A Child's knowledge of family is rooted in

their culture.
Objectives
The student should be able to:

Discuss ways in which the three guiding

theories view family differences.
Relate how families differ in terms of
ethnicity, race, culture, economics, gender
roles, religiosity, and geographic region.
Reflect on implications of family differences
for early childhood educators.
Terms to know:
1. Ethnicity: refers to a concept of a groups peoplehood
based on a combination of race, religion, and cultural history,
whether or not members realize their commonalities with each other.

2. Race, based on physical differences, is often noted to be

scientific in nature as opposed to the sociocultural nature of ethnicity.

3. Culture refers to the unique experiences and history of

various ethnic groups. Cultural differences often indicate
differences in views on the family and the community, differences in
expectations of children, differences in child rearing, and differences
in the value placed on education.
Handout
Video- families
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POofYM4ZiKg
The Code of Ethical Conduct for Early
Childhood Education includes the following in
the category of ethical responsibilities to
families
To respect the dignity of each family and its
culture, customs, and beliefs
To provide the community with high-quality,
culturally sensitive early childhood programs
and services
Question?
Why is it important to understand different
cultures?
Religions
Rituals
Family disciplines
Holidays/events
Give an example of an experience from your past
when you did not feel a sense of belonging, or
included in the situation. What do you think were
the factors related to you feeling excluded?
Understanding ethnic differences will help early childhood teachers
support childrens sense of connection to their ethnic group.
GENDER ROLE IDENTITY DIFFERS BY
ETHNICITY
Females
Males
Black: Racism and Black: Poverty,
sexism incarceration, violence
Asian: Take care of Asian: heads of
home, males and families/breadwinners
mother in law Mexican:
Mexican: Protector/Provider
Homemakers/
caretakers/
subordinate
Families define themselves as a family.
Membership in a family can be decided only
by each member of that family. Thus, it is
Ways
the in early
role of which familieseducators
childhood are different?
to be
aware of who constitutes each childs
family.

The role of early childhood educators to be

aware of who constitutes each childs family. It is
never the role of an early childhood educator to
define the childs family for him.
Cultural Beliefs
Teachers should not attempt to alter a
particular familys view about membership in
that family.
Some factors that make families different from
one another include ethnicity, race,
culture, economics, gender roles,
religiosity, and geographic regionalism.
Cultural Beliefs
Families are different in many ways. It is
crucial that early childhood teachers work to
increase their understanding of differences in
families and interact sensitively with these
differences in mind.
Lifelong learning is a requirement for teachers
in this regard. For as society changes, so will
families change.
Note:
It is important that these differences are
considered in order to increase understanding
on the part of early childhood teachers. It is
common for each of us when we hear the
word family to think of our own family
experiences and to ignore differences.
Group Project