What are you doing to make sure every child in your program gets to value every part of who they are? For example, I've heard from many immigrant and refugee parents that by 2nd or 3rd grade, their children no-longer value being bilingual, prefering to speak English most of the time. I've heard the same thing from a deaf parent about her child using ASL with her. On the other hand, adult friends tell me how sad they are that they gave up speaking their home language and are no longer fluent in it. I see similar things happening with other parts of identity- boys who once treasured their long hair deciding to cut their hair in response to teasing or black girls who once loved their own curls expressing a desire for long, straight hair. Pre-school seems an ideal time to help children develop some protective "self love" but what does that look like on a day to day basis in an early childhood classroom?
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[Meg] [Thomas]
[Early childhood consultant
[St Paul ] [MN]
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