Reflecting on Learning

Dear colleagues,

Once again, we have reached the end of another course. I am very appreciative for all of the kind words and feedback from you all. I would like to wish everyone the best as we all move on to our next course. I have enjoyed working with all of you and sharing ideas and insights with each other. I can truly say I have learned a lot from everyone.

My most passionate hope for my future as an EC professional and for the children and families with whom I will work is that we ALL establish a working and respectful relationship with each other. I hope that I reach those who may not believe in anti-bias education.

Best Wishes!!!

Tiffany Green

bills_zeta@yahoo.com

 

Impacts on Early Emotional Development:

 I chose to explore a region in Africa. The country I chose was Ghana. I chose this region because I always wonder how children in countries such as Ghana are affected differently than children in the U.S. Ghana is one of many third world countries and it is interesting to learn how things are handled and what challenges are faced in a country that is the complete opposite of my own.  

The caption on this picture from the website read: “I will go close to children who are physically challenged and invite them to play with me because I know they are just like me.”

This was very touching that this child notices children who are disabled and invites them to play with him. It is also touching that he recognizes that they are just like him (children), but can’t do things exactly like him because they are physically challenged.

Specific challenges in this area that would affect the emotional development of children who live here:

·         1.2 million children (under the age of 5) have no national identity in Ghana - This can make those children feel unimportant because they are without an identity. I think our identity is an important aspect in life. These children deserve to be acknowledged and identified. They might also feel as though they do not belong anywhere.  

·         Poverty -  Not being able to have access to food, water, clothing, and shelter can be damaging to children in this area (Physically, Mentally, and Emotionally). Not getting the proper nourishment may hinder a child’s development.

·         Weak child protection - Children’s emotional development suffers if they don’t even have support or protection from things such as physical and/or sexual abuse.

·         Child mortality – Things such as this can definitely cause children’s emotional development to suffer. Children see other children suffer from diseases and other things and can do nothing about it. They really have a lot to deal with.

I gained many insights from this assignment. It is hard to read about and see that children all over the world suffer from the same things, but in different ways and to different degrees. For instance, children in the U.S. may suffer from poverty, but not as bad as some children in other countries such as Ghana.

Reference

http://www.unicef.org/ghana/about_7587.html

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

     My reaction is that sexualization in early childhood is that is has definitely surfaced in the appearance and vocabulary of young children.

  
Children are more technology evolved and they see young children with makeup and sexy clothes on.  They see models and teenagers acting provocatively and they want to become a part of this culture. Sexualization is a growing trend in the early childhood field and amongst young children.  In my opinion, they want to be grown to fast and by wearing the sexy clothes, makeup and big girl earrings they feel a sense of worth.  Children these ages will go through normal sexual development as they develop into teens, but the modern technology has exposed sexualization to a new level. Sexualization can have a negative impact on a child’s social and emotional development.  Children tend to react to children who dress a sexy way.  This can later affect the child’s self-esteem.

  Three years ago, I had a little girl in my class whose mom would let her wear revealing clothes.  Her mom also made the notion that she did not want her daughter to plat because she did not want her clothes to get dirty.

     The second example is a little girl in class would always wear skirts and would get mad when we told her to sit appropriately, sit with her legs clothes.  She would not play with the little girls but enjoyed bossing the boys around in class.


    Recently, I had a relative to call me and tell her that another parent had confronted her about her child.  The girls are seven and the parent told my relative that her little girl was bringing makeup to school and they were changing their appearances by the time they made it to school.  My relative told the parent that she would handle the situation and that both girls were makeup would not be an issue again.

      As a early childhood professional, it is valued to be aware of sexualization.  As professionals we need to find the appropriate strategies to deal with this topic.  I believe that is important to have dress codes in classrooms that will help omit sexulaization in the classroom.