I was raised
in a family where my parents would hide the
things that were not appropriate for us to know such
as things were not accepted by dominant norm or
the law. I can not recall anything that would ruin their reputation such as fighting
in the front of us. That parent should not fight is the dominant
norm. Fighting is not good thing.
When I grew up
and had my own
kid, sometimes I would say something, my parents would say, "The kid
is still present, could you, please
discuss it after kid slept
or not present." I was educated
in the country where
homosexual or transgender are not accepted a marriage that forms the
family structure. Personal, I would follow the
law as well as disciplines
of the company. Also, I believe
that God is in charge of everything. God works
all things together
for the benefit
of those who love
God and are called according
to God’s purpose. Personally, I would like to be tolerant of things that are different from what I believe.
From this point, if
a parent/family member who informed
me they did not want
anyone who is perceived or self-reported homosexual or transgender to be caring for,
educating, and/or interacting with their child, I would respect the
parent/family in the first position.
I understand, the family
might just do not want
anything that they did
not like to influence to their child. We
have learned that,
Children learn the difference
and similarity among people who
surround them. They form
their self-identity and concept about others through daily observations.
(Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 12). I understand, the parent/family want their child develop
the self-identity that they
want. We need
to respect the parent/family's choice. Also,
why the teacher
should report/present personal sexual orientation
that be different from what the
parent/family believed in working with the child?
What was the
purpose of reporting personal orientation to the parent/family? Would the teacher show favorite toward the homosexual or transgender in working with the child?
I have never
heard homophobic terms such
as "fag", "gay",
"homo", "sissy",
"tom boy",
or "lesbo" as an insult by a child toward another child,
nor, by an adult toward a child, so
far. The word
"fag", "sissy",
"tom boy",
and "lesbo" are new vocabulary
entry to me. Among these words
that I have heard
was the word
"gay" in my workplace. A leader
teacher told me she
was a gay. She
and another teacher
adopted a child. She
did not say they
are married, she said
they lived together
for raising a child. They
had the child
drop off in our infant program
and tried to official enroll in the program.
It was not too
long that the
child official enrolled in our infant program,
both of them left our center and
one went to another state.
The teacher told
me the reason she
left was that
she found another
job that better for
her.
Children form stereotypical thinking about girls and boys the same time as when they form the gender identity as early as two years old.(Youtube,
2011). How should we,
as early childhood educator, support children develop the positive gender identity?
References
Derman-Sparks,
L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and
ourselves.Washington, DC: NAEYC.
Youtube,(2011).
Gender Roles-Interviews with Kids, Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VqsbvG40Ww&hd=1