To recognize ways in which preschool children develop a sense of personal identity and self worth, recognize and express their feelings, and take pride in their heritage
Brian started the morning in high spirits. He was wearing his new Spiderman jersey, which Grandma had sent for his birthday. Everything went fine until juice time, when somehow or another, grape juice slipped out of his hand and got all over his Jersey
From that time on, things went from bad to worse. At art time, Brian finished his picture in a hurry so he could go over to the sink and wash the grape juice off Spiderman's face. "Come back to your seat," his teacher called. "I want us all to share our pretty pictures. Oh, look how beautiful Terry's picture looks. Would you like to tell me about it? Oh, Demetria, look at what you've done. You made such a happy picture. I'd like to hear you talk about it." When she came to Brian's picture, the teacher didn't say anything at all.
Then it was circle time, and the teacher asked all the children to put away their crayons and papers and come to the circle. Brian started to put his crayons away, but then he looked at his picture. It really didn't look very pretty. he decided Maybe he could add a few more strokes. Maybe some black limes going up and down would be a good idea. As Brian was fixing up his drawing, he heard his teacher saying, loud and clear, "What good children I have in my class. I like the way most of you put your crayons away so quickly.
Brian tried to hurry with his picture, but when he rent fast with the black crayon, his paper started to tear: He crumpled it up, threw it on the floor and walked over to the circle. He threw his paper on the floor," Tommy tatted. "He's bad." "Yes, he's bad," agreed Ben. "He's got juice all over his shirt. His Daddies are going to be mad."
The teacher paid no attention to these comments. "Come on now, let's sing in a pretty voice. 'If you're happy and you know it ... At the end of the song it was dismissal time. All the children asked the teacher to stamp "happy faces" on their hands. I'm good.'' Jerry asserted, as he stood in line for his "happy face."
When one of Brian's fathers came to the door, he dashed over to him. Don't you want to get your 'happy face' before we go?" Brian's father asked. Brian burst into tears.
All of us, like Brian, have days when one thing leads to another. While we may feel grumpy or out of sorts, we don't think of ourselves as bad people because we've had a bad day. With young children, it may be quite a different story. During the preschool years, children have their own unique way of looking at the world. Because they don't
understand the notion of chance , they think that bad things happen for a reason. An accident, in their view, happens to them because they did something or thought something wrong. When a series of bad things happen to children of this age, they begin to think of themselves as bad people.
Brian's bad day was initiated by a minor accidental spill. This started off a chain of behavior. By the end of the morning. Brian was convinced he was a bad boy, umworthy of a "happy face." Brian's teacher was clearly trying to make the children in her class feel good about themselves, but in Brian's case, her techniques backfired. As she tried to engage the group with upbeat language, she missed Brian’s distress over the spilled grape juice and didn't give him the opportunity to finish his picture. she praised the "good" children in a way that made Brian (and probably others) feel "bad."
During the preschool years, children are continually making judgments about themselves. The sum of these judgments constitutes self-concept, which is, in essence, each child's value judgment of herself. The preschool teacher can help children develop a healthy self-concept in a variety of ways:
•By helping children develop a sense of personal identity
•By helping children to recognize and express their own feelings
•By helping children cope with separation
•By helping children feel good about their ethnic and cultural traditions
Developing Personal Identity and Self-Worth
All of us get upset when we meet people we know and can't remember their names. We are concerned that these people will interpret our lapse of memory as a sign that we don't think of them as being important. For young children, their own names are especially significant. They expect everyone to know their names often learn to recognize their names in writing before they can read anything else.
•Have a cubby or basket for each child where she can keep her belongings. Label cubbies with children's names and pictures.
•Ask the parents to send in photos of their children in advance, or take pictures of all the children on the first day
•Sing a simple song with the group in which you feature each child's name
•Help children create "All About Me" books in which they share "important" things about themselves and their families
A preschoolers’ sense of self includes aspects of identity that are social as well as personal. Gender, ethnic background, skin and hair color, language, family structure, cultural background, and ability affect how the child is seen by others and how he sees himself. When children are teased for their weight or hair texture or for behavior that defies gender stereotypes, they internalize negative messages.
When they hear terms like "gay" or "illegal alien" used in derogatory ways, they pick up the insult even if they don't fully under- stand the concept. In Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Edwards stress the importance of supporting all aspects of children's identities "Remember that respectfully making visible all of the children's families is an essential element in nurturing a positive sense of self for each child" (p. 4).