Professional Hopes and Goals

First of all, I would like to thank each and everyone of my colleagues for their stories, comments, and suggestions this course. They have certainly helped me grow as a professional and as a person.
My hopes for working with children in the future are that I will be open and be a lifelong learner for them. I want to continue to learn about the children I work with to expand my own knowledge but also to be a good role model for them and show them that they, too, should be lifelong learners and be open to anything.
My goal for the field in regards to diversity is for providers to realize that diversity means more than just remembering to celebrate Black History month and Hannukah. It means working with families, learning about them, bringing all of the elements of diversity to the classroom for the children to be exposed to all during the year.

Welcoming Families from Around the World

What a great experience! I am learning about a family that is coming all the way from Somalia to join a nearby child care center! The first thing I realize I will need to do to prepare is to make sure we have enough winter hats, gloves, boots, and so on for this family. According to the U.S. Department of State (www.state.gov), The weather in Somalia is desert-like and they will likely not be familiar with the snow in Central New York. The second thing I will need to do familiarize myself with the Muslim religion, as 99% of Somalians are Muslim (www.state.gov). With the Christmas holiday approaching, I want to ensure we acknowlege and help them celebrate their holiday as well. The third thing I will want to do to prepare for them is to learn some of the most important Somali words, as it is important to help them feel comfortable, even if they do speak English. The fourth thing I will need to do to prepare for them is to ensure there is a cell phone for them to use that they are comfortable using. According to the U.S. Department of State, Somali has cellular coverage, but lanlines are destroyed. Fifth, I will need to ensure the accommodations are simple and avoid over stimulation of the environment for the children and the family. Somalia is typically agricultural in nature and having too much stimulation in a busy child care center could be overwhelming for them if they are used to the agricultural way of life. I would contact my local Cornell Cooperative Extension on information on farming and agriculture so I can educate myself on the life they are used to having and be able to point them in the right direction for settling down themselves.
In making these changes in the environment and taking time to learn all that I can about this family's way of life in Somalia, I hope that it will put them at ease and open lines of communication between them and I. When working with children, it is important that parents and providers work in a partnership so the child can benefit and learn as much as possible. Ensuring those open lines of communication will help the child feel comfortable and adapt to their new surroundings without feeling as though they have to give up their own culture to adapt to a completely new one.

The Personal side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

As our society as evolved and we have become more diverse, there is less and less bias, prejudice and oppression. That is not to say it doesn't occur, just not on the same level as it once was. One of the prejudices I see and hear on a regular basis in my job is in regards to socioeconomic status. We work with a great deal of legally exempt providers, and the majority of them are very low income and live in poor neighborhoods. I have heard Co workers discuss the way the providers live, talking about the cleanliness of their living conditions and quality of "stuff" they have. There is no consideration to the providers who are not unclean and there is an assumption that the providers know any differently.
In regards to equity, immediately some people put themselves ahead of the providers and forget they struggle with the same issues we all do in regards to paying their bills and making groceries last the week. There is an assumption that they just buy their big screen TVs and iPhones without worrying about paying their rent. Some of the staff assume they would prefer to buy those things than pay their heating bill so they depend on the assistance of the county.
The feelings these incidences brought up in me were mixed. There are times when I think the same things, but I remember that I have been in the same position of not being able to pay my bills but struggleF with still wanting to buy my kids Christmas presents. I have to remind myself and sometimes remind my Co workers that people each deal with things differently, and they can only do what they know and what they were raised with.