Reflecting on Learning

·        My most passionate hope for the future as an early childhood professional and for the children and families with whom I work, is that

…in spite of their gender, race, language, sexual orientation, beliefs/faith, economic/social class, and/or abilities, every child/family will receive the respect, the right to live without fear, and the opportunities to reach their highest potentials.

Even though anti-bias education is accepted and practiced up to some level in all the schools, my personal belief is that it is not practiced strongly enough. If the educators/adults practice anti-bias practices more consciously, the young children would be more aware of the acceptance, respect, and care for the all human beings no matter all differences. If there is acceptance, compassion and respect for all human beings then the world will be a much calmer and more peaceful place for all living beings.

·        A brief note of thanks to my colleagues

Here we are reaching another step closer to our final destination

We worked together, learned together, and shared our inspirations and hopes together on a respecting and accepting tomorrow for the children of the world

All my colleagues, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support and inspirations you given me through out this course

I wish you all the success and bright future full of love, respect and adventures

Hope to meet everyone again our next step of this great journey

Love, peace and happiness to all!!

 

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

• Share with your colleagues the area of the world you chose and why.

I chose South Asia region and the country of Afghanistan for this assignment. I am always curious about other countries, and how things are in different places. That curiosity brought me to United States, but I am still curious about other countries. Especially other countries where there were strong regiments like the Taliban, so I picked Afghanistan. I could not stop reading the articles in the UNICEF site because each and every one of them explains the hardships of rural life n the country as well as changes that are occurring currently due to the great programs done by UNICEF and other international organizations. It is heart-aching to read about the challenges that the females are faced with in Afghanistan.

• Describe in detail some of the challenges that children in this region of the world are confronting.

Conflicts are still going on in different parts of the country. Women and children are the majority that is being affected by the conflicts. According to a report by UNICEF, “Last year alone 1,282 children were killed or seriously injured due to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. UNICEF calls on all parties to the conflict to ensure that children, women and other civilians are protected at all times and in accordance with international humanitarian law.” This is a huge challenge faced by children.

Another challenge is not having access to the proper health care for children or for the pregnant mothers. There are no hospitals around and transportation is very to find. According to a report on the UNICEF site, Tahira, 30, is a midwife and part of a government health team that visits the most remote parts of Daikundi province. For these women, Tahira is their doctor, their nurse - their lifeline. This is the reason behind most young children not being able to reach their fifth birthday and the death of young pregnant girls.

After reading the articles on UNICEF site I personally feel as if the social barriers, culture, and faith are also working against the girls in Afghanistan. Most young girls are arranged to marry much older men by the girl’s parents due to the customs and poverty. It seems as there is no choice given to these young girls.  In an article on the UNICEF site says, “Most of the women here are child brides,” explained Tahira. “They are not educated at all and they all come from very poor economic conditions.” In that article there was piece about a young girl name Neelab who had to get married to an older person and had to bear the abuse and beatings by him. Neelab, 18, has a three-year-old daughter with jet-black eyes and a cheeky temperament. “I wanted to go to school and complete my education. I never wanted to get married,” says Neelab. “Parents should allow girls to attain legal age and should allow girls to complete their education. “My request is that, if you can, take the message through TV to all parents – that they should not exchange their daughters for money and they should not worry about the honor of the family,” she adds. “As soon as their child is in her teenage years, they should not marry her off without thinking whether she will be happy.”

According to the UNICEF, not having access to immunization is a huge issue in rural area as well as in the areas where there are still the continuation of conflicts. Since 1988, the global prevalence of polio has decreased by more than 99 per cent. Today, there are only four countries – Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan – where the disease remains endemic, meaning more children are affected by polio in South Asia than in any other part of the world.

• Explain how these experiences might have an effect on children’s emotional wellbeing and development.

War is not anyone’s comfort and these children living in a war-torn country have so many affects on their social-emotional development. But not only that; their physical development as well as long-term life also takes a toll from what is going on in the country. Other than the love and care, food, education and health care are the most important pieces for a healthy child. These children are missing out on food, education and health care all together makes the biggest impact on their future. During the regime, there were no opportunities for girls to have an education and it is still tough on girls. According to the UNICEF, Sixty percent of the 4.2 million out-of-school children are girls, and there are no female students enrolled in grades 10-12 in 200 out of 412 urban and rural Districts throughout the country.

Other than the conflicts, not having appropriate health care is the reason behind the most child death in the country. Loss of a child always affect the mental status of the whole family as well. There is no counseling or any other help for the parents or for the siblings to overcome their sorrow due to the loss. Parents not highly educated and faced with extreme poverty is also an effect of continuation of the conflicts.

• Include a personal and professional reflection. Explain the insights you gained and the influences they may have on you as a person and as an early childhood professional.

