Diversity?

I have books with different people, different families, people with disabilities etc. It is really hard to find multi-cultural dolls though around here! I found some at Ikea but honestly, they looked scary to me! lol. (just made cheaply so the faces were "off")I found an African-American doll in the States awhile back. She is beautiful!! Unfortunately, my dck's NEVER play with her!! She gets stepped on, arms broke off, her head and one leg has had to be glued back on and she is always just left in the middle of the floor. If I only have a couple dolls out and everyone wants a doll no one will pick her! I was actually kinda concerned about this behaviour because I truly do believe that no child is born racist. However, I have come to the conclusion that they just don't want to play with her because she is "different".

Well fast forward a bit.....I have a child come into my care who is African-American. I have to be honest and say that I was a little worried as to how the kids would react to him. I have all caucasion children except for one who is Native Amercian (but he's really pale skinned so a child wouldn't even know this). They have all been fantastic and play well with him though....well except for one child but he doesn't play with any of the boys, he prefers girls lol.

I can kinda understand why a parent would want more children around them that are the "same" but not really. Here, I now have 3 different races but they are so young that I don't think colour matters to them. I think once they get older they would benefit from being around same races but I don't think I would want to take my child out of a dc that they are doing well in just because of race. That's just me though....like we said in another thread, parents parent differently and will do what they think is best for their child.

Once again though I think that this is just a very personal decision. I understand being bullied, believe me more than you know, but to compare being bullied for freckles by a select few to discrimination at large is not the same. Now I want to be clear that bullying of any kind and for any reason is damaging so I'm down playing that at all. That wasn't really my understanding of why they moved their child anyway, It wasnt because the child was discriminated against but simply that the parent wanted a different childcare setting that they thought would offer a more diverse setting for their child which really with larger numbers likely would. Yes some parents wouldn't move their child out of a setting they were settled into but this is really just a case of different people wanting different things and that is fair enough whether we agree with it or not.

Here are a couple that I've found on Ebay. There are much, much nice ones on Amazon.com, but they don't deliver to Canada. I'm currently waiting for anyone I know in the US to visit, so I can have them delivered to their place. It's almost impossible to find dolls of different ethnic backgrounds here. I have the same IKEA dolls 5LM mentioned.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/JC-Toys-La-Ba...3b9bdfa&_uhb=1

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-JC-Toys-L...eb0704c&_uhb=1

Oh I might have to consider buying some dolls online!!

Cfred...do your Ikea doll faces look a little off or was it just the ones I saw? lol

I can understand what your saying Fun & Care, sometimes when a family isn't upfront with you and only considers your care a "short term solution" to the actual childcare plan is insulting no matter what reason they give you, especially if that child required special attention or had a difficult transition overall. You have ever right to feel miffed, and the diversity excuse might have been (in their view) an easy letdown as they had that plan all along to leave once the daycare spot opened up.

Hahaha, yes 5LM, the Ikea dolls are awful! I got them because that was all I could find! I ended up using one of them to do a circle about my upcoming surgery (before I had it) so it's all stitched up. We have a lot here now to give the impression of diversity, but I'd like to get the dolls. Will have to wait a bit as I just spent a couple hundred on books.

OK good. (well not good, lol. it would be nice if the Ikea dolls didn't look so funny haha)

I recently bought a quad stroller and this weekend I am picking up a playhouse for outside (both used :) ) so I have to wait on ordering the dolls too!

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Originally Posted by Fun&care

This might sound ridiculous, let me know if it does,but I sort of understand the whole being "different" thing. I have freckles, and a LOT of them and boy did I get teased when I was younger and made to feel different on a daily basis. Try having kids at school calling you sh*t face everyday...yep:rolle yes: but did my mom take me out of school and try to find a school with more freckled kids? Of course not. Did my mother in law do the same for my husband because he was super short throughout his childhood and got teased for that on a daily basis a well? Of course not!

All this ethical stuff is hurting my brain!

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I'm sorry, but comparing freckles to race is not the same thing at all. Like I had said, it is really hard to describe. And it isn't about being bullied or having racist remarked said, but a deeper sense of self that isn't visible on a superficial level.

It is also difficult to understand when you are white, I never thought about these things when I was growing up. These things weren't really a part of my life in any real way until I married my wonderful husband and we had our children.

I have the IKEA dolls and while the "races" of the dolls don't appeal to me they appease parents at interviews and my daycare kids love them. I especially like that even though they are stuffed they can be posed with the legs and arms turned to suit what the kids want. I also get the impression that the faces were done to make the dolls ageless in the sense of they can be a baby or a toddler depending on how you dress them and use them. I just keep my feelings out of it and let the kids enjoy their dolls.

The problem with racial stereotypes and racism is that it is everywhere and all around you. It is on TV, in books, portrayed in toys, and comes from people in the community as well. While bullying is very hurtful and can certainly have lasting effects on anyone who has been victim to it, it really is not the same thing. Racism is systemic. Racial identity begins very very early. My son has said many things at the age of 4-5 years old about race...generalizatio ns that he has made from what he has seen in his world. When he comes home talking about how people in Africa are starving and drinking dirty water (his teacher said so), it has a huge effect on his sense of identity as a child of African heritage. It is not that these things are untrue, but how often do they talk in school about positive things related to Africa or Africans? How often do the kids come home talking about the big modern cities in Africa and the kids who go to school every day and eat good food just like them? This is what I mean by systemic...the prevailing societal image of black people is overwhelmingly negative...whether it be poverty, gun violence, etc. Kids internalize this very early on and it is so important to fill them with pride and confidence in who they are from a young age. I know I have gone a bit off on a tangent from the OP's question about diversity...but this is actually an important topic that I feel very strongly about.