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.

Evaluating impacts on professional practices

Being a recipient of stereotyping and biases can have a devastating toll on an individual.  When I was in college I experienced racism.  I attended a college that was predominately white.  One day I went into the bathroom that I shared with five other women they were all white.  In the bathroom was a large tube of toothpaste sitting on the counter with an even larger toothbrush on the toothpaste was a person in black face and it said combats halitosis.  I was socked I had this sick feeling in my stomach.  I could not believe anyone could be so mean.  The five women I shared the bathroom with always smiled and spoke to me I could not believe one of them had such racist feelings toward me.  That experience coupled with some other similar events caused me to leave that college.

Consequences that children and families with whom I work with might experience due to my experiencing isms in my own life might be a lack of engagement by me.  If I am interfacing with individuals that are white I might become standoffish due to the negative treatment I am experiencing in my own life.  I might view certain groups of people as perpetrators of harm to me and people like me.  I might become evasive toward men because I am experiencing sexism in my life. 

Thankfully I am not experiencing any isms in my life at this time and am able to service the families and children with an open mind and open heart.  I truly want to become an anti-bias teacher because I can see the positive affects this type of teaching will bring to individuals, communities and society as a whole.

Observing Communication

The observation I made was of a teacher and a two-year old boy.  The teacher was trying to get the two year old to help the other children clean up so that everyone can go down stairs to the gym and ride bicycles.  The young boy wanted to continue to play so the teacher removed the toy from his hand and physically got down to his level and looked him in the eye and said “it is time to clean up”.  She began to sing the clean-up song.  The two year old also began to sing the song “Clean-up Clean-up everybody everywhere” and bent down and began to pick up the toys and put them on the shelf.  The teacher clapped her hand and said look at Jacob he is cleaning up and Jacob smiled.  When he was finished he went and sat near the door waiting to go down to the gym with his class.

The teacher was very appropriate with Jacob she got down to Jacob’s level and used simple words and sentences as she redirected him to clean up.  Mooney (2005), for example suggests getting down to children’s level, using simple words and short sentences and remembering the importance of body language and tone of voice (Rainer Dangel & Durden, 2010).  The teacher was firm with Jacob, but what I liked about the interaction was she offered Jacob a reminder of what happens next when she began singing the clean-up song.  This was very effective because Jacob joined in singing and finally began to clean-up.  Sharp (2005) recommends activities such as songs, poetry and role play to help children access the language of school (Rainer Dangel & Durden, 2010).

Reference:

Rainer Dangel, J., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The nature of teacher talk during small group activities. YC: Young Children, 65(1), 74-81.

Creating Affirming Environment

The childcare setting that I envision will have an area where families and children are welcomed.  There will be a table and chairs so parents can sit and talk with me and other staff.  In this area I will depict family pictures of all the families in my class.  The purpose of the pictures is so children see themselves and their families are welcome and worth depicting in the center.  The look and sounds of the room reflect the family cultures and daily lives of those children (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  I will have an area where the children enjoy circle time and on the walls of this area I will display pictures of other ethnic and cultural groups that were not displayed in the family pictures.  Then once you feel confident that all currently enrolled children and families are visible in all parts of your learning environment, the next step is to look at which other people; groups and families from the larger society are missing and then bring in more diversity (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  In the music area I will provide the children with instruments from different countries such as Africa, South America, US, etc.   I will also have a diverse selection of music that reflects the children’s culture in my program and society.  The dramatic play area will include a diversity of foods from different cultures as well as dress-up clothing from different cultures.  Also in the dramatic play area I will provide children dolls that are diverse which will include persona dolls so children can play out different scenarios that they have experienced with these diverse dolls.  Many anti-bias educators use storytelling with persona dolls to introduce stories related to the children’s lives, as well as to broaden their awareness of various aspects of diversity (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  The art area will include skin tone crayons, markers and paint so children can create pictures that reflect people realistically.  The reading area or library will include an assortment of books reflecting different cultures, and ways of life so children can become critical thinkers of their community and even the world.

My goal in terms of the environment of my early childhood classroom is to provide each family and child with visibility so that they know that they are respected and valued.  I also want to expose the children to the world as it is diverse and complex and help them make sense of what they see and experience. 

Reference:

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

What I have Learned

The one hope I have while working with children and families who come from a diverse background is to be able to relate to them and to bridge any gaps in communication. I would like each and every person to feel comfortable in my classroom and with me.

One goal I would set for myself in relation to the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is to teach children to love themselves and to respect other people that might be different than them.  I would like to teach children to detect stereotypes and biases and how to deal with such issues when confronted with them.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for their participation is this course because I have been able to experience different viewpoints and have learned from each of you.  I wish you well in your future endeavors and hope that many of you are taking the same class that starts June 25^th.

Week 7 Blog

Poem

Children’s Childhood is a time of innocence while they play and discover.

There are so many things that interfere with this wonderful time of growth that hinder and destroy children’s fragile beings.

Stereotypes and biases are absorbed from adults that don’t know any better that destroys the healthy development of our young citizens.

Children find themselves in circumstances that are devastating to their very survival.

What can we do to make a change so that children grow to be fair and just toward one another?

What can we do to change the traumatic situations that children face in the world today?

What can we do to change the circumstances of learning for children?

We as adults can search inside and remember our childhoods and find what injustices we experienced and witnessed and try and cleanse ourselves free of them.

We as a society can make the change to remove the difficulties that are faced by our children today.  

Then we will be in a better place to interact and teach the youth of today.

 We can teach the young to stand up against racism, sexism and all the” isms” that exist today making our world a better place.

If everyone would take a stand for social justice today we can restore to the children their innocence for tomorrow.

I will start with ME today.

Start Seeing Diversity Blog: We Don't Say Those Words in Class

One day I was in Walmart in the check-out line there was a mother and her two children in front of me.  The two children were laughing and pointing at the woman that was in front of their mother.  She was obese and was wearing a pair of shorts.  Their mother noticed them laughing and pointing and said to them to be quiet and stop it and shot them a very stern look.  The children stopped. 

I am quite sure the children realized that they should not laugh at people in public due to the way their mother responded to them.  I don’t know if she later sat down and had a conversation with them about the woman.  If I were their mother I would have talked to them about other people’s feelings and that giggling and pointing at someone could cause them to feel sad or it might make them cry.

If I were these children’s teacher I would have discussed with them about people having different body types and that each of us is different from each other. I would also have the children look in books and magazines and have them find people that are skinny, tall, short, big, etc.  I would have them identify their own body type and the body types of their family so that they are familiar with what body types mean.   I would have discussed treating everyone with respect because everyone deserves to be treated this way.  I would have discussed how the other person might have felt when they realized they were being laughed at.