Week 6- The Sexualization of Early Childhood

            The topic of sexualization is sad, but true. The media has a big impact on everyone; it not only strives to persuade people to do things, but also influences on how we should live our lives. Unfortunately, young children and adolescents are at a vulnerable state in their lives, which ultimately affects their development.  According to Levin and Kilbourne, “ [girls] learn at a very young age that their value is determined by how beautiful, thin, “hot,” and sexy they are. And boys, who get a very narrow definition of masculinity that promotes insensitivity and macho behavior, are taught to judge girls based on how close they come to an artificial, impossible, and shallow ideal” (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 2).

            One example that illustrates how media exposes children to a highly sexualized environment is the movie, “13 Going on 30”. In this movie, a 13-year-old girl, Jenna is searching for acceptance and wishes to look like the models in the magazines. On Jenna’s birthday she invites people to her party and dresses up like a grown up in a crop top, short skirt, wearing makeup, and with a stuffed bra to create breast. Overall, this girl wishes on her birthday to be “Thirty, Flirty, and Thriving”, and the next day Jenna’s wish comes true.

            Another example is when I was growing up, the women in the media including magazines, movies, and celebrities were often sexualized and were often thin, tan, and pretty. At the time, these were the expectations to look up to. According to Levin and Kilbourne, “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, p. 1). Unfortunately, this was my experience as a child growing up, however I believe that because more are aware of the implications of how this affects the child development, the media is getting better.

            Another example is where I have children in my class singing a Taylor Swift song. In this particular song the lyrics talk about Taylor Swifts lists of ex-lovers, how love is a game, and how men are players. At the time I did not think much about the girls in the class signing this song, however now I feel like I should have said something. Levin and Kilbourne states, “when children are young, long before they can fully understand the meaning of sex and sexual relationships, the foundation is being laid for the kind of sexual relationships they will have when they grow up. It is built from their experiences, of course, both positive and negative” (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 4).

            Levin and Kilbourne mentions, “in the most extreme cases, the media’s incessant sexualization of childhood can contribute to pathological sexual behavior, including sexual abuse, pedophilia, and prostitution” (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 4). Now, these are the extreme implications on how the media can affect children.

References:

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. Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf

Week 5- Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice (E Santacruz)

            I am a young looking 25-year old preschool teacher. In reality, I look like I am 16 years old. I have been working at the community learning preschool center for almost a year, and I have noticed that because of my appearance and age I find that some children and families do not consider me to be a “real teacher”. While I teach, I oftentimes find the children in my class overstepping my authority. These children only do this with me and not act this way with the other veteran teachers. While I am doing circle time with the class and with the other teacher setting up the snacks for snack time or lunch, she will have to stop what she is doing and tell the class to stop talking and to pay attention to me.

            As for family interaction, I think many parents do not take me seriously do to me being younger, however in reality, I am the most educated when it comes to schooling at my preschool center. Many parents will turn to the veteran teachers for any questions or concerns, however I am trying to break this barrier by trying to develop more of a parent-teacher relationship. In my school, teachers lack parent-teacher relationships and daily communication with the parents. According to Eric Hoffman, “families are experts in their own child (Laureate Education, Inc, 2011). And by creating a stronger bond with the families I can better cater to their needs and wants for their child. In the end we both want the best for their child.

            Since taking this course, I have taken more initiative and have written positive notes to the parents about their child’s well behavior at school. It is too often that parents are only told about a child’s bad behavior and does not get any praise for their good performance. By letting my class know that I am writing good behavior notes, this gives them positive reinforcement to be on their best behavior. In addition, this gives me recognition since I am going above and beyond in order to implement a parent-teacher bond.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Learning     about fairness: Culture, language, and economic class. Baltimore, MD: Author 

Week 3- Observing Communication

Observation Setting: Preschool

            I observed the interaction between a mother and 4-year-old daughter at my preschool that I work at.

I noticed that the daughter often calls the shots and the mother has very little authority over her daughter. Upon the mother picking up her daughter from school, I notice the daughter does not acknowledges that her mother is there to pick her up despite her mother, myself, and her friends telling her that her mother is there. Even after the mother had signed her daughter out and grabbed all of her daugher’s belongings, the daughter still did not acknowledge that her mother was there or ready to leave.

            From my observations, I learned that the mother had little control over her daughter. The daughter seems like she is the one in control and tells the mother what to do.

            In order to have helped the communication between the mother and daughter, I could have sat next to the 4 –year-old girl and while she was playing I could have gotten her attention and told her that her mom is here to pick her up. In addition, I will let the girl know that her mommy has had a long day and needs to go home to pick up her brother.  Maybe saying this would allow the girl to realize that if she and her mom are unable to leave the school, then her brother would be waiting for both of them.

