ESSENTIAL CONNECTIONS:Ten Keys to

Culturally Sensitive Child Care

The Program for Infant Toddler Caregivers

Developed Collaboratively by the California Department of Education and WestEd

Essential Connections:

Essential Connections

Cultural/Family Information

Environments

Representative Staffing

Small Groups

Clarify Values

Your Beliefs

Negotiate Conflicts

Others Perspectives

Home Language

Cultural Consistency

Keep in mind…

• This video has a focus on the care for infants and toddlers.

• Rules and environments in child care settings usually represent the dominant culture.

• Families vary tremendously in how they follow cultural rules.

Key #1: Provide Cultural Consistency

Young children need to feel good about where they

come from.

Yolanda Torres

• “The child’s culture is tied into the self-esteem. This is what we are looking at right from the beginning – to make a child feel good about himself”

• “ If you shame a child because he is using his own language, you are telling the child that his parents don’t know how to raise him.”

Carol Brunson Phillips

“Teach children in a culturally consistent context, rather than teach culture to children. This means that the context of child care needs to be consistent with the child’s home context.”

Key #2: Work Toward Representative Staffing

• Employ caregivers who are of the same culture and who speak the same language as the children served.

• Seek cultural representation at all levels of staff and management.

Louise Derman-Sparks

• “We have to look at every aspect of policies and practices…how we recruit staff, train them, pay them, the working conditions, who are supervisors…”

Key #3Create Small Groups

• All infants benefit from small groups.

• Large groups are chaotic and confusing.

• In small groups caregivers have fewer cultures to relate to.

• Small groups prevent misunderstandings.

Key #4: Use the Child’s Home Language

• Home language supports the child’s identification with her family and culture.

• Infants needs are met when home and childcare use the home language.

• Infants feel powerful and self confident when their words are understood.

What If We Don’t Speak the Same Language?

• Translate all written information.

• Find an interpreter.

• Learn basic “toddler” vocabulary.

Key #5: Make Environments Relevant

• Materials should reflect the children and families you serve.

• Materials should reflect their culture.

• Develop an environment that focuses on the families in care.

Carol Brunson Phillips

• “..for very young children it is the interactions that communicate the culture in the child’s world.”

Key #6Uncover Your Cultural Beliefs

• What are the roots of your child care practices?

• What cultural values are reflected in your caregiving?

Lily Wong Fillmore

• “There is almost nothing a person can do while caring for a child under three that is not cultural.”

• “Everything one does is cultural.”

Key #7: Be Open to Perspectives of Others

• Awareness of multiple perspectives on childrearing practices leads to respect for others’ beliefs.

• Awareness of multiple perspectives on childrearing leads to a clearer understanding of your own perspective.

Don’t Jump to Conclusions!

• What is naturally right for one person may not be naturally right for everyone.

• There are fewer universal practices than once thought.

Louise Derman-Sparks

• “Many caregivers think that behavior that makes them uncomfortable is wrong behavior, is developmentally inappropriate behavior, is unfair to children, or is harmful to children.”

“ Most of the time, it is simply different behavior.”

• “The power of culture is so great that anything that isn’t like our culture feels unnatural.”

Key #8: Seek Out Cultural& Family Information

• Gather information.

• Have frequent conversations with parents.

• Learn how things are done at home.

• Learn what is important to the parents.

Gather Information• Read

• Ask

• Visit communities

• Visit homes of children

• Make yourself available to parents both in the child care setting and in the community.

Key #9: Clarify Values

• Have an open discussion with the family when communication breaks down, or you find yourself confused about a family’s actions.

• Ask yourself what is best for the child?

• It takes time and persistence to discover the values behind strong feelings.

Key #10: Negotiate Cultural Conflicts

• Negotiation is an essential part of parent/ caregiver relationships.

• Negotiation is not easy.

• Negotiation is a way of listening and coming to an agreement that takes both people’s values into consideration.

• Negotiation is always a balancing act.

10 Essential Keys

• Culturally sensitive care helps young children gain a strong sense of self early in life.

• Culturally sensitive care prepares young children to be confident and productive members of society.