescents between the ages 13-19 live in poverty.  The second threat is social exclusion.  Children are often socially excluded to due HIV/Aids.  The third threat is chronic malnutrition.  One in every five children have chronic malnutrition.  The fourth threat is violence.  Nearly 85,000 children die annually.  Violence affects over 6 million children and adolescents.  The fifth threat is HIV/Aids.  The Caribbean has the second highest prevalence of Aids in the world.  The sixth threat is emergencies.  Natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods occur yearly.

Any significant threat that children face or are exposed to will impact their emotional well-being as well as their development.  Children's relationships will be influenced as well as their self-esteem.  There are minimal support systems available to many of these children. The more needs these children have, the more stressors they will experience.  These stressors will hinder the emotional development of a child. 

After looking deeper into these regions I am more aware of the numerous variables that can impact a child's well-being as well as their development.  Understanding that many of these things may be out of our control, we need to make sure to support children and give them the supports they need to overcome their emotional difficulties.

Refrences:

UNICEF.  2011.  The Offical Regional Office of Latin American.  Retrieved from: 
http://www.unicef.org/lac/english.html

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

Often times when we speak of early childhood education, sexualization does not come to the fore front of our thoughts.  At the same time, when we speak of sexualization, we often think of intimate relationships between adults.  We need to understand what is being considered when we speak about sexualization in the early childhood field.  It is more than simply sexual relationships between two people, but the understanding of these relationships.  The things children hear and see when they are young will have an impact on the relationships they will have when they get older. 

One example of how children are exposed to sexualization at an early age is the clothing that is available for children to wear, such as skinny jeans, crop shirts, and heels.  When shopping for my 5 year old daughter, I am overwhelmed with disbelief at the adult-like clothing that is available in her sizes.  Another example I have noticed, is the selection of Halloween costumes that are available to children.  Many of these consist of superheros with unnatural physical characteristics along with a variety of celebrity look alike costumes.  Many of these costumes have some sort of sex appeal to them.  Even Tinker Bell has a revealing costume.  Finally, I have observed many children imitate things they have seen or heard on television that celebrities have done, said, or sung.  While children don't always understand what they are doing or saying, they are simply copying what they are seeing and hearing.

While many children don't understand what they are seeing or hearing, and adults don't always see a significant consequence of these copycat actions, these exposures can have an impact on who these children become and what types of relationships they will be creating throughout their lives.  Many of the implications of these exposures will not be seen until later in life.  However there are implications involved with improper exposure to children.  As adults in the early childhood field, it is important to help children appropriately understand the issues related to sexualization.  Children need to have positive supports that they trust and feel comfortable with to ask questions.  With the amount of exposure of sexualization, it would be impossible to shelter children from all of it.  Therefore, it is essential that we explain things in terms that they will understand, depending on their level of development.

After learning about sexualization in early childhood, I have become more aware of how sexualization relates to children.  The impacts that improper exposure to sexualization can have a detrimental impact on the relationships that children will be able create later in life.  It is extremely important for children to have adults they can trust to help them understand the issues related to sexualization.

 

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

As an early childhood educator I experience "-isms" in my both my personal and professional life.  There are many consequences that may occur with these "-isms" with children and families that I work with.  These     "-isms" could interfere with creating a positive relationship.  Families need to feel comfortable and trust you in order for the child to be successful.  By feeling that they are being judged they may begin to act and communicate differently which takes away from who they are and what they need.  One of the most important aspects of helping a child is understanding where they come from and how they interact with their family.  If the family feels that they are inferior we may not be able to get a real understanding of who the child is and what their needs are.  We tend to have slight biases towards most groups of people.  I continue to learn about different groups and have more experiences that dismiss these biases.  Keeping an open mind about each individual family will allow be to continue to create positive relationships without letting my biases interfere.