New job, new hopes, and word of thanks!!

I just accepted a job offer to work at my local community college as an Early Childhood Specialist and I could not be more thrilled! I have always worked with children and that is why I have chosen to specialize in Teaching and Diversity for this Masters program. It has kind of thrown me for a loop but in a good way. I am excited to take a new area of the early childhood field. This new job will require me to work with other early childhood professionals to bring college education to more preschool teachers in my state. This is much needed in my state of Alabama as we need more teachers who are trained professionals. I hope I can use the knowledge I have gained here at Walden and from my fellow students here to help other preschool teachers better trained and more knowledgeable. Even though it is more indirect, I am thrilled to be able to reach more children and hopefully create better learning environments for them.

  My biggest hope for my future as an early childhood professional is that I am able to impact and influence adults to be better examples for their children and to help break negative cycles. Children are our future. If we do not instill kindness, compassion, empathy, and anti-bias mindsets into our children early on in their lives, then the cycle will continue. This is a big and broad hope for me. It is a process and it will be in the back of my mind everyday as I do my early childhood work.

I truly want to thank all of my classmates for inspiring me with your stories and sharing with me your perspectives and ideas. I enjoy reading everyone’s blogs and posts each week! You all have encouraged me and I appreciate the knowledge you have shared. Good luck to each of you as you continue on in this program!

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

I chose to investigate South Asia because there is a lot going on there that I want and need to know more about. After reviewing the UNICEF website, let me tell you, I learned quite a bit. There are eight countries included in this region: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

The first thing I learned about that I had not known as much about before are the child marriages that take place. Child marriages can occur to girls as young as 14 years old. I read about one girl living in India who was married off to help her family financially. She had her first child at age 17 and has been mistreated ever since she was married. Upset about losing her childhood, she has started a campaign with UNICEF to help teenage girls get more rights and to keep from having to get married so early. Teenagers need this time to discover who they are as a person, create friendships, and live simple lives under peaceful conditions. Teenagers are ill-equipped to deal with the burdens of motherhood, marriage, and helping their family financially. Forcing them into adult situations and for reasons too heavy for them to identify with robs them of their adolescence that is so useful to growing into a successful and happy adult. Also, these girls have been robbed of the chance to speak up for themselves and do what is right for them. It is great that this one girl has the opportunity to team up with UNICEF to help change this cycle and to advocate for and improve the lives of other girls.

Another thing that I am more aware of is how children are used in war efforts in Nepal. Over 3,000 minors, girls and boys, were just returned home to civilian life after fighting for over 4 years during the 10 year civil war between the Maoist rebels and the Nepal government that has just come to a close. Thanks to UNICEF many, of these veterans with receive trainings in any trade they wish including, wood working, welding, and carpentry. UNICEF is also providing formal and informal education to the discharged soldiers. It is so sad to see thousands of teenagers forced to witness death, violence, and other various countless scenes and acts of war. No doubt they are suffering from PTSD and other disorders of trauma that they will likely have to deal with for the rest of their lives. This war has lasted a long time and the effects of it are going to last much longer. These teenagers have wasted their adolescent and were not even able to make the choice. Because of UNICEF and thousand of their volunteers, these teenagers can have opportunities for successful lives that they otherwise would not have and with no thanks to their government.

After doing this assignment, I am definitely more conscious of the abuses and lack of rights for children in this region of the world. I now want to do more to help and be a part of the solution. I am even more grateful for my rights and the men and women who help me keep these rights. I have a whole new and enlightening perspective on other regions of the world; one that will help me be a better child advocate and educator. 

Sexualization in Early Childhood

Sexualization has to do with treating someone as an object of desire and as things rather than as people with feelings. Sexual appeal is equated with physical attractiveness. The sexualization in today’s culture has the potential for damaging effects on the healthy development of our childrens’ and teens’ senses of self and identities (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). Their sense of self-worth can also be adversely affected when they encounter sexualization at an early age.

I feel one of the biggest things that influence children are video games. Video games are riddled with sexualization and violence. Every woman avatar has large boobs, abs, is tall, and wears makeup. This sends the misconstrued message to children and teens that this is the only accepted and sexually desired physical type of woman. Anita Sarkeesian has challenged this accepted form of marketing in video games and the entire video gaming industry by creating Feminist Frequency. It is a web series of video commentaries about race, gender, class, sexuality, ability and privilege in pop culture from a feminist/fan perspective. She has gotten plenty of support and also some negative backlash. The backlash and negative comments she receives does not keep her from continuing to advocate for better, more realistic images of women in video games. Another type of exposure to sexualization is in the toy market. The Bratz brand has dolls that use heavy makeup, short shirts, long hair, and have long painted finger nails. These designs only tell a child that is what is fun, attractive, and desired. Their commercials show the dolls driving in cars, being provocative, and shopping. These are activities and instigations that are too much on the vane side. Children do not need to get the impression that self-love and success only come from physical appearance. In fact, that is one of the last impressions they need at this age from their toys; much harm can come of this. A third type of exposure to sexualization is from teenage singers. Many girls and boys look to their pop princesses and princes to guide their views on how they should dress, act, and talk. Singers like Selena Gomez and Hannah Montana (who are no longer teenagers but still influence young children and teenagers) sing about relationships and events that teenagers can relate to. They are tapped into that market.  It is vital that parents clarify any misconceptions their children receive from these singers (being any singer who your child listens to) to ensure their children understand what is acceptable and what is not.

Unfortunately, sex sells. I am afraid to say that this marketing ploy will not die down quickly. It takes perseverance and string people to change these views and sexual expectations society puts on people. As early childhood professionals we are in the perfect place to help young children and teenagers get a better sense of all of this. No one should be sexualized. Everyone should be respected for who they are and what they feel and think. It is our job to help teach children how to defend themselves against this injustice. 

Reference

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).

www.feministfrequency.com