Child family and community family centered early care and education 5th ed edition ebook pdf version

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PREFACE vii

Other Changes and Additions Reorganization of Each Chapter Helping students grasp and retain what they read is important in any textbook. To that end, every chapter has been more clearly organized with an average of three major Learning Outcomes, with corresponding headings, followed by three to five topic headings that relate to the subject(s) in each major heading. This organization makes it easier for students to follow and remember the information.

Examples of New Topics and Expanded Previous Ones Gender roles. Discussion and research about young children developing gender roles has been greatly updated and expanded. ◆ Mindset. Carol Dweck’s theory on how to help children move beyond a “fixed mindset” that leads them to give up in the face of even a minor failure. Information and examples are included of how to encourage an open mindset. Children with an “open mindset” keep going even when failure occurs or seems inevitable.

An open mindset leads to exploration and growth. ◆ Grit. Angela Duckworthy and others explore how what they call “grit” helps ­people stick to challenges, persist, and achieve success. ◆ Self-esteem. Not a new subject but an important one. The topic of self-esteem has been reworked and expanded in this edition. ◆

A Change in the Order of the Chapters Chapter 2, “The Societal Influences on Families” (including racism), was too emotionally laden to come so early in the term according to users. That chapter is now Chapter 6, which works better after students have gotten to know each other.

Updated “Further Readings” Twenty to thirty percent of the list at the end of each chapter under “Further Readings” has been replaced with updated resources.

Highlighted Major Points A new marginal feature of key brief points from the author are added for interest and emphasis.

Foundational Ideas Supporting this Book Theory is presented in easy to understand language. The book rests on a base of solid academics, constructivist theory, developmental research, anthropological studies, and the personal experience of the author. ◆ The chapters place an emphasis on the ecological theory of human development. Every chapter shows how professionals and families can partner to ◆

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Preface

support healthy growth and development so that the child functions fully as a competent community member. ◆ The book emphasizes cultural contexts. Valuing diversity, plus acknowledging and understanding cultural contexts, has always been an important foundation of this book. The new edition puts even more emphasis on perceiving and appreciating cultural differences in order to embrace them. The attitude of acceptance that develops challenges the students to expand their definitions of “developmentally appropriate practice.” ◆ Reflection on personal experience is encouraged. Readers are asked to bring their own ideas, experiences, and insights to their reading—in accordance with Jean Piaget’s ideas about learners attaching new knowledge to existing knowledge. In other words, readers are encouraged to reach into their own experiences to make sense of new information in terms of what they already know. They are encouraged to see how that same approach works equally well when relating to families and conveying information to them. Whether a student, a teacher, or a parent, respect for one’s own background, experiences, knowledge, ideas, and insights is important. Because whatever we read always filters through our own subjective experiences, this text acknowledges that fact and capitalizes on it. Thus students can feel at home and find their own voices. They are asked to do the same for the children and families they work with. ◆ Anecdotes and examples are provided throughout. Each chapter contains stories and examples designed to take the subject out of the realm of theory and into the real world of practice. Examples are designed to appeal to both traditional and non-traditional students, reflecting the changing demographics of the United States. ◆ Advocacy is emphasized. The “Advocacy in Action” feature appeals to those students who want to “do something!” about improving the lives of children, families, the education systems, and society in general. This feature gives students ideas about ways of being public and personal advocates.

Instructor Supplements to this Text All ancillary resources for instructors are available for download by adopting professors via pearsonhighered.com in the Instructor Resource Center.

Instructor’s Resource Manual: This manual contains chapter overviews, activity ideas for both in and out of class, and ways to integrate the digital content into your course.

Online Test Bank: The test bank includes a variety of test items in various formats.

Pearson TestGen: This test-generation software is available in various learning management system formats. Download and use as is or create your own exams with provided items and your own items. Test items included are the same items in the Online Test Bank.

PREFACE ix

Online PowerPoint Slides: PowerPoint slides highlight key concepts and strategies in each chapter. They can be used to enhance lectures and discussions, or can be posted on your learning management system as an additional study r­ esource for your students.

Acknowledgments Special thanks to the reviewers of this edition: Vernell D. Larkin, Hopkinsville Community College; Tonia Padrick, Cape Fear Community College; Tasha Smith, Solano Community College; and Shaquam Urquhart Edwards, College of Marin.

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Brief Contents Chapter 1

The Child in Context of Family and Community 2

Chapter 2

Supporting Families around Issues of Attachment and Trust 22

Chapter 3

Supporting Families with Autonomy-Seeking Youngsters 44

Chapter 4

Sharing Views of Initiative with Families 72

Chapter 5

Working with Families of School-Age Children 98

Chapter 6

Societal Influences on Children and Families 124

Chapter 7

Understanding Families’ Goals, Values, and Culture 150

Chapter 8

Working with Families on Guidance Issues 172

Chapter 9

Working with Families on Addressing Feelings and Problem Solving 194

Chapter 10

Working with Families to Support Self-Esteem 218

Chapter 11

Working with Families around Gender Issues 242

Chapter 12

Stress and Success in Family Life 262

Chapter 13

Early Care and Education Programs as Community Resources 284

Chapter 14

Supporting Families through Community Resources and Networks 308

Chapter 15

Social Policy Issues 326

References 345 Index 369 xi

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Contents Chapter 1 The Child in Context of Family and Community 2 Looking at Context through Bioecological Theory 4 Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model 4 Family-Centered Approaches 6 Family-Centered Defined 7 The Benefits of Family-Centered Programs for Children 7 The Benefits of Family-Centered Education Programs for Teachers 8 The Benefits of Family-Centered Programs for Families 9 Mutual Benefits 9 History of Family-Centered Care and Education 10 Challenges to Creating Partnerships with Families 13 Multiple Lenses through Which to Look at Family-Centered Approaches 14 The Family Systems Theory Lens 14 The Whole Child Lens 16 Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 17 Culture as a Lens 19 Summary 20 Quiz 20 For Discussion 20 Websites 20 Further Reading 21

Chapter 2

Supporting Families around Issues of Attachment and Trust 22 How Attachment and Trust are Related 23 The Development of Attachment and Trust 25 How Secondary Attachments Occur 28 Attachment Behaviors 29 Signs of Attachment in Infants 30 Obstacles to Attachment 30 Temperament and Attachment 31 Developmental Differences 32 Learning to Cope with Feelings of Loss 33 Varying Attachment Patterns 36 Bowlby and Ainsworth’s Research 36 Questions about Classic Attachment Research 37 Judging Attachment in a Cross-Cultural Situation 38 Effects of Child Care on Attachment 39 xiii

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How Caregiver and Parent Roles Differ 40 Attachment in Full-Inclusion Programs 41 Summary 42 Quiz 42 For Discussion 42 Websites 42 Further Reading 43

Chapter 3

Supporting Families with Autonomy-Seeking Youngsters 44 Signs of Developing Autonomy 46 Negativity 46 Exploration 47 Self-Help Skills 49 A Sense of Possession 53 Dealing with Issues of Power and Control 55 Set Up a Developmentally Appropriate Environment 55 Appreciate Play 57 Encourage Self-Help Skills 59 Give Choices 59 Provide Control 60 Set Limits 61 Coping with Loss and Separation 63 Taking Separation in Small Steps 63 Entering Child Care 64 Partnering with Families of Toddlers 66 Working with Families around Issues of Identity Development 66 Broadening Perspectives 68 Summary 69 Quiz 69 For Discussion 69 Websites 69 Further Reading 70

Chapter 4

Sharing Views of Initiative with Families 72 What Initiative Looks Like in a Four-Year-Old 73 Analyzing Initiative in a Four-Year-Old 74 Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) 75 Developmental Conflicts 77 Imagination and Fantasy 78 The Value of Play for Young Children 79 How the Environment Contributes to a Sense of Initiative 81 Dimensions of Play Environments 82 How Adults Contribute to Children’s Initiative 83 Special Considerations for Children with Disabilities 85 The Shy Child 87 A Look at Aggression 88 Teaching Problem-solving Skills 91 Empowering the Preschool-Age Child 92

