Start Seeing Diversity
- Some of the ways you noticed that homophobia and heterosexism permeate the world of young children including books, movies, toys, stores, culture of early childhood centers, and schools
Sue (2010) explains that the definition of heterosexism includes the beliefs that all people are or should be heterosexual and that this sexual orientation is preferred. As an early childhood educator who reads many books to her students, I feel comfortable in saying that even though authors and publishers are becoming more aware of some diversity within family structures, diversity in sexuality is not yet represented. Children’s storybooks often include a heterosexual couple as the parents, mention just one of the parents (usually the mother), or do not mention or portray the parents at all. As a result of this, children are constantly exposed to storybooks that assume that they can relate to the heterosexual families being portrayed. In reality, there are many children who do not connect to these heterosexual references and are therefore reminded again and again of the lack of support and recognition for their diverse family structure. These covert messages regarding “acceptable” and “unacceptable” family structures can cause harm to a child’s social identity over time (Derman-Sparks and Edwards, 2010). As early learning educators we need to keep this in mind when choosing stories to read to our students and be constantly aware of the need to support all of our students’ positive identity developments through discussions of family diversity that make visible the importance of each child’s family composition. This practice and commitment to creating an anti-bias environment is beneficial to all students as it helps to develop respect for all families(Laureate Education, n.d.).
- How you would respond to a parent/family member who informed you they did not want anyone who is perceived(or self-reported) homosexual or transgender to be caring for, educating, and/or interacting with their child.
This request by a family would be immediately followed up with a meeting to discuss this family’s concerns while also relaying the viewpoints and goals of the early learning environment. Those goals include embracing and supporting the diversity of every child, family, and staff member involved in the program. Through discussion, early learning professionals can get a deeper understanding of this family’s concerns and use this time to educate this family about the LGBT community and the support that this early learning environment is committed to providing for them. This discussion would be an opportunity to teach and emphasize that a person’s sexuality does not play a role in their ability or inability to be a safe, nurturing caregiver or educator and if anything, provides an opportunity for children to learn about and support diversity within their community.
References
Derman-Sparks and Edwards Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Start seeing diversity: Sexual orientation [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
Sue, D.W. (2010). Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, gender, and sexual orientation. New York, NY: Wiley.