Please me gentle with me......

[katymac]

I got into a big arguement with people about this on a course.

I childmind as you all know - and I have a wide range of multicultural stuff, because of OFSTED and also because I feel that it is right

The children I mind were dressing up at the end of the week and they all went for the police uniform or the princess or the spider

The beautiful multicultural stuff I have was ignored

I asked a child if he would like to put a chinese/indian costume on and he said (he's nearly 4) what do they do? so I gave a bit of general information about china - he said yes but what does the china outfit do? I said it doesn't do anything (I was obviously not getting the idea)

He said well a police man tells peopl to slow down and the spider spins a web and eat flies - what does a chinese person do?

So I got out a book (well several)with a chinese policeman (in the UK) and a chinese chef and a chinese teacher - and he said yes but they aren't weraing PJ's

And I got to thinking...how should I have dealt with it? Is National/Cultural dress an effective multicultural tool or does it reinforce steriotypes?

Don't shout at me - please

This was always a massive area of concern when I taught in a secondary school. Frequently we would have heated discussions about whether our projects reinforced stereotypes and were tokenistic rather than genuinely informative and of real benefit.

As it was Chinese New Year, on Friday my DD1 (reception age) brought home a craft project of a chinese "hat" - red circle of card bent into a shallow cone, red ribbon flying on the end, decorated with buttons etc When I questionned her she told me that this is what all the people in China wear to keep the sun off their faces while they all pick their rice for their tea...
Whilst it is important to help children learn about different cultures, places, experiences etc it has to be done sensitively. Young children are so literal in their understanding. I felt so unhappy at what my DD had "learnt" that I took her straight up to the office and onto her computer to google images of China to build a little perspective and understanding about modren China as well as rural stereotypes. It is hard as you can?t expect those in education/childcare to avoid stereotyping to a certain degree. We live in a very middle class rural part of the country. It is rife with prejudices, racism and unbelievable ignorance. I guess it makes me even more careful.

I would say that multi cultural activities have the potential to reinforce stereotypes but don?t let this stop you - just carry on asking these questions and be aware of the dangers. Cooking with chidlren is fraught with possible dangers but that doesn?t stop it being a worthwhile activity.

Had another think about this and was wondering if you could explain it to your mindees as a kind of special outfit for special occasions which Chinese / Indian / people wear.

Because to a large extent, Chinese traditional wear is now confined to occasions such as the New Year or weddings. Although Chinese-inspired fashion pops up every so often in the High Street.

I think you dealt with it just fine, I am chinese and I rarely dress my dds in chinese wear. My dd1 prefers to dress up as a nurse or currently is obsessed with fireman sam and desperately wants a helmet.

During the recent chinese new year celebrations I too dressed my dds in traditional clothing! They looked so cute!!!!!

I agree with you all!

Lemon tart's post especially. My ds's monocultural school makes a big effort to be 'multicultural.' Last year they did an African week which has firmly planted in ds's mind that Africans are all poor and live in mud huts. Same for chinese new year - the children were asked to come to school dressed as 'chinese' so all turned up with eye make up and cone hats. I honestly don't think this has broadened their perception of our multicultural society and if anything has made it narrower.