Contents

Summary 95 Quiz 95 For Discussion 96 Websites 96 Further Reading 96

Chapter 5

Working with Families of School-Age Children 98 School is Different from Preschool 99 A Family-Centered Approach to Kindergarten 100 The School-Age Child and Stages of Development 100 Differences Families Notice between School and Preschool 103 Finding Out What Families Want for Their Children 105 Teaching Prosocial Skills and Morals 107 Looking at the Decision-Making Process as a Way of Exploring Morals 108 The Power of Adult Attention 111 Paying Attention to the Behavior You Want to Continue 111 Using Affirmations 113 Children’s Response to Positive Adult Attention 114 Empty Praise versus Encouragement 118 Teaching Morals by Promoting Prosocial Development 120 Summary 122 Quiz 122 For Discussion 122 Websites 123 Further Reading 123

Chapter 6

Societal Influences on Children and Families 124 Socialization and the Family 126 The Issue of Bias 128 Schools as Socializing Agents 134 Getting into Kindergarten 135 Classroom Behavior 136 Responding to Diversity 138 Inequity and Schools 139 Other Agents of Socialization 139 The Peer Group as an Agent of Socialization 139 Functions of the Peer Group 140 Media and Technology as an Influence on Socialization 141 Commercial Advertising 143 Violence 144 Summary 148 Quiz 148 For Discussion 148 Websites 149 Further Reading 149

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Chapter 7

Understanding Families’ Goals, Values, and Culture 150 Cultural Differences in Goals and Values 153 How do the Goals of Independence and Interdependence Differ? 154 Contrasting Cultural Patterns 154 Conflicting Goals and Values 156 What to Do when Conflicts Arise 158 Helping Children Understand and Value Cultural Pluralism 166 Supporting Home Language 167 Language Loss in Immigrant Children 167 Understanding the Advantages of Bilingualism 168 Language Relationships 169 Summary 170 Quiz 170 For Discussion 170 Websites 171 Further Reading 171

Chapter 8

Working with Families on Guidance Issues 172 Discipline, Authority, and Cultural Differences 175 Changing the Word Discipline to Guidance 175 Inner Controls versus External Locus of Control 175 Teaching Self-regulation 177 Problems with Using Punishment to Teach 179 General Guidelines for Guiding Young Children 180 Discussing Preventative Measures with Parents 182 Guidance as Responding to Unacceptable Behavior 185 Summary 191 Quiz 191 For Discussion 191 Websites 192 Further Reading 192

Chapter 9

Working with Families on Addressing Feelings and Problem Solving 194 Feelings 195 What are Feelings? 199 All Feelings are Useful 199 Learning Feelings 200 Social Referencing 200 Cultural Scripts 201 The Importance of Accepting Feelings 203 Healthy Expressions of Feelings 204 Teaching Children to Cope with Feelings 206 Developing Self-Calming Skills 206 Coping by Playing Pretend 207

Contents

Coping with Simultaneous Feelings 208 Coping with Fear 208 Coping with Anger 209 Problem Solving 211 Using the RERUN Problem-Solving Process with a Child 211 Problem Solving as a Cultural Issue 212 Problem Solving and Parenting Styles 213 A Deeper Look at the Four Parenting Styles 215 Summary 216 Quiz 216 For Discussion 216 Websites 216 Further Reading 217

Chapter 10

Working with Families to Support Self-Esteem 218 Exploring Self-Esteem as a Road to Success 219 Culture and Self-Esteem 220 Dimensions of Self-Esteem 222 The Role of Beliefs and Expectations in Self-Esteem 224 Where Does Self-Esteem Come From? 225 Promoting Self-Esteem 226 Give More Honest Feedback and Encouragement Than Praise 227 Give Children Opportunities to Experience Success 227 Children Learn from Failure 230 Celebrating Differences: An Anti-bias Approach 231 Bias Can Hurt 233 Cultural Differences and Self-Esteem 234 Changing Negative Messages to Positive Ones 237 Summary 239 Quiz 239 For Discussion 239 Websites 240 Further Reading 240

Chapter 11

Working with Families around Gender Issues 242 Why it is Important to Think About Teaching Gender Roles 243 Issues around Gender Roles 243 Some History Related to Genderized Clothing 245 Equity Issues and Gender Roles 246 The Women of Today 246 Gender Equity and Parenting 249 Toys and Gender Roles 250 The Power of Language 252 Using Modeling to Teach 253

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Differential Socialization 254 Differential Treatment from Parents 256 Differential Treatment in Preschool 256 Differential Treatment in Elementary School 257 Guidelines for Parents and Educators 258 Summary 260 Quiz 260 For Discussion 261 Websites 261 Further Reading 261

Chapter 12

Stress and Success in Family Life 262 Varied Images of Families 263 Ways in Which Families Can Vary 263 Families and Stress 264 Giving Legitimacy to Cultural Differences and Lifestyles 265 Successful Families 266 Traits of Successful Families 268 Images of Successful Families 269 Six Families 271 Stress as a Positive Force 278 What We Can Learn from Studies of Resilient Children 279 Helping All Children Become Resilient Children 280 Summary 282 Quiz 282 For Discussion 282 Websites 283 Further Reading 283

Chapter 13

Early Care and Education Programs as Community Resources 284 Defining Types of Ece Programs 285 Exploring the Various Types of ECE Programs 285 Changing Times 288 Early Care and Education Programs as Child-Rearing Environments 290 The State of Child Care in the United States Today 292 Affordability and Availability 292 Status and Salaries 293 Looking at Quality 294 Partnering with Families 295 Adult-Child Interactions in Child Care and Early Education Settings 295 Including Everybody: Children with Special Needs 297 Having Concerns about a Child 299 Questions Concerning Continuity between Child Care and Home 300 Roadblocks to Mutual Appreciation, Respect, and Support 304 Summary 306 Quiz 307

Contents

For Discussion 306 Websites 307 Further Reading 307

Chapter 14

Supporting Families through Community Resources and Networks 308 Social Networks 309 Developing a Broad Base of Support 310 Forms Social Networks May Take 311 Community Institutions That Serve Families 312 Families Using Community Resources 314 Sara’s Family 314 Roberto’s Family 315 Junior’s Family 316 Michael’s Family 317 Courtney’s Family 318 The Jackson Family 319 Connections to the Community 320 A Summary of Community Resources 320 Finding Community Resources 321 Availability of Community Resources 322 Summary 323 Quiz 324 For Discussion 324 Websites 324 Further Reading 324

Chapter 15

Social Policy Issues 326 Who is Responsible for America’s Children? 327 Does Every Child Get an Equal Start? 327 Ready to Learn: A Goal for All of America’s Children 329 Private Citizens Making Changes 330 Benefitting Children and Families through Financial Investments 331 Head Start 332 Child Care 332 Moving Toward Full-Inclusion Programs 336 Advocacy 337 Adequate Health Services and Nutrition for All 338 Taking a Preventive Approach 339 Violence and Its Effect on Children and Families 340 Summary 342 Quiz 343 For Discussion 343 Websites 343 Further Reading 343

References 345 Index 369

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CHAPTER

1 The Child in Context of Family and Community Learning Outcomes In this chapter you will learn to…

• Explain how to look at context through the lens of bioecological theory.

• Describe the implications of family-centered approaches, including the benefits to children, teachers, and parents.

• Explain the history of family-centered care and education.

• Define multiple lenses through which to look at family-centered approaches, including family systems theory, whole child perspective, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and culture as a lens.

The Child in Context of Family and Community

3

hy is the title of this book Child, Family, and Community? Here’s why. Many people go into the profession of teaching in general and into early care and education specifically because they love children. They find they relate well to children, and they enjoy being with them. When these individuals start taking classes, they find that their studies focus on the development and education of children. The course for which this book is designed also focuses on the child, but with a difference.

This book takes the position that children must be looked at in context—meaning that each child must be viewed in the context of his or her family, and each family must be viewed in the context of the community/communities/society to which it belongs. Taking this larger view of each child will help readers remember to always keep the context in mind, no matter what aspect of child development and/or education they study.

What are the various contexts that families come in? Culture is certainly one overarching context which relates to ethnicity, and is affected by socioeconomic level, family structure, sexual orientation and all the other variables that make this particular family what it is. Immigrant status, if any, is also a context. With immigrant numbers increasing, language and cultural diversity are becoming more obvious, though ours has always been a diverse country. In one sense we are all immigrants except for people who were on this continent first, those who can be considered indigenous.

Their descendants are still here. The rest of the population is made up of immigrants, whether willing or unwilling (Ogbu, 1987). This list of influences on families represents just the tip of the iceberg. It’s a sample of all the ways in which families differ from each other by their contexts. For more information about America’s children and families, see the website for the Kids Count Data Center.

