Blog Assignment 05

When I was reading this assignment there is one situation that came to my mind. My friend who is a part of an early childhood program is really frustrated and saddened by this particular situation. She is working towards success one small step at a time. Everyday we brainstorm and try to come up with new strategies to help the child as well as the mother. It is a new family to the program as well as to the state of Michigan. The child is four years old and has never been away from the mother. He is also an English language leaner. Mother is not comfortable in speaking English much but she understands more than she believes. So the communications occur mostly through the translator. He does not let mother leave the room. As soon as he realizes that mother is not in the room anymore, he starts crying laying flat on the floor. Mother does not feel comfortable leaving her son as well. Even though mother is welcomed to stay, she could not stay in the room during the length of the session because she has another child who is a toddler. She cannot keep the baby from running around the room and getting into toys and putting them in her mouth. Mother speaks to the son in their mother tongue and tries to get him to calm down at the arrival, but he wants her to stay, so he cries.

After discussing strategies for days, we decided to have a discussion with the mother, explaining the liability situation of having a toddler in the classroom. The mother did not agree with it much. Then the teacher had a few more meetings with the mother explaining that it is normal for a child to feel sad and scared at a new place but he will get used to the routine, will get comfortable and will make new friends. After two weeks or so the teacher encouraged the mother to watch the classroom from the teachers office through the two way mirror, so she could see her son getting calmed down after few minutes of her departure. Now she is comfortable enough to leave the son in the room. The child is getting better with understanding that the mother is going to come back to pick him up later. It is still hard on both of them on Mondays. I consider this as a win-win solution. The mother is ready to leave the child in the classroom and leave with the toddler. Through such “win-win” solutions, both parties can meet their own goals (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009).

It has been a month now. He is showing great interest in riding the school bus. Everyday he joins the line to go the bus and tries to get on a bus. There is an opportunity for the child to ride the bus but the mother is not ready to let him ride the bus. She prefers him to eat vegetarian food when he wants to eat meat products just as his peers. When the teacher explains to him that he has his own food to eat, he replies that he eats the meat products at home so he wants them (communication occurs in his mother tongue).

 Teachers want to respect the mother’s wishes, her culture, and her beliefs, but at the same time what about the child? How do you help him to understand that it is his mother’s wish to eat the vegetarian food and his mother does not want him to ride the bus yet? How do you encourage a parent to let the child spread his wings?

Reference:

 O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Real communication. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.