Thank you!

One hope that I have when working with children and their families from diverse backgrounds is that I want to be able to show that I care and respect their family unit and who they are and what their diversity means to me.

One goal I have for the early childhood field related to the issues of diversity, equity and social justice is that we help teach the children we work with that everyone is equal no matter what their gender, race or ethnicity is. We should love and respect every person we encounter for their uniqueness.

I want to thank all of my colleagues for your thoughtful responses to discussion and blogs. I have enjoyed learning along side of all of you and getting to know each of you through your personal stories. I wish you all the best of luck as you continue on your path for a higher education.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

Brazil

Five ways to be culturally responsive:

1.      Look up on the countries familiar language, religious beliefs and family systems.

2.      Understand the cultural heritage of the region.

3.      Learn a few key phrases if the parents do not speak any English.

4.      Create a worksheet for the parents to fill out to better understand their personal family

5.      Share the culture of the family with others in the program to help all be open and responsive towards the family.

These preparations will help me be ready to show an open welcoming to the family. While showing the family that you care, they will feel more comfortable with dropping their child off in a center in a new country. When have more background on the culture of the region in which the family is coming from, you will be better suited to interact with special needs and interests of the family and the child. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Prejudice

An instance when I witnessed a moment of prejudice was when an older gentleman in the grocery store made a racist slur towards a Hispanic women who was in front of him in the checkout line. The lady that the comment was made towards, heard the man and choose not to correct him for his foul language.

In this incident the equity between the two individual was lost when the gentleman thought he knew everything about the women. In order for this situation equity to change the women would have needed to stand up to the gentleman and let him know that he was wrong and the older gentleman would need to recognize that his behavior was unacceptable.

During this incident, I felt awful for the lady. She didn’t do anything to the man and he was saying unnecessary comments to her. When she didn’t say anything back, I wanted to interject for her and let him know that behavior like that is wrong and he is just keeping a cycle of prejudice going.