Another huge influence on children is the community. The child and family are always placed in a community context. What community a family is in makes a big difference. My husband’s family moved from Puebla, Mexico, to the San Francisco Bay area in California many years ago—when my husband was 21 years old. They left behind countless relatives. When we visit those relatives and their descendants, we can see the different courses their lives took from those who moved to the United States. Just a few of the influences that have affected the U.S. family and the Mexican family in different ways are the changing international, national, and local ­political situations; the economies of the two countries and the local economies; and the changes that occur when one culture bumps up against a­ nother one, as is happening in both countries.

Education, development, learning, and socialization always occur in a context, and any specific context is embedded in a web of ever-changing other contexts. There is no such thing as a decontextualized child.

To study “the child” without ­u nderstanding the context is Each child must be viewed in the context of his or her like studying a statue of a cat in family

imtmphoto/Fotolia

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order to ­understand its life. This whole book is about the education and socialization of the child in context. Simply put, the book examines the child in the context of developmental theory, which comes in the context of family, which lies in the context of community. All of these contexts can be thought of as environments or settings that hold people, which influence each other and are influenced by culture.

Understanding the bigger picture of how the child becomes a social being in context has been the theme of this book along with a further area of focus and that is on working with the family. Rather than making parent education and involvement just one component and dedicating a chapter to them, this book is about ­family-centered care and education. To understand both the child and the family in context, we need an encompassing theory.

LOOKING AT CONTEXT THROUGH BIOECOLOGICAL THEORY The history and foundations of family-centered care and education go way back.

Something I learned as a student in an early childhood class in 1967 stuck in my mind. “Your client is not the child, but the family.” The teacher of that class, Lilian Katz, University of Illinois professor and a pioneer in the field, made that statement.

I’ve never forgotten what she said, but it has taken many years for the field as a whole to begin to understand and embrace that concept. This book is dedicated not only to expanding the understanding, but also to giving specific strategies to the reader about how to take that concept out of the theoretical realm and into the early childhood classroom, child care center, or family child care home.

Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model This particular slant and organization falls in line with the model that Urie ­Bronfenbrenner first laid out for us in 1979. When he wrote that there are layers of context, he referred to a set of Russian dolls that are nested inside each other, the smallest one at the core. The organization of the book relates to Bronfenbrenner’s layers. Simply put, what Bronfenbrenner called a bioecological model of human development means that every child is at the center of what can be visualized as ­concentric circles of context set in an overarching system of time, which affects all the contexts and changes them continuously (see Figure 1.1). The National I­nstitute for Early Education Research (NIEER) published a document that referred to ­Bronfenbrenner as “the man who changed how we see human development.” The ­document can be found on the NIEER website.

The microsystems layer, the smallest of the contexts in which the child is embedded, is made up of the environment where the child lives and moves. The people and institutions the child interacts with in that environment make up the microsystems. Examples are immediate family, child care (teachers and peers), and perhaps neighborhood play area, depending on the age of the child; school and religious institutions or spiritual groups may also be part of the system. The younger the child, the smaller the number of microsystems.

The microsystems are set in the mesosystems layer, which relates to the interactions the people in the microsystems have with each other—as parents interact with teachers or, in the case of infants, child care providers or early interventionists, for example. The child is not directly involved with all the components of the mesosystems but nevertheless is affected by them.

The Child in Context of Family and Community

s Chrono ystem (Time) overarching values

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Figure 1.1

Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model

Source: Based on Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press

The exosystems layer is a wider context—and though the child may not have direct contact with it, the systems affect the child’s development and ­socialization—as do all the systems. Because the people in the child’s life are affected by the exosystems and mesosystems, the child is also. The exosystems can be thought of as the broader community, including people, services, and environments. Examples of what is in the exosystems layer are extended family, family networks, mass media, workplaces, neighbors, family friends, community health systems, legal services, and social welfare services. An example of how the exosystems affect the child shows up when a parent goes to work or gets laid off from work. The changes in the parent’s life have an impact on the child’s life. Another example of an exosystem affecting the microsystems is when a family has to move because their apartment building is scheduled to be torn down to make room for urban renewal.

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The outer layer, called the macrosystems, contains the attitudes and ideologies, values, laws, and customs of a particular culture or subculture. The chronosystem comprises the largest and the most outward layer of the embedded circles. ­Brofenbrenner used the chronosystem to hold events that occur over a span of time.

It could include family transitions such as divorce or relocations as well as sociohistorical events such as the terrorist attack on the United States that happened on September 11, 2001.

The point of the bioecological model is that each component interacts with other components, creating a highly complex context in which the child grows up. ­Another point is that the child isn’t just a passive recipient of what goes on in his or her life. The child at the center of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model interacts directly with the people in the microsystems and some in the Check Your ­m esosystems, and the effects of the interaction go both ways. As people Understanding 1.1 ­affect the child, so the child has an influence on them. Another point is that Click here to check your nothing ever remains static. As a result, the child, systems, and environunderstanding of bioecological ments are ever changing. Milestones and life events occur as time passes, theory. the child grows, and the contexts change.

FAMILY-CENTERED APPROACHES So understanding the child in context, as per Bronfenbrenner’s theory, brings up some important questions. One such question is this one that relates to the ­human service sector: How can early interventionists, social workers, teachers, or child care providers work to support a child without working with the family and the ­community? Obviously they can’t, especially when the family is one that has multiple issues going on, all of which affect the children in the family. One program in California works with children in low-income families in a poverty community to ensure their health and well-being (Bernard & Quiett, 2003). Of course, there is no way to focus on a child, even one in crisis, without addressing the bigger picture.

This particular program used home visitors who were qualified social workers and also had to work with the services in the community—a two-pronged approach.

Not only did the program focus on the child, but it also involved the family, plus the human service agencies the family need to ­interface with.

Another more widely known program, one that is much larger and hugely funded, is Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City. Canada’s goal has been not only to have every child finish his or her education by graduating from college but also to improve the community in which children are growing up. The Harlem Children’s Zone has a comprehensive website that highlights their national model for breaking the cycle of poverty: Social workers may conduct home visits and connect families with education, family and community procommunity agencies grams, and health. Paul Tough (2009) Monkey Business/Fotolia

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The Child in Context of Family and Community

writes the story of what was involved, including parent support, starting with Watch this video to see prenatal parenting classes. It became quickly evident that no matter how Geoffrey Canada speak about the supportive the program was, there was a good deal of work to be done in the Harlem Children’s Zone. What do child care and education system and other community services if the children you think about the impact of what were to succeed in school and in society. he refers to as the pipeline that starts A third example of a family-centered approach is Head Start, which uses at birth? a Parent, Family, Community Engagement Framework to work with young chilwww.youtube.com/watch?v= dren from low-income families. Head Start has long been a leader in the early 1H0k2TDZF7o childhood field by introducing a major parent, family component from the very beginning. To learn more about the Head Start Community Engagement Framework, the PDF document can be downloaded from the Head Start website.

Watch this video about the That brings us to educational services. Here’s a big question: Why is it comprehensive nature of the Head that so many education systems don’t do what the three examples just de- Start program. What do you think of scribed do? Instead many programs expect families to send their children the teacher preparation requirements off to child care, preschool, or school and leave the families themselves that are described? out of the picture except for enrollment, parent night, and parent/teacher conferences. Since the first edition of this book, that situation has begun to change from programs that called themselves child centered to those that take a ­family-centered approach. Part of the reason for this movement is increasing regard for the greater context the family is in, which includes culture, ethnicity, and economics, among others, all of which influence the family’s p ­ hysical and social location in the neighborhood, community, and greater society (Bloom, Eisenberg, & Eisenberg, 2003; Epstein, 2001; F­ itzgerald, 2004; G ­ onzalez-Mena, 2009; Keyser, 2006; Lee, 2006; Lee & Seiderman, 1998; ­McGee-Banks, 2003). Leaders in the movement see the importance of including the families in all aspects of their children’s schooling, care, and education.

Family-Centered Defined What is a family-centered approach? A family-centered approach takes the individual child and the group of children out of the spotlight and instead focuses on the children within their families. In the case of educational programs, that means that parent involvement isn’t something the teacher does in addition to the program for children, but that the program includes the family as an integral, inseparable part of the child’s education and socialization. Families, along with their children, are the program.

