Hi Nora,
It's so great that you brought this up with parents. Our role as mentors and supporter of the parents of children in our care is so very important.
One of the things I found when I began to delve into the research on how children acquire adult biases and stereotypes is that children pay much more attention to adults actions than their words. So things like who we are friends with and who we show the most and least respect to have the most lasting effect on children. Were you able to talk with parents about actions as well as words? If not- do you think the parents in your program would have been open to that discussion as well?
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[Meg] [Thomas]
[Early childhood consultant
Co-facilitator for Diversity and Equity Interest Forum
[St Paul ] [MN]
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-01-2019 10:46 AM
From: Nora Krieger
Subject: Children imitating adult biases.
More importantly, when I was Director of an early childhood cooperative school, we heard children say racist things that they had heard from adults in their family. I had to write a column in our newsletter about how children learn from what we say and imitate that language with others. I asked them to think before they scream epithets or racist comments when they are angry at someone who is of another race or ethnic group. I think it helped. It stopped so I think parents began to think about the impact of their words on the beliefs and behaviors of their children.
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Nora Krieger, PhD
Associate Professor Emerita/Past Chair NJEEPRE
Bloomfield College/NJ Educators Exploring the Practices of Reggio Emilia
Highland Park, NJ
Original Message:
Sent: 07-31-2019 09:32 AM
From: Margaret Thomas
Subject: Children imitating adult biases.
I've been thinking a lot lately about the way children pick up on and imitate the biased behaviors of adults. This includes boys assuming that they know more about things than girls (or even adult women) do and white children assuming that they can occupy more space than children of color. I notice when I'm out with my nieces (who are Native and Latinx) that white children will step in front of them in line when we are waiting to do activities. I've also experienced young boys talking down to me as an adult woman. What do you do about these behaviors when you see them? I know that anti bullying theory says we should aim for supportive intervention every time a child engages in bullying behavior. What might supportive intervention look like when the behavior is subtle and based on adult biases?
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[Meg] [Thomas]
[Early childhood consultant
Co-facilitator for Diversity and Equity Interest Forum
[St Paul ] [MN]
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