Reflecting on Learning (EDUC 6358 J Erno)

       My most passionate hope for my future as an early childhood educator is that I will make a positive difference in the lives of the children who pass through my class. I hope that after they have learned with me they will be more accepting of differences. I hope they will know that we share commonalities as well as differences. The children who learn with me should be able to recognise injustice and work to make it more just. Even small steps will eventually lead to big change. In the media segment this week Olsen Edwards (2011) says that we all made a choice to become an anti-bias teacher. The journey will bring joys and frustrations but ultimately the challenges faced will bring rewards to us and to the children and families we serve.

       As this is the end of this course I want to say thank you to all of you who have shared this part of the journey with you. The discussions we've had have helped me to clarify and refine my thinking and ideas. Your support has been welcome. I hope that your journey continues and that you reach your goals.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Your commitment to anti-bias work. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development (EDUC 6358 J Erno)

     The region that I chose was East Asia and Pacific. I chose this region for many reasons. I have a friend who recently moved to Myanmar and I'd like to know what conditions she might encounter there. I have another couple of friends who adopted a child from Viet Nam after living there for 4 years. I had the opportunity to visit the orphanage where there child lived for the first 2 years of his life while I was on vacation. It was very interesting to see and I want to get more information about it. I also have children in my class who come from this area. For the most part they are not children who suffer from the conditions that may impact development but I'd like to know more about the general situation in their countries.

     The main problems faced by children in the region are extreme poverty and lack of infrastructure. In some areas violent conflict also has a role to play. Many children are unable to go to school because the family does not have the money to pay for it. This is especially true for girls because many of the societies in the area don't value girls as much as boys. In Myanmar, the high poverty level in Rakhine State was made worse by an outbreak of violent conflict between the majority Buddhist communities and the minority Muslim communities (Brown, 2015). This resulted in many Muslim communities being displaced from their homes and placed in protected camps. Many families lost their livelihood and had to rely on food aid. The situation was worsened again by flooding this past summer. Poverty also results in undernourishment and a struggle for resources particularly during or after a disaster. Children in the region also face discrimination and marginalisation based on language or religion or social rank. They may have limited access to services. Children in the area face the danger of being sold in to the sex trade. There are many obstacles to a healthy development.

     These obstacles have a noticeable effect on the emotional development of children in the area. Children need to feel safe. Being displaced from their homes does not allow this feeling. Struggling to get enough to eat or being forced to work to help support the family also eats into a child's feeling of safety. Children should be able to play and learn. "The human dignity of children and their families is often the first casualty of a crisis" (UNICEF, 2003). Children need to have love and care. Families who are in crisis often struggle to meet emotional as well as physical needs of children.

    This insight is important for me. While this kind of extreme poverty will not affect the children that I work with here, reading about what other children are facing reminds me of the importance of understanding the individual situations of the children in my class. Reading about the obstacles faced in this region allows me to view the obstacles faced here in a different light. Ensuring that a child's basic needs for a healthy emotional development is a priority in early childhood education. What we do or don't do can impact children for the rest of their lives.

References

Brown, A. (2015, September 8) In Myanmar, the power of education to build a joint future. Retrieved from https://blogs.unicef.org/east-asia-pacific/in-myanmar-the-power-of-education-to-build-a-joint-future/

UNICEF. (2003, September 26). UNICEF's work in conflict. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/media/media_14803.html

The Sexualization of Early Childhood (EDUC 6358 J Erno)

     Reading this week's book excerpt "So Sexy So Soon" I felt anger at our society and the way commercialism and consumerism is at the centre of it. I felt sadness to think of the children who are not allowed to be children, who are pushed to grow up so fast. And I felt worried that this problem could get worse before it gets better.

     The first example that popped  into my head when I started reading about this topic was from years ago when I worked in a daycare centre. One of the children who was in the after school program started "humping" the floor. This was his word for what he was doing. He was about 6 years old and wanted the attention he would get by shocking the adults at the centre. A second example is the adult looking 'sexy' clothes that some kids where. Why should a 5 year old be wearing shoes with heels? They are not good for her developing body nor are they needed to complete an outfit. A girl in my school a few years ago was wearing shoes to school that had at least 3 cm heels. She wobbled when she walked and couldn't run and play with her friends. A third example of the sexualization of early childhood was a boy I had in my class several years ago. He was 8 years old and desperate for a girlfriend. When I asked him why he explained he wanted to kiss her and hold her hand. 

     There are many implications on healthy development. In the first example the boy was using sex to get attention. Levin & Kilbourne (2009) say that when children are routinely exposed to sex without the emotions and friendships that are also part of a loving relationship "they learn that sex is the defining activity in a relationships" (p 2). Children are shown very rigid gender roles that can lead to girls and boys attaching value only to the appearance of a girl. This can lead to eating problems, depression and precocious sexual behaviour. One way to combat this is to be careful when we praise children in our classes. We should focus our praise on what a child can do not how they look. Another thing we can do as early childhood professionals is to teach children what it means to be a friend. This can help to keep a focus on the loving and caring part of relationships instead of on the physical. My biggest concern is what to do when children in my class are kissing one another. How can I best respond to this? What I have observed so far seems harmless and my reaction has been to remind the kisser to ask permission first. 

     Levin & Kilbourne (2009) point out that "sex in commercial culture has far more to do with trivialising and objectifying sex than with promoting it, more to do with consuming than with connecting" (p 5). This idea was a clarification of what I have observed. Making people objects to be desired means they can also be discarded or treated badly. We have to work against this kind of thinking.


Reference

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.