For this blog, I will be talking about an incident that occurred and the how it was handled. I will also be talking about how implementing the Anti-Bias curriculum can help to ease that uncomfortable feeling for both parent and child.
This summer as my children and I vacationed in Pennsylvania we were picnicking at one of the state parks. This particular park had two sides one side was a make shift beach and the other side was full of trees, grass, and picnic benches. It was me, my children, my sister and her family, and some of her military friends and their families enjoying the water as we barbequed under the warm sun. The incident occurred as we walked to the beach side of the park. On our way to go take a swim, we stopped in the changing area to put on our swim wear and to wet our bodies. As we were leaving the changing area, there was this woman that was extremely overweight. As this woman struggled to walk to the beach, a little girl and her mother were approaching the bridge about the same time the lady was preparing to cross. The little girl said, " Look, mommy that lady is really fat." Her mother's face instantly turned red and she immediately put hand over the little girl's mouth and said," That was not a nice thing to say." To this day, I am not totally sure whether or not the woman heard her or not, but I am definitely sure that we did. When in all essence, young children are curious and tend to question the things that they see in the world around them. According to Derman- Sparks & Edwards (2010) children notice subtle cures and draw conclusions about issues adults do not talk about, as well as formulate ideas after picking up emotional tension from adults. This little girl probably felt her mother's tension as her mother covered her mouth and did not address the issue, but instead sent unspoken messages to the little girl that she was in trouble and had done something terribly wrong. If the mother was aware of anti-bias teaching then she probably would not have told her that that was not a nice thing to say. The mother would have handled it differently, because the anti-bias education allows us to engage our children in conversations that allows up to talk freely about differences, in order to help them to understand the various differences they will encounter in their world. If the mother would have been informed about anti-bias education she could have told the child that people come in all shapes and sizes for example.
references:
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 (NAEYC).
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About Me
- Priscilla Herron
- I am a Preschool Teacher at a private preschool in Tennessee. I have been in the early childhood field for 17 years. I have an A.A.S in Early Childhood Edcuation, a CDA, B.S in Child Development with a specialization in Preschool, and currently I am working on my M.S in Early Childhood Studies at Walden University.
Priscilla,
ReplyDeleteChildren do speak their minds and sometimes their little minds go in different directions that we would wish. We wish to see anti-bias and they see what they see and say what they are thinking. It is so important that when we direct their thoughts in we do it with kindness or we will be doing it in our own bias. I have not thought of it before but it is true when we direct children, it must not carry our biases with it which is entirely possible.
Thanks for your post and insight.
I have always heard that if you want to know the truth about yourself ask a child. I can remember one day I was changing my dress in the bedroom while my niece was in there. She said wow Auntie you look just like my Mommy only bigger. It is so important that we teach our children that differences are ok. We are all made to be different whether big or small. We are all beautiful the way we are.
ReplyDeletePriscilla,
ReplyDeleteThere are some instances wherein we hear our children make comment about the things they see and sometimes we tend to just ignore it. I am glad we learned to be aware on what they say and address the issue right away Ignoring our children will lead into hidden biases towards other people. Proper guidance and positive approach on bias statements will help eliminate discrimination and stereotyping in the future.
Thank you for sharing your experience.