Exploring Gender Diversity in Early Childhood

08/21/2019

Exploring Gender Diversity in Early Childhood

You must work—we must all work— to make the world worthy of its children.
Pablo Casals, 1876-1973, Spanish cellist, conductor and composer

In the March/April edition of Exchange magazine, Brook Pessin-Whedbee writes: “Exploring gender diversity with children can happen in myriad ways. We can choose books that serve as mirrors, reflecting back our students’ experiences, and books that serve as windows, opening our students’ eyes to the experiences of others. Just about any story can be transformed into a springboard for a rich conversation…Sometimes the unplanned conversations are even richer.”

The author provides an example of an unplanned conversation: “It was free play and a group of children were huddled around a colorful book in my kindergarten classroom. ‘Pink is a girl color,’ Ezra insisted…I paused to see how the other children would respond…Amaya was first, ‘My dad has a pink shirt’...Ezra’s best friend, JJ, had been quiet at first, but burst in with bolstered confidence, ‘Yeah, I love pink.’ There was a pause and all eyes were on Ezra. I could see on his face that he was rolling all of this around in his mind, trying to make sense of the wave of new information. ‘Well,’…he looked at his friends and took a breath. Then he repeated his declaration, ‘Pink is a girl color.’

It takes a certain amount of courage and trust to delve into these explorations with our students when we are all still learning ourselves. Indeed, it can be a daunting task, but it is one that is well worth the dive.”

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.