What does a family-centered program look like? Family-centered programs offer a variety of services, services in tune with what the parents as individuals and as a group need and want. But more than just services, they offer partnerships between professionals and families. Collaboration is a key word. The point is for professionals to become allies with families and share power. In a partnership, each partner brings a special set of strengths and skills that enhance the group. Through building relationships and ongoing communication the partnership results in mutual learning as both sides share resources and information with each other. Everyone b ­ enefits: the early educators, the families, and the children!

The Benefits of Family-Centered Programs for Children When parents and teachers work together they enhance children’s emotional ­security, which facilitates development and makes it easier for them to develop and learn. The children also benefit when their strengths and needs as individuals are

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understood in their family context.

Continuity between home and program can be another benefit as teachers and parents understand each other better. There’s a better chance for cultural consistency as a result of the parentprofessional partnership or at least an understanding of and respect for cultural differences. Children’s identity formation is enhanced when children don’t have to experience uncomfortable feelings around the differences between what they learn at school and what they learn at home.

When children see adults modeling healthy, equitable relations in their interactions with each other, they receive a huge benefit. They Early care and education professionals become allies with families and learn that adults aren’t just polite to share power each other, but have rich, authentic exchanges and even disagreements.

Children gain by seeing how those adults solve their disagreements without harming their relationships with each other. If those adults deal with their own biases and increase their ability to communicate across ­differences, children are watching equity in action, which goes beyond trying to teach children to be fair by using an antibias approach (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).

Because positive relationships are important to development, security, and getting along with others, “relationships” is the first item listed in the accreditation standards of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

(For complete information on the NAEYC Accreditation Standards and Criteria, visit their website.) What better way to encourage relationships than to model them every day as professionals and adults interact and collaborate?

David Kostelnik./Pearson Education, Inc.

8

The Benefits of Family-Centered Education Programs for Teachers Teachers and early educators who understand the child within his or her family context can do a better job of supporting development and teaching that child as well as working with the group of children. It makes the job more satisfying as teachers watch children gain in trust and self-confidence. Teachers can learn new and effective teaching and guidance strategies as they observe parents and exchange information with them. There is always a lot to learn about cultural differences, in particular (Cervantes & Hernandez, 2011; Espinosa, 2010).

Since the majority of teachers are European Americans (Ray, Bowman, & ­Robbins, 2006), most have a good deal to learn about cultures other than their own.

As professionals learn more about other cultures they can enlarge their views and gain knowledge and insights on child development, education, desired outcomes, and approaches related to these views. Families add richness to a program and ­provide resources to professionals.

As parents learn from teachers, they too can gain insights about their children.

Sometimes the close contact with families brings teachers attention, acknowledgment,

The Child in Context of Family and Community

and appreciation that they might not receive otherwise. Partnership-type relationships can be very rewarding! Through relationships with families teachers can b ­ ecome more a part of the local community, if they aren’t part of it already.

The Benefits of Family-Centered Programs for Families Families today often feel isolated. Gone are the days for many of the old extended family where somebody was home or close by to give support or lend a hand to ­family members who needed it. A family-centered program can become like an extended ­family to those who desire such a thing.

When families are not part of their children’s education, they have to just hope that what the program provides for their children is the same as what they want. That can be a big problem. Barbara Rogoff, author of The Cultural Nature of Human Development, said, “The goals of human development—what is regarded as mature or desirable— vary considerably” (2003, p. 18). So if children are to spend big chunks of their lives throughout their childhood in educational programs, it makes sense that the goals of the program match the goals of the families, or at least don’t contradict them. With pressures to conform to outcomes and desired results by policy makers and funding sources, it becomes even more important for parents to be knowledgeable and vocal.

Just as teachers can learn from parents, so can parents learn from teachers who look through a child development framework as they observe the children in the school environment with their peers (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). This gives parents a broader view than just knowing that child in the context of home and family. Families can gain greater knowledge of resources from the professionals in their children’s program.

Mutual Benefits Family-centered programs can expand everybody’s horizons. One benefit for both teachers and parents is that of self-knowledge about their own culture—the beliefs and values that come from their roots and group membership. This benefit occurs whenever teachers and parents run into practices that seem wrong, or at least uncomfortable, and are able to talk to each other nonjudgmentally about their differences so they can come to understand not only their own but the other person’s views (Im, Parlakian, & Sanchez, 2007). Barbara Rogoff, in her book The Cultural Nature of Human Development, has advice about how to expand awareness of one’s own culture as well as understand the patterns behind the thought and behavior of other cultures. She suggests that when you run into something you don’t understand, it’s best to put aside value judgments at first. Once you can see your own cultural patterns you are in a better position to ­understand others and determine whether a value judgment is necessary or not.

Families, including their children, and professionals gain from the collaborative relationship in several other ways, including: Enhanced communication as the groups relate to each other around shared power and decision making ◆◆ Supportive relationships leading to networks of mutual support ◆◆

The community also gains when families and ECE programs work together.

These partnerships increase the chances of a better-educated population and a more pluralistic society, one that values the richness diversity brings. As families and ­professionals work together, another ultimate outcome can be equity and social justice growing from mutual understanding and acceptance.

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If you look back on what you’ve just read, you can see how it fits in with ­Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model. The child, in his or her microsystem, is ­influenced by family, teachers, and peers who are also influenced by the me Check Your sosystems, exosystems, and also macrosystems, which are where cultural Understanding 1.2 differences, values, customs, and ideologies come in. Laws are part of that Click here to check your outward system as well and are influenced by the culture, values, and ideolounderstanding of family-centered gies of the people who make them. The chronosystem, the outside layer, in approaches. turn affects all the other systems.

HISTORY OF FAMILY-CENTERED CARE AND EDUCATION The roots of family-centered care and education go way back. As professionals we’ve always known that families are important to children, whether those children are at home or in early care and education programs. We have research to back us up, some of it from a pioneer, John Bowlby (1969, 1973), a researcher noted for his ­attachment theory and his study of the harm resulting in separating children in hospitals from their parents. We know now about attachment and hospitalization; we are still l­ earning about ­attachment and education.

Head Start, mentioned earlier, was born in the Mississippi Freedom Schools and is still going strong today. During the War on Poverty of the mid-1960s it ­became a federally funded comprehensive preschool and social services program with not only a mandate for parent involvement and education but also built-in devices for parents to have some say in the education of their young children in the preschool years. Several generations now have been through Head Start. Today Head Start teachers are sometimes grown-up Head Start children, as are some of the directors.

Urie Bronfenbrenner, mentioned earlier, was co-founder of Head Start. His ­Ecology of Human Development had a big influence on creating family-centered programs. He emphasized that the abstract concept of “the child” doesn’t exist (­Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1994). His ideas not only caught hold in Head Start, but expanded the program downward to include infants and toddlers, the idea being not so much to educate the babies but to work with the families because they are the ones that have the greatest influence on their children’s lives.

Pioneer parent educator Ira J. Gordon (1968, 1976) created a program in Florida back in the 1960s involving parents of infants with the goal of improving child outcomes. He studied parent education and involvement and eventually came up with a hierarchy of types of involvement (Olmsted et al., 1980), moving from parents being recipients of information, to learning new skills, to teaching their own children, and becoming classroom volunteers. The two top kinds of involvement are becoming a paid paraprofessional and, finally, taking on the role of decision maker and policy advisor.

Today you can find elements of these various levels of involvement in many kinds of programs, including Head Start, other kinds of preschools, kindergartens, and grade schools. Some programs involve parents more than other programs.

The special education law PL 94–142, called the Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, mandated parent involvement in planning for the education of the child. Each child identified with a disability or special need must have an ­Individual Educational Plan (IEP), or if an infant or toddler, an Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP). A group of professionals along with the parents create these

11

plans. According to the law and the reauthorized Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1990 and 1997, parents must be involved in all aspects of their children’s education. PL 108–446 aligned special education with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation in 2004 and continued the mandate for parent involvement and power so that families disagreeing with a diagnosis or placement can call a hearing.

The “parent as the child’s first teacher” is a motto now and a widespread notion throughout early care and education. ­Parent education materials, classes, and videos are available for new parents to see how important they are to their babies.

Preschools involve parents in a variety of ways including volunteering in Preschools involve parents in a variety of the classroom ways including volunteering in the classroom. One first-grade teacher has parents come in to the classroom twice a week first thing in the morning to read to their children. Most kindergarten and primary teachers encourage parents to help children with their homework. Also those same teachers usually encourage parents to help their children by finding a quiet place to do their homework and take an interest in school and what their children are learning.

