Written by a white woman
I had an eye-opening experience while working in a Mayan day care center. (Mayans are indigenous people, mainly from Mexico and Guatemala). At first I had many judgments, including the belief that the children were not being adequately stimulated by the environment. It also seemed that the parents who volunteered at the school were doing far too much for the children. I was worried that the children would not develop skills for themselves.
However, after working in this environment for a few months, I realized that the Mayan parenting style yielded incredibly patient children who had an ability to be in the moment and take joy in small things. I then began to see how narrow my ideas of child rearing were. This was a life changing lesson for me that has generalized into a much deeper appreciation of cultural differences. Now I try not to immediately judge behaviors or customs that are a part of a different culture.
Commentary to Indigenous Vignette #2
This vignette brings us into the area of cultural competency. Cultural competency involves increasing our awareness and knowledge of other ethnicities and cultures as well as learning to see our biases and stereotypes which come into play as we encounter those of a different culture. The white teacher was able to broaden her perspective to see what Mayan culture positively provided the children, even though it was different than what her own culture offered.
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