# data[].attributes.body
Title: I Am Enough

Author: Grace Byers

Published By: HarperCollins

Copyright Date: 2018

Summary: The book is about a young girl that is celebrating herself. She sees her beauty resembles beautiful things around her. She is confident in herself.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: The Not-So-Friendly-Friend

Author: Christina Furnival

Published By: PESI Publishing, Inc.

Copyright Date: 2021

Summary: She created boundaries when another child left her feeling down. She would say, "All Done! If you want to be kind, I'd be glad if you'd play. But if you don't treat me right, you can go on your way." She learned that she won't put up with bullies.

# data[].attributes.body
Title: The Same But Different Too

Author: Karl Newson

Published By: Candlewick Press

Copyright Date: 2020

Summary: The story is about children comparing and contrasting situations around them. One child in the story see the similarity that she and the alligator both have teeth, but she has fewer teeth than the alligator.

# data[].attributes.body
Article- Understanding Anti-Bias Education: Bringing the Four Core Goal to Every Facet of Your Curriculum

“Anti-bias education is not just doing occasional activities about diversity and fairness topics (although that may be how new anti-bias educators begin). To be effective, anti-bias education works as an underpinning perspective, which permeates everything that happens in an early childhood program—including your interactions with children, families and coworkers—and shapes how you put curriculum together each day.” (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2019). The four core goals of anti-bias education: Identity, Diversity, Justice, and Activism.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Anti-bias education is not just doing occasional activities about diversity and fairness topics (although that may be how new anti-bias educators begin). To be effective, anti-bias education works as an underpinning perspective, which permeates everything that happens in an early childhood program-including your interactions with children, families and coworkers-and shapes how you put curriculum together each day.

This article is an excerpt of the second edition of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards. An NAEYC bestseller, this book helps early childhood educators fulfill their mission of helping all children reach their full potential. The new edition-with major updates to all chapters, including gender identity-will be available early in 2020.

The four core goals of anti-bias education

Four core goals provide a framework for the practice of anti-bias education with children. Grounded in what we know about how children construct identity and attitudes, the goals help you create a safe, supportive learning community for every child. They support children's development of a confident sense of identity without needing to feel superior to others; an ease with human diversity; a sense of fairness and justice; the skills of empowerment; and the ability to stand up for themselves or for others.

Goal 1: Identity

Teachers will nurture each child's construction of knowledgeable, confident, individual personal and social identities.

Children will demonstrate self-awareness, confidence, family pride, and positive social identities.

This goal means supporting children to feel strong and proud of who they are without needing to feel superior to anyone else. It means children will learn accurate, respectful language to describe who they and others are. Teachers will support children to develop and be comfortable within their home culture and within the school culture. Goal 1 is the starting place for all children, in all settings.

Adding to early childhood education's long-term commitment to nurturing each child's individual, personal identity, anti-bias education emphasizes the important idea of nurturing children's social (or group) identities. Social identities relate to the significant group categorizations of the society in which we grow up and live and which individuals share with many others. Social identities include (but are not limited to) gender, racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and economic class groups. (In the forthcoming book, social identity is described in detail in Chapter 2.) A strong sense of both individual and group identities is the foundation for the three other core anti-bias goals.

Goal 2: Diversity

Teachers will promote each child's comfortable, empathetic interaction with people from diverse backgrounds.

Children will express comfort and joy with human diversity, use accurate language for human differences, and form deep, caring connections across all dimensions of human diversity.

This goal means guiding children to be able to think about and have words for how people are the same and how they are different. It includes helping children feel and behave respectfully, warmly, and confidently with people who are different from themselves. It includes encouraging children to learn both about how they are different from other children and about how they are similar. These are never either/or realities because people are simultaneously the same and different from one another. This goal is the heart of learning how to treat all people caringly and fairly.

Some teachers and parents are not sure they should encourage children to "notice" and learn about differences among people. They may think it is best to teach only about how people are the same, worrying that talking about differences causes prejudice. While well intentioned, this concern arises from a mistaken notion about the sources of bias. Differences do not create bias. Children learn prejudice from prejudice -not from learning about human diversity. It is how people respond to differences that teaches bias and fear.

Another misconception about Goal 2 is that exploring differences among people ignores appreciating the similarities. Goal 2 calls for creating a balance between exploring people's differences and similarities. All human beings share similar biological attributes, needs, and rights (e.g., the needs for food, shelter, and love; the commonalities of language, families, and feelings) and people live and meet these shared needs and rights in many different ways. A basic premise in anti-bias education is " We are all the same. We are all different. Isn't that wonderful! "

Goal 3: Justice

Teachers will foster each child's capacity to critically identify bias and will nurture each child's empathy for the hurt bias causes.

Children will increasingly recognize unfairness (injustice), have language to describe unfairness, and understand that unfairness hurts.

This goal is about building children's innate, budding capacities for empathy and fairness, as well as their cognitive skills for thinking critically about what is happening around them. It is about building a sense of safety, the sense that everyone can and will be treated fairly.

Learning experiences include opportunities for children to understand and practice skills for identifying unfair and untrue images (stereotypes), comments (teasing, name-calling), and behaviors (isolation, discrimination) directed at themselves or
at others. This includes issues of gender, race, ethnicity, language, disability, economic class, age, body shape, and more. These are early lessons in critical thinking for children, figuring out what they see and hear and testing it against the notions of kindness and fairness.

These lessons build on young children's implicit interest in what is "fair" and "not fair."

As children come to identify unfair experiences and as they learn that unfair can be made fair, children gain an increased sense of their own power in the world. Children cannot construct a strong self-concept, or develop respect for others, if they do not know how to identify and resist hurtful, stereotypical, and inaccurate messages or actions directed toward themselves or others. Developing the ability to think critically strengthens children's sense of self, as well as their capacity to form caring relationships with others.

Goal 4: Activism

Teachers will cultivate each child's ability and confidence to stand up for oneself and for others in the face of bias.

Children will demonstrate a sense of empowerment and the skills to act, with others or alone, against prejudice and/or discriminatory actions.

Goal 4 is about giving children tools for learning how to stand up to hurtful and unfair biased behavior based on any aspect of social identity. Biased behavior may be directed at oneself or another. It may come from another child or adult or from children's books, television, and films. This goal strengthens children's development in perspective taking, positive interactions with others, and conflict-resolution education.

Actions of teasing, rejection, and exclusion because of some aspect of a child's social identities are a form of aggressive behavior. They are just as serious as physical aggression. The old saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me" is false. Children's developing sense of self is hurt by name-calling, teasing, and exclusion based on identity. And children who engage in such hurtful behaviors are learning it is acceptable to hurt others, the earliest form of bullying. An anti-bias approach calls on teachers to intervene gently but firmly, support the child who is the target of the biased behavior, and help both children learn other ways of interacting.

Children's growth on Goal 4 strengthens their growth on the other three goals. If a child is the target of prejudice or discrimination, she needs tools to resist and to know that she has worth (Goal 1). When a child speaks up for another child, it reinforces his understanding of other people's unique feelings (Goal 2). When children are helped to act, it broadens their understanding of "unfairness" and "fairness" (Goal 3).

Guidelines for your curriculum

Just about every subject area in the typical early childhood program has possibilities for anti-bias education themes and activities. For instance, early childhood education themes of self-discovery, family, and community are deeper, and more meaningful, when they include explorations of ability, culture, economic class, gender identity, and racialized identity. So, too, issues of fairness (Goal 3) and acting for fairness (Goal 4) arise as children explore various curriculum topics.

Differences do not create bias. Children learn prejudice from prejudice -not from learning about human diversity. It is how people respond to differences that teaches bias and fear.

The ideas for specific anti-bias education content and activities come from three major sources. One is from children's questions, interests, or interactions with each other that classroom teachers see as important to respond to and develop. Teacher-initiated activities are a second source of anti-bias activities, based on what classroom teachers and families think is important for children to learn. A third source is significant events that occur in the children's communities and the larger world that classroom teachers think need to be explored with children.

Here is an example of an anti-bias education topic at snack time.

It is snack time in the 4-year-old room. The teacher sets a small pitcher of water on the table for children to pour and drink. Lupe, whose home language is Spanish, looks up and asks, "Agua?" Casey, sitting next to her, says with annoyance, "No! It's water-not ahhgwa" (exaggerating the pronunciation). The teacher stops what she is doing and turns to Casey and says, "Lupe is right. What you call 'water' her family calls 'agua.' There are many words for water, for crackers, for oranges, for everything! We all have words. We have different words. It's pretty wonderful!"

At group time, the teacher follows up by asking children about the different words they have for people in their family. As the children call out Grandma, Oma, Pops, Daddy, Papa, Abuelita, and more, she writes them on a chart. She assures them that none of the words are wrong. They are just different. And they all mean someone who loves them.

