Running Head: Diversity in Early Child Care and Education

Diversity in Early Child Care and Education Name Course Instructor Date

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Introduction Diversity in Early care and Education revolves around the loaded diversity stumbled upon when dealing with children in the infancy stage including the ones taking care of children with special needs. The book puts more emphasis on the handy and instant concerns of the early childhood and family service worker, despite the fact that all information has stronger theoretical support. Although the subject of the text revolves around the early child care setting, its message and teachings are valuable for any individual interested in understanding about varied issues relating to children, education and development. Essentially, the book explores the following subjects. Culture The book covers in depth poverty as a factor in culture, the special requirements and culture, how to separate the positive beneficial cultural norms from the harmful ones, and how to create trustworthy rapport between families and caregivers from diverse cultural backgrounds. Parent Involvement and leadership The subject of classroom practices in accordance to expectations of the family is also explored here. Consequently, the author has also explored subjects around the structure of independence, interdependence and school readiness. Finally, the book provides new perception on child guidance and proper discipline for children with special needs. Child Care providers and Culture Cultural identities are nurtured during infant and toddler stages

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Child care caregivers ought to be effectively equipped with certain abilities on order to be effective and work with respect across all cultures. It is a fact beyond any doubt that all babies and toddlers who are under the child care program needs to be nurtured by dependable caregivers whom they can trust during their growth and learning stages. Research has shown that the United States alone has more than 12million toddlers and babies. Consequently, almost 13% of all the households have children aged three years and below who are culturally dissimilar. All aspects of a child development are directly influenced by culture. Culture is thus transformative and covers everything in an individuals environment among them being language, communication, beliefs, customs and behavior (Gonzalez, 2007). Cultural context thus forms the foundation of the growth and development of babies and toddlers just as the practices of the early child caregivers. Whatever the babies and toddlers undergo at the hands of their caregivers helps to shape their cultural identity which in turn provides the foundation for development of their persona. It is therefore prudent that as babies and toddlers build up their core personality as members of cultural faction, caregivers should comprehend the delicate and explicit ways they may communicate their ideas about dissimilar cultures to children entrusted under their care. Language Skills are Developed and Nurtured during Infant and Toddler Stages Childrens growth and development, language and communication are greatly affected by the situations they experience during their infant and toddler stages. All the children at the care of caregivers ought to be supported in order for them to develop their primary languages (Gonzalez, 2007). For example those children who do not speak English as their primary language need to be supported so that they are able to acquire English language skills for

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purposes of furthering their careers in school and beyond. According to researchers, young children are capable of comprehending more than one language from birth and that learning the two languages does not inhibit the development of either of the languages. Further research indicates that dual language learning is cognitive, academic and socially beneficial to a child. Caregivers who speak multiple languages therefore present the toddlers with the best opportunity for learning both home and English languages. The social and emotional development of these young kids is enhanced when there exists a linguistic continuity between their experiences at home and at the center. By having caregivers who replicate the home customs and speak as well as appreciate the home languages of these babies provides a safe surrounding for babies and toddlers and greatly adds value to effective communication with their parents. These infants and toddlers are likely to have a sense of emotional security when they constantly hear their home language being spoken in a child care environment. In the case of babies and toddlers who are still developing the ability to speak in any language, it is vital that their caregivers and parents discuss their care and development. Caregivers who hail from the same cultural background as the children in the child care setting are able to effectively communicate very sensitive and delicate affairs including those around special needs such as physical and emotional disabilities. Individualism/ Communitarianism A culture that is more oriented towards an individual gives priority to the needs of that individual first and assumes that in the event that the needs of that particular person are met, then the individual is therefore better off to make contributions to the group. A Communitarianism culture considers the goals and objectives of the community first. According to this cultural

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perspective, the community should be reinforced first and made stronger in order to meet the needs of the individuals. Janet Gonzalez-Mena describes a misunderstanding between a parent and caregiver concerning the amount of a help given to a baby making an effort to dress herself (Gonzalez, 2007). The caregivers culture perceives the infants as requiring to be taught self-help abilities so as to develop as individuals while the parent on the other hand views childhood dependency as a vital step of sustaining the ties that connect the family together. Conclusion In conclusion, we can say that continuity between home and child care can be enhanced by caregivers who not only have the deeper understanding but also respect diverse cultural practices of the familys in the child care environment and have the potential to build on these cultures if they are not from the same cultural or linguistic background. In essence, all caregivers should be ready to adapt to and learn miscellaneous cultural practices. Consequently, good relations should be developed with parents so that caregivers are in a position to engage the parents in significant discussions. This provides the caregiver with the opportunity to learn the way of life and experiences that parents and babies from diverse cultural backgrounds come with to the care giving center.

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Reference Gonzalez, J. (2007). Diversity in Early Care and Education: Honoring Differences. McGrawHill Publishers.