The Honor (Them) System

It is the age-old question in programs that are emergent and child-directed: What do you do when the children are interested in something that doesn't exactly mesh with your beliefs as a teacher, the culture of the classroom, your personal ideologies?

As a younger teacher (if I'm being honest, even as a more seasoned teacher), I tended to ignore these opportunities for exploration. I figured if I quietly ignored these topics, they would simply fade away. It's true that this tactic has had some measure of success, but as topics and ideas recur year after year, I've had to really ask myself what I'm really trying to do as an early childhood practitioner who is learning alongside children every day. As the years have passed, I have attempted to move farther and farther out of my comfort zone, but currently I have an inquiry emerging in my classroom that is forcing me to do some major soul searching: princesses.

I: "Look, I have on a princess dress!"

It's not that princesses have never been a hot topic in my classroom before. But it's becoming more and more evident to me that in order to really honor the children and respect their burgeoning abilities, I have to set aside my own discomfort and meet them where they are.

It's not princesses that bother me, per se, but more what princesses represent in our overly-sexualized, Disney Princess consumer culture. I am bothered by children, especially girls, striving to emulate characters that focus on outer beauty and "getting a man" as their main goals in life, and more importantly, characters that lack agency and autonomy. (For some helpful resources regarding princesses, click here, here, and here).

Recently, the topic of princesses came up in a conversation about engineers (Huh?!). When I asked the children to tell me what princesses do, there were two recurring themes: they brush their hair and they get a man. I was horrified. Later, I asked a group of girls why they want to be princesses. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they could not articulate what it is a princess "does" or why they wanted to be princesses in the first place. I find this completely fascinating. There was a pretty significant shift in my thinking about the idea of a princess inquiry in this moment - what could we do to open a dialogue about why these children are so enamored with princesses in the first place?

E: "When I sit like this, I look like a princess."

So, in an attempt to honor the children as curious, capable learners, I am moving to meet them where they are. Am I excited to spend the next days, weeks, possibly months discussing princesses? Actually, yes. I consider myself a teacher researcher and as such, I'm excited to at least try to get to the bottom of the infatuation with princesses. While I take issue with what I consider to be unhealthy about princess culture, I am excited to open up a dialogue and perhaps give children pause to think about things a little differently. The important thing is, we are on this journey together and I am doing my best to honor them as learners who have the right to be supported by their teacher. Stay tuned!

The Choice to Invite

The way we choose to display the materials in our classrooms communicates a lot about the way we view children. Being thoughtful with the materials, and taking the time to present materials in an attractive, inviting way, indicates to children, and the broader community, several things:

• We value their thinking
• We respect their work
• We appreciate the processes in which they engage

In the busy and sometimes hectic world of early childhood education, it can be tempting to simply toss out a bucket of Legos and walk away. But taking the time to stop and reflect shows children that you respect them as thinkers, creators, and builders. It sharpens their sense of your view of them - as capable, inquiring minds who are ready to take on the wonders they encounter each day. It also conveys the message that you have a deep respect for the materials in the classroom and encourages them to internalize the same respect in themselves. Setting high expectations creates an opportunity for children to rise to these expectations; cultivating a community of independent, autonomous children requires this type of thinking.

When the choice is made to make the shift to creating invitations, as opposed to simply tossing out materials with no regard to their presentation, the results are amazing. I've reflected before on the ways in which children tend to be underestimated and I've now come to wonder if it is really on us, the adults, to create opportunities for children to show us just how capable they really are.

It has been fascinating for me to see how thoughtful invitations empower children to see themselves as capable. I often talk about the fact that children still manage to surprise me with their thinking on a regular basis. Never has this been more clear than when I set up materials in an engaging, attractive way and the children rearrange them into something unexpected and spectacular. It is heartening to me to see children take the initiative to set up invitations for themselves and their classmates, invitations full of wonder, beauty, and promise.

It is a wonderful testament to just how capable they are when they start creating invitations that are as intricate and interesting as any adult's!

"Children have real understanding only of that which they invent themselves." - Jean Piaget