Meet anti-bias goals in every corner of the classroom

The ongoing examination of how people are simultaneously the same and different provides children with a conceptual framework for thinking about the world they live in. For example, children playing with blocks can learn that although some children like to build tall towers and some like to build long, flat structures on the floor, all the children like to build. Art projects can show enthusiasm and admiration for blacks and browns along with all the other wonderful colors of the spectrum. The common curriculum topic of harvest time can include respecting and making visible the people who grow, pick, and transport our food.

Everyday activities offer opportunities for Goals 3 and 4 as well. Arguments over toys can include discussion of fairness and kindness. Exclusionary play, stereotypes in books, or teasing are experiences open to critical thinking about hurtful behavior and for problem solving toward just solutions.

Planning Anti-Bias Education Activities for Your Program's Curriculum

An anti-bias education approach is not a recipe. Rather, teachers include anti-bias issues in their planning by considering the children and families they serve and the curriculum approach their program uses. Here are key questions to ask yourself as you and your colleagues plan learning activities and environments. Begin by asking yourself these questions for one or two activities a week, and see how they change what you do and how the children respond.

Where do I best fit anti-bias goals and issues into my curriculum plans for the day and the week?

Who might be left out of this curriculum? How will I use the topic to include each child, connecting to the diversity of their social identities and to their individual needs? How can I be sure no one is invisible or unnoticed?

What ideas, misconceptions, and stereotypes might children have about this topic? How can I learn what these are and provide accurate information and counter misinformation and stereotypes?

How can I use this topic to support and strengthen children's innate sense of justice and their capacity to change unfair situations to fair ones?

What learning materials do I need to gather to incorporate an anti-bias perspective into this curriculum topic?

Use child-initiated and teacher-initiated activities

Children's questions, comments, and behaviors are a vital source of anti-bias curriculum. They spark teachable moments as well as longer-term projects. However, it is not sufficient to do anti-bias activities only when a child brings up a relevant issue. Teacher-initiated activities are also necessary-be they intentionally putting out materials and books to broaden children's awareness or planning specific learning experiences around issues that matter to families and the community.

You do not wait for children to open up the topic of reading or numbers before making literacy and numeracy part of the daily early childhood curriculum. Because you have decided that these understandings and skills are essential for children, you provide literacy and numeracy discussions and activities in your classroom. A balance between child-initiated and teacher-initiated activities is as vital in anti-bias education as in any other part of the early childhood curriculum.

Here's an example of how a teacher begins with a children-generated teachable moment and follows up with teacher-initiated activities:

After a windstorm broke dozens of small branches off of the trees surrounding their preschool, several 4- and 5-year-old boys begin building a "club house" by dragging branches and bunches of leaves to a corner in the playground fence. Valeria (4 years old) starts dragging a branch to join them and the boys shout, "No girls allowed! No girls allowed!"

The teacher considers encouraging the boys to welcome their classmate into their play-but then she hesitates. There are larger societal issues embedded in this interaction. As an anti-bias educator, she decides she needs to address the underlying ideas, especially that girls can't or shouldn't engage in play that emphasizes physical strength or that "real boys" don't include girls in their play.

Deciding to find out what the children are thinking, the teacher asks, "Why do you think no girls are allowed?" She listens carefully to the boys' responses: "Girls can't move the big branches." "And they can't build high!" "We're going to be superheroes! Girls can't be heroes." And, finally, "We don't like girls." All these statements reflect commonly held stereotypes about girls. Additionally, she thinks, not seriously addressing the situation reinforces the additional stereotype that boys don't have to pay attention to the feelings of others.

Seeing an opportunity to expand their thinking, the teacher suggests testing these claims. She says, "Well, let's find out if girls can move the big branches and build high or not." Since many of the children are now gathering around, she invites everyone to join in the challenge. "What do you think is going to happen?" she asks. With much laughter the children run and gather branches. Some girls are faster than some boys, some boys are faster than some girls. Everyone is able to add branches to the club house, which is suddenly much higher!

Bringing the children back together, the teacher says, "It looks like both girls and boys can lift big branches and build high. Thinking that boys would be better at these things than girls was a stereotype." Several children repeat the word stereotype (preschoolers love big words!). Still holding their attention, the teacher clarifies and gives words to the program's values: "Stereotypes are unfair. In our school we want everyone to be treated fairly. What can we do so that we can be sure that we play together fairly?" The next steps are suggested by the children. One suggestion is a sign that says "Everyone can play here." "How about," says one of the boys who began this episode, "how about if we want to play alone, we just say 'you can have a turn in a few minutes'?"