            I think the interaction between the girl and her mother is normal. The mother was not really upset, but just kept politely asking her daughter to go. I am hoping that the parenting style between the mother and daughter improves as this could have detrimental affects on the child.

            As an educator it is important to continue my efforts in playing the authority figure, thus teaching the children that there are rules to follow and people to obey. It is important to teach children that they need to be respectful to others, and in this case they need to listen and be respectful to their parents. In the future if children are unwilling to leave school and make their parents wait, I will then ask the children the following day how come they do not want to go home. Hopefully, this will answer some questions as to why they want to stay at the school longer.

WEEK 2- Creating Affirming Environments

Week 2- Blog 6358

If I were to open a Family Child Care Home I would like to have a home with several rooms. For the childcare area I would like to have at least three rooms that have a specific purpose (i.e. separate room for snack time, naps, and play room). In addition, I want to be sure I separate my home living space from the Family Care Center. My nap room will include sleeping mats and a comfy chair, my play room will have a couch and several learning resources and toys where the children can play with on their free time. I will have toys that play music, have different textures, and a playhouse with play food, and dress up items for the children to explore.

            In the Day Care area I will have several colorful posters on the walls, some which will include an alphabet, number, and seasons posters. In addition, I want to have pictures of the children displayed on the wall. It is important to make the children and families feel welcomed and a part of this classroom/ child care center. I will also have a wall or binder dedicated to parents that include a classroom calendar, monthly lunch menu, permission slips, and weekly newsletter. In addition, I will also keep in contact with the parents about how their children are doing in the class. According to Derman & Sparks,  [it is important to] try to get around to all of your families every two weeks through phone conversations or email” (Sparks & Edwards, 2010). I will either make an initiative to email or call my students families if I am unable to talk to them face to face.

            A Family Child Care Home that I want to create will feel very welcoming and will be a second home for both the families and children I teach. I will want to focus on social skills and teach children through play rather than academically. Nowadays, children are being taught academically at such a young age and do not learn the social skills needed like how schools used to be in the past. Children at a young age should be exploring and learning by teaching themselves through play and the experiences they encounter.

References:

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

What I Have Learned

I hope that families put their children first and make sure they are getting the right resources if necessary. It is important to have the family and teacher have a bond to make sure that everyone is on the same page. I hope that families express to the teacher what they want from their child's education. For instance, I have a 3 year old student in my class that is struggling with language. This particular student is learning three languages and the child acts out because he cannot communicate clearly what he is trying to say; so he gets frustrated and pushes and hits others. This child is spoken to in Castilian, which is Spanish but from Spain, his home language in Spanish, plus he is also learning English. This child attends speech classes, however I feel the parents should sit down with the teachers, director, and speech instructor in order to collaboratively find a solution to help this child further his language development.

My goal is to talk to my director at the school I work at and tell her the benefits of connecting with the families in our school. In addition, I want to continue our efforts at the school I work at to creating a more diverse environment. As of right now, the school I work at does a pretty good job at creating a diverse environment by having a diverse array of toys and other teaching resources.

I want to take this time to thank everyone in the course for having read and made comments on my discussions and blogs. I really appreciate the feedback. I am thankful that we have this support group here to lean on; I wish everyone luck on their future endeavors.

Creating Art

Differences are everywhere.

People have biases towards what is different.

We all have biases.

Having biases are seen as a negative.

If I like everyone else has a bias does this make me bad?

We all have biases.

I am not perfect nor is anybody else.

Work on the things that make you uncomfortable and overcome what you fear.

We all have biases.

People everywhere are different

Make a difference.

Change your ways.

Think positive. Overcome your biases.

  

"We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"

I remember as a child seeing a man at the grocery store with a metal prosthetic arm. At the time I saw a boy pointing and acting scared about the man's arm. According to Derman-Sparks & Edwards, "[we need to] use these moments: Pay attention, ask questions, listen carefully, and then respond as appropriate to the child and the situation" (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Instead of the boy's mother acting upon this situation and educating her child about his actions, the mother told the boy to "Shh" and to not stare. By the boys mom telling the boy to be quiet and to turn his focus away from the man this might communicate that this man is someone that should be shunned or is viewed as an outsider. This stigma could be something that might be carried on with the boy into adulthood, and is something that the mom should not have done. The mom should have told the boy why it is not okay to stare, ask the boy why he is acting differently, and perhaps ask the man with the prosthetics questions about his arm to avoid any negative thoughts from the boy. Situations like these are teachable moments, and is something that should be given a more in depth answer than to simply be quiet (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).

References:

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