These are some words that I found as inspirational and hopeful about Afghanistan.

UNICEF Child Protection Officer Farid Dastgeer. “Peace is the key to any success in any area, and especially in child protection, so if there is war, there is limitation of access to the rural areas [and] there is little chance we get to know the real problems of children from those areas.… We need peace so that the community comes forward with their problems, and then UNICEF, along with partners, addresses those problems.”

“More than anything else, it is education that offers the greatest hope for the future of Afghanistan,” said Peter Crowley, Representative, UNICEF Afghanistan.

My personal and professional reflection starts with the gratitude to birth place where I got the best possible education without anyone having gender bias against me. Then it makes me think about everything that society takes granted for in the United States. It makes me think about how many times I have called parents regarding up to date physical exams and current dental exams. Even though the children have the opportunity to go to a doctor or dentist, parents tend to forget it. How children not care about the education but care about everything else and get their lives miserable. The biggest influence it created on me is that I wish I could go and be there for a while someday. I am a person who is not for conflict and war and this is another example what they could do for the people of that land.   

Reference: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html.

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

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       Share your reaction to the topic of the sexualization of early childhood.

I was happy to read the article because this is a topic that bothers me a lot. Even though I am working with three, four, and five year olds, I see certain behavior, especially among girls, that make me feel really sad. Certain dance moves, vocabulary, as well as the clothing is certainly questionable. If I ask the children how they knew dance moves or words, the children have the ability to explain exactly which television show or song they learned them from. I always call my self “an old school person” and it always breaks my heart to think of what is happening to these young minds. What happened to the carefree childhood?

 

·         Provide three or more examples, from your personal or professional experience, that further illustrate the exposure of young children to a highly sexualized environment.

Certain dance moves that children learned from the music videos, shows like “the Toddlers and Tiaras” or “Dance Moms”.

Certain song lyrics such as “I’m sexy and I know it” that the children learn from television or radio.

Low cut necklines and hip hugging pants that make the children unable to sit on the floor without showing their underwear.

Young girls coming to school with lip gloss on and fake hair.

·         Explain the implications this may have on children’s healthy development.  Include ideas you might have, as an early childhood professional, to best respond to these concerns and to reduce the negative impact on children.

As a society we are pushing our young children to grow up too fast. It is obvious that we have ruined the carefree childhood for most of our young children. When parents are moving so fast to find ways to meet the means of life it seems as we are dragging our children with us on that same fast track. The children are exposed to too much sexuality as well as violence on the media but there is no discussion to explain what is right and wrong for the children. So they are basically confused. Ideally, children have direct personal experience being in and witnessing caring and affectionate relationships with family and friends (Levin, & Kilbourne, 2009). But in most case scenarios adults do not spend time with their children to explain or discuss these situations. The issue has been largely ignored by the wider society because many adults have become desensitized or feel ill-prepared to deal with it (Levin, & Kilbourne, 2009). Moreover, most of the children have their own television set in their bedrooms and they are allowed to watch the shows they want without adult-monitoring. As children struggle to understand what they see and hear, they learn lessons that can frighten and confuse them (Levin, & Kilbourne, 2009). This is another responsibility that educators have to tackle. When they hear or see certain words or behaviors, they have to address it right away. Always having open and age appropriate discussions about these topics help children to be mindful about their own choices. It helps the children understand the importance of self respect as well as respecting others. Whenever there is an opportunity, it is important to share information with families as well.

·         Describe the ways in which your awareness of the sexualization of early childhood has been influenced and/or modified by studying the topic this week.

This article definitely encouraged me to be more proactive on educating the young children in early childhood classrooms about media safety and the age appropriate choices that they have. And children’s marketers actually use sophisticated techniques to target different demographic groups (Levin, & Kilbourne, 2009). I realized that empowering the adults regarding these techniques and how to make choices that matter to their own families is also necessary. After reading this article I am more aware of the exploitation of young minds by the media for their financial benefits and its consequences on young children throughout their lives. The exploitation of our children’s sexuality is in many ways designed to promote consumerism, not just in childhood but throughout their lives (Levin, & Kilbourne, 2009). Without having a conversation on this topic we as a society will not have the opportunity to understand the seriousness of this issue. This issue not only effects the girls as we see mostly. The boys also are effected by this as well. Girls suffer more overtly and perhaps more deeply, but boys suffer too (Levin, & Kilbourne, 2009). Rather than blaming the parents on this subject, we all as a society have to work together for the safety of the young girls. It’s important to acknowledge that there are variations in how children are affected by today’s sexualized childhood-based on their gender and racial, cultural, and socioeconomic group as well as their individual disposition (Levin, & Kilbourne, 2009). 

Reference:

Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2009). So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids. New York: Ballantine Books. Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf