WestEd.org

Infant & Toddler Group Care

Culture and Early Identity Formation

WestEd.org

Learning ObjectivesParticipants will be able to:

• Define culture and its impact on the infant’s developing sense of self.

• Define culture and how it influences the young child’s identity formation

• Identify strategies to support the child’s home culture in the child care setting.

WestEd.org

What is Culture?Culture is made up of all those factors in your environment that are accepted by the group as the norm. Culture includes attitudes, values, laws, cherished beliefs, and ways of doing things.

Infant/Toddler Caregiving: A Guide to Culturally Sensitive Care, 1995

WestEd.org

Essential Connections: Introduction and Key Concepts

Essential Connections: Ten Keys to Culturally Sensitive Child Care, 1993.

WestEd.org

Cultural Learning

• When young children are cared for by their family members, the process of cultural learning occurs naturally.

• Early child care that respects time-honored cultural rules helps children develop a secure sense of self.

WestEd.org

Small Group ActivityAnswer the following questions and report back to the large group:1. What happens to the

influence of the family’s culture when young children are in out-of-home child care?

2. What happens to cultural connections between the child and his parents and grandparents?

3. Do connections with the home culture continue to be a central part of the children’s life or do the children start to lose part of their core identity?

WestEd.org

Infants learn through their relationships with the adults who care for them

WestEd.org

Activity: Handout #20: Defining a Cultural Context

• Review practices/attitudes listed. Choose 4 of the items that you think had the biggest impact on your own identity development.

• Reflect on your childhood and share with a partner why you think these particular items impacted your identity.

WestEd.org

Cultural Learning

The gifts children receive from an infancy firmly grounded in their home culture are confidence, competence, and connection.

To receive these gifts, culturally sensitive care in all settings is crucial.

WestEd.org

Handout #32: Cultural Empowerment• Culture is learned.

• Culture is characteristic of groups.

• Culture is a set of rules for behavior.

• Individual members of a culture are embedded to different degrees in their culture.

• Cultures borrow and share rules.

• Members of a cultural group may be proficient at cultural behavior but unable to describe its rules.

WestEd.org

Activity: Jigsaw Handout #33: Cultural Influences on Learning

• Routines and Cultural Learning

• Learning Styles

• Language Learning

• “Verbal” versus “Observational” Learning

WestEd.org

Reviewing the Learning ObjectivesParticipants will be able to:

• Define culture and its impact on the infant’s developing sense of self.

• Define culture and how it influences the young child’s identity formation

• Identify strategies to support the child’s home culture in the child care setting.

WestEd.org

Culture’s Role

“Through culture, children gain a sense of who they are, a feeling of belonging, what is important, what is right and wrong, how to care for themselves and others, and what to celebrate, eat, and wear.”

(Infant/Toddler Caregiving: A Guide to Culturally Sensitive Care, 1995)