That motto of “parents as the child’s first teacher” can also be interpreted in another way in family-centered programs, which emphasize a broad range of p ­ arent-support services. Of course parents are welcome to come into the classroom, but they are not mandated to do so. The focus of the support is to help parents with whatever they need rather than telling them how to be involved in their child’s education or that they have to take the role of teacher. Some families find that through the kind of support they gain from the program staff and other families in the program, they are better able to organize their lives so they can support their children emotionally and meet their basic physical needs for nutrition, rest, and exercise. Children whose physical and emotional needs are met have the focus and energy for learning. These are real basics.

Douglas Powell wrote about the family-centered program movement way back in 1986. He talked about how many programs at that time were making a shift toward family-orientation (1986, p. 50). Powell used Head Start as an example when he wrote about the shift from child-focused programs to family-centered ones. Head Start today, in its many forms, still makes the family the client. In 1998, Powell acknowledged that the movement toward family-centered programs wasn’t as widespread as it should be.

He illustrated this using a metaphor of programs as a piece of fabric made of three colors of thread—one color each for children, staff, and parents. He described the most common pattern as a weaving of the child and staff together; the parents end up in a separate section. Many programs still show this same pattern. The family-centered program would make a different fabric, with the parent threads woven throughout the pattern so that all three colors of thread are integrated. In a family-centered program there is no separate section of the pattern just for parents (Powell, 1998, p. 60).

The Epstein Model, based on Gordon’s roles for parent involvement, was ­created

by Joyce Epstein (2009), who wrote a handbook called School, Family, and Community

Suzanne Clouzeau/Pearson Education, Inc.

The Child in Context of Family and Community

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Partnerships. The handbook lists the six types of partnerships that reflect Gordon’s hierarchy using a little different language and going one step further to include ­“collaborating with the community.”

Here is Epstein’s list: Parenting Communicating school-to-home and home-to-school ◆◆ Volunteering ◆◆ Helping students learn at home ◆◆ Decision making (including families as participants in school decisions, governance, and advocacy through PTA/PTO, school councils, committees, and other parent organizations) ◆◆ Collaborating with the community ◆◆ ◆◆

As parents move up the “involvement ladder,” they move beyond thinking about just their own children and becoming an advocate for them to looking at advocating for all children, including ways to improve the program, the school, or the system (see Figure 1.2).

Family-centered care and education is a giant step forward from parent involvement hierarchies. It involves a much larger vision of families being vital parts of their children’s care and education.

The NAEYC supports family-centered programs saying, “Young children’s ­learning and development are integrally connected to their families. Consequently, to support and promote children’s optimal learning and development, programs need to recognize the primacy of children’s families, establish relationships with families based on mutual trust and respect, support and involve f­amilies in their children’s educational growth, and invite families to fully participate in the ­program” (NAEYC, 2005, p. 11). The NAEYC also came out with a book, From Parents to ­Partners: Building a Family-Centered Early Childhood Program (Keyser, 2006), and instituted a project in 2007 called Strengthening Family-Teacher ­Partnerships, which started with several “training the trainer” institutes.

The Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP) has been and is still aggressively working on linking families to their children’s educational programs. When parent involvement takes the form of family support, there is evidence that it can lower

Decision making

Volunteering

Parenting

Collaborating with the community

Helping students learn at home

Communicating between home and school

Figure 1.2 Six types of parent partnerships that lead parents to move up the involvement ladder, based on the E ­ pstein model

The Child in Context of Family and Community

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stress levels in parents and make their lives easier. The HFRP website has links to areas of research and resources.

The Parent Services Project (PSP) was started in the 1980s by Ethel Watch this video about the ­Seiderman in California as a mission to strengthen families by having them Patrick O’Hearn School in Boston, take leadership in assuring the well-being of children, families, and commuMassachusetts, and how school nities (Lee, 2006; Lee & Seiderman, 1998). PSP now provides training, tech- communities change when families nical assistance, and consultation nationally to help programs and schools become involved. Does the idea of engage families. Instead of merely involving families, the approach they take parent involvement bring up feelings is to provide a wide variety of services that reflect the interests and needs of excitement or apprehension for of the families enrolled. Instead of predetermining what will be offered, the you? programs are designed to involve families in deciding, planning, and organizing the activities. As a result, programs trained in the PSP approach find increased parent involvement, leadership, and participation, which strengthens community ties and leads to effective community building (Pope & S ­ eiderman, 2001; Seiderman, 2003). The Parent Services Project website highlights the organization’s mission, ­values, programs, and events.

One of the goals of many programs working with parents is child abuse prevention. An approach to preventing child abuse is to focus on what are called “protective factors.” Examples of protective factors are: parental resilience, social connections, parenting skills, and child development knowledge. When professionals identify a family at risk for child abuse, they can help most by considering, supporting, and augmenting protective factors. Professional support and help in times of need can go a long way toward lowering child abuse incidents. Early care and education professionals are a logical group for working with parents to gain positive results and lower the risk of child abuse. The delivery system comes from early care and education professionals who learn how to support parents, p ­ rovide resources, and teach coping strategies that will then reduce stress and prevent child abuse.

One of the premises of all these family-centered early care and education programs is that they work better when professionals understand families and involve them in respectful ways. Instead of the teacher just sharing information with families, there is two-way information sharing. This is true for general early care and education programs and also for special education. There is some evidence that parent involvement is a critical factor in early intervention programs. The rationale is that parents spend more time with their children than early interventionists and should take an active role in the interventions, not just turn their children over to the specialists. Parents have many more opportunities to influence their children’s learning and development, and involvement in their children’s programs expands their knowledge of and skills in specific ways for their individual child (Mahoney & ­Wiggers, 2007; Turnbull, Turbiville, & Turnbull, 2000).

Challenges to Creating Partnerships with Families Responsiveness to families is a theme of this book. It’s hard sometimes to be responsive when you think you know more than the family does. Obviously professionals have funds of knowledge from their training, professional education, and experience that most families don’t have. Families also have funds of knowledge that professionals don’t have (Gonzalez, Greenberg, & Velez, n.d.). It’s the professionals’ job to acknowledge that fact and to learn from parents as well as teach them. It’s more of a sharing of knowledge than it is imparting. It also requires suspending judgments

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when the professional thinks families are wrong or misguided, even if research backs up the professional. Consider this quote from Asa Hilliard III (2007): The great error in behavioral research, now acknowledged by prestigious scholars, is that in most cases there has been a failure to take context into ­account.

Research tends to proceed as if ­constructs, methods, instruments, and interpretations in culturally embedded studies are ­universal. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most researchers are ill prepared to do ­research in a culturally plural environment or to deal with hegemony as it relates to culture.

Rogoff sees that the theories of development studied by teachers and human development specialists have particular ways of regarding development and goals to aim for that reflect the values of the culture of those who create the theories. Not coincidentally, those values usually relate to the developmental theorists own life.

(2003, p. 18). Most human development theorists come from a strong literacy background and therefore have held literacy as the hallmark of a successful outcome of development. Piaget, a scientist and thinker, saw the development of reason as the ultimate outcome of development. From these theorists’ points of view, it’s easy to see societies as primitive when they don’t hold these same values or visions.

Hilliard (2004) also has a concern about how the lens of culture is often left out of what he calls mainstream psychology. Though he’s looking at the field of psychology rather than human development, the two fields overlap in many places. Hilliard ­observed that mainstream psychology rarely shows any academic or scientific expertise in culture. In fact, according to Hilliard, many scholars seem to believe that cultural diversity matters are “more political than scientific.” He went on to say that Check Your there is real resistance among many traditional psychologists to engage in the Understanding 1.3 required scientific study and dialogue about these cultural matters. “Their culClick here to check your tural naiveté is almost legendary.” When one looks through a cultural lens, one understanding of the history of sees sets of realities that are different from what has been analyzed and studied family-centered care and education. in the name of psychology and human development.

MULTIPLE LENSES THROUGH WHICH TO LOOK AT FAMILY-CENTERED APPROACHES Context is important. This book emphasizes going deeper to understand children and families in the context of their environment and their community. Context can be viewed from a number of lenses. One of them is Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory, which includes culture as one aspect of context. Scholars who create and study developmental theories should always use a cross-cultural lens. Anthropologists can help here. Both Rogoff and Hilliard say cultural contexts should be considered when trying to understand individuals and groups—their development, perspectives, and lifestyles. That particular lens, the cultural lens, was viewed as a challenge in the preceding section. Here I want to look at three more lenses through which to look at children in families and communities.

The Family Systems Theory Lens Another way to understand context and use your understanding to work with families is family systems theory. I first encountered this theory when I read Virginia Satir’s Peoplemaking and heard her speak, back in the 1980s. To explain the universality of her

The Child in Context of Family and Community

theory, she used an analogy of the human body—that any surgeon who studies medicine can operate on any human in the world because the organs are the same. The theory behind family systems theory is that families may be very different in many ways, but they all have some things in common and that is that they are governed by systems.

One such system is communication, and another is rules. All families communicate with each other. How and to what extent differs, but communication is a given. All families have rules—what they are and how they are carried out is different for each family.

The lens of family systems theory puts the focus on the way the family works rather than on the behavior of any individual in it (Parke & Buriel, 2006). That makes the focus of the family therapist different from that of traditional therapists who work only with individuals. Family members are connected to each other; each one influences the others, and all are influenced by the family system. Understanding those influences and the shifts that take place when changes occur in the family is what guides family therapists. Educators aren’t therapists and shouldn’t be doing therapy.

Their job isn’t to diagnose family problems and fix them. Still, educators can find family systems theory useful to further their understandings of how the systems work in each family. Think of the theory as a framework for understanding in a deeper way.

Even though the systems themselves may be the same, they can vary greatly from one family to another in the way they operate. It’s also useful to realize that changes, even small ones, can affect the system and the individuals in it. When educators look at a child through a family system lens, they realize that they can’t work on behavior changes in children all by themselves, because those children are part of family systems. I think back to times I’ve been in teacher meetings where a child’s challenging behavior is being discussed. A missing ingredient of these discussions was the family’s involvement.

Linda Garris Christian (2006) in her article about family systems and their ­relevance to early educators lists six systems that are useful to understand when working with families. The systems are: boundaries, roles, rules, hierarchy, climate, and equilibrium (see Figure 1.3). She says that all families have these systems, but they look very different from one family to another.

Take boundaries, for example, which relate to limits, togetherness, and ­separateness—what or who is in or out of the family. I remember an exercise from a workshop I attended where the group was asked by the facilitator to think about the family they grew up in. She asked how many grew up in a large family. When participants raised their hands, she then questioned them about how they defined a large family and who was in it. Their answers reflected differences in boundaries. One ­person counted 50 people in her family. She included blood relatives and close o ­ thers.

Her family might have been called a kinship network by some. Another had an even

Boundaries Roles Rules Hierarchy Climate Equilibrium

Figure 1.3 Based on Christian’s view of family systems, there are six systems that are useful to understand when working with families

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larger family, and she included people who were no longer alive. Another person who came from a large family numbered six in her family—herself, her parents, and her three siblings. The boundaries in the families of the first two participants were much looser than those of the third participant as determined by the definition of family members—who was included and who was not.

How emotionally and psychologically close family members are to each other is a­ nother part of boundaries. In families where the priority is raising children to be more independent than interdependent, the boundaries are different from those families where interdependence is a top priority. Christian uses the term enmeshed to label families who are extremely interdependent. I bristled at that word. It seemed judgmental to me. My experience with people I have known who come from families a therapist ­labeled ­enmeshed is that they emerged from therapy convinced they had “boundary ­issues” ­because they weren’t closer to the middle of the boundaries continuum. ­Disengaged is the term ­Christian used for the families on the other end of the continuum. Just thinking about the cross-cultural views of boundaries in my own family gives me pause. If my mother and mother-in-law had studied to be family systems therapists, I’m pretty sure that my mother would have labeled my mother-in-law’s family as “enmeshed” and my mother-in-law would have called my mother “disengaged.” Having been part of both those families now for a number of years, I think both labels are too harsh. Certainly, putting on a cross-cultural lens makes a difference in how one views family boundaries that don’t fit one’s own ideas and experiences.

A danger of using the family systems theory is the temptation to play therapist. ­Another danger is judging other people’s family systems without regard to your own.

Obviously early educators are the product of some kind of family systems, and just as we have to understand our own cultures, we have to understand our own family systems so we can stop just looking outward. “Know thyself,” said Shakespeare.

That’s the lesson here.

Understanding and working with family systems theory is a much bigger and more complex job than just focusing on caring for and educating the developing child. But taking a family-centered approach is more complicated, too. The challenges are great, but the rewards are as well.

All of these mandates to deal with the huge complexity in the program; the child, the family, and the community may seem overwhelming! I have warned more than once to be cautious. Perhaps my warnings are too strong and early educators will put aside who they are and what they know so they can just focus on opening up their minds to what the families they work with know. So at this point, it needs to be said that early childhood educators also have the responsibility to share their professional knowledge and personal beliefs with the families. This may be harder in a cross-cultural context and may take more sensitivity than when working with one’s “own people.” Nevertheless, information sharing has to be a two-way street.

The Whole Child Lens Educators learn from families, and families learn from educators. This issue becomes important when you realize that this book focuses heavily on the social-emotional aspects of development, even though school readiness and cognitive development are in the spotlight at present as more and more children are failing in school—even middle-class ones (Hernandez, 2011). School readiness is, of course, a concern for everybody, but professionals with a child development background often come at it from a different angle than some other professionals and families by recognizing

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DANCE ON STILTS AT THE GIRLS’ UNYAGO, NIUCHI

Newala, too, suffers from the distance of its water-supply—at least the Newala of to-day does; there was once another Newala in a lovely valley at the foot of the plateau. I visited it and found scarcely a trace of houses, only a Christian cemetery, with the graves of several missionaries and their converts, remaining as a monument of its former glories. But the surroundings are wonderfully beautiful. A thick grove of splendid mango-trees closes in the weather-worn crosses and headstones; behind them, combining the useful and the agreeable, is a whole plantation of lemon-trees covered with ripe fruit; not the small African kind, but a much larger and also juicier imported variety, which drops into the hands of the passing traveller, without calling for any exertion on his part. Old Newala is now under the jurisdiction of the native pastor, Daudi, at Chingulungulu, who, as I am on very friendly terms with him, allows me, as a matter of course, the use of this lemon-grove during my stay at Newala.

FEET MUTILATED BY THE RAVAGES OF THE “JIGGER” (Sarcopsylla penetrans)

The water-supply of New Newala is in the bottom of the valley, some 1,600 feet lower down. The way is not only long and fatiguing, but the water, when we get it, is thoroughly bad. We are suffering not only from this, but from the fact that the arrangements at Newala are nothing short of luxurious. We have a separate kitchen—a hut built against the boma palisade on the right of the baraza, the interior of which is not visible from our usual position. Our two cooks were not long in finding this out, and they consequently do—or rather neglect to do—what they please. In any case they do not seem to be very particular about the boiling of our drinking-water—at least I can attribute to no other cause certain attacks of a dysenteric nature, from which both Knudsen and I have suffered for some time. If a man like Omari has to be left unwatched for a moment, he is capable of anything. Besides this complaint, we are inconvenienced by the state of our nails, which have become as hard as glass, and crack on the slightest provocation, and I have the additional infliction of pimples all over me. As if all this were not enough, we have also, for the last week been waging war against the jigger, who has found his Eldorado in the hot sand of the Makonde plateau. Our men are seen all day long—whenever their chronic colds and the dysentery likewise raging among them permit—occupied in removing this scourge of Africa from their feet and trying to prevent the disastrous consequences of its presence. It is quite common to see natives of this place with one or two toes missing; many have lost all their toes,

or even the whole front part of the foot, so that a well-formed leg ends in a shapeless stump. These ravages are caused by the female of Sarcopsylla penetrans, which bores its way under the skin and there develops an egg-sac the size of a pea. In all books on the subject, it is stated that one’s attention is called to the presence of this parasite by an intolerable itching. This agrees very well with my experience, so far as the softer parts of the sole, the spaces between and under the toes, and the side of the foot are concerned, but if the creature penetrates through the harder parts of the heel or ball of the foot, it may escape even the most careful search till it has reached maturity.

Then there is no time to be lost, if the horrible ulceration, of which we see cases by the dozen every day, is to be prevented. It is much easier, by the way, to discover the insect on the white skin of a European than on that of a native, on which the dark speck scarcely shows. The four or five jiggers which, in spite of the fact that I constantly wore high laced boots, chose my feet to settle in, were taken out for me by the all-accomplished Knudsen, after which I thought it advisable to wash out the cavities with corrosive sublimate. The natives have a different sort of disinfectant—they fill the hole with scraped roots. In a tiny Makua village on the slope of the plateau south of Newala, we saw an old woman who had filled all the spaces under her toe-nails with powdered roots by way of prophylactic treatment. What will be the result, if any, who can say?

