Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood Education - Report Example

Interview Introduction With the need to understand and analyze the need importance of sleeping routines in children,role of play in physical health, effect of poverty in families and the importance of cultural identity, a study was conducted. The target subject of study was a parent .The main purpose of the study was to establish how these effects affect the growth and development of children and members of a given society. Poverty is a major phenomenon that affects families in a society. For instance, research indicates that poor families are also likely to have children who are malnourished, less education and generally have poor health. On the other hand, development of language and self-esteem in children has also been attributed to social interactions. In addition to that, social interaction leads to a more cohesive community and families. The method chosen for this study was interviewing. This data collection method was preferred since it results to more data. Secondly, it gives respondents a chance to address the questions using as much information as possible. Thirdly, interviewing provides the researcher with an opportunity to clarify on issues since it is a one on one affair. The major setback of this method is the time taken to collect the data. It will take a researcher more time compared to when other data collection methods such as questionnaires are used. To understand the above themes, the respondent was subjected to the following questions. Interview questions and responses from the parent Do you think establishing a sleeping routine for children is important? Responses: Yes it is. It makes the children know when they are expected to sleep It is important in establishing a time that children must sleep. Parents need to realize that they play a big role in making this a success. How do you think parents can establish a consistent sleeping routine for children? Responses By setting a particular time when the children are expected to sleep and adhering to it By ensuring that children associate bed with sleep, that is, they should sleep as soon as they get to bed. How do parents or caregivers affect the sleeping routine of their babies? Response Caregivers affect the sleeping patterns of the children by allowing children to be involved in other activities such as watching TV instead of sleeping. How does play affect the physical and social growth in children? Response It plays an important role in the physical development of children. It also assists in identifying the talents and nurturing them Do you think play can encourage social interaction among the children? Kindly explain Response Yes, it helps them to become more confident and develop communication skills. It should be encouraged to assist children especially who are shy to regain their confident. How do video games help in fostering intellectual development in children? Response It assists in fostering intellectual capacity in children. What do you think contributes to poverty in families? Response Lack of quality education making it impossible for people to be employed Unemployment and unequal distribution of resources. How does poverty affect the relationship between children and parents? Responses It can cause family problems such as violence, which can affect the relationship between children and parents It denies children a chance to receive quality education and health How can families establish good relationship despite being poor? Response They should know that money is not everything, love and harmony plays a big role in the family. Therefore, the family should ensure poverty does not steal the good relationship important for development. What is the significance of language in a community? Responses It assists in conveying the norms of a given group of people from one culture to another It makes a given group of people appear unique from the rest Why is culture important in a community? Responses It helps to ensure cohesiveness within the society It gives the society its pride that makes them have high self-esteem What are some of the problems associated with denying people right to enjoy their cultural identity? Responses It can lead to social problems such as crimes It has potential to cause the affected group of people isolate themselves from the dominant culture Responses The parent in this study indicated the need to establish a sleeping routine for babies. On the issue of establishing a sleeping pattern she explained, ‘good sleep in a baby determines among other things health of children.’ The respondent explained that caregivers should ensure that children have at least 12 hours of sleep daily. “Children will always try to remain awake to depending on the environment…,” she continued to explain. “Time for bed should be respected and children should have an established routine.” She stopped before adding, “However, parents need to tell bedtime stories and songs before their children can sleep.” She also explained that parents and caregivers had a role to play in determining whether children establish a sleeping pattern or not. “Parents should keep reminding the children about the sleeping time,” she explained further. In addition to that, the parent added that, “it is important for children to associate bed with sleep.” According to her, this was important to ensure that children did not turn the bed to a playing ground. It is imperative that parents ensure that lights are out immediately children go to bed. This will assist in curtailing their mischief and ensuring that they sleep immediately. The researcher was also interested in establishing the role of play in the physical health of children and other related aspects. The respondent was very helpful in this area and seemed to speak from experience. This is because apart from being a parent, she had been a teacher before. According to her, children needed to be encouraged to play. It assisted in the ‘physical and mental development.’ playing in young age is particularly encouraged for developing the skills and helping children discover their abilities in the world of sports. “It is also a way through which children are able to become more confident and develop communication skills,” the respondent explained. She said that he had observed this for a long period and therefore believed play should be encouraged. According to her, children who appeared shy and less assertive were likely to improve once they participated in different kinds of play. The activities involved brought different children together and therefore fostered social interaction. In the process, children were able to rediscover their “communication skills and assertiveness.” When children come together, ‘they are able to interact and develop different skills,’ indicated the parent. She also indicated that some of the shy children in school could be encouraged to participate in games to assist them “in becoming more confidence.” The respondent was especially particular on any kind of games, which offer mental challenge to children. “Regardless of the common belief that video game negatively impact on children, they are imperative for fostering intellectual growth in children,” asserted the respondent. She agreed that many parents still do not see any correlation between the two but insisted that if they can afford, it would be vital to ensure children get an opportunity to these games. The respondent continued to explain that social interaction was good not only for the children but for the whole family as well. “Continuous communication within the family enables one establish if there is any problem with any member.” She agreed that encouraging the relationship between children and parents through interaction has an effect on building of children and making them develop communication skills. Poverty has been a strong force that causes instability in many families. With the need to raise health and well-educated children, poverty makes the achievement of such goals difficult. The provision of basic needs become a major challenge for many families. According to the respondent, “there is a relationship between poverty and stability within families.” She explained that poverty had the potential to cause domestic problems such as violence and neglect of children. Poverty frustrates and depresses parents especially when they are unable to provide basic needs to their children. “Looking for scapegoats, such parents may mistreat their children by physically, emotionally or mentally assaulting them,” the teacher echoed similar sentiments by explained that he had observed the difference between children who came from well-off families and those who were raised in poverty. She asserted that, “there is a difference on the level of attentiveness on the two when it comes to learning.’ She paused before adding, “Children from poor families may lack breakfast which is imperative in keeping such children attentive.” She indicated that most of such children also posted poor academic performance and were likely to “isolate themselves and become antisocial in school.” The respondent explained that the relationship between children from the poor families and the rest was also likely to be affected. “Such children may appear violent and like being lonely.” According to the respondent, “children appear violent and defensive, but this is an expression of what they have experienced and learnt from their homes.’ According to the respondent, ‘it will be good if parents do not express their emotions in front of their children.’ She asserted that this has negative effects on what such children become in future. It will therefore be imperative for parent to, “create a favorable environment” where children can grow without experiencing any problems that may affect them emotionally or psychologically. However, the she agreed that people could still live in poverty and establish a good relationship between them. “What is important in a family is not how much money they make but peace and tranquility,” the parent added. She indicated that there were many poor families yet they were able to live peacefully. However, the respondents indicated the need to address the issue of poverty. According to her, the government needed to play a big role in mitigating this effect. Job creation and affordable education were some of the main ways to approach this social problem according to them. “The government has the greatest responsibility of saving families by ensuring provision of sources of income to citizens,” explained the parent. The respondent continued to explain the issues by stating that, ‘unless this is done, more problems are likely to be witnessed in families.” Language and cultural identity are imperative in ensuring social integration and pride, according to the respondent. According to the parent, ‘language plays an important role as far as socializing the next generation on the values, beliefs, and norms of their society.” She indicated that this has been challenged by the current need to establish a homogenous culture. With the current globalization effects, most of the ethnic communities have been affected. Their values and beliefs are drastically being eroded by foreign and dominant cultures. This according to the respondents has been the main challenge to preserving the local languages. On the part of culture identity, the respondent indicated that it was equally important in maintaining the social fabric. According to her, ‘it is the values, beliefs, and norms that a particular group of people ascribes to.’ She indicated that the background of nay given community determined cultural identity. According to her assertion, majority of people have been denied the chance to exercise their cultural identity. She asserted that, “cultural assimilation is to be blamed for the negative effects on cultural identity.” according to her, the dominant cultures ensure that the rest adopt the norms stipulated to them. In the process, majority of them loss their identity. She further continued to explain that, “cultural identity ensures solidarity of the community and helps to overcome certain social evils.’ She asserted that some of the problems witnessed in the society such as the increased criminal activities were because of cultural frustrations. “Culture gives maintains the pride of a community,” she added, “when it is denied, most of the community members may isolated or separate themselves from the rest of the dominant members of the society. They all expressed their frustrations at the rate of by which communities are losing their cultural identity. “It is difficult to say whether the communities will be able to go back to their roots,” the respondent asserted. However, the need to transact business activities in the world was blamed for the deterioration of this issue. The respondents indicated that with the need to create a favorable business environment, governments have used social institutions to influence the society. Norms and beliefs, which are deemed to assist in conducting business effectively, are established in such institutions. The effects of this according to the respondents are the loss of social identity. Critical analysis of the responses The respondent indicated that play was imperative in developing the intellectual capacity in children. Different researches that have been conducted in the same field of study show similar results. An environment that fosters mental development is said to encourage intellectual growth in children (UN Education 2008). Children who are good in arithmetic for instance are also likely to be good in playing challenging games. However, it is imperative to know that generalization of this issue may create a wrong impression. Games alone may not assist in fostering intellectual growth in children. Other major factors play role in this issue. For instance, children who receive quality education have the ability to be more intelligent than their counterparts do. They receive all resources needed to foster creativity and innovativeness. The respondents were correct in their assertion that poverty was a major concern in families. It has been attributed to increased domestic violence in homes (Sarkar 2012). There is a correlation between poverty and stability in families. The relationship between husbands and wives may deteriorate with the increased pressure to provide for the children. One of the main social phenomena likely to ensure in the process is divorce (Gonzalez-Mena 2005)). This is a social problem being witnessed in the world today, where one of the contributing factors is poverty. However, the children are the most affected when this happens. The children are likely to perform poorly in school due to lack of parental love and care. The violent nature of the parents may also affect what children become in future. They are also likely to be violent and express other antisocial behaviors. The cultural acculturation theory explains the issue of cultural identity. In addition to that, it also indicates how ethnic communities are affected once they loss their culture identity (Robinson & Diaz). The theory focuses on how different cultures must change to accommodate each other. However, the minority groups normally experience challenges in the process. According to the proponents of this theory, the dominant cultures assimilate other cultural groups (Genesee, Paradis, &Crago 2004). In conclusion, play, poverty, sleeping routine and cultural identity is important themes in explaining the society, especially the lives of the children. Poverty for instance denies the children a chance to quality education and health. They are exposed to concomitants of poverty with include among other things domestic violence and relation instability. It is therefore imperative for the government to offer employment opportunity to all the community to eradicate poverty. Encouraging play in children has been said to be the only way to foster physical development and intellectual capacity. References Genesee. F., Paradis, J., & Crago, M. (2004). Dual Language Development and Disorders: A Handbook on Bilingualism and Second Language Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2005). Diversity in early care and education: Honoring differences. Boston: McGraw Hill Robinson & Diaz (2005). Diversity and Difference in Early Childhood Education: Open University Press Sarkar, M, & B. Low. (2012). Multilingualism and popular culture. M. Martin-­Jones, A. Blackledge & A. Creese (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Multilingualism (pp. 403-­418). London: Routledge. UN Education, Scientific & Cultural Organizations (UNSECO) (2008) UN International Year of Languages Read More