A couple of months ago I was standing in line behind a woman and her child. In front of us was a woman who was missing a leg and had a prosthetic with crutches. The child said loudly, “That woman has no leg!” The mother looked mortified and her face turned red. She then leaned down to the child and whispered something in his ear. After that the child did not say anything else.
I think the message communicated by the adults response to the child was to not say another word and her facial expressions also let him know this was not an acceptable comment. Once the child saw his mother’s face and also heard his words he stopped talking and stood there quietly.
An anti-bias educator might have responded to support the child’s understanding by giving the child a respectful understanding of others. Young children need caring adults to help them construct a positive sense of self and respectful understanding of others. They need adults to help them begin to navigate and resist the harmful impact of prejudice and discrimination (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010 p.11).
References
Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Hi Alissa
ReplyDeleteI think that we all have overheard a small child in the check out line because that say the first think that come to their thought. This is why this assignment has given us the tools to help with anti-bias in the class and working with children we will hear difference expressions that are not appropriate at that time. kathfsmith
Hi Alissa, I have had this experience with my own step-daughter. It didn't quite happen the same way. I think she was about four and had noticed a man without an arm which she announced quite loudly. I felt that moment of panic rush over me as everyone looked at us as though she had said a bad word and memories of being shushed as a child for the same thing flooded my mind. I pulled myself together, my education kicked in and we we off! I replied that there are lots of reasons why some people do not have arms and proceeded to give her examples. We continued to talk about it as we checked out of the store and the conversation led into more topics and disabilities that people have.
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