Knowing that one interaction is never enough to help children think in new ways, the teacher plans and carries out further activities. She adds to the classroom library books in which female athletes and firefighters are strong and fast. At circle time, she reads books in which girls and boys play together in big muscle games. She invites a female carpenter in to help the children build with real tools. And she begins a curriculum on "Being a hero," about all the ways boys and girls can be powerful helpers.

In the next staff meeting, the teacher relates what she has done and is planning to do, and why. She asks her colleagues to consider the frequency of gendered exclusionary play in the program and they agree to take the important step of identifying how (explicitly and implicitly) they may be supporting a binary view of gender (see Chapter 9 in the forthcoming book) in their classroom. For example, how often do they call out "boys and girls" rather than "children"? Do they ask "strong boys" to help move furniture and big blocks? Do they comment on girls' clothing or hair instead of asking about their interests and accomplishments?
Do they support boys' tender, sharing, inclusive behaviors or mainly comment on their noisy, power-focused play? The teachers agree to observe each other as well as the children and see what changes they can make to avoid the damage that gender stereotypes have on children's sense of themselves and of others.

Using a combination of child-initiated, teachable moments and teacher-initiated, pre-planned activities is the most effective way to expand children's ability to grow in the four anti-bias education goals and to talk about, think about, and understand the world around them.

Pay attention to the realities of children's lives

While the four core anti-bias education goals are the same for all children, specific activities should be relevant to the children's backgrounds and their lives. Some children need support to resist messages of racial or cultural inferiority; others need guidance to develop a positive self-concept without absorbing social messages that they are the "normal" ones and other children are less than, strange, or negatively different. Children of wealthy families need help resisting the message that material accumulation defines their worth and that of others; children of families with fewer resources need support to resist messages that undercut their families' worth. Some girls may need extra support to develop confidence and interest in experiences that are math and science related; some boys may require help to develop skills for having nurturing, cooperative interactions with their peers
and to engage in play that reflects these attitudes.

Closing thoughts

As in all other areas of the curriculum, teachers tailor and scaffold anti-bias education materials and activities to each child's cognitive, social, and emotional developmental capacities. They plan and choose learning experiences that stimulate children to explore the next step of new ideas and skills and allow each child to apply new understandings and behaviors in his or her daily life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Understanding Anti-Bias Education: Bringing the Four Core Goals to Every Facet of Your Curriculum

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This article is an excerpt of the second edition of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, by Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edwards.

# data[].attributes.body
Activity: Emotion Charades

Objective- Each child will have the opportunity to portray an emotion. One child will be acting out that emotion while the other children guess which emotion it is. Then we could add a brief discussion as to an example as to what situation may make you have this emotion.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Empathy - the awareness of and ability to share the feelings of others - is a very abstract, difficult task to teach to young children.

In order for a child to demonstrate appropriate empathetic behavior towards someone else, he must fully understand the broad range of emotions he feels on a daily basis, appreciate that other people might have different feelings than his own, be able to put himself in another person's shoes and understand how they might be feeling, and choose an appropriate response. He must also have a certain degree of self-awareness and self-control so that he can put someone else's emotions before his own.

As you can imagine, developing empathy in kids is definitely not something that happens overnight, and while some people grow up to be more compassionate than others, research suggests our experiences can either help or hinder our ability to empathize with others, and that parents and caregivers play a pivotal role in teaching compassion to kids.

So, how do you teach empathy to a child?

While empathy takes a certain amount of maturity to fully grasp and comprehend, there are lots of empathy activities for kids you can try both in the classroom and at home to help develop feelings of compassion in young children, but before we get to those, let's take a closer look at empathy and what it means for our little ones.

Why is empathy important?

We're all born with the capacity to be empathetic towards others, but our ability to develop a strong sense of empathy really boils down to how much practice we get, and since empathy plays a huge role in our ability (or inability) to form meaningful relationships with our peers, classmates, and co-workers, it's a skill that can set us up for long-term success if taught correctly.

When do children learn empathy?

While research suggests that kids aren't fully capable of 'taking a walk in someone else's shoes' until they are about 7-years-old, a child's experiences early in life are said to play a much bigger role in developing empathy than we think. When parents take the time to teach their kids simple emotions, model empathetic behavior, and provide positive reinforcement when their child shows compassion, they are helping to build the foundation needed to identify with the feelings of others.

