“Although children
may not understand the full meaning of their biased comments, these can become
the basis for more developed prejudice if adults do not respond to them” (Pelo,
2008, p. 45). I know there have been many
times when I have not responded appropriately to a child’s bias comments. This definitely happened more prior to being
a preschool teacher. I cannot think of a
specific incident but I know when my son was younger there were times when we
would see a person who was extremely heavy and my son would comment “Look how
big that person is!” These comments
always made me feel uncomfortable and I definitely did not want the person to
hear my son say these comments. My first
response to my son would be to try and silence him. I would tell him to be quiet or that is not
nice to say. By handling this situation
in this way I was probably portraying to my son that it is not okay to talk
about people’s different sizes and it may have made him feel like I was not
acceptable of people that were a bigger size.
I enjoyed hearing the response from a teacher in this week’s
media segment. When a young girl
mentioned she did not want to be friends with someone because they were fat the
teacher responded, “People come in many different shapes and sizes. I have friends who are fat and friends who
are thin.” I like how the teacher used
herself to portray an example of acceptance of all different sized people.
One suggested guideline by anti-bias educator Eric Hoffman
for responding to children’s curiosity that stood out for me was “Always
respond – If you do not know what to say, explain that you want to answer but
must first think about what to say. Get
back to the child with your response by the next day” (Derman-Sparks &
Edwards, 2010, p. 33). I think this is
very important to remember. I know there
have been times when I have responded inappropriately to a child’s comment and
I believe if I would have taken the time to really think about my response I
would have handled the situation better.
My response would have been a much better teaching tool for the child
and for myself. I need to remind myself
that it is okay not to have an answer right away.
References
Derman-Sparks,
L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and
ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Laureate
Education (Producer). (n.d.). Start
seeing diversity: Physical ability and characteristics
[Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Pelo,
A. (Ed.). (2008). Rethinking early childhood education. Milwaukee, WI:
Rethinking Schools.
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI also had a similar experience with my daughter and have reacted the same way. We silenced them and tell them simply that it's not nice to say to someone that he/she is fat. However, such behaviour may convey unintentional bias messages to them. "Children pay close attention to how the important people in their lives feel about human differences and similarities. Children notice subtle cues and draw conclusions about issues adults do not talk about, as well as formulate ideas after picking up on emotional tension from adults" (Derman-Sparks & Olsen, 2010). Therefore I believe as anti-bias educators it is crucial to assess our own attitudes first and make a purposeful effort to expose children to diversity in all its aspects. I also agree with you we need to pay attention to how we response to children's questions.
Reference
Derman-Sparks, L. & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010), Anti-Bias Education For Young Children and Ourselves, NAEYC, Washington
Hi Courtney,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing ideas on how to respond to children observing differences in others. How we respond to these everyday incidences is crucial to educating young children to be unbiased and open-minded. I shared a similar story to yours and responded very similarly to how you did. I think I would respond much differently now. -Mary