FAMILY DIVERSITY RESEARCH PAPER

INTRODUCTIONAmerican families are associated with by great diversity. The traditional family has undergone numerous changes in recent times with factors such as divorce, remarriage, early pregnancy and changes in social values that have led to these changes. The American families comprises of the traditional nuclear family with husband, wife and children; joint-custody families of divorced parents sharing child custody; cohabiting families where unmarried men and women may or may not be sharing responsibility of raising children; single-parent families where children are being raised by only one parent due to death, divorce or abandonment; blended families created by married couples who have children from a previous marriage and may have children of their own; homo-sexual families headed by gays or lesbians which may or may not include children; and grandparents parenting grandchildren, due to the illness, death or non-involvement of the parent.

The American family? Just which American family: black or white, large or small, wealthy or poor, or somewhere in between, a father-headed, mother-headed, or childless family, first or second time around, happy or miserable. The first thing to remember about the American family is that it doesn’t exist but families do exist in all kinds of economic and marital situations, as all of us can see and witness. At times families can be formed in many different ways but, it is important to remember that most families accomplish similar tasks such as child up bring, providing for basic needs, socializing members, establishing family traditions and delegating duties amongst the members. There are few other social institutions that have as great an impact on society as the family.

WAY IN WHICH FAMILIES DIFFER

Different family structures define themselves as a family. Membership in a family can be decided only by each member of that family. Therefore, it is the role of early childhood educators to be aware of who constitutes a child’s family and not to define the child’s family for them. Hence teachers should not try to alter a family’s view about its member in that family. Some factors that make families different from one another include: Ethnicity, race, culture, economy and geographical origin. 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 experiences and to ignore differences.

Ethnicity refers to a concept of a group of people based on a combination of race, religion, and cultural history. It describes a similarity transmitted by the family over generations. It is more than race, religion or national geographic origin. It involves conscious and unconscious processes that fulfill a deep psychological need for identity and historical continuity. (McGoldrick, 1989). Family ethnicity is sustained through unique family customs, proverbs and stories, norms and taboos, celebrations, foods and religious ceremonies. Differences have been noted between the notions of self-concept and ethnic identity. Families often find it difficult to instill ethnic pride in their children mostly amongst the pluralistic society.

Culture refers to the unique aspects of life 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 up brings and differences in the values placed on education. (Carol, 1995) notes that teachers need to have an understanding about how culture is transmitted and how it is not transmitted. They should note that culture is learned not biological; teachers cannot identify a family’s culture by how the family members look. Instead, each individual learns his culture’s rules through daily living. For instance, table manners, interpersonal interactions and ways of demonstrating respect. An individual’s characteristics are both cultural and individual while the unique personality traits are not culturally based. Cultural behaviors are based in groups thus culture is characteristic of groups. Some cultures may place greater emphasis on individuality or conformity than others. Individuals are entitled to different degrees within a culture. Some families and individuals place more emphasis on cultural traditions than do others. Teachers should not expect all people of one culture to be equally involved with their cultural rules.

Members of a family may be associated in certain cultural behavior but unable to describe the rules. This is because young children begin to learn their culture in their own home environments thus, behaviors seem natural to them. Not only can they not tell you why they engage in these behaviors, but also likely they are not conscious of all of the behaviors they have learned from their culture. Teachers would find it convenient to consider not only race, but also ethnicity and culture. It is more likely that knowledge of Socio-cultural factors would provide greater understanding to teachers than information about physical differences. Thus, including understanding of racial differences is most useful in the context of cultural and ethnic differences as well. Sometimes teachers unintentionally emphasize differences among groups of people and the effect is an insult rather than respectful toward diversity.

In the contemporary United States, families have vastly different experiences related to income and other resources. The Children’s Defense Fund has reported that in 1998, 22.7 percent of children under age six in the United States lived in poverty. For various ethnic groups, this proportion is even higher. There is no mystery about how to help families off welfare and out of poverty. States must provide the education, training, and work experience that parents need to compete for jobs with decent wages. In most cases teacher understanding of diversity does not include differences by family income or the traditional term, social class. Yet, financial resources have a tremendous impact on families, their practices, and their values. All parents are aware that poverty is a threat to children. Families living with scarce resources have had to learn the importance of meeting children’s most basic needs. States also need to remove the obstacles that often prevent parents from leaving welfare for work, lack of health care, transportation and child care.

For teachers or schools to positively respond to the family’s diversity, their main goal for understanding is to provide an inclusive environment. In that each child and family can feel a sense of belonging, no matter what similarities or differences they have with others in the group. This is a goal difficult to achieve because of many societal factors. As teachers plan for their groups of children and as they set their classroom rules and policies, checking for inclusiveness must be part of the process. The important act is what teachers will do when they realize that their classrooms are not inclusive.

In conclusion, families are different in many ways. It is important that teachers and schools work to increase their understanding of differences in families and interact with these differences sensitively. Teachers should accept the differences in families in which each child comes from and create a feeling of belonging for the celebration of diversity in families. Family members who view themselves as very different from teachers and other school personnel are less likely to be involved in their children’s education. Teachers should create an environment that encourages various types of family involvement so that children benefits from home and school participation. The roles that family and community play varies because of culture and ethnicity. It is frequently noted that in the United States, ethnic groups that are not dominant in the culture are more strongly influenced by extended families.

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