Professional Hopes And Goals

To take a step back and observe the colors, the depth and the texture of the diverse human condition is like seeing a mountain for the first time. It is humbling yet inspiring and the desire to get a closer look is infectious.

My professional and personal goal when working with children and families from divers backgrounds is to learn, to discover and to connect. My respect for nature is something that is a part of me, but I have discovered many mountains I can't wait to climb with respect to the human connection. Mountains are never easy to get to know and there are many trips and bumps on the way but the effort and energy spent has its own rewards.

My hope for the early childhood profession is to put anti-bias practices into every piece of the day and every interaction. Children are taught to be bias, social justice has such an impact when the connection occurs from the beginning. Children will be taught to notice differences and see them as positive diversity.

This has been quit the journey of self reflection, understanding and discovery as well as respect. Thank you all for your thoughts and experiences which makes my climb up this mountain such a rich experience. I wish you all best in creating justice in our social world.

(Photo of me and my son in awe climbing Wayna Picchu in Peru 6/2/13)

Welcoming Families from Mongolia

I am welcoming a new family from Mongolia to my childcare center. My goal is to make the family and child to my center feel as welcome as possible.

First- I will prepare the classroom with photos, some dress up materials such as brightly colored scarves. The photos would not be all costumes and surface culture materials, but also pictures of homes, people and environments found in Mongolia.

Second- I will check out books from the library, both children’s books and informational books about everyday life in Mongolia. So the child can point to pictures for a better understanding.

Third- Through my investigation on the Internet I discovered there are several languages spoken in Mongolia; Mongolian, Russia, Chinese and Turkish. I would learn the word welcome in these languages and articulating to the best of my abilities.

Fourth- I will search my community and organizations for any people, stores, restaurants where they may be people from Mongolia. I will learn as much as possible about the social workings of the culture and how people interact in a school setting.

Fifth- As in step 4, I will search the community for any Mongolian groups, places of worship, or Mongolian food items to direct the family to. When I meet the family I will pay very close attention to how they interact with their child, and pay special attention to names and repeat them to assure I am correct in my pronunciation.

When meeting this family I would hope to create a trusting relationship so I can eventually do a home visit and learn much more about the deep culture. I would hope that the classroom was inviting and that the child and family would feel they have a voice and presence. By finding a community of other's from Mongolia I would benefit in learning about the social culture and some of the language. Hopefully this would create some piece of home for the family and along with the childcare center would create a support system for them.

Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

The example that comes to mind is a conversation I had with one of my brother-in-laws. We were having a nice family dinner, my daughter (an adult) was there. One sister mentioned a friend she had who was a Lesbian, the topic was when my sister lived in Mexico, it was nothing about sexual orientation. My daughters first boyfriend in high school came out in college and he is my daughters best friend to this day.

My brother-in-law said it doesn't really matter because all gays are going to hell and shouldn't have the same rights as the rest of us. As the calm adult I told him how wonderful this boy Zack is, I call all the kids that go through my school, my kids and I didn't agree with him. My daughter, a recent graduate in Environmental Studies explained many same sex relationships in primates and many other animals in the natural world. The conversation escalated into shouting, swearing and tears.

The person experience the prejudice was not even present, but we got a taste of what he goes through on a daily basis. Zack said he does not get the prejudice remarks in our community because people knew him from a little boy and his sexual orientation a non issue. But he can not be captive in the safety of his home community.

I felt like someone was hitting my own child in front of me, it hurt and I got defensive and angry. In my brother-in-laws eyes Zack was not allowed to live as a free human, love who he wants and have a family. The final question is who or what would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity? My first thought was if it was one of my brother-in-laws kids he might think about his child but it might mean a greater rejection. All I can do is control my actions, perhaps if I could stay calm, respect his beliefs and try to convey my heartfelt respect for Zack and his rights. Because this is such a personal and cultural subject all we can ask for is respect for one another, which includes respecting others beliefs.

I would love any suggestions to the final question.