The rest of the many trifling ills which trouble our existence are really more comic than serious. In the absence of anything else to smoke, Knudsen and I at last opened a box of cigars procured from the Indian store-keeper at Lindi, and tried them, with the most distressing results. Whether they contain opium or some other narcotic, neither of us can say, but after the tenth puff we were both “off,” three-quarters stupefied and unspeakably wretched. Slowly we recovered—and what happened next? Half-an-hour later we were once more smoking these poisonous concoctions—so insatiable is the craving for tobacco in the tropics.

Even my present attacks of fever scarcely deserve to be taken seriously. I have had no less than three here at Newala, all of which have run their course in an incredibly short time. In the early afternoon, I am busy with my old natives, asking questions and making notes. The strong midday coffee has stimulated my spirits to

an extraordinary degree, the brain is active and vigorous, and work progresses rapidly, while a pleasant warmth pervades the whole body. Suddenly this gives place to a violent chill, forcing me to put on my overcoat, though it is only half-past three and the afternoon sun is at its hottest. Now the brain no longer works with such acuteness and logical precision; more especially does it fail me in trying to establish the syntax of the difficult Makua language on which I have ventured, as if I had not enough to do without it. Under the circumstances it seems advisable to take my temperature, and I do so, to save trouble, without leaving my seat, and while going on with my work. On examination, I find it to be 101·48°. My tutors are abruptly dismissed and my bed set up in the baraza; a few minutes later I am in it and treating myself internally with hot water and lemon-juice.

Three hours later, the thermometer marks nearly 104°, and I make them carry me back into the tent, bed and all, as I am now perspiring heavily, and exposure to the cold wind just beginning to blow might mean a fatal chill. I lie still for a little while, and then find, to my great relief, that the temperature is not rising, but rather falling. This is about 7.30 p.m. At 8 p.m. I find, to my unbounded astonishment, that it has fallen below 98·6°, and I feel perfectly well. I read for an hour or two, and could very well enjoy a smoke, if I had the wherewithal—Indian cigars being out of the question.

Having no medical training, I am at a loss to account for this state of things. It is impossible that these transitory attacks of high fever should be malarial; it seems more probable that they are due to a kind of sunstroke. On consulting my note-book, I become more and more inclined to think this is the case, for these attacks regularly follow extreme fatigue and long exposure to strong sunshine. They at least have the advantage of being only short interruptions to my work, as on the following morning I am always quite fresh and fit.

My treasure of a cook is suffering from an enormous hydrocele which makes it difficult for him to get up, and Moritz is obliged to keep in the dark on account of his inflamed eyes. Knudsen’s cook, a raw boy from somewhere in the bush, knows still less of cooking than Omari; consequently Nils Knudsen himself has been promoted to the vacant post. Finding that we had come to the end of our supplies, he began by sending to Chingulungulu for the four sucking-pigs which we had

bought from Matola and temporarily left in his charge; and when they came up, neatly packed in a large crate, he callously slaughtered the biggest of them. The first joint we were thoughtless enough to entrust for roasting to Knudsen’s mshenzi cook, and it was consequently uneatable; but we made the rest of the animal into a jelly which we ate with great relish after weeks of underfeeding, consuming incredible helpings of it at both midday and evening meals. The only drawback is a certain want of variety in the tinned vegetables. Dr. Jäger, to whom the Geographical Commission entrusted the provisioning of the expeditions—mine as well as his own—because he had more time on his hands than the rest of us, seems to have laid in a huge stock of Teltow turnips,[46] an article of food which is all very well for occasional use, but which quickly palls when set before one every day; and we seem to have no other tins left. There is no help for it—we must put up with the turnips; but I am certain that, once I am home again, I shall not touch them for ten years to come.

Amid all these minor evils, which, after all, go to make up the genuine flavour of Africa, there is at least one cheering touch: Knudsen has, with the dexterity of a skilled mechanic, repaired my 9 × 12 cm. camera, at least so far that I can use it with a little care.

How, in the absence of finger-nails, he was able to accomplish such a ticklish piece of work, having no tool but a clumsy screw-driver for taking to pieces and putting together again the complicated mechanism of the instantaneous shutter, is still a mystery to me; but he did it successfully. The loss of his finger-nails shows him in a light contrasting curiously enough with the intelligence evinced by the above operation; though, after all, it is scarcely surprising after his ten years’ residence in the bush. One day, at Lindi, he had occasion to wash a dog, which must have been in need of very thorough cleansing, for the bottle handed to our friend for the purpose had an extremely strong smell. Having performed his task in the most conscientious manner, he perceived with some surprise that the dog did not appear much the better for it, and was further surprised by finding his own nails ulcerating away in the course of the next few days. “How was I to know that carbolic acid has to be diluted?” he mutters indignantly, from time to time, with a troubled gaze at his mutilated finger-tips.

Since we came to Newala we have been making excursions in all directions through the surrounding country, in accordance with old habit, and also because the akida Sefu did not get together the tribal elders from whom I wanted information so speedily as he had promised. There is, however, no harm done, as, even if seen only from the outside, the country and people are interesting enough.

The Makonde plateau is like a large rectangular table rounded off at the corners. Measured from the Indian Ocean to Newala, it is about seventy-five miles long, and between the Rovuma and the Lukuledi it averages fifty miles in breadth, so that its superficial area is about two-thirds of that of the kingdom of Saxony. The surface, however, is not level, but uniformly inclined from its south-western edge to the ocean. From the upper edge, on which Newala lies, the eye ranges for many miles east and north-east, without encountering any obstacle, over the Makonde bush. It is a green sea, from which here and there thick clouds of smoke rise, to show that it, too, is inhabited by men who carry on their tillage like so many other primitive peoples, by cutting down and burning the bush, and manuring with the ashes. Even in the radiant light of a tropical day such a fire is a grand sight.

Much less effective is the impression produced just now by the great western plain as seen from the edge of the plateau. As often as time permits, I stroll along this edge, sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another, in the hope of finding the air clear enough to let me enjoy the view; but I have always been disappointed.

Wherever one looks, clouds of smoke rise from the burning bush, and the air is full of smoke and vapour. It is a pity, for under more favourable circumstances the panorama of the whole country up to the distant Majeje hills must be truly magnificent. It is of little use taking photographs now, and an outline sketch gives a very poor idea of the scenery. In one of these excursions I went out of my way to make a personal attempt on the Makonde bush. The present edge of the plateau is the result of a far-reaching process of destruction through erosion and denudation. The Makonde strata are everywhere cut into by ravines, which, though short, are hundreds of yards in depth. In consequence of the loose stratification of these beds, not only are the walls of these ravines nearly vertical, but their upper end is closed by an equally steep escarpment, so that the

western edge of the Makonde plateau is hemmed in by a series of deep, basin-like valleys. In order to get from one side of such a ravine to the other, I cut my way through the bush with a dozen of my men.

It was a very open part, with more grass than scrub, but even so the short stretch of less than two hundred yards was very hard work; at the end of it the men’s calicoes were in rags and they themselves bleeding from hundreds of scratches, while even our strong khaki suits had not escaped scatheless.

NATIVE PATH THROUGH THE MAKONDE BUSH, NEAR MAHUTA

I see increasing reason to believe that the view formed some time back as to the origin of the Makonde bush is the correct one. I have no doubt that it is not a natural product, but the result of human occupation. Those parts of the high country where man—as a very slight amount of practice enables the eye to perceive at once—has not yet penetrated with axe and hoe, are still occupied by a splendid timber forest quite able to sustain a comparison with our mixed forests in Germany. But wherever man has once built his hut or tilled his field, this horrible bush springs up. Every phase of this process

may be seen in the course of a couple of hours’ walk along the main road. From the bush to right or left, one hears the sound of the axe— not from one spot only, but from several directions at once. A few steps further on, we can see what is taking place. The brush has been cut down and piled up in heaps to the height of a yard or more, between which the trunks of the large trees stand up like the last pillars of a magnificent ruined building. These, too, present a melancholy spectacle: the destructive Makonde have ringed them— cut a broad strip of bark all round to ensure their dying off—and also piled up pyramids of brush round them. Father and son, mother and son-in-law, are chopping away perseveringly in the background—too busy, almost, to look round at the white stranger, who usually excites so much interest. If you pass by the same place a week later, the piles of brushwood have disappeared and a thick layer of ashes has taken the place of the green forest. The large trees stretch their smouldering trunks and branches in dumb accusation to heaven—if they have not already fallen and been more or less reduced to ashes, perhaps only showing as a white stripe on the dark ground.

