Welcoming Families From Around the World

Growing up in a small town in the Midwest, I was not too familiar with other cultures and I never knew any immigrants. Then I moved to southern California and was amazed how little I was exposed to when growing up in my small town. I met so many new people from various countries and cultures. Many of the people I have met are immigrants from Mexico. We have a lot of Mexican children in our child care programs. In order to be culturally responsive to these families I had to be able to relate to them and understand their culture.

Iprepared to make all participants in my programs feel welcomed by first speaking to one if my really good friends who is also from Mexico. She told me about the different cities in Mexico and how different each city is. She told me about different beliefs and family traditions as well. Secondly, I took the time to research the areas in Mexico, the different traditions, beliefs and cultures. Third, I hired staff who spoke Spanish and English so that they could relate to the children. I also hired a couple people who were from Mexico as well. Next, I had my staff make sure to set the classroom up so that all children would feel welcome. The staff posted signs that were written in both Spanish and English. They created newsletters and snack calendars in both languages. They incorporated aspects of their culture into their curriculum and snack options. My staff spoke with the children often asking them for suggestions on what they would like to incorporate into the programs as well. After all that I had a big family event. We had a potluck where each family brought a food item that represented their culture and traditions. The parents and children loved it. We now have monthly family potlucks.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression?

It was a bit difficult for me to think of an experience at first and then I realized that I have actually witnessed people treat me a bit differently because I am a single “young” mother.  I wrote “young” because I look young so people assume that I am a lot younger than I actually am and when my son was a couple years old, I got braces on my teeth so I looked even younger. I have had people make comments to me regarding being a young mom and ask me if the dad is still in the picture or if my parents help out. When this first happened I was extremely embarrassed and I started wearing a “wedding ring” so that people would stop asking me questions and staring at me when I went anywhere with my son. I am actually in my thirties and have seen parents who are older than me be awful parents to their children so I think age of a mother or father shouldn’t be anyone else’s concern especially when they are judging them on the age rather than their parenting ability.  The way have been treated made me feel like a lot of people have issues with young, single mothers which upset me because these strangers don’t know how old I am, if my sons father passed away, if I am divorced, or whatever. In order to change this incident into opportunity for great equality I do what I know best, be a great, hard working mother. I prove to those people that they can judge a book by the cover.

Valuing Culture: Beyond Surface Labels

I have witnessed moments of microaggression occurring to others and I have also experienced it as well. I have had people most recently say things to me about being a single mother and I know they aren’t trying to offend me when they say it, but it does bother me even when I try not to let it. I typically try to brush it off, but find myself replaying their words in my head often. I also have witnessed my friend,  who is Mexican, go through it when she was worried about her accent. She was worried that people couldn’t understand her and another person commented that her accent was pretty and it didn’t sound like she was from Mexico. I was amazed at what was said, but it wasn’t the first time I have seen this occur. Often times I am unsure if I should say something because I don’t want to upset or offend my friend any more, but sometimes I feel it is necessary to call the microaggressors out on it. After discussing this topic this week I found myself thinking a lot more about what I was saying to people before I actually said it. I also found myself paying attention more to what others were saying and actually witnessing microaggression more than I’ve noticed in the past

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I began a lengthy conversation with my friend regarding culture and diversity. I chose to speak with her about it because she is culturally different from me. She defined culture and diversity as an individual’s differences in terms of background, family, religion and morals. I asked her if she felt the culture and diversity are the same thing and she said she thought they were very similar except she thought that culture comes from the family. I had a brief conversation with my brother-in-law about the same topic and of course, he wasn’t as intrigued by the conversation, but he told me culture is about a group of people interested in similar things and that diversity is about ones differences. My sister thought that culture is a group of ideas, traditions, beliefs, customs and morals. She said that families can all have their own culture as well as certain social classes. She defined diversity as the differences among each person. Overall, I was impressed that everyone I spoke with felt that diversity is about ones differences and culture is about similarities. I was also pleasantly surprised that they understood that culture can come from the family. This is something I didn’t put much thought into prior to this course. I explained to my sister that what she described is what we are discussing in my class, she explained that she discussed the same topic in her master’s program a few years back.

My Family Culture

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture…

First of all, I would take my camera because it has pictures of special moment with all my loved ones on it and I can capture new memories at my new destination. The pictures on my camera would show a lot about my family culture as well.

Secondly, I would take my Kindle because I would be able to read all kinds of books, magazines and the bible to myself and my family, which is really something we enjoy and represents our family culture.  

Third, I would bring my son’s blanky because he has to sleep with it every night and because it’s the blanket he got when he was born. It has his name and birth date on it and it’s as special to me as it is to him.

I would explain the items to others just as I did above. I would also share the items with them. I would show them the pictures and tell them stories that go along with each one. I would also read to them as well.

If I had to choose just one of the 3 items mentioned above, I would be so devastated and torn. I would want to keep the blanky because it is special to my son, however the camera with all my pictures on it would be hard to give up.

When I first began to think about the personal items I would bring, I first thought of things like my laptop, my cell phone, my Ipod. These items I immediately thought of because they can offer so much more and be so very useful when we arrived to our new location. I think what I realized most from this assignment is that the culture of society is very dependent on technology. I was focusing on taking items to keep us busy because those are the items that we use each and every day. However, I recall life before so much technology, when things were a bit simpler and its sad to think my son will never know what that type of life is like.

When I think of research...

My insights about research have become more refined. I have gained valuable new knowledge which has allowed for me to have new insights and direction in research, but also provided me with more questions as well. I have learned about the various approaches which have helped me to not feel as overwhelmed and to choose the best approach for me and my particular study. The resource book and the assignments were written and provided in great sequence which helped with my understanding the research process better. I found myself questioning processes and steps and then I found them answered in the following weeks course work. The layout  helped me to better plan, prepare and design my study. I think the biggest challenge is just determining the best approach because they al lhave similar  techniques and benefits and mixed method seems to emcompass

Research Around the World

I explored the Early childhood Australia website located at: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/ Early Childhood Australia-A voice for young children.  The mission of Early Childhood Australia is to advocate for children birth to eight years in equity and quality in education and care.  I truly enjoyed this website, there was so much to explore and learn. I particularly liked the Research in Practice Series which provides resources and information on major topics and trends for those involved in the early childhood field. The series focuses on a wide range of topics essentially on the ‘hands-on’ aspects of early childhood. Some of the current research topics that they have addressed include: Learning and teaching through play, children as communicators, Early Years Learning Framework, confidence in children and Bullying.

As I explored the site further I found the early childhood archives and was really interested in the recent media release on May 9^th that discussed the continual support for quality early education for children. It discussed the Federal Budget’s commitment to provide additional funding to assist in attracting early childhood teachers in remote areas. The funding will provide $225 million dollars over 4 years which will provide an extra 130,000 families with high quality care.