Children's Needs in Culturally Diverse Societies - Essay Example

Non-Ethnocentric Approaches to the Analysis of Dis s in Children's Needs in Culturally Diverse Societies Inserts His/Her Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor's Name 27 November 2008 Revised on 5 December 2008 Harmonization of children's needs in culturally diverse societies may be difficult. This calls for concerted effort to identify the needs and work assiduously in order to attain the desired objectives. Children in culturally diverse societies may be faced with problems in use of local language, identifying with their races, socialization, and other variations such as unavailability of food preferred by a particular community (Lawler 2000). In order to satisfy equitably the needs of all children in culturally mixed societies, there is need to consider the basic requirements of each child and the possible resources to fulfil the requirements. In addition, there is need to evaluate the things that are preferred by the majority of the children and if possible, evaluate the reasons for such preference. The preferences may be in games, food, socialization, and educational media to name but a few (Andersen & Taylor 2005). In the process of addressing children's needs, there would be a tendency to identify with one's community in order to promote the use of language. However, this could lead to ethnocentrism, which according to CADS Staff (2006), is the inflated tendency to think that the attributes of one's own community, group or race are superior to those of other communities, groups or races. This is a drawback to effective delivery of services to children with diverse cultural needs. A better approach to address the needs of children is to use a non-ethnocentric approach. This entails dealing with all children and satisfying their needs irrespective of their race, language background, community and so on (CADS Staff 2006). A non-ethnocentric approach must entail all aspects of a society including a harmonising (common) language, encouraging children to use many varieties of food, popularizing socialization ,and so on (Hicks, Glasgow & McNary 2004). An understanding of non-ethnocentric approaches in handling children and the children's actual needs is important particularly in mixed culture societies. These issues form the basis of discussion of this paper. Non-ethnocentrism entails dealing with all children (and even adults) and satisfying their needs irrespective of their race, language background, community and so on (CADS Staff 2006). The attitude of non-ethnocentrism is related to a complex set of psychosocial development of a tolerant and strong personality. A non-ethnocentric culture emphasizes on and is capable of enhancing multidimensional thinking, is comfortable with ambiguity, and is characterised by individuals who are of high esteem (Alcoff 2006). In addressing the needs of children in multicultural societies, a non-ethnocentric approach is essential since it will ensure that all children's needs are addressed irrespective of the children's ethnic background or race. A non-ethnocentric approach in handling children also makes them feel comfortable and appreciate the diversity of culture, behaviour and other aspects of human beings such as language, colour, race and so on. Apart from being an incentive to needs in multicultural societies, non-ethnocentric mechanisms (such as thinking) facilitate the ability of children to be independent actors and not merely relying on others in decision-making. If children in mixed culture societies are allowed to mingle, they integrate their ideas and therefore develop a wide sense of dependency and reliability in making decisions. Non-ethnocentrism is therefore the key to addressing children's needs in societies that have no particular defined culture. It is notable that mixed culture societies have differences in colour of people, race and so forth. If the needs of children in such societies are addressed in general without consideration of a particular race or language, the children are likely to grow appreciating the entire society and not just the attribute that pertain to their community or people. Children have innumerable needs, some of which are not easy to identify or define. According to Lawler (2000), children's needs are assumed to arise from some intrinsic qualities of the children themselves. This is in opposition to a common belief in which parents base their thinking on a social and cultural context to define the children's needs and their nature. Children's needs are subject to the nature of the children (Jenks 2005). As such, children's needs depend on what the children see, what they would want to have and so on. Nevertheless, some research is worthwhile in order to identify the particular needs of children that are essential for them to grow up psychically and healthy (Jenks 2005). For children growing in multicultural societies, the "particular" needs that they require are particularly difficult to identify since there are considerably more factors that influence the needs. Since children, like adults, have feelings, it is in their best interest to be brought up in their own families wherever possible. This is because it is thee families who have first hand information about them and can therefore provide for their needs without bias or discrimination. In this context, parents have responsibility for the children but need assistance from time to time, especially when they live in multicultural societies. In mixed culture societies, it is often difficult to term children's needs as universal or as being different with respect to culture, social class or based on individual families. However, it is generally agreed that there are universal children's needs that should be addressed at the family level and those that need to be attended to based on cultural or family preferences (Langan 1998). If parents fail to provide such need then they can be termed as having failed their children. For instance, parents have to provide the basic needs of human life such as food and shelter. Denial of such provisions can only be considered a violation of children's rights (Langan 1998). Apart from the universal children's needs, the other needs are created by the parents or by the society's culture. Such include education, religion and so forth. These needs vary from place to place due to individual or cultural beliefs, societal and institutional frameworks. According to Bowlby (1988) and Levine (1989), children usually have a lot of emotional attachment to the people they get used to. Further, Bowlby (1988) notes that there is a close emotional attachment between a mother and a child called the two-way attachment. Thus, children should be encouraged to have this kind of attachment since it affects their early stages of growth. Attachments between children and the people with whom they mingle can be secure or insecure depending on the person involved. Nevertheless, the overriding factor is that children will always have some emotional attachment to someone. In multicultural societies, the person to whom a child is attached really matters since he of she determines the child's early adaptability to the environment. Parents strive to provide for their children's needs by ensuring that they provide them emotional support and as much as possible suffice their physical needs. Most emotional provisions are universal and similar in most families. However, physical needs are dictated by culture, social status, individual family priorities and so forth. While the needs of children are innumerable and not easy to discern, it can generally be agreed that some needs are more pressing than others are. For instance, Bowlby (1988) notes that babies' or children's emotional needs are more important than physical needs. In addition, children do not grow well when they are deprived of stable personalities to whom they can be attached (Bowlby 1988). These personalities can be other children, parents or teachers. Among the factors influencing the needs of children, guardians and teachers play a pivotal role since they determine the children's early aspects of development such as language and communication. Nevertheless, a notably perturbing issue is how the parents and guardians can assimilate children into particular cultures without exhibiting ethnic bias. It is inevitable that such an approach takes a format that isolates itself from ethnicity in order to harmonize the needs of children and hence provide for the children equitably. The following section is a discussion of how systematic models can be developed to help in the study of infancy and children and therefore provide for the children's needs in a manner that satiates the diverse needs of multicultural societies (Jenks 2005). A show of ethnocentrism would for instance be portrayed in a case where a teacher in a children's class composed of children with diverse ethnic backgrounds shows favouritism towards some children (those from a common ethnic community or race) while sidelining the others. Such an approach would not only kill the morale of the children who are alienated but would also affect their development within the culturally diverse society. It is undisputable that in dealing with culturally diverse children, recognition of each child's identity is important as in doing so they grow to be proud of themselves. Datta (2000) noted that teachers of culturally diverse classes (whether kindergarten) or lower grade education have to observe their pupils right from the time they step into the classroom. In addition, encouraging members of culturally diverse classes to learn from among themselves adds impetus to the learning process and encourages cohesion among children. For instance, it is easier for bilinguals to become active in class if they are encouraged to socialize with other children who are natives of a given region (Datta 2000). Another approach to children from culturally diverse societies is to encourage teachers to be considerate of them in every aspect. Ana (2004) has shown that bilingual children are shaped a great deal by the way they relate with others through literacy development. Along the same line, Ana encourages teachers to listen to their pupils (children) and their families without bigotry in order to boosts the children's confidence in learning as well as encourage the appreciation of different language world and cultures (Children Leeds 2007). Parents too have a pivotal role to play in mentoring children born of mixed cultures. Such children are always limited by language barrier due to the conflict between adopting either the maternal or paternal language or both (Klein & Chen 2001). This conflict poses a halt on the child's development since almost everything that a child does is pegged on language. Children who fail to adopt one language fast may experience a halt in socialization, playing and so on. As such, parents and teachers have to work hand in hand to ensure that children are provided with the needs they require at early stages of development such as language and freedom of expression. The following section gives a discussion on parenting strategies can help children of diverse cultural backgrounds. In order to develop the skills required to work with the ever-increasing diverse young child population, it is imperative that providers of all backgrounds get meaningful training in cultural competency and in knowledge of dual language acquisition (Klein & Chen 2001). Cultural competency requires a variety of skills that include (but are not limited to) knowledge and comprehension of diverse cultures, varied parenting practices, family values and norms, and the ability to embrace dual language capabilities (McEvoy et al 2003). Parents, who are the primary caregivers, need to be aware of their own cultural background and practices (McEvoy et al 2003). They also need to view behaviours in a socio cultural context, and appreciate cross-cultural communication skills so that they can engage in meaningful ways with diverse families and other communities (McEvoy et al 2003). Parents also need to strike a balance between welfare control and identification of needs since it is only after proper identification of a need that a proper fulfilment may be found. In the process of caring for children, conflicts may arise over differences between the parents' strategies and practices of the dominant culture as well as the practices attached to the traditions of minority cultural groups. Parents and caregivers therefore need to be taught strategies that aim at mitigating these conflicts (Children Leeds 2007). They also need to be reflective in applying the practices to better comprehend families' backgrounds and cultural predilection, as well as how their own cultural background determines the direction scope of their practices and beliefs (Lawler 2000). Multicultural parenting strategies create opportunities for cross-cultural learning among staff (e.g. in schools) and families (McEvoy et al 2003). In order to grasp how to provide the best care for young children from linguistically diverse backgrounds, the parents involved must have the capability and fluency of dual