Final Thoughts

I had the opportunity to complete the course titled, “Influences of Family, Culture, and Society in Early Childhood”, at Walden University. The course focused on creating an anti-bias environment for young children. According to Derman and Edwards (2010), the learning of stereotypes and misconceptions about various aspects of human diversity “begin when we are very young, taught initially and most powerfully by our family and then by the larger world around us” (pg. 23). Because biases can develop at a young age, teachers have to become the buffer of biases by incorporating an anti-bias environment for the children. When children are only exposed to negative, relating to a certain ethnic/cultural group, they are likely to carry out bias behaviors among other children in that ethnic/cultural group (Derman & Edwards, 2010).

I enjoyed reading “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down” by Anne Fadiman (2012). This book kept me in amazement to how human beings can be so court up into their own world and microsystems, which influences our values and beliefs, that we become stuck into a box in which we place everyone else in. There was such a separation of culture that the bridge of communication never connected until it was too late. In the book, the perception of both the Hmong family and the United States doctors about each other created barriers that affected a child’s health, Lia’s health. Although neither one of the ethnic groups were going to be converted to each other’s beliefs, communication and respect would have depleted microaggressions.

In the course, I was able to select a course project that I was concerned about and wanted to learn more about. The topic I choose was “Same-sex Families in Early Childhood Education Programs”. While researching this topic, I was very surprise of how much the state and federal policies and laws affected children from same-sex families. Some laws and policies deny children of same-sex couple’s equal access to legal rights and benefits that contribute to children facing significant social barriers and threats to their well-being, although it is stated that the state provides all adults who are raising children with the material resources and support necessary to be good parents and encourage and support individuals who want to care for children that is capable of child-rearing (Garrett & Lantos, 2013).

As a teacher educator the course motivated me to encourage upcoming early childcare teachers to provide children and their families that enter into their program with an anti-bias curriculum and inclusive environment. I am able to provide teachers with strategies consist of considering whether your language consistently includes all children, if it excludes any child, it is not the right choice of words, discuss similarities and differences, and choose children’s books that portray many different types of families (Burt, Gelnaw, & Lesser, 2010).

Reference:

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1994). Ecological models of human development. International

Encyclopedia of Education, 3(2), 1643–1647. Retrieved from

http://www.psy.cmu.edu/~siegler/35bronfebrenner94.pdf

Burt, T., Gelnaw, A., & Lesser, L. (2010). Creating welcoming and inclusive environments for

lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families in early childhood

settings. Young Children, 65(1), 97–102.

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children

 and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young

 Children.

Fadiman, A. (2012). The spirit catches you and you fall down: A Hmong child, her American

doctors, and the collision of two cultures. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Garrett, R. J. & Lantos, D. J. (February 25, 2013), Marriage and the well-being of children.

Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, 131(3), 559-563. doi: 10.1542/peds.2012-2665