The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression...

I hope that as I continue to work with children and their families in this field that they will always knows that I am there to accept, support, and love them for who they are and for the differences between us. I hope that I will not only acknowledge any personal bias' I may have, but then also make the necessary changes to overcome those biases so that they never negatively impact anyone else. 

For the field of early childhood overall, I want to see a greater focus on diversity, equity, and social justice. I want their to be time, money, and training invested into educating teachers and professionals on the importance of this as well as how to implement it in our classrooms, centers, heck even in our day to day lives. We need to make this our focus. We are raising the next generation of humans, we have to make this our focus, so that it impacts our kiddos in so many positive and meaningful ways. 

A special thanks to each of you in this course with me for the past 8 weeks. We've learned a lot from the course materials, but I've also learned a lot from so many of you. It is nice to have a community of likeminded professionals who are growing alongside of me on this journey. Best of luck to each of you! 

Welcoming Families From Around the World...

 The name of “your” family’s country of origin: Peru

At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family

1. Spend time learning their language. Most Peruvians speak Spanish so I would spend time learning some key words that would be helpful in communicating with both the student and the family. 

2. Spend time learning about the main religions of the country. Most Peruvians are Roman Catholic. This helps me to understand their beliefs as well as what holidays may be meaningful to them. Knowing this will help me build a healthy and respectful relationship with the family and the child.

3. Learn about some of their favorite foods, and find a way to make them dinner. Peruvians use grow lots of varieties of potatoes and corn, so they also use it in a lot of their foods! Finding ways to bring the taste of home, to the US might help them feel more comfortable and at ease. 

4. Learn about how their cultures greets one another. In Peru, when you are meeting someone for the first time it is respectful and expected that you shake hands and look each other in the eye as a form of respect. I would greet the parents like this so they know that I have respect for them. 

5. I'd make sure I knew about their family and household structures so that I don't make any assumptions or bring any unintentional prejudice or bias into our conversations/relationship. For example, Peruvians take gender roles very seriously. They also often are very close to their extended family and see them often. 

Overall, It is important to understand and know what is important to their culture so that they feel supported and accepted. You want them to know that though you don't know them, you want to get to know them. You want to learn what makes you similar and what makes you different. You want them to feel like you respect them and their culture so that a healthy and trusting relationship can be formed for the good of everyone involved. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression...

1. 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? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

When I first started out in this profession, I was fresh out of high school working in a church daycare as an assistant teacher. I had grown up attending that church, and it was a very conservative Christian belief church. At the time, I was young, naïve, and didn't really know much but out the outside world and had no real ideas about diversity, equity, inclusion, etc. I remember a friend of mine who was a boy, interview to be an assistant teacher at the center with us. He too had grown up in the church and everyone knew him. He was great with kids, so it only made since to me that he'd work there too. 

I remember we had a staff meeting and he was there and they introduced him to the rest of the staff and shared he'd be joining the team. I remember the director made a big deal about how he would only be working with preschoolers, because it wasn't "smart" for men to change diapers and work with infant and toddlers. Again, at the time, I didn't really question it, but now looking back, it is infuriating to me that this was their through process but also that they spoke such hateful and assuming words about him to a group of people. 

2. In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

In this situation, it was the idea that because he was a man he

1. Shouldn't change diapers

2. Would somehow be inappropriate for him to change diapers

3. Would make parents uncomfortable to change their kids diapers

This incident diminished equity by saying because he is a man, he shouldn't change diapers or be trusted to work with infants and toddlers. 

3. What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

Again, at the time, I remember thinking about how I knew plenty of men who changed diapers, but I really didn't understand all of the implications of this incident at the time. Now, I'm disgusted, mad, and disappointed in the church, in the leadership, and in the fact that not one educated person working there knew enough to speak up and say something. 

4. What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

He would've needed to have been treated like every other staff who was working there. He should've been given proper training on how to care for all children appropriately, as well as give his job expectations and held to the same standard that everyone else was, regardless of his gender. He (and all staff) should be judged on their ability to properly love and care for children and not on their gender. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions...

This week as I've learned more about microaggressions, I'm really beginning to see that they are all around us and happen more often than I ever realized. I saw an example this week happen with my sister and a mutual friend. 

My sister struggles with anxiety, and at times it's a bit more manageable, and at other times it's a bigger struggle and a constant battle she is fighting to overcome. My sister is an elementary school principal, and this school year has already been quite a hard one, an emotionally draining one, and even phsyically draining. Her anxiety is through the rough, and she is fighting hard to make it through each day. She is a mom of 3 teen agers, a wife, and then add her stressful job on top of it. 

Anyways, we were together talking about our stresses and anxiety (she and I are in similar spots right now with work stress and anxiety) so we were kind of just commiserating together on how we're struggling. Our friend stopped and looked at my sister and said to her, "if you could just stop worrying and enjoy life a little, your anxiety would go away". I believe that the friend thought that she was offering a viable and helpful solution, but instead she was saying to my sister (and I) that we are the reason our anxiety is so bad and that we need to just stop and be happy. It was belittling, it was offensive, and honestly it was hurtful. The comment was directed at my sister, but because it is something that I too am very really struggling with, it felt very personal and attacking. The message that her words sent to us were that "we were wrong for feeling that way and needed to stop and feel better already". 

This interaction again just reminded me that our words matter. That our actions, bias', responses, and even facial expressions matter. We need to be intentional with our words and actions. We need to look at people and situations with open hearts and not preconceived ideas or opinions, especially on matters that we know nothing about. That isn't offering someone "help", it's offering hurtful judgement that is going to leave that person feeling worse than when they started.