The truth about multiculturalism and diversity

[dulciean]

This is a subject that has challenged me for years in the industry. I work in an area of Sydney that is extraordinarily multi cultural- we have children from across the globe attending our service. Very few are from English speaking backgrounds, and in fact many come from homes where no English at all is spoken or read. Recently we have enrolled three new children in my room. At ages 2.5-3 years old, none of them have ever been separated from their families( immediate nor extended) for any period of time. Now suddenly they are in long day care for one or two days a week. It is a heart breaking scenario- their distress is prolonged and palpable. They cry and sob and call in their home language for 5-6 hours at a time. They refuse food ( even that brought from home) we can only soothe and support them, and attempt to discover what engages or distracts them.
I don't know the answer to this issue, but it brings out strong feelings in me and leaves me feeling somehow child care is not in the best interests of all children. The parents seem to assume the children will learn English through osmosis,but fail to appreciate how overwhelming and stressful it is for these little ones. We have staff who pop in from other rooms to try to speak to these children in their own languages but the fact of the matter is we are strangers and it doesn't seem to help a great deal. What experiences have others had and do you have any ideas or opinions on this aspect of early childhood education?

[debzo]

Hi
I feel your pain. Thankfully I have not been in this position myself but in my last centre there were children exactly like this who were miserable and put a lot of stress on their teachers and classmates. It seems to me that family daycare with a bi-lingual educator from a similar cultural background would be a far less stressful solution.

I don't know if I could cope under the conditions you describe. My thoughts go out to you.

Deb

[fchaudari76]

I have found in hard situations like this a longer transition works.
When I was working overseas sometimes it took me 2-3 weeks before I got the child to the point they could do a full day at daycare. The first week was them coming with one parent slowing increasing the time they stayed day by day and decreasing the contact they had with the parent though the parent was there.
This seemed to work well as seeing the teachers and parent talking etc helped build trust with the child.

The Director HATED me doing this but I did it because it is about the child & it reassured the parents as well as it was distressing for them to leave their child kicking and screaming the place down.

Sometimes children doing a full day from day 1 does not suit them and it makes it hard & heartbreaking for the child, staff, parents and anyone else involved.

[Lorina]

I think it's important for children to develop trust and confidence with their carers whether or not English is their first language. It's definelty harder for children with English as a second language to settle into care especially if they have never been put into this situation before and especially if they have never been looked after by anyone other than family members.

It is heartbreaking when a child spends most of their day in care crying and calling for their mum/dad and it's even harder when there is no way that you can settle them. But let me assure you that it does get easier, it may take awhile but it will get better... In the end the child does get use to it, it may take a month or more but the child will eventually settle.

During the beginning it's important to have an orientation process where the parent and child come and play for a few hours during the day with the group (a few days a week). It's a good idea to start this a couple of weeks before care is to start. It's important that the main carer interacts with the child as much as possible during this time to develop and confidence and trust with the child. As the child cannot speak English, if there is another carer who is able to speak the same language as the child then they should also be introduced to the parent/child.

It's also a good idea to get words/phrases that are familiar to the child to incorporate them when speaking to the child. If you are unsure on pronunciation then ask the parent, they will be more than happy to help.

I know right now that it's really hard but just try and be positive and do the best you can! It will all work out in the end!

,
L.A

[Keta1992]

This is hard, im assuming the child/ren have already started so the whole orentaion thing is no irelevent,yes the language is a big barrier defently recomend learning some simple phrases ie hello, lunch etc, i also sujest read up on the culture and child reading pratices its great you have staff member from the culture pick there brain and use them! Maybe ask the parents (throgh interpreter if needed) whats the childs fav toy etc bring that out or bring it in, family photos and other things to make the child feel more at home, also think about play music the child would recongise and even having books out in that language even though they dont read they would still recongise the charetors etc, but yeah just try all the tricks of the trade that you would try with a english speaking family and fingers crossed i hope its not a long stressful process for you or the child...

[Barbie]

Hi i'm shocked at similar things going on in my centre. Previous one i worked at rang the parents if a child even cried for anything more than an hour yet this one lets it go on all day. The repetative i want my mum in their own language over and over for 6-8 hours. Its cruelty and i can see the child is so distressed they're almost fitting not to mention red in the face.

Only things i can suggest is music in their own language, supplying costume dress ups from their country, learning words from their language off the bi-lingual carers. Unfortunately with the ones at our centre and im guessing yours they are at such a distressed level that its beyond return no matter what you do and its about time centres stopped thinking of $$$ and impressing parents and just told them hey sorry childcare just isnt for everyone!!

[dulciean]

Thank you for your responses- gleaned some valuable insights there. One of these new children has been withdrawn from the service.
Two more continue to attend once weekly ( as we know this in itself creates more havoc) Just today one if these children cried inconsolably from 10am at arrival, through morning session and during sleep time( crying and sobbing pitifully in their sleep!) then resumed crying upon waking. I discussed with Director and rang the mother to collect child. 10 mins later whilst sitting with child I saw blood running down their chin- due to the distress child had chewed and bitten through their bottom lip.
I am 100% with you Barbie- we need to stop theses scenarios , bite the bullet and admit child care is NOT suitable for all children!!! Regardless of all the best intentioned strategies and support the simple fact is one approach for all can never suit all individual children.