The Sexualization of Early Childhood

Looking at the topic of sexualization in early childhood, it scares me the amount of information that our children know. They are getting this information from the media, TV shows, movies video games, books, toy, and etc. Children have always been curious about sex and sexuality from an early age, and we need to remember to give them honest and age-appropriate information (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).  As kids begin to learn information younger and younger, I feel it is going to cause them to grow up quicker, This is why I feel it is even more important that as early childhood professionals we are setting the right example and tone with the children. It is going to be our job to remind the children to be kids and not try to grow up so quickly.

Looking at some examples from my personal and professional experiences when working with young children that illustrate the exposure of young children to a highly sexualized environment is that one time I had a young girl tell me the kids at school call her fat. She was no where near being fat, but compared to the other girls she was more "huskier" then the other girls. Another example I have seen is parents donating magazine to the center for the kids to use in the art center. The donations of magazines is great, but the magazines may not be age appropriate, thus exposing kids to things they shouldn't be. My final example from experiences that illustrate young children being exposed to highly sexualized environment is how the parents dress. Some parents dress is such seductive clothing, that if the children are exposed to that, they may feel they have to dress that way too, and expect others too.

Some of these examples may have negative implications on children. For example, the girl that was called fat could feel that she needs to lose weight already as a young children. That is the least of the things a young child needs to be worrying about. If this happened in my early childhood classroom I would explain to the girl that she is beautiful and everyone is made differently. I would also explain to her that she shouldn't have to change anything about her. Same goes with the dress. I would need to explain to students that we need to dress modestly when coming to class, and that our clothes should be a reflection of how we want people to treat us.

I actually talked to my friend about this concept because she currently teaches in an preschool center, and she mentioned how children are exposed to the idea of sexualization all the time. From the commercials they see on TV, to watching what their parents do, say or wear, to the games they play on their tablets now days, children are being exposed to these concepts far more than we can ever imagine. My friend often talks about how she is probably going to be a terrible mother because she is going to be strict on her children to limit the exposure. I feel that being exposed to sexualization is going to cause our children to grow up a lot quicker, and thus taking away from their childhood. Childhood is change for children to be care-free and enjoy life, not worrying about the way the dress or how the look.

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. Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practices

Looking at some consequences I might expect for the children and families with whom I am working with while experiencing specific "-isms" in my own life would be possibly having a negative attitude towards the children and family. If I am experiencing personal "-isms" towards myself, I may become sad and upset with those people, and may take my frustration out on the children and families. Another consequence I anticipate to happened would be that I would stop teaching anti-bias education, because I feel offended by the "-isms" that are happening in my personal life. In order to have a successful anti-bias classroom, the teachers need to know themselves (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). If I have experience personal "-isms" then I do not know myself fully, and would need to work on that. I feel these are just a few of examples of consequences I might expect for the children and families to have if I am experiencing "-isms" in my own life.

Reference:

     Derman-Spark, L. & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and
     ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children

Observing Communication

For the blog assignment this week, I chose to observe my friend with her 3-year old niece. I have known my friend's niece since she was an infant since my friend and I use to live together, and she would watch her a lot at our house. For this observation, I was at my friend's house who happened to be playing with her niece while I was there.

While watching the two interact with each other, I couldn't help to notice how good my friend was with her. She was very patient and pretended along with her niece and her niece continued to dress-up. Her niece was the princess. When my friend asked if she could be the princess, her niece told her no but she could wear some pretty jewelry instead. My friend proceeded to put on the jewelry and asked how she looked. Her niece told her she looked pretty. Her niece then pretended to make some food with the kitchen, and handed it to my friend to eat. She told her to eat it, and my friend did, and told her it was very yummy.

One connection I was able to make between what I observed and the effective communication strategies presented in our resources this week is that she took a step back and listened (Stephenson, 2009). She allowed her niece to express her likes and dislikes and focused discussions about their learning environment (Stephenson, 2009).  I felt my friend did a great job of keeping the conversation at her niece's level, and played along with what the niece was imagining. She wasn't quite to judge or argue what her niece was saying.

Looking at the communication interactions I observed, I did notice how when my friend asked if she could be the princess, her niece told her no. I thought by her not asking why not, it told the niece that she was better than her, and in reality that's not necessarily true. By not explaining to her that everyone could be a princess, it taught her niece that she is superior to others. She may then take that knowledge and use it in her play or interactions when she is at the daycare during the week. I just thought that if my friend explained to her that she's not the only princess, and that everyone can be a princess, then she would have had some anti-bias education there.