How do children learn empathy?

We've already laid the groundwork on how to teach empathy to children ( see full post here), and thanks to the wonderful world of Pinterest, we've taken it a step further and found 19 simple and fun empathy activities for kids to help teach little learners about kindness and compassion.

Preschool Empathy Building | Sugar Spice and Glitter

An Object Lesson in Honesty for Kids | Over the Big Moon

10 Ways for Kids to Be Kind to Animals | Sunny Day Family

10 Ways to Help Your Child Set and Respect Boundaries | The Jenny Evolution

101 Natural Acts of Kindness | Natural Beach Living

A Paper Chain of Kindness | Sugar Spice and Glitter

Alternative Advent Calendar - 50 Acts of Kindness | Mum in the Mad House

Printable Empathy Game | Moments a Day

Kindness Jar Project | Pretty Opinionated

Empathy X-Ray | Art of Social Work

Quick as a Cricket Empathy Activity | The OT Tool Box

Kindness Rocks | Mother Nature Network

Empathy Building Game | Art of Social Work

Kind Words Sensory Lesson | Preschool Powol Packets

Random Acts of Kindness Ideas | Confessions of a School Counselor

Feelings Identification Activities | Kiddie Matters

5 Ways to Teach Kids About Emotions | HoJo's Teaching Adventures

Inventive Games that Teach Kids Empathy | KQED

Empathy Scenarios | Teaching in Room 6

If you're trying to raise an empathetic child, try to think of empathy as a muscle. Everyone has the capacity to develop compassion towards others, but it's up to parents, caregivers, and teachers to find opportunities to teach kids how to understand the needs and emotions of others so they can develop and maintain healthy relationships throughout their lives.
If you and your child enjoyed this collection of empathy activities for kids, please share it on Pinterest! And if you're looking for more ways to have fun at home, please follow our Kids Activities board where we share all of the fun ideas we find on Pinterest each week!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Empathy Activities For Kids: 19 Fun Ways To Teach Kids About Kindness

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Empathy - the awareness of and ability to share the feelings of others - is a very abstract, difficult task to teach to young children.

# data[].attributes.body
Activity- Accessible Technology Exploration

Objective- Children will have the opportunity to use and explore materials that are used for assistive technology. Children will have the hands on experience to understand what it’s like using these materials.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
33 Disability Awareness Activities for Students of all Ages (easy set up!)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What better day than today to publish this post! Today is the first day of Developmental Disabilities Awareness month. Disability Awareness Activities are so important

# data[].attributes.body
Article- The ABCs of Diversity and Inclusion: Developing an Inclusive Environment for Diverse in Early Childhood Education

“Seeing one’s family reflected in a child’s ECE program is important for families and children. This includes families like theirs being referred to in classroom language, materials, and curriculum, and seeing their identities mirrored in staff members and other parents.” (Frost & Goldberg, 2020)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Reihonna L. Frost and Abbie E. Goldberg, Clark University
Abstract Early childhood education is a time when children and their parents are learning about their roles in a school. This makes early childhood education a crucial time for developing strong parent-school relationships with diverse families including LGBTQ parents, adoptive families, and multiracial families. This article gives specific, concrete suggestions about how to build and maintain a welcoming, representative, and inclusive environment for diverse families in schools.
As families in America become increasingly diverse, professionals working with children and families must expand their knowledge, practices, and policies in order to sensitively and effectively meet their needs. In particular, families with sexual minority parents, families built through adoption, and multiracial families have increased in prevalence. An estimated 3 million Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) adults in the United States have children (Gates, 2013); more than 2 million children in the United States are adopted and, of those children, approximately 25% have parents who are of different races than they are (Kreider & Lofquist, 2014). Further, many families can hold two or more of these identities (e.g., a two-mom transracially adoptive family). When considering ways to create an inclusive environment for families, it is important to consider their unique set of identities.

Elements of an Inclusive Environment

Creating a welcoming school or early childhood education (ECE) environment for all families is important because the climate of a program will impact parents' sense of connection to the setting. Parents who are more connected to the program or school are more engaged in their child's experience, which has positive implications for children's academic functioning and social integration (Galindo & Sheldon, 2012). Further, parents' early experiences with educational settings shape their understanding of and expectations for schooling throughout their child's academic career (Galindo & Sheldon, 2012; Kosciw & Diaz, 2008). Therefore, early childhood educators are uniquely situated to help families integrate into early education communities and prepare to partner with their children for a lifetime of academic success.

