Children’s books, movies, toys, stores, schools and the
culture of early childhood centers are largely heterosexual. In books and in movies the parents are almost
always a man and a woman. Girls are the
princesses and boys dress only in clothes that would be considered boy
clothes. If you viewed most children’s
books, movies, toys and schools you would believe a relationship should be
between a girl and boy. You would think
girls like pink, purple, dolls, and Barbie’s.
You would think boys like guns, superheroes, trucks and dinosaurs. In reality my daughter’s favorite color is
blue and the child in my preschool who loves dinosaurs the most in a wonderful
little girl. In stores the toys are
usually separated into boys toys and girls toys by having a boy isle and a girl
isle. When my daughter was two years old
she wanted Spiderman underwear because her brother l oved Spiderman and so did
she. I ended up having to buy her boy’s
underwear because they did not have Spiderman underwear for girls. My daughter now wants superhero underwear and
I am afraid I will probably have to do the same thing. She of course also loves to wear her Frozen
underwear!
I believe it can be very difficult to address gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender issues in an early childhood center. I know I currently have parents in my
preschool that would adamantly refuse to have books in the preschool that
depict gay or lesbian individuals or families.
These are strong Christian families and it would be difficult for me to
go against what they believe. I
currently have a student who comes from a strong Christian home and this
student has said before during play or conversations with students that God
does not say it is ok for boys to marry boys or girls to marry girls. I do not feel I have the right to challenge
the religious beliefs his family has taught him. On the other hand if I had a student that
came from a family who had parents that were gay or lesbian I definitely would
do all I could to make that child feel welcome.
A few years ago I actually had two sisters that were one
year apart. When the older sister was in
my preschool the mother was pregnant and in a relationship with the
father. When the younger sister was in
my preschool the mother was in a relationship with another woman. The child referred to her mother as her mom
and to her mother’s partner as her dad.
I believe the child was very comfortable with the situation and comfortable
in our classroom regarding the situation.
Even thought this was the life this little girl lived I believe she felt
accepted in my classroom without me having to educate the other children about
the issue of gay or lesbians. Both of
these girls still come back to my classroom regularly at the end of the school
day to give me hugs goodbye!
Hi Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post. It is very difficult when some of our issues strongly connect with a family's religious beliefs but I still think it is important for young children to learn that not all families have the same beliefs. If I had the little girl in my class and she made the comment I might just try to ask her if she thought it was okay if someone else believed differently than she did. I would give examples of how we all like different kinds of food and toys and that is what makes each one of us unique and special. I don't think it would be going against her parent's teachings and it is important for children to start accepting others for who they are. -Mary
Hi Courtney,
ReplyDeleteYou highlighted an interesting question to me, as an early childhood educator will we go against parents if parents would refuse that we talk about LGBTs to children? and what to do if we do also have children whose families are gays or lesbians? I believe these are difficult questions that we need to solve out in our quest to supporting all children in their development. Like you, I would also find it difficult to teach children about this issue but as we have learned in this course, we need to respect and represent all children and their families and this include same-sex families as well. I have personally never experienced a same-sex family in my classroom, but I think today, I am more prepared to welcome these families too in and respect and value them just as any other family. Thanks for sharing.