Reflecting on Learning

When I decided to advance my education and pursue a Master’s in Early Childhood Education the only thing I had in mind was to become a teacher that is memorable.  One of those teachers children come back to see after many years of leaving you.  I want to make a difference in the lives and hearts of the children and families that I serve.  I want to be a valuable resource to them.  I want to make learning something that is second nature to my students and help develop the skills they will need for future successes.  I believe that anti-bias education is such an incredible tool for children’s social emotional development that I would like to become proficient in establishing it in my classroom.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues in this course for their opinions, encouragement and questions.  I have learned a great deal from each of you and have enjoyed this course partly because of each of you.  I wish you well in all of your future endeavors.

Impact on Early Emotional Development

I choose West and Central Africa.  I choose Africa because I would like to visit this country one day and was interested to find out more about this area of the world.  The children in West and Central Africa are faced with a lot of challenges such as disease.  Many children die of malaria diarrheoal diseases and vaccine preventable diseases such as the measles.  Malnutrition is widespread in the region.  In the Sahel countries half of the child mortality is related to under-nutrition in children.  1.1 million children under 5 will suffer acute malnutrition and 3 million will suffer moderate acute malnutrition.  Poverty and traditional beliefs keep 40% of children out of school and girls in particular are penalized the most.  If children do attend school they are faced with sexual and other forms of violence in school.  Many of the children in this region are exploited in other ways as well child trafficking, child labor, children in armed conflicts, children victims of harmful traditional practices.  There are many children who are orphaned by AIDS.  In West and Central Africa today there are close to 5 million children who have been left without the caring and protection of one or both of their parents. 

The children in West and Central Africa are faced with many challenges that threaten their well-being.  The problem of malnutrition is causing deaths of many children in this region.  As for the children that survive malnutrition their physical development is delayed and jeopardized.  Malnutrition affects these young children’s brain development which can cause developmental delays.  Many of the children who have lost parents to the AIDS virus will suffer emotional problems due to a lack of emotional support that a parent or parents offer young children. 

It is very hard to read about the afflictions and challenges young children around the world are experiencing.  I am glad that I am teaching in America since we are not faced with such widespread hunger and exploitation.  I am glad that I live in America, but feel an obligation toward the young children in other countries that are not experiencing a healthy childhood.  While reading about West and Central Africa I kept thinking what can I do to make a difference in some of these young children’s lives.  Can I volunteer to go to Africa to teach or maybe I can participate in mission work.  I feel that all Early Childhood Professionals should take an active part in trying to make the lives of these children better.

Reference: UNICEF (2011). http://www.unicef.org

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

My reaction to the topic Sexualization of early childhood was shock.  I was shocked at the incidents that occurred with young children.  I am aware of the sexualized culture or society we live in.  The media uses sex to sell their products with no care of who views their commercials and magazines.  Children growing up today are bombarded from a very early age with graphic messages about sex and sexiness in the media and popular culture (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).  I have witnessed some incidents that involved children, but I blamed the parents for their children’s behavior.  I have learned that it is not necessarily the parents fault, but the commercials and media are to blame. 

During dramatic play a little 2 1/2 year old girl named Taylor put on a princess dress and said I sexy.  She did not say she was pretty or beautiful, but said she was sexy as she put her hand on her hips and walked around the classroom.  There was another incident that involved two little girls both 2 years old; they both stuck their tongues out and began to tongue kiss while moving their heads around as two adults might do.  At the center I used to teach there was a little girl named Jaylin at nap time she would hump the mat before falling asleep.

The messages that children are witnessing in the media in my opinion are harmful to their perspectives of relationships.  After watching much of what the media provides today someone might think that a relationship is only sexual and might cause children to feel that they must be sexually attractive to be in a relationship.  They do not see caring and warmth and respect in relationships on TV, in movies and in commercials.  This could be devastating to their development and self- image.  As an early childhood professional what I would do to respond to young children’s negative behavior would be to communicate with them.  I would find out where they learned the inappropriate behavior and discuss it with them.  I would try to explain what they saw and share with them alternative behaviors.

What I learned from this topic is how damaging the media and popular culture can be to young children’s self-image.  I also learned that much of what children absorb about sexuality does come from the media whether it be commercials or magazines and not their parents.  I mistakenly thought that the inappropriate behavior some children exhibit was because their parents were inappropriate in front of them, but that does not seem to be the case.

Reference:

Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2009). [Introduction]. So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids (pp. 1-8). New York: Ballantine Books.