Further, the degree to which parents and students feel accepted at a child's school has consistently been linked to children's sense of belonging at school, self-esteem, well-being, and mental health (Slaten, Ferguson, Allen, Brodrick, & Waters, 2016). Taken together, providing a welcoming, inclusive environment for children in their early education can impact their well-being and learning in the present and future.

Research with adoptive families of diverse sexual orientations and racial identities has identified the ways that ECE programs are and are not supportive. These broad areas of support fall into three domains: welcoming environment, representation of families like theirs, and meaningful inclusion of their families.

Welcoming Environment

Everyone wants to feel welcomed in the environments they spend time in. Parents and families feel welcomed when ECE programs, personnel, and other parents communicate appreciation for their presence and enthusiasm about supporting them and their needs.

Example: One lesbian adoptive mother described feeling welcomed by her child's ECE based on the ECE's response to her explaining their family situation, "The counselor said it was becoming more common, which was the perfect thing to say." Here, the counselor communicated comfort with their family structure and willingness to support the family's needs (Goldberg, Black, Sweeney, & Moyer, 2017).

Seeing one's family reflected in a child's ECE program is important for families and children. This includes families like theirs being referred to in classroom language, materials, and curriculum, and seeing their identities mirrored in staff members and other parents.

Example: Several families described ways that their family was represented in the classroom activities and materials. One family that had adopted a child from China described how the ECE was inclusive of their child's culture like this: "We have felt very accepted and it is very inclusive in general. The teacher incorporated Chinese New Year activities and books" (Goldberg, 2014). In addition, several LGBTQ parents described activities around LGBT Pride month that included coloring rainbow flags while talking about "the history and importance of the rainbow flag" (Goldberg, Black et al., 2017).

Meaningful Inclusion

Beyond just feeling welcomed, diverse families thrive when they have opportunities to engage with a program in a substantive way. This can include having events in the school that are truly applicable for their families and being encouraged to participate in parenting groups and activities.

Example: A lesbian adoptive mother recounted a time that her daughter's teacher seamlessly incorporated her daughter's adoptive experience into circle time. "When another student ... said that he celebrates his adoption day, and the teacher said, 'Does anybody else celebrate that?' and [daughter] raised her hand, and the teacher said 'Would you like to explain it, or do you want your mom to explain it?' and [daughter] said 'Neither.' " Here, the daughter was given an opportunity to be meaningfully involved in sharing her experience, but she was also allowed to decide not to, depending on her comfort level (Goldberg, Black et al., 2017).

Keeping these three domains in mind, we will now use research to explore the needs of LGBTQ, adoptive, and multiracial families in early childhood settings. Specifically, when discussing ECE, parents identify needs at three main levels: the administrative level, the classroom level, and the community level. The following sections will explore how schools can improve to be more welcoming, inclusive, and diverse at each level of the school system.

Administrative Level

The administrative level refers to the ways schools or programs are organized and operated outside of the specific classroom. These areas can include advertising and admissions procedures, enrollment and classroom assignments, and communications.

Same-sex parents have reported that they prioritize LGBTQ-friendliness when selecting preschools (Goldberg & Smith, 2014). They assess LGBTQ-friendliness of a school using a variety of factors including the school's reputation in the community and the ways that school personnel respond to them during tours or visits (Goldberg, 2014; Kosciw & Diaz, 2008). Similarly, multiracial families have reported seeking out schools that actively and positively welcome racial minorities (Goldberg, 2014; Goldberg & Smith, 2014). Prospective student tours and interviews communicate important information to parents. Some parents find school administrators warm and enthusiastic about hearing about a specific family's structure while others find that administrators seem awkward, dismissive, or uncomfortable. Parents report feeling welcome when administrators engaged their questions openly and demonstrated an understanding of the parents' concerns, even when their answers were less than ideal (e.g., when acknowledging that the school did not have other families similar to this one; Goldberg, Allen, Black, Frost & Manley, 2018). When parents feel welcome, they are more likely to attend and also to feel good about attending a particular school or program.

Welcoming environment.

Are all staff members open, affirming, and trained in diversity issues? Is diversity conceptualized in meaningful, specific ways including thinking about families with multiple minority identities and differing family configurations?

Representation of families.

Are different types of families represented in materials?

Is the classroom made up of diverse staff?

