One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that they always feel included in my program. I would never want a student or their family to feel that they are being discriminated against or a victim of microaggressions. While I cannot realistically recreate the home and family life of every child, when entering my family childcare home, it is my desire that every child have some representation of themselves
Two goals I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice are:
1. Recognize isms. Racism, classism, ableism, religion-ism, sexism, heterosexism, LGBT-ism, and ageism just begin to list some of the isms that people are faced with daily. The recognition of various isms is the first step to taking a stand against all forms of discrimination and oppression.
2. Speak up. When microaggressions occur in conversation, I want to be bold enough to address them when they happen. Microassaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations are all terribly harmful forms of microaggressions that have cumulative negative effects on people and leave deep seeded scars that are not easily mended. As early childhood professionals we accept the responsibility to protect children from microaggressions and are responsible for the education of the next generation so that they do not harbor biases that will lead to them committing microaggressions.
A brief note of thanks to my colleagues
I would like to thank all of my classmates for being candid throughout this discussion of diversity, equity and social justice. I have accepted the challenge to search my history and upbringing to identify where I have biases. At the same time I have learned a great deal from all of my classmates in their stories and shared experiences with oppression and microaggressions. Thanks you for sharing. I look forward to bettering our field together.
Two goals I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice are:
1. Recognize isms. Racism, classism, ableism, religion-ism, sexism, heterosexism, LGBT-ism, and ageism just begin to list some of the isms that people are faced with daily. The recognition of various isms is the first step to taking a stand against all forms of discrimination and oppression.
2. Speak up. When microaggressions occur in conversation, I want to be bold enough to address them when they happen. Microassaults, microinsults, and microinvalidations are all terribly harmful forms of microaggressions that have cumulative negative effects on people and leave deep seeded scars that are not easily mended. As early childhood professionals we accept the responsibility to protect children from microaggressions and are responsible for the education of the next generation so that they do not harbor biases that will lead to them committing microaggressions.
A brief note of thanks to my colleagues
I would like to thank all of my classmates for being candid throughout this discussion of diversity, equity and social justice. I have accepted the challenge to search my history and upbringing to identify where I have biases. At the same time I have learned a great deal from all of my classmates in their stories and shared experiences with oppression and microaggressions. Thanks you for sharing. I look forward to bettering our field together.