This article talked about a lot of studies on how culture effects child development. It also talked a little bit about the effects of ethnicity and wealth/social class. What I read pretty much reinforced what I already knew from my own observations. I watch and read a lot of books and programs that are made in other countries. I noticed a long time ago that some things are done very differently with/by children from those countries.
One thing that I found very interesting is that most studies seem to show that in families that are new to the US, cultural differences had a large effect on how children compared with typical middle class US children. However, the longer the families were in the US, the more their economic status became the more important influence.
I think that the main point of the article was to point out two things:
1. We need to be aware of the difference that culture make to how a child behaves and reacts.
2. We need to understand that we have cultural biases, too, and we must work to overcome them.
I liked the information about the cultural line of individualistic to interdependent. I was not surprised to find that the US is one of the most individualistic countries. You just have to look at how many people are voting for Donald Trump to see that! I suppose that Bernie Sanders would be at the interdependent end of the list of candidates.
I think we, as child care educators, should try to keep to the middle of the spectrum.
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