"A person's a person no matter how small"-Dr. Seuss

 The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression (Part II) Families entrust educators to partner with them in fostering their child’s development.   EC professionals must recognize that the relationships formed with children and families are partnerships that require reciprocal efforts in supporting one another.   My professional hope is to develop positive and authentic partnerships with all families from diverse backgrounds.   Derman-Sparks, & Edwards (2010), reminds educators that “Building positive partnerships with families’ rests on our willingness to recognize families’ areas of expertise.” (p. 37).   Throughout our journey the last few weeks, I have learned the importance of the family’s knowledge in the child, such as their daily life rituals, language, discipline methods, and any other characteristics of their home culture (Derman-Sparks, & Edwards, 2010).   I have found that respecting the family’s home culture and incorporat...

Welcoming Families From Around The World The family that will be joining my child care center has just come to the United States from Estonia.   The only prior knowledge I have about this country is that most Estonians are of White heritage.   The first two things I will do to prepare myself for bringing their child into my classroom are to do some independent research about the country and its origins, and to arrange a personal meeting with the family prior to the first day of school.   I think it is important to have a base knowledge of the family’s last place they called home to have an authentic interaction upon meeting together.   I learned that Estonians typically speak Estonian or Russian, and their country is 90% homogeneous in Estonian heritage across their various counties (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018).   The Encyclopedia Britannica (2018) compares Estonia to a Eurocentric society currently, however, the country has suffered great cultural ...