Professional Hopes and Goals

I must say that this course have been a pleasurable and knowable experience for me. I have gained so much from the course material, instructor and my classmates that has motivated me to continue my work education and advocating for children and families. One of the things I hope to accomplish when working with children and families is that I will have made a difference or impact their lives. I want them to feel secure, confident and respected when they are around me and honestly know that I have their best interest at heart. One of my goals as it relates to the early childhood field is to create a welcoming environment where all children and families feel welcome, safe, respected and exceptional care. As this chapter in our journey ends, we leave this class with so much information that we can share with others on what an anti-bias education and what it should be for children and families (Derman- Sparks & Edwards, 2010). I thank you all so much for sharing your life experiences and expertise. I wish you well and pray that the work we continue to do touch lives that will eventually change the world. Tawanda Stewart Reference Derman- Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-Bias Education. Washington: National Association for The Education of Young Children.

Welcoming Children From Around the World

My name is Tawanda Stewart and I work as a Child Life Specialist at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Children’s Hospital.  Today we will be welcoming the Lee Family from Singapore.   The father is fluent in English but his wife and their young son Jet speaks Chinese only.  Jet is having a surgical procedure and the family has had a very long flight from Singapore to the United States so I’m taking that into consideration on their first day in America.  This will be my first time working with a Chinese family so I’m excited and nervous at the same time.  What has really prepared me for welcoming this family is a course that I’m currently enrolled in that talk about diversity.  While preparing for the course I research the Chinese culture and learned that a lot.  I have narrowed down five ways that I will be culturally responsive towards this family.

1.       I will review the Jet Lee patient charts to see what surgical procedures he will be having.  I will then meet with the doctors and nurses to see how long the recovery will be and if he’s staying for recovery in the United States.

2.       I will then call the family prior to their arrival with an interpreter to translate a welcome form me.  Introducing myself, my role and leaving my contact information.  The contact information will be emailed and sent my mailed in the preferred language of the family.  I will then ask the interpreter to ask the parents what Jet likes to do in his spare time.  His favorite sports, T.V. shows, music etc.

3.       When the family arrives I will greet them with hi and a hand shakes.  I will have the interpreter present to better help the families understand what I’m saying as well as answer any question they might have.  Along with the nurses we will take a tour of the hospital and explain my role again to the family and Jet.  I will give them a tour of our play room and explain to them that I provide age appropriate/developmentally preparation for patients who will be getting a medical procedure done that might be scary or frightening. I make sure that the patients have an opportunity to have all their fears and questions addressed before their procedure.  I explain to the family I do this by providing pictures, medical equipment, and teaching dolls to prepare patients for their procedures, focusing on what the patient will feel, hear, see and smell. Sometime patients need extra support during their procedures. I let them know that am there to help them along the way and provide procedural support, having a familiar face and words of encourage.

4.       Prior to the family arriving I ask the interpreter to teach me words that I can learn and say to Jet.  I want to build a relationship with him and his parents by respecting their home language.  I will also make sure that there are a variety of children’s books, magazines and other materials about their culture and other culture as well. 

5.       I will try to get the family to understand that I’m here to for them. I love to encourage my patients to have some fun! One of the things I knows with helping children to forget about their surgical procedures is to get out of the bed when they can and join me and other children and families in the playroom.  I often use art activities to help me better understand what my patients are going through and how they feel about their hospitalization. Emotions and feelings can often be represented through art. This gives me a chance to make sure they are coping well with being in the hospital.   

I hope that the Lee family knows that I really want their culture to be respected.  So to help me prepare I’ve took it upon myself to research their culture greeting styles and some of the things Jet likes to do.  I also reached out to the family prior to their arrival to extend a welcome. I used the interpreter to help me and the family better communicate.  I know that this experience has helped me learn more about the Chinese culture and I pray that the family will receive the care that they need and that their experience in America was a pleasant experience.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

A memory I have of an incident that I experience prejudice was when I was younger working part-time as a cashier in a major department store.  I was born and partly raised in Chicago Illinois, and moved to Tennessee when I was a teenager.  Coming from Chicago I never remembering experiencing any type of prejudice or even hearing my family talks about experiencing any in or around 1980’s.  When we moved to Tennessee it was so racially divided to and everywhere I turned there was talk about race.  A memory I have of an incident that I experience prejudice was when I was younger working part-time as a cashier in a major department store.  A white older male wanted to purchase items, I spoke like I always did to all of my customers and didn’t get a response so I asked did he find everything ok and he didn’t reply.  I continue to smile all the time thinking to myself he’s not a friendly guy or he’s having a bad day.  I told him how much his purchase was and he laid the money on the counter.  I didn’t think anything of it so I got the money off the counter and went to give him his change and he asked me to lay it on the counter.  So out of respect I did, so I then reach to give him his receipt and he asked me to lay it on the counter as well.  So I continue to think to me…does he have a cold and don’t want to me to catch his germs!  But then a white female cashier came to relieve me for lunch and he smiled and asked her how her day was.  To make an even longer story short he left and the white cashier laughed and the explained to me that he is very prejudice and didn’t like black people.  I felt very hurt and somewhat dirty, it’s a feeling I can’t really explain.  This incident not only showed me that prejudice still was present but some people still thought that it was funny for someone to have feelings about another race/person  and show it in a negative way.  This experience has taught me to not question my identity or feel or thinking negatively about myself because of my race.  This experience has taught me to never let anyone make me feel ashamed about my race because of their ignorance. This experience has taught me to continue to be kind to others and to treat others with respect regardless of their race.