Professional Hopes & Goals

When it comes to children and families I hope that people embrace others from diverse backgrounds. Diverse backgrounds is what makes everyone unique in their own special way. Children and families from diverse backgrounds should be respected and seen as equals. I think that they should get just as much support as their other peers and should not be shut out from various resources and opportunities. Don’t let stereotypes keep you from getting to know a person and you may be surprised at what a great friend you can make in the future whether they are a child, family member, or someone you just happen to meet.

One goal I would like to set for early childhood field in regards to issues and diversity, equity, and social justice is to always do your best when it comes to what all children and families in these topics. Let your passion to make change drive you to your ultimate goal. Realize that you do make mistakes and that is okay. Ask for help when needed and always put families and children at the top of your priority list.

I am also very thankful to my colleagues for being such a great support to me and from letting me learn from them as well. I have enjoyed working with you all and I wish you all much success in future courses!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The family’s country of origin that I chose would be Lithuania. I would be working in a hospital setting Five ways to prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards the family would be:

                  1.  I would take the time to get to know the family and their culture by asking questions, watching movies, listen to music, or make home visits.
                  2. I would encourage the family to care for one another and to keep their family culture alive in their home as well as outside the home.
                  3. Keep all microaggressions and biases to myself because I know that it can have a lasting effect on the family.
                  4.   Stand up for any discrimination being done to the family and to bring up any new early childhood issues that may affect the family.
                  5.  Maintain an open and sensitive dialogue with the family and to listen careful for anything important that they may have to say.

These preparations will help to make the family more comfortable with me and will be able to open up. I hope that it will create a positive relationship between me and the family where they can come to me in their time of need. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

When I think of bias, prejudice, and oppression, I think about the history of the holocaust. The holocaust was a huge event in time where the Germans had a hate for people who people who were non-Germans. It was not just the Jews who were targets. Everyone who did not have blue eyes, blond hair, and heterosexual were sent to concentration camps and death camps to be murdered or tortured for years. It targeted both children and adults. People were also unable to buy anything and were left with barely anything. I understand that this scenario may be to the extreme but I do find it highly important. The reason being is because we should be able to think for ourselves and to not always listen to what people say about other cultures. Hitler was the type of man who had huge amounts of power over others who were German but he himself was not. Neither did he have blue eyes and blond hair. His hate towards mostly Jews was based on past rumors, superstitions, and of course prejudices. His thirst for power caused him to get rid of anyone who did not fit the description. This act was unfair and unjust for people in Europe. Hitler should have looked within himself and stop blaming others for his condition in the world. This goes to show how being blind to what you don’t know and making assumptions can affect other people.

Reference

PBS. (n.d.). Adolf Hitler(1889-1945). Retrieved from American Experience: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/peopleevents/pandeAMEX87.html

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

One microaggression that I noticed this week was the fact that one of my coworkers (lead teacher) called another one of my coworkers (teacher assistant) dingy after a comment she stated about herself. She stated that she did not want anything else hit her upside the head. She was accidently hit upside the head with a chair that the lead teacher was moving at the time. The lead teacher said “we don’t want anything to hit your head again, we don’t want you any dingier than what you already are.” Now she laughed and said that she was playing but I knew she meant it, otherwise she would not have said it. I found it rude that she actually said that. I think that she would be stereo typing her as a blond even though she is not technically one. I found it rude that she actually said it right in front of her but made it seem like a joke. The assistant just smiled but I could tell that it hurt her feelings. Those inside jokes can hurt someone even if that person who said it “thinks” that no one caught it.

Perspectives on Culture & Diversity

I talked to three of my family members and they stated that the definition of culture and definition is that diversity means  an area of people of different decent, different characters, outlooks on life, upbringing, and people that come from all walks of life. Culture is also seen as the way you were raised, traditions passed on through generations. Diversity is seen as racial equality, gender equality, and equal opportunity. Equal representation, gender, racial, socioeconomic status, and ect are considered in diversity. 

From what I learned this week and my family's opinions on culture and diversity is that it is important to respect people's culture as well as the diversity in the world. People can't look at others and just judge them based on how they look and the stereotype that they are exposed to it. It is rude to assume that everyone is the same if they are the same race as someone else. That particular person has their own personal culture that makes them who they are through that culture. Just because someone looks Hispanic does not mean that they are from Mexico, they could be from Guatemala or Cuba. No matter where someone comes from they should have the opportunity to make happen of what they want to achieve in life. 

