When Families and Early Educators Have Conflicting Goals and Values

Buy this book »

Consider the differences between an infant program based on pattern 1 and what a baby is used to whose family comes from a pattern 2 culture. The pattern 1 infant care teacher might expect that the parents put their baby daughter to sleep in a crib in a room separate from their bedroom. In fact, if they can afford it, they might give her a room of her own from the beginning. A goal would be to get her to put herself to sleep in her own bed and stay there asleep all night long. Families might vary about when they would expect this to occur—and some would “baby” the child longer than others—but eventually the child is expected to show her ability to manage on her own by sleeping alone.

That’s a contrast to pattern 2 parents, who might sleep with their daughter from birth on, never buying her a crib or planning to provide her with a room of her own. They might move her out of the parental bed when another baby comes along, but they most likely would move her into a sibling’s bed or perhaps in with her grandmother. Being alone, even when asleep, is not sought after by most members of a pattern 2 culture.

A pattern 1 infant care teacher or early educator may expect to raise each child’s self-esteem by emphasizing individuality. The teacher may purposely set out to praise accomplishments—drawing attention to individual behavior. Comments like “You did that all by yourself!” illustrate this emphasis on the individual. Along the same lines, the caregiver or teacher may provide for each child a storage cubby that is decorated with the child’s name in bold print and a picture of him or her. The idea is for the child to gain a sense of his or her own personal identity while experiencing private ownership, even in the group situation.

A pattern 2 family may dislike their child being singled out. They would prefer that the early educator point out group accomplishments rather than individual ones. They would like the focus to be on rewarding cooperative efforts instead of individual efforts. A member of a pattern 2 family will likely downplay individual achievement by refusing personal credit when given a compliment. They may be teaching modesty at home to their children and be concerned that at school their child is being taught to “brag” about himself.

Several examples common to preschool and some homes serve to show the difference between a group emphasis and an emphasis on individuals. In one program children use clay to create objects to fire and take home. Another program uses clay to explore and experiment with, and when it is time to clean up, all the clay goes back into the common pot.

In one home each of the four children have their own small box of crayons, so each would have a full set. In another home the parent bought a big box of crayons for his six children to share. A similar example in a preschool shows the same two mindsets. One teacher sorted the crayons and gave each child a paper cup with a variety of colors of crayons in it. Another teacher sorted the crayons by colors and put a cup of each color in the middle of the table. When the first teacher questioned this, the second teacher explained that she wanted the children to interact with each other rather than having a “personal set” of crayons.