Impacts on Early Emotional Development

The region I choose to research is Eastern and Southern Africa because I have always been fascinated with Africa and I am aware that Africa has been experiencing turmoil for quite some time now.  I also chose this topic because I am interested to learn how UNICEF is helping this region and how the children are being impacted.

I discovered children in this region face severe food shortages, children are being used for armed groups in South Sudan, and many children are misplaced due to poverty and climate changes. What I decided to focus my research on was the children who were being used for their armed groups in South Sudan. UNICEF reported that one hundred and nineteen children were released from this group last week, but there are still more than 19,000 children who still need to return to their families. I was surprised to learn that children as young as age ten could be members of South Sudan’s armed groups. This organization explains that children who live in poverty or are displaced are more likely to be recruited to work in the armed forces (UNICEF, 2011).

These experiences may have an impact on a child’s social and emotional wellbeing and development because these children are being taken from their families and their environments and are being asked to participate as “fighters, cooks, porters, messengers to spies, or they are subjected to sexual exploitation” (UNICEF, 2011) which can be very damaging to a young child. Holt (2019), explains the story of Mary who was forced to join the rebel camp and talks about her experiences of being recruited to armed groups. Holt explains that Mary was able to escape from the group, but still faces flashbacks how the guns being shot by soldiers, the beatings children would experience and the different punishments should would endure (Holt, 2019). These memories will have an everlasting impact on Mary and her emotional development as she carries these anxieties with her to this day. Children who are able to escape the armed groups or are released and taken in by UNICEF are given basic supplies such as clothing and shoes, but are also given reintegration support which will help assist these children into finding their place in their civilian life (UNICEF, 2011). Due to the fact that some children are taken from their home in order to join this group, these children will have a culture shock when returning and could be behind in their development and schooling. These children that return to their civilian life have many barriers to overcome in order to be successful.

Researching this information is very heart wrenching as I could not imagine having to experience this myself, or if my child were taken to join the armed group. Working as an educator we set out to help children, and what UNICEF is accomplishing is noteworthy and is making a difference in these young children’s lives. After reading this information, it puts into perspective my life and the privileges I face each day compared to these children and helps put into perspective that we take our lives for granted at times. Professionally, I have learned that there is so much more I could do to help children. I never truly considered participating in a worldwide organization. However, the more I research and look into these organizations, the more interested I become and my love for working with and helping children grows.

Above is a picture of Mary teaching children in her local school. 

References

Holt, K. (2019). They told me to stop crying or they would kill me. UNICEF Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/stories/they-told-me-stop-crying-south-sudan

UNICEF (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

As I was reading the article in relation to the topic of sexualization of early childhood I was not surprised by the information being reported. I have noticed in society, video games and even television shows that children watch are not appropriate for such a young age. I do not understand why parents allow their children to watch such shows and play these video games.

 I currently am teaching third grade and I have experienced several of the same stories that were shared throughout the article. For example, I have had students who have written love letters to others in my class, students who have been on inappropriate websites looking up pornography and I have had students who have been inappropriately touched. I feel from my experiences, the children who are more focused on these ideas of sexualization are the children who experience more behavior concerns within my school and these children are influencing others by their choices because it is looked at as the “cool” thing to do. Levin and Kilbourne (2009) explained a story of a young boy who received love letters from a classmate and he showed them to his mother. His mother was able to provide support for her son and help him understand and cope with these letters. From what I have experienced, not all children have supportive and trusting relationships with their parents, and in those cases, these children are not receiving the support they need to understand the topic of sexualization and do not have someone to tell them otherwise.

Children’s development can be impacted in several ways by being exposed to sexualization. For example, young girls are comparing themselves to the image of what a girl should look like and are potentially creating a negative self- identity if they feel they do not match the stereotypical image of a young girl. Boys begin to take on the idea that they need to be buff and tough and judge girls based on their appearance. Levin and Kilbourne (2009) share these children do not often have a positive attitude about themselves and therefore partake in violent relationships which may carry throughout adulthood.  In order to respond to these concerns, as educators, it is important for children to understand we are there to support them and have trusting relationships to help them process this information.  When I have experienced these scenarios in the past with my students I feel we make it known that the behavior is not acceptable and will not be tolerated in school and the child or children often have a consequence, but we do not often follow-up with the child or require them to speak with the guidance counselor or a trusted adult about their actions and reasons for those actions.  I believe having more conversations about this topic with children who are involved is one way to help them process and hopefully learn strategies to use throughout life with regard to this topic. This topic cannot be ignored and should be addressed even if we as an adult feel perplexed that children are interested in and taking part in sexualization.

Studying this topic this week has helped me to understand that this is a problem throughout our society and as educators, we need to feel prepared to handle these situations as they are happening more often. Levin and Kilbourne (2009) explain that the media is at fault because they are taking advantage of young children to make money and I have realized that the media is not going to stop taking advantage of young children and will continue to market the way they do. Therefore, parents, educators and other professionals need to understand how to take these instances and turn them into a positive lesson for young children (Levin and Kilbourne, 2009). Though I have experienced similar sexualization within my career as an educator, looking into this topic this week confirmed that I too am still taken back by the idea of children being too familiar and exposed to sexualization and I have realized that there needs to be more professional development in this field.

References

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). New York: Ballantine Books. Retrieved from: http:// dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

Derman- Sparks and Edwards (2010) explain an -ism to be “the institutional advantages and disadvantages people experience due to their membership in certain social identity groups” (p. 24). In a previous class, we were asked to analyze and become familiar with possible -isms we have experienced in our lives; being aware of your own personal bias is the first step to becoming an anti-bias educator (Derman- Sparks & Edwards, 2010). I learned that I am impacted the most by ageism where I feel I am treated differently based on how young I am.  In the past, I have spoken about how I feel I am not often taken seriously when speaking to individuals who have power over me and during these times, I hold back on my thoughts due to lack of confidence.

            As I consider this -ism and the impact it may have on the families and children I work with, I consider my communication with these families. When I began teaching, some families questioned my knowledge of the field and my strategies for working with their child based on my age, and my experience as a teacher. While this is a normal thought one may have for a first-year teacher, I feel it was worse because of my age. In this case, if I had to consider a possible consequence, I feel I may not be as open with my communication with these families as everything I said was questioned. I do believe that I would be professional and not allow my personal -isms impact my work as best as I could. Derman- Sparks and Edwards (2010) also explain internalized oppressions where one may feel “self- hate” where one believes the stereotypes being portrayed as true. At times, I feel this has happened to me where I begin to believe the stereotypes and, in this example, second guess my decisions. Second guessing my decisions and teaching style could be a negative consequence for the families and children I teach because my confidence in my decision making is not strong, and I may not be following through with what I truly believe to be best practices for my students.

            Unfortunately, this has happened in my teaching experience where a parent disagreed with my plan for their child, and as a result I had to change my plan for what I thought was best for the child. It is hard to say whether this parent made this decision based on my age, or other circumstances, but nonetheless, it had an impact on my decision making.

            Understanding the different -isms that impact you as an individual is an important step to complete when working towards and anti-bias education and will aid in one’s understanding of possible privileges and oppressions one may experience. Simply becoming more aware of these topics will aid in your understanding of others, and allow you to better help your students and families work through different -isms.

References

Derman- Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).