My Family Culture

If I were to evacuate to another country, the three items that I would choose to bring with me would be my princess Jasmine Arabian nightgown, my great grandmother’s necklace, and a picture of my parents. I know the first one may sound a little weird but I had a love for princess Jasmine as a kid and my mother just so happened to actually buy me a nightgown with Jasmine’s picture on it with a hood in the back. Once I became an adult, I had vowed to myself that when I have a daughter one day, I would pass that nightgown on to her. That nightgown is very special to me and I still hold on to it til this very day. I just hope that my future daughter will love it just as I did. My second item belonged to my great grandmother. My aunt found a lot of jewelry that belonged to her and gave them to me. I had found a necklace that had a purple stone in the middle. I keep that necklace in remembrance of her. My third and final item would be a picture of my parents. I don’t have an immediate family picture of me and my brothers but I do have the separate. One of me and my brothers and then I have one of just my parents. So between those two I would pick my parents picture. I love my parents very much. They have grown and been through a lot in raising me and my brothers. I know that they will not be around forever so I do need something to remind me of both of them. If I were told to just keep one item, I would be a hard decision for me to choose. Surprisingly I would choose the picture of my parents because they are very special to me out of the materialistic items.

Culture and diversity is no big shock to me because back in 2008, I did an academic tour of Europe. Upon going on this trip, I learned a lot about different cultures and how I was supposed to let my narrow thinking down. What I did at home in my country, I could not do in Europe as well as learning a little bit of German, French, and Italian to survive. We had a translator most of the way. Even when we left Europe, some people had to let go some of the items that they had bought from certain countries and they were highly upset. Thank God that no one got rid of any items. I went home with some great souvenirs. It is always important to think about those who move to our country for whatever reason and to be able to support them in their transition. America can be quite selfish when it comes to culture but you find that in other countries a lot of people can speak various languages and can be quite open “sometimes”. We have such a melting pot that I think that us as Americans can be a little less bias and learn to embrace various cultures.

               

When I Think of Research......

                I have gained a lot of knowledge through this course and some of the main topics that I have learned that were very new to me was the ethics in research, the mixed method, and equity in research. These topics are very important due to consent and confidentiality keeping with participants, using the mixed methods to have a more defined and informative research, and equity is being fair and just towards the participants in research. I have learned to take extra precautions in research with children. Doing research as an undergrad was just the tip of the iceberg, not knowing the extras behind it. When I say extras, I mean the ethics and equity. Some of the challenges that I encountered was creating a research question for quantitative research. One question that I decided to make off of statistical data, I found that it was hard to make a hypothesis from it. The mixed method design also takes a mixture of data to make a research question so I believe that it will take more time.

                When it comes to planning, designing, and conducting research, I realize that it takes time and that there are precautions when having children and families as participants in their project. If you are doing interviews and observations, everything will not always go as planned and you may have to do some rescheduling. You have to always be mindful of participants in making sure they understand the purpose of the research whether it is cultural, families, or children. I have to make sure that my research has validity and that I can back up my data. As an early childhood professional this course can help me in possible future research that I may be able to help other children and families but to remember to have respect for those throughout the process as well. Thanks everyone for your support throughout this course!

Research Around the World

Early childhood Australia has a lot of research topics. The ones that stood out to me were the child health and nutrition topics. Those topics were about asthma and asthma management and baby and infant oral health. I chose these two topics because I know only a small amount of information on these topics. The website talks about asthma as being a frightening condition for children. It gives families advice on how to assist and support young children with asthma. There is advice for teachers as well as the families. Families are to provide an updated plan for the child’s doctor. Talk about what is normal for the child and their triggers, symptoms, and medication. All educators and carers are to be trained to administer asthma first aid.

 In baby and infant oral health, daily care is needed so that children don’t develop dental caries, resulting in the need for fillings or early extraction. It’s not just brushing that is required: bottles, dummies and diet all play an important role in how healthy a toddler’s teeth are. When a child presents with cavities, fillings or missing teeth due to decay before 24 months of age, it is known as ‘early childhood caries’. Although preventable, ECC is the most prevalent chronic childhood disease, five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever. Dental check-ups are important for all children, to assess the developing dentition and to identify risk factors such as developmental enamel defects, unsupervised brushing and flossing, frequent snacking, on-demand breastfeeding past the age of 12 months, night-time bottle-feeding with liquids other than water, such as milk or fruit juice.

   

References

Healy, T. (2012), Annual Evaluation Report—Asthma Child and Adolescent Program. In possession of Asthma Australia, Kent Town, South Australia.

Tjeuw, D. M. (2015). Children's Health & Nutrition. Retrieved from Early Childhood Australia: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/parent-resources/childrens-health-nutrition/