Stereotyping Our Youth

 Serve and return: Engagement is one of the most important things you can do for your child.

Describes the fundamental adult-child interactions which helps a baby reach their full potential

It’s something basic like paying peekaboo with your child or talking to them so they can learn words and form a language 

Studies show that a child surrounded by caring and responsive adults will start elementary school with better social skills, better emotional regulation, and a better ability to focus then a child lacking the positive adult attention

A lack of serve in return is one of the causes of the education gaps happening in society today

Without healthy brain architecture children are at risk of falling behind and never catching up. I believe this statement is partially untrue because as a current educator, I know many parents that work long hours and may not have the time every moment of the day to talk and interact with their babies. However, as I do believe that it’s great to have a healthy brain developing starting as an infant, I hold true that you can form it later on in your development. 

 

The quote “strong communities create strong grain architectures,” stood out to me because I believe that it’s very essential that communities work together to provide educational and financial support to families who need a helping hand. 

This video is connected to the deficit-based model which is an approach that tends to focus on needs and problems in people or helping avoid risks associated with negative outcomes 

In the video they expressed things such as learning words and language as an infant. This results in putting down parents negatively that might not have the time or resources as others to spend with their child. That does not mean that they don’t care for their child. In addition, children who aren’t read to every night or talking to while feeding their bottle doesn’t mean that when they go to elementary school they automatically fail. Children will be able to catch up with their emotional and social skills by the help of different support roles such as their teacher. 

 Adultification Bias

Adults view black girls as less innocent and more adult like than their white peers. 

Poverty and inequality found that adults believe black girls need less nurturing, less protection, less support, and less comforting. WHAT? This is absolutely stereotyping these women into a certain “category” based on their race.

Black girls are punished at a disproportionate rate in schools and the juvenile justice system. Why is this still happening in our society? Why can’t everyone treat each other with respect and kindness? 

They conducted focus groups across the country to hear stories about their lived experiences.

 Stories such as. “I feel like you cannot make mistakes as a black girl.”

EVERYONE makes mistakes, so therefore everyone should be treated equally 

I HATE the phrase “oh you should have known better” Black girls shouldn’t be labeled with having different standards and harsher treatment than white girls. 

One of the women shared her story about how she was already introduced to stereotypes when she was young. People assumed that she was cussing people out, drinking, and having sex. She stated that she never thought of those stereotypes before. In our society today children at a young age are being introduced to different stereotypes based upon their race. Our society is teaching children that there is a binary between different races which shouldn’t be the case. 

Another stereotype that adults gave them was that they are too loud, aggressive, or angry and see black girls’ actions as threatening and disrespectful. We all need to come together and make a change so black woman can have a childhood in a safe and nurturing environment where they can “dream, lead, and thrive” without people stereotyping them.

  

A memory where I experienced prejudice as a child

I had a friend in elementary school who was a girl and played basketball. One day at recess the boys had a basketball game going on. My friend wanted to join because she liked basketball however she was turned away because they did not think she was good enough. This is prejudice because they are stereotyping her being a girl as her not being "athletic." If it were a boy wanting to join, it wouldn't have been an issue.