Welcoming Families From Around the World

For this assignment, I chose the country of India as my country of origin for the family. It's always been a culture I've been fascinated by but is one that I've never come in contact with before.

To be culturally responsive to the family, I would want to look into how their country goes about child rearing. Both at home and in any sort of daycare setting, if they have one. Knowing how they tend to children's needs will help me to understand how the parents may be expecting me to work with their children in my classroom. Where our society favors independence, theirs may not. Or perhaps their version of independence would be different than ours.

I would also want to look into the culture around food. How they eat, what they eat, how they share meals. One of the things we do at my job is sit and eat snack and lunch together with the kids. But it's at a set time and at some point we need to tell them it's time to be all done so we can get them down for rest. Some countries don't have things like this, instead they sit and they eat until they are full and everyone wishes to end the meal. We also aren't allowed to heat up food for kids in case they burn themselves because then we are liable. So I'd want to know if they eat mostly warm foods or if they eat cold foods.

Knowing games that children are taught would be a good way to help them integrate into the classroom as well. Helping them to understand that they don't need to feel overwhelmed by knowing nothing we are doing is important. I'd want them to have a game they would know that maybe we can teach to the other kids in the room as a way of spreading cultural awareness. Along with this, I'd also want to know if there are any songs that they know. One of the best things to do with kids is music because not only do they learn, it's fun and they can get a lot of movement moments out of it. Knowing songs taht other countries use for their kids is something I think is super important.

I think the final thing I'd want to know about a child starting is their family dynamics. I love learning about the different dynamics in families. Who does the most work with the child? Who is the one that they spend the most time with? Who teaches them certain life skills? All of it is something I think is important to know when working with a child. It's not always just mom and dad, sometimes extended family is very heavily in the lives of a child. Knowing that would be incredibly helpful.

I would hope that these preparations would help a family be more comfortable leaving their child with me. I'd want them to know that I want their child to feel safe and at home within my classroom. If the child is going to be spending the majority of their time with me, I'd want the family to feel comfortable about leaving them with me that many hours a week. And it would benefit me to help make sure the child has a smooth transition and feels welcomed rather than ostracized.