The family that will enroll their child into the childhood care center where I work is from Trinidad. I understand that this family is migrating from their country into a place that might be foreign to them. As an early childhood professional it is my duty to provide resources and referrals to this family to assist with getting them accustomed to being in America. The ways that I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards families by researching about this family’s country, food customs, gender roles, child-rearing practices and education. I would attempt to research these areas before meeting the family to determine ways that I can better establish relationships with them. This will assist me with engaging in conversation and incorporating lesson plans that will include the children that are from this country. Trinidadians practices vary by ethnicity, class, age, education of parents and caregivers. It is important for me to establish a relationship that will determine the commonalities and differences. I hope that these preparations will benefit the family and I because it will allow us to form a solid relationship that is built on respect, trust and lacks negative judgment/bias. Being culturally competent allows a person to engage in conversation and to build a partnership. I believe that I will be able to better serve this family because I will be more aware of their culture and experiences to provide better services to them.
3 comments:
I like how you use the word partnership. It is essential to build positive relationships with the families we serve regardless of differences in culture.
I think you touched on an important aspect of serving the family in connecting them with resources. I think as educators we often want to be the experts and "teach." It is important to remember that we need to be willing to be a resource for referrals to the families that need something outside our area of expertise.
I like that you mentioned to be a resource for the families when they may need referrals. I think that we are often viewed by families as the experts and we must know when we need to refer the families to other agencies that are the experts in a different capacity.
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