language acquisition (McGee & Richgels 2003). Effective approaches include attending training sessions in order to gain knowledge or fluency in the diverse languages that are applicable at the family level as well as the national level. Parents may not necessarily have knowledge of research in this area but they need to understand the importance of maintaining and supporting home language (Klein & Chen 2001). Culturally diverse parenting strategies also include appreciation of other people who deal with children and working together with them. This results in an understanding of cultural diversity as the pupils acknowledge both individual and cultural differences passionately and identify the differences in a positive manner (Lawler 2000). Such a positive identification creates a foundation for the advancement of effectual communication and instructional strategies. In so doing, social virtues such as respect and appreciation of different cultures can be modelled, taught, prompted and reinforced by both parents and teachers (Lawler 2000). Parents in culturally diverse societies also have to encourage social interaction by ensuring that children from different communities mingle freely with those from other communities. When children are taught the importance of socialization with others irrespective of their race or community, they grow embracing and appreciating cultural diversity. As such, the children will find it easy to interact with others in school, at social functions and even in religious functions. For instance, parents may talk about the differences between the children's conversations with friends in the community and conversations with adults or their friends in school. At this point, it is important to note that some children adjust their behaviour automatically whereas others must be guided and shown the importance of change (Lawler 2000). If the change were initiated at the foundation level (family), then it would be very easy to embrace non-ethnocentrism. Non-ethnocentric parenting strategies also involve the appreciation of diverse cultures and differences among different communities. Parents have to inculcate a sense of appreciation in their children by encouraging them to identify enthusiastically with differences among different groups (Lawler 2000). Such identification is through communication and application of instructional strategies. Children have to be encouraged to embrace multiple social skills from as many communities as they can. Social skills, for instance respect and cross-cultural comprehension, can be developed, taught and reinforced by both parents and teachers (Hicks, Glasgow & McNary 2004). Generally, while it is true that some needs of children vary based on different societies, it is also true that identification of such needs is based on historical perspectives such as religion and social status. Some needs are also adaptive based on factors such as family income and ability to spend on items such as luxuries for their children (Langan 1998). Therefore, needs that are adaptive can cannot be traced from generation to another or across families in mixed culture societies due to limitations such as preferences for particular items and the actual ability to acquire the items. In common parlance, it is undisputable that children in diverse culture societies join school with a broad range of language in addition to literacy skills that are often quite distinct. In such instances, teachers therefore have a Herculean task of implementing culturally sensitive programs that reflect the many cultural backgrounds. Research has shown that children primarily develop language when they are with others, not necessarily when they are with their parents (Opitz 1998). This therefore imposes a challenging scenario since culturally diverse societies have several languages in use. Discourses among children are influenced by the children's ability to relate with others (Adrianus van Dijk 1997; Burnette 1999). Paterson (2005) noted that children develop the first or second language when they have the chance to use the language in meaningful ways. In addition, no matter their ethnic background or the language they speak, children apply the same cognitive and linguistic to communicate and learn (Andersen & Taylor 2005). Therefore, parents in culturally diverse societies have to develop a tendency of encouraging their children to interact freely so that they get opportunities to learn. Paterson (2005) noted that encouraging children to be involved in daily activities that promote language (both first language and the targeted or second language) leads to academic advancement. Various researchers have pointed out that family involvement in children's matters is important in the context of the children's discourses both in school and among other communities (Craighead & Nemeroff 2001; Luke, 1989). Nevertheless, there are common findings in the scope of supporting children in culturally diverse societies. For instance, many authors (such as Andersen & Taylor [2005] and Hicks, Glasgow & McNary [2004]) have pointed out that families need to educated to understand the special needs of children in multicultural societies. In addition, the parents' cultural backgrounds as well as their socio economic aspects have to be understood. It is important to understand behaviour of parents in order to be familiar with handling their children's behaviour (Hollins 1996). In conclusion, non-ethnocentric approaches to teaching children are fundamental in widening the children's scope of thinking and expression of opinions. At their tender age, children have a variety of needs which may not be easy to identify. Children in culturally diverse societies have special needs due to the influence of factors such as language and freedom of expression. Nevertheless, they children's emotional needs tend to be more touching than physical needs since they involve attachment of children to other people. From this context, parents in multicultural societies have a pivotal role to ensure that they identify the needs of their children and address them without ethnic bias. Parents and teachers also have to promote the acquisition of diverse skills such as language and respect for other communities among their children. In so doing, the cultural and socio economic backgrounds of all people must be understood in order to integrate them while raising children. Briefly, non-ethnocentrism encourages appreciation of diversity among children and makes them grow embracing the diversity and freedom of expression. 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