Meaningful inclusion.

Do assignments account for differences among families?

Are activities organized in the classroom applicable to all families? Do special "accommodations" need to be made? Do parents need to reach out to ask for an accommodation? Did teachers plan for this and make the activity inclusive?

Can the structures for parents' participation work for all families?

Example: Joe and Carissa are a White heterosexual couple who adopted their White 3-year-old son, Jacob, through foster care. Jacob was 2 years old when he joined the family. Jacob's teacher sent home an assignment asking Jacob to bring in a picture from the day he was born, from when he was 1-year-old, and from when he was 2-years old. Jacob's parents do not have photos from those years of his life and cannot complete the assignment. Even though Jacob's teacher knows that he is adopted, he did not include an adapted assignment for him. This creates unnecessary stress for Jacob's parents and potentially prompts difficult conversations with Jacob around his adoption-related loss. What could Jacob's teacher have done differently to be inclusive of Jacob's family? How should Jacob's parents address their concerns?

Community Level

The community level refers to the interactions that occur between members of the school community in and outside of the classroom. This level includes interactions between parents at the school and interactions at school community events like fundraisers or family gatherings.

LGBTQ, adoptive, and multiracial families particularly emphasized the ways that their minority statuses make it difficult to join the school community in ECE settings. Specifically, parents described the difficulty of being the first and/or only family like theirs in a school and the ways that this limits their ability to befriend other parents and to join in on parenting activities (Goldberg, 2014; Goldberg, Frost, Manley, & Black, 2017; Kosciw & Diaz, 2008). At the same time, parents emphasized that they were not always sure which parents from their children's schools would be welcoming to a family like theirs. While program administrators cannot be expected to manage social interactions among parents, these specific concerns help to emphasize the importance of building a diverse school community that provides safe, supportive environments in which to connect.

Welcoming environment.

Is there a welcoming environment among parents?

Does your school have procedures for encouraging inclusion and discouraging exclusion of parents based on identities?

Representation.

Are there diverse families in the community?

Do you have families who are the only family like them? How can you reach out to them and help them connect?

Meaningful inclusion.

Are events organized in ways that are accessible and comfortable for different types of families? Are all genders welcome to participate? What assumptions or stereotypes about the parents or guardians might your program be inadvertently promoting?

Example: Zach and Sam are a White gay couple who adopted their daughter, Jessica, through private domestic adoption. Jessica's new early childhood center is having a "Craft Night" for parents to meet each other. Zach attends the event while Sam is home with Jessica. When Zach arrives, he is the only man at the event. The supplies are for making necklaces and there is a wide selection of charms that say "Mom." Without any "Dad" charms, Zach decides to make a "Mom" necklace for Jessica's birth mother. Throughout the event the moms talk to each other, but no one seems to be interested in Zach. When a woman does come over to introduce herself she says, "We've never had a man at this event before! Is your wife sick or something?" What could be different about this event that would make it more welcoming and inclusive? What factors made this situation difficult?

Conclusion

ECE professionals have an opportunity to engage with an increasingly diverse population of parents and families. How they do this can fundamentally shape how parents and families will interact with schools throughout the child's academic career. This means that early childhood educators should work diligently to build programs that are welcoming and inclusive for all family types. In this article we outlined the ways that professionals can focus on developing an inclusive environment at multiple levels within their school settings. We further gave guidelines around thinking beyond being welcoming to encourage professionals to think about how different types of families are and are not represented in their policies, staff, and curriculum and how programs can be built to meaningfully include families of all kinds. Taken together, it is clear that there are many ways for school administrators to develop and maintain a school that is welcoming and inclusive for diverse families. While parents in current research identified a variety of challenges in these areas, they were also quick to enumerate successes that should encourage administrators to strive to expand these gains.

