Reflecting on Learning

My most passionate hope for the future is to create a place that fosters learning for all children no matter their race, family condition, ability, etc. I love all children no matter whether they are challenging to work with or easy. Nothing is more frustrating to me than being confronted with biases that exclude children. To me, each child deserve a good education. Yet, I often hear from teachers and parents that a child with challenging behaviors is better off not being in a classroom or that content needs to be watered down because children with special needs are in the classroom.

I want to thank all my fellow students for their insights during this class. It is refreshing to hear that there are others working in the field of early childhood education that are concerned about including all children. I think if we keep advocating for the children and families that we work with, we will be able to make a difference.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

I chose Afghanistan as the area of the world to investigate. The reason I chose this country is because Afghanistan is prominent in the Media do to the war on terrorism. Yet, we hardly hear anything about the suffering of the children. About 60 percent of adults in Afghanistan are illiterate.  Children have been living with political instability and war for the last three decades. Do to harsh climates and barren terrain, schooling often neglected. In addition, the harsh Taliban regime has made almost impossible especially for girls to get educated (Unicef, Education, 2011). In Afghanistan, children also face child labor and child marriages. Child Abuse often goes unreported do to insecurities that riffle the country. Cultural norms and believes also make it hard for locals to distinguish child abuse from these norms (Unicef, Child Protection, 2011).

I think political instability and cultural norms have taken many tolls on the emotional well being of children. These children are faced with war, death, and abuse on a regular basis. Education level is low and most children do not schooled regularly. Our children are taught to play and thrive; these children are taught how to survive in an unstable world.

When I read more about how children in Afghanistan suffer, I was shocked both on a personal and a professional level. I believe in advocating for children because they do not have a voice of their own. We often do advocate for children who we are closely connected to but what about the children in other parts of the world? I think we have to make sure that we are making other professionals and politicians aware of the challenges children all over the world face to make a difference.

References:

Unicef (Nov 2011). Education. Afghanistan Country Office: Factsheet. Retrieved on 17 November 2011 from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/files/ACO_Education_Factsheet_-_November_2011_.pdf.

Unicef (Nov 2011). Child Protection. Afghanistan Country Office: Factsheet. Retrieved on 17 November 2011 from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/files/ACO_Child_Protection_Factsheet_-_November_2011.pdf.

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

Levin and Kilbourne (2009) write that "children growing up today are bombarded from a very early age with graphic messages about sex and sexiness in the media and popular culture" (p 2). What shocked me most about the article was not so much the fact that children inquired about sex but that they thought that it was alright to engage in sexual acts and language as early as elementary school. I grew up in Germany and talking about sex openly is not frowned upon. In Germany, sexual education does start in 5th grade and you are introduced on how babies are conceived. However, I would have never dreamed about performing sexual acts at such a young age.

After reading the article, I began to realize how much exposure children have at a young age to highly sexualized materials or shows that are passed as acceptable. Shows like "Toddlers and Tiaras" or "Dance Moms" show children dressed up with styled hair and tons of make-up. They look more like adults than children. They are put through tremendous amounts of pain such as waxing, eye brow plugging, fake teeth, etc. and are told they need all this to be beautiful. If they do not win, they are often crying and feeling worthless because they did not win.

Barbie dolls have been around for a long time and portray a false body image. Now children don't only have access to Barbie but also Brats dolls, Tinkerbell, and other toys that portray girls in clothing and makeup that most adults would blush to wear.

As an early childhood educator, I believe that we can work against this false image and teach children to be  children again. In order to achieve this, we have to make sure that the toys and materials we display are child appropriate and teach them that being beautiful comes in many shapes and has nothing to do with make up or clothing. We can give them opportunities to experiment with make up by having face painting sessions during which they can experience make up as something fun rather than having them believe they need make up to enhance their natural beauty.

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

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

One "-ism" I experienced was with a male parent. Every day he would drop off his infant in our room. My coworker and I have asked him multiple times to put his child's bottles directly into the fridge rather than on the counter. That particular day, he also brought his child with a dirty diaper. When we asked him to change the diaper before dropping his child off, he looked at me and said: "Why? You are the woman and you get paid to change my child and place his bottles in the fridge."

I was at first surprised, then disappointed. He had a son and was raising him with the stereotype that women are responsible for raising children. I  realized that even though tried to just shrug it off as an unpleasant parent, I began to realize that his child will grow up to think men are nor part of raising children. He may also grow up to believe that women are substandard since the dad did not show any regard for us when he talked to us.