Family Involvement in Early Multicultural Learning

Research supports the idea that children's early childhood experiences are powerful in influencing their cultural understandings (Banks, 1993). Children develop ideas about racial identity and the attributes of cultural groups other than their own as early as three years of age (Banks, 1993). Equally significant, children begin their development of self-understanding (inclusive of their cultural identity) at birth. Self-understanding is constructed from experiences with others, mainly parents, but certainly including caregivers and teachers and significant kin and friends (Rossi & Rossi, 1990).

Recent studies suggest that the intimate involvement of parents and teachers with young children provides natural opportunities for modeling, guiding, and nurturing positive racial, ethnic, and cultural attitudes and perspectives. Fostering young children's multicultural understanding can be accomplished naturally through family involvement in children's care and education on several levels.

Strategies that support children's multicultural learning within a context of family involvement fall into three categories: parent education and support, school-family curriculum activities, and teacher-parent partnership efforts (Banks, 1993; Swick & Graves, 1993).

Parent Education and Support

Enlisting parents' help in identifying appropriate and meaningful goals and activities for family involvement in multicultural education is a first step. Teachers can involve parents by holding orientation meetings for parents in which the importance of the multicultural focus of the curriculum is explained. They can share multicultural information with parents through a lending library of books, articles, and videos; bulletin boards of events, ideas, and suggestions; parenting programs; and newsletters. "Anti-bias alerts" can warn parents about upcoming television programs that may present cultural groups in inaccurate ways (Derman-Sparks, 1989). Other steps include supporting parents in their efforts to find resources and activities by fostering in parents the need for pride in their family and their ethnic and racial heritage.

Parent and family involvement strategies need to support parents in gaining confidence and competence in their modeling and teaching roles (Swick, 1987). Children look to their parents or guardians for examples of how to relate to people who are different from themselves. Parents need positive support for their efforts to intentionally function as multicultural role models (Byrnes, 1992).

School-Family Curriculum

The diversity of cultures in the classroom is a natural starting point for increasing children's multicultural awareness. Activities that can increase both parents' AND children's multicultural awareness include study and discussion groups on racial or cultural issues; events in which parents as well as teachers and children celebrate their cultural diversity; and parent participation in specific classroom curriculum activities (Ramsey & Derman-Sparks, 1992). Concrete activities in which parents and other family members can take part, such as field trips and classroom presentations, should include a time for discussion in which children can ask questions and explore their concerns and ideas (Neugebauer, 1992). Helping children have positive interactions with people from other cultures is critical to their formation of sensitive and supportive perceptions of others.

Using interesting and appropriate materials in classrooms is another way of fostering children's awareness (Byrnes, 1992). For example, PROPS such as containers of hair products for men and women from various cultures can stimulate discussion about similarities and differences among people. Activities such as eating can be represented for different cultures (Neugebauer, 1992).