The adult-child communication I observed this week compares to ways I communicate with children in many ways. The first is that I often too go along with what the child is pretending and not question their thinking. I learned through our resources this week that we need to asked children questions on how they came about their reasoning (Stephenson, 2009). This will allow them to expand on their learning and show us what they know. Once I have an idea of what they know, I can then promote anti-bias education and correct any bias or prejudice behaviors. Another thing I learned about myself this week, is that I need to learn patience when dealing with young children, and encourage their imagination, but also help them learn from it as well.

Reference:

Stephenson, A. (2009). Conversations with a 2-year-old. YC: Young Children, 64(2), 90-95. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=37131016&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Creating Affirming Environments

Looking at my Family Child Care Home, there are many things I would like to do and have to create an anti-bias learning community. The first thing is do have plenty of anti-bias materials such and books, music, DVDs, wall hanging, puzzle, drawing materials etc. (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). By having these items and stations, children will be able to learn about different cultures and see that everyone is different, but we should still treat them equally. In the dramatic play section, having clothes that both genders can wear is important as well. Since children love books, having books from different cultures will also help the children learn about different cultures. Also, within my Family Child Care Home, I want to teach the children about holiday traditions and celebrations to help the children learn about different celebrations that happen in their culture and in different cultures (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010).  In my Family Child Care Home, children will be required to try all activities, even if they don't think they will like it, and I'll play right with them. By doing this, I can help answer questions children may have and help support their discussion in an anti-bias way (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). I hope all these steps will help my Family Child Care Home become an anti-bias learning community.


Reference:

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

What I Have Learned

Wow, can't believe that this class has come to an end. There are some many new things I learned in the past eight weeks it is crazy. Out of everything I have learned about anti-bias education and how to foster and promote it, one thing I hope that I will think about when working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds will be that I need to keep an open mind and get to know the children and family before I judge and make assumptions about them. I have learned that creating an anti-bias classroom starts with the teacher getting rid of their biases, so hopefully I remember to think that when dealing with children and family from diverse backgrounds.

One goal I have for myself for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to continue to not form biases towards groups and to promote diversity in the classroom. I feel that if i promote diversity in the classroom, then the children will be able to see that everyone is different, which is okay, and maybe learn that we should treat everyone fair and equally.

I wanted to thank all of my colleagues for their continue support throughout this class. This was a pretty challenging eight weeks for me with starting a new teaching job, planning a wedding, and doing this class, but your support gave me motivation to keep trudging along. For that then, I thank you all!

Start Seeing Diversity

Thinking about everything I have learned through the media segments throughout this class, the collage I have created above looked at all the issues we talked about throughout this course and that were addressed in media segments. This collage shows that throughout this class, I have learned to be accepting of everyone even if I have bias against them, such as homosexuality. It also shows what I have learned as well. I have learned that trauma can be very impacting to a child, and can be a lasting effect. I feel in order to really have an anti-bias classroom, I need to get rid of my personal biases, help children through traumatic experiences, and promote diversity in order to help children develop an anti-bias mindset.

Children Curiosity

I remembered one time after my car accident in college, I was at work at the local grocery store, when I heard a child ask her mom what was wrong with my eyes (I took a lot of impact to my face during the accident, and one eye was about completely blood shot and bruised pretty bad and the other was about half blood shot). The mom quickly told the daughter that she shouldn't ask those questions and that they were rude to ask. I wasn't surprised that the child noticed it, because it was something that a lot of people noticed, and it was a question I had been getting a lot since I went back to work. I told the mom that it was okay, and that I knew my eyes looked weird. I remember telling the little girl that I was in an accident and hit my head, but the eyes were getting better everyday. The mom apologize that I had to say it, but like I said, I was use to it by them.

I think the message that the mom communicated to her daughter was that it's not nice to ask what is wrong with people, and that it is rude to say something like that. Even, though the little girl was just being curious, and noticed something different. Instead of the mom reprimanding her, she could have said something along the line of not being sure why my eyes or different, and sometimes people have accidents that hurt themselves.

I think an example an example of how an anti-bias educator might have responded to support the child's understanding is to explain the truth. If the anti-bias educator doesn't know why someone is different, in this case my eyes, then maybe encourage the child to ask the question. Instead of yelling at them for their curiosity, which is very common for young children, give them the chance to ask and find out for themselves, especially if the anti-bias educator is unable to tell the child why.