Successful Example: Stacey and Janell are an African American lesbian couple who adopted their African American son, Alex, from foster care. Alex is 3 years old and has attended an ECE program for the past 6 months. The staff have noticed that children in the class have been playing frequently in the playhouse corner and that disagreements have come up around which people can be "in a family." The staff asked all families to send in pictures and notes about who the people in their family are and some things they do with their family. Stacey and Janell appreciated how open the assignment was and enjoyed working with Alex to identify who their family members were. They included a picture of Stacey, Janell, and Alex together and also included a picture of Alex's birth grandmother from his birthday party. Alex also asked to draw a picture of his birth brother who lives far away. Stacey and Janell were nervous that the ECE staff would not understand their family structure and asked to speak with staff about the activity. To their delight, the staff were excited to discuss the material with them. The staff asked for clarification around how to best talk about the birth brother and birth grandmother and demonstrated that they remembered that Alex called Stacey "Mommy" and Janell "Mama." Further, the staff offered that Stacey or Janell could come to class on the day of the activity if they wanted to participate in the discussion and expressed enthusiasm for what they could contribute. Janell agreed to take a few hours off of work that morning to have a fun conversation about families with Alex's class. How did the ECE staff demonstrate a welcoming attitude toward different types of families? How did this activity allow for different family configurations to be represented? How did ECE staff provide opportunities for meaningful inclusion?

Authors

Reihonna L. Frost, MA, is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Clark University. Her research interests are united by the basic question, "What works in adoption?" She is curious about what it means to be an adoptive family and how adoption experiences differ for diverse families. She is also interested in child development within the context of the adoptive family. She is particularly interested in questions around adoptive siblinghood and sibling groups in foster care and adoption. She has co-authored several papers on diverse adoptive families and their experiences with friends, family, communities, and schools. Her master's thesis focused on the second transition to parenthood for adoptive families.

Abbie E. Goldberg, PhD, is a professor of clinical psychology at Clark University. Her research focuses on diverse individuals and families, with attention to their experiences in various social contexts (e.g., schools, communities, the legal system). For more than a decade, she has been conducting a longitudinal study of adoptive parenthood among lesbian, gay, and heterosexual couples. She is also currently conducting research on transgender students' experiences in higher education. She is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and two books, and the editor of three books. She has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Spencer Foundation, the Williams Institute, and other sources.

Suggested Citation

Frost, R. L., & Goldberg, A. E. (2019). The ABCs of diversity and inclusion: Developing an inclusive environment for diverse families in early childhood education. ZERO TO THREE Journal, 39(3), 36-41.

References

Galindo, C., & Sheldon, S. (2012). School and home connections and children's kindergarten achievement gains: The mediating role of family involvement. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12, 90-103.

Gates, G. (2013). LGBT parenting in the United States.

Goldberg, A. E. (2014). Lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parents' experiences in preschool environments. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29, 669-681.

Goldberg, A. E., Allen, K. R., Black, K., Frost, R. L., & Manley, M. (2018). "There is no perfect school...": The complexity of school decision-making among lesbian and gay adoptive parents. Journal of Marriage & Family. 80(3), 684-703. doi:10.1111/jomf.12478

Goldberg, A. E., Black, K., Sweeney, K., & Moyer, A. (2017). Lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parents' perceptions of inclusivity and receptiveness in early childhood education settings. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 31, 141-159.

Goldberg, A. E., Frost, R., Manley, M., & Black, K. (2017). Meeting other moms: Lesbian adoptive mothers' relationships with other parents at school and beyond. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 22(1), 67-84.

Goldberg, A. E., & Smith, J. Z. (2014). Preschool selection considerations and experiences of school mistreatment among lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parents. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 29, 64-75.

Kosciw, J. G., & Diaz, E. M. (2008). Involved, invisible, ignored: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parents and their children in our nation's K-12 schools. New York, NY: Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network.

Kreider, R. M., & Lofquist, D. A. (2014). Adopted children and stepchildren: 2010, Current Population Reports, P20-572. Washington, DC: U.S. Census Bureau.

Slaten, C. D., Ferguson, J. K., Allen, K. A., Brodrick, D. V., & Waters, L. (2016). School belonging: A review of the history, current trends, and future directions. The Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 33(1), 1-15.

Welcoming Schools. (2018). Diverse families on Mother's Day and Father's Day.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The ABCs of Diversity and Inclusion: Developing an Inclusive Environment for Diverse Families in Early Childhood Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Reihonna L. Frost and Abbie E. Goldberg, Clark University

# data[].attributes.body
Article Information: The article focuses on understanding gender stereotypes as well as the root cause. It drives into a deeper look as to how gender stereotypes in early education have deep roots in society and culture. It shares how to have gender neutral communication in the classroom and at home.

(Klay, 2024)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Exploring Gender Stereotypes in Early Childhood Education: International Women’s Day - Klay School

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As we celebrate International Women’s Day 2024, it’s crucial to tackle the gender stereotypes that hold back progress towards gender equality.

# data[].attributes.body
The mission for KidWorks is to inspire the youth. They want to unleash the youth's potential.