Previously published on this blog
(August 2014) and in the NYSECTA Newsletter (Spring, 2014). Citation:
Miller, E. (2014, Spring). Meeting the needs of today's modern families.
NYSECTA Newsletter,1(3), 6-8.
Updated 12/27/2016
Today’s early childhood and
elementary students’ families look more like Modern Family than Leave
It To Beaver. Their family structures are often much more complex than mom,
dad, and 2.5 children. Family households headed by single parents,
grandparents, stepparents, same-sex parents, co-habitation non-married couples
as well as multigenerational caregivers are more prevalent today than ever
before.
According to the 2010 United
States Census Brief (2012):
- Only 48%
of all households in the United States were defined as husband-wife families;
down 7% from the 1990 census data.
- 4.2
million children were living with stepparents
- 7.1
million grandchildren were living with grandparents
- 21.1% of
households were headed by individuals with no spouse
- Same-sex
partner identified households increased by 80% since 2000
-
Multigenerational households increased by .7 % since the 2000 census
What does this data mean for
those of us working in the field of education? Simply put, these changes in
family structure require us to take a closer look at the policies that govern
our schools as well as force us to reflect critically on the teaching practices
used in our classrooms. If we truly want to meet the needs of all of our
students, it is important to ask ourselves, “Are the policies and
practices used in our schools and classrooms respectful of our students’
diverse family structures?”
A research study that I
recently conducted examined the prekindergarten and elementary school
experiences of students from nontraditional families. The study’s data suggest
that the majority of the nontraditional families who participated in the study
felt alienated by various policies and practices used in the schools attended
by their children. In many of these cases, it was found that it was not the
school’s intention to marginalize nontraditional families, but rather the
alienation occurred due to a lack of consideration for their needs when the
policies and practices were developed. It was concluded that once nontraditional
families’ needs were considered, small adjustments could be made to existing
school policies and classroom practices to improve the school experiences of
the students from nontraditional families. The study identified the following
five (5) key areas which could easily be adjusted to make a school and/or
classroom more welcoming for such students and their families.
Area 1: Intake/Enrollment
Paperwork- Intake/enrollment paperwork is often the first communication
that schools have with new families. Therefore, it is important to consider the
wording used on your school’s intake/enrollment forms.
Questions to ask:
- How does
your school ask for parental/guardian contact information?
- Is there
a place on your intake/enrollment forms for families to write their information
in a manner truly representative of their family structure?
If you find that your school’s intake/enrollment forms are structured to only
accommodate traditional families, consider recommending changes to the forms.
Suggested solutions:
- Revamp
your forms to ask for guardian #1 and guardian #2
- Leave
the blanks unlabeled to encourage caregivers to write in the titles that
are used by their family.
Area 2: Correspondence Home- It is
also important to think about the language used in other forms of
correspondence sent home with your students.
Questions to ask:
- What
kind of greetings do you use in your correspondence home?
- Do you
begin your correspondence with greetings like, Dear Parents, or Dear
Moms and Dads?
If you find that your greetings exclude other types of caregivers, consider
changing your greeting.
Suggested solution:
- Use a
more inclusive greeting like, Dear Families or Dear (insert
classroom/school name) Community in your correspondence home.
Area 3: Holidays- Even the
most well-intentioned holiday related activities can be problematic for
students who come from nontraditional families.
Questions to ask:
- Do you
celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day in your classroom?
- Do you
have alternative activities to offer students who do not have a mom or dad in
their household or may have same-sex parents or stepparents
Alternative activities are not difficult to implement and can easily be
adopted.
Suggested solutions:
- Allow a
student to make two Mother’s Day projects if he/she has two mothers or changing
the wording on Father’s Day cards to say grandfather or stepfather.
- Forego
Mother’s and Father’s Day activities all together and instead observe a Family
Day where each student can celebrate the uniqueness of his/her
individual family
Area 4: Displays and Posters- Items
displayed on classroom walls have the potential for sending unintended messages
to students and families.
Question to ask:
- Do the
displays and posters found on the walls of your classroom reflect various forms
of family structures or are they primarily depictions of traditional families?
If you find that your classroom displays and posters primarily depict
traditional family structures, make an effort to also include posters and
displays that highlight diverse family structures as well.
Suggested solutions:
- Purchase
and hang posters/displays which feature nontraditional family structures.*See
The Professor Patty Cake ® Shop to view
a selection of such posters.
- If
purchasing such posters/displays is not feasible due to financial constraints,
consider creating homemade posters/displays which feature your students. You
can easily do so by asking your students to provide pictures of their families.
You can also keep a digital camera handy at drop-off and pick-up and/or at Open
House to capture candid shots of families. These pictures can be used to create
My Family Posters to be displayed prominently
throughout your classroom illustrating the diversity of your student
population.
Area 5: Classroom Libraries- The books
included in or excluded from your classroom library can send powerful messages
to students and their families regarding the types of family structures
accepted and valued by your school and classroom.
Question to ask:
- Do you
regularly review the books in your classroom library to determine the types of
family structures represented in their text?
If your classroom library currently does not have books depicting different
types of family structures, it is suggested that you purchase and/or create
reading materials that depict a wide variety of family structures.
Suggested solutions:
- Purchase
or borrow books from your public/school library that depict different types of
family structures. * Visit the Professor Patty Cake ® Amazon Resource Store to link to the following books on Amazon. Examples of such books are:
Families by Susan
Kuklin
The Family Book by
Todd Parr
A Tale of Two Mommies by
Vanita Oelschlager
Mommy, Mama, and Me by Leslea
Newman
And Tango Makes Three by Peter
Parnell
Daddy, Papa, and Me by
Leslea Newman
My Uncle's Wedding by Eric
Ross
Two Homes by
Claire Masurel
My Bonus Mom: Taking the Step out
of Stepmom by Tami Butcher
Sometimes It’s Grandmas and
Grandpas: Not Mommies and Daddies by Mary Haverfield
- If
purchasing or borrowing such books is not an option, consider creating
individual Family Books featuring pictures and stories from each
student’s family. Once the books are complete, laminate them, and add
them to your classroom library.
Please note that this list of
suggestions is not exhaustive. May this article serve as a spark for you
and your colleagues to begin critically examining how your school and
classrooms meet the needs of the students from nontraditional families who you
serve? You are encouraged to implement the suggestions provided as well as
brainstorm additional ways to adjust your policies and practices to ensure that
students from nontraditional families and their caregivers feel welcome in your
school and classrooms.
References
Lofquist, D., Lugaila, T.,
O’Connell, M. & Feliz, S. (2012, April). Household and families: 2010
census brief. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce Economics
and Statistics Administration U.S. Census Bureau.
If you are interested in learning
more about this topic, visit www.professorpattycake.com to read how you can
bring the Professor Patty Cake ® Workshops- "Effectively Meeting the
Needs of Diverse Families In Our Early Childhood/Elementary Schools" and
"What's Hiding In Your Classroom Libraries" to your
school/organization.