Saturday, April 13, 2013

Seeing Diversity: Race, Ethnicity, Physical Ability and Characteristics

At a local store a few months ago  a young white girl about three years old ran up to another little girls who was Hispanic and about five years old.  The three year old was very happy running towards the Hispanic girl and yelled "Dora".  The father of the three year old ran to her quickly and apologized to the other girls father.   The father said "de nada", which means think nothing of it.   Even though, the father of the three year old apologized and the other father said de nada.  I could tell that both parents were embarrassed about what had just occurred.  

The message that could have been communicated to the children from the adult was a mixed message.  The children were sent the message to be polite to one another but the body language and facial expressions of the fathers said differently. 

As an educator, I would have responded to the children and used this opportunity as teachable moment.  I would have stayed calm and explored the children's feelings about this situation in a positive way.  Also, I would use child appropriate language when talking with the children (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010).

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.  Washington, DC: NAEYC







 
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2 comments:

  1. Lucinda BarnesApril 13, 2013 at 1:37 PM

    Hi Crystal,

    Sounds like the three year olds only experience with the Hispanic race was through the televission show "Dora". This child would benefit from other visuals and real life experiences to fully understand that not all Hispanic girls are named Dora.

    Luci

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  2. Suzanne AltonApril 13, 2013 at 2:01 PM

    Crystal,
    Children's comments definitely reveal their frame of reference. We have a teacher with long, very curly hair named Mrs. Simpson. One day a class of 4 year olds were looking through magazine pictures for a collage. One of the children saw a shampoo ad with a woman with long curly hair and exclaimed "Look, it's Mrs. Simpson!".

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