This work of destruction is carried out by the Makonde alike on the virgin forest and on the bush which has sprung up on sites already cultivated and deserted. In the second case they are saved the trouble of burning the large trees, these being entirely absent in the secondary bush.

After burning this piece of forest ground and loosening it with the hoe, the native sows his corn and plants his vegetables. All over the country, he goes in for bed-culture, which requires, and, in fact, receives, the most careful attention. Weeds are nowhere tolerated in the south of German East Africa. The crops may fail on the plains, where droughts are frequent, but never on the plateau with its abundant rains and heavy dews. Its fortunate inhabitants even have the satisfaction of seeing the proud Wayao and Wamakua working for them as labourers, driven by hunger to serve where they were accustomed to rule.

But the light, sandy soil is soon exhausted, and would yield no harvest the second year if cultivated twice running. This fact has been familiar to the native for ages; consequently he provides in time, and, while his crop is growing, prepares the next plot with axe and firebrand. Next year he plants this with his various crops and

lets the first piece lie fallow. For a short time it remains waste and desolate; then nature steps in to repair the destruction wrought by man; a thousand new growths spring out of the exhausted soil, and even the old stumps put forth fresh shoots. Next year the new growth is up to one’s knees, and in a few years more it is that terrible, impenetrable bush, which maintains its position till the black occupier of the land has made the round of all the available sites and come back to his starting point.

The Makonde are, body and soul, so to speak, one with this bush.

According to my Yao informants, indeed, their name means nothing else but “bush people.” Their own tradition says that they have been settled up here for a very long time, but to my surprise they laid great stress on an original immigration. Their old homes were in the south-east, near Mikindani and the mouth of the Rovuma, whence their peaceful forefathers were driven by the continual raids of the Sakalavas from Madagascar and the warlike Shirazis[47] of the coast, to take refuge on the almost inaccessible plateau. I have studied African ethnology for twenty years, but the fact that changes of population in this apparently quiet and peaceable corner of the earth could have been occasioned by outside enterprises taking place on the high seas, was completely new to me. It is, no doubt, however, correct.

The charming tribal legend of the Makonde—besides informing us of other interesting matters—explains why they have to live in the thickest of the bush and a long way from the edge of the plateau, instead of making their permanent homes beside the purling brooks and springs of the low country.

“The place where the tribe originated is Mahuta, on the southern side of the plateau towards the Rovuma, where of old time there was nothing but thick bush. Out of this bush came a man who never washed himself or shaved his head, and who ate and drank but little.

He went out and made a human figure from the wood of a tree growing in the open country, which he took home to his abode in the bush and there set it upright. In the night this image came to life and was a woman. The man and woman went down together to the Rovuma to wash themselves. Here the woman gave birth to a stillborn child. They left that place and passed over the high land into the valley of the Mbemkuru, where the woman had another child, which

was also born dead. Then they returned to the high bush country of Mahuta, where the third child was born, which lived and grew up. In course of time, the couple had many more children, and called themselves Wamatanda. These were the ancestral stock of the Makonde, also called Wamakonde,[48] i.e., aborigines. Their forefather, the man from the bush, gave his children the command to bury their dead upright, in memory of the mother of their race who was cut out of wood and awoke to life when standing upright. He also warned them against settling in the valleys and near large streams, for sickness and death dwelt there. They were to make it a rule to have their huts at least an hour’s walk from the nearest wateringplace; then their children would thrive and escape illness.”

The explanation of the name Makonde given by my informants is somewhat different from that contained in the above legend, which I extract from a little book (small, but packed with information), by Pater Adams, entitled Lindi und sein Hinterland. Otherwise, my results agree exactly with the statements of the legend. Washing?

Hapana—there is no such thing. Why should they do so? As it is, the supply of water scarcely suffices for cooking and drinking; other people do not wash, so why should the Makonde distinguish himself by such needless eccentricity? As for shaving the head, the short, woolly crop scarcely needs it,[49] so the second ancestral precept is likewise easy enough to follow. Beyond this, however, there is nothing ridiculous in the ancestor’s advice. I have obtained from various local artists a fairly large number of figures carved in wood, ranging from fifteen to twenty-three inches in height, and representing women belonging to the great group of the Mavia, Makonde, and Matambwe tribes. The carving is remarkably well done and renders the female type with great accuracy, especially the keloid ornamentation, to be described later on. As to the object and meaning of their works the sculptors either could or (more probably) would tell me nothing, and I was forced to content myself with the scanty information vouchsafed by one man, who said that the figures were merely intended to represent the nembo—the artificial deformations of pelele, ear-discs, and keloids. The legend recorded

by Pater Adams places these figures in a new light. They must surely be more than mere dolls; and we may even venture to assume that they are—though the majority of present-day Makonde are probably unaware of the fact—representations of the tribal ancestress.

The references in the legend to the descent from Mahuta to the Rovuma, and to a journey across the highlands into the Mbekuru valley, undoubtedly indicate the previous history of the tribe, the travels of the ancestral pair typifying the migrations of their descendants. The descent to the neighbouring Rovuma valley, with its extraordinary fertility and great abundance of game, is intelligible at a glance—but the crossing of the Lukuledi depression, the ascent to the Rondo Plateau and the descent to the Mbemkuru, also lie within the bounds of probability, for all these districts have exactly the same character as the extreme south. Now, however, comes a point of especial interest for our bacteriological age. The primitive Makonde did not enjoy their lives in the marshy river-valleys.

Disease raged among them, and many died. It was only after they had returned to their original home near Mahuta, that the health conditions of these people improved. We are very apt to think of the African as a stupid person whose ignorance of nature is only equalled by his fear of it, and who looks on all mishaps as caused by evil spirits and malignant natural powers. It is much more correct to assume in this case that the people very early learnt to distinguish districts infested with malaria from those where it is absent.

This knowledge is crystallized in the ancestral warning against settling in the valleys and near the great waters, the dwelling-places of disease and death. At the same time, for security against the hostile Mavia south of the Rovuma, it was enacted that every settlement must be not less than a certain distance from the southern edge of the plateau. Such in fact is their mode of life at the present day. It is not such a bad one, and certainly they are both safer and more comfortable than the Makua, the recent intruders from the south, who have made USUAL METHOD OF good their footing on the western edge of the CLOSING HUT-DOOR plateau, extending over a fairly wide belt of country. Neither Makua nor Makonde show in their dwellings anything of the size and comeliness of the Yao houses in the plain, especially at Masasi, Chingulungulu and Zuza’s. Jumbe Chauro, a Makonde hamlet not far from Newala, on the road to Mahuta, is the

most important settlement of the tribe I have yet seen, and has fairly spacious huts. But how slovenly is their construction compared with the palatial residences of the elephant-hunters living in the plain.

The roofs are still more untidy than in the general run of huts during the dry season, the walls show here and there the scanty beginnings or the lamentable remains of the mud plastering, and the interior is a veritable dog-kennel; dirt, dust and disorder everywhere. A few huts only show any attempt at division into rooms, and this consists merely of very roughly-made bamboo partitions. In one point alone have I noticed any indication of progress—in the method of fastening the door. Houses all over the south are secured in a simple but ingenious manner. The door consists of a set of stout pieces of wood or bamboo, tied with bark-string to two cross-pieces, and moving in two grooves round one of the door-posts, so as to open inwards. If the owner wishes to leave home, he takes two logs as thick as a man’s upper arm and about a yard long. One of these is placed obliquely against the middle of the door from the inside, so as to form an angle of from 60° to 75° with the ground. He then places the second piece horizontally across the first, pressing it downward with all his might.

It is kept in place by two strong posts planted in the ground a few inches inside the door. This fastening is absolutely safe, but of course cannot be applied to both doors at once, otherwise how could the owner leave or enter his house? I have not yet succeeded in finding out how the back door is fastened.

MAKONDE LOCK AND KEY AT JUMBE CHAURO

This is the general way of closing a house. The Makonde at Jumbe Chauro, however, have a much more complicated, solid and original one. Here, too, the door is as already described, except that there is only one post on the inside, standing by itself about six inches from one side of the doorway. Opposite this post is a hole in the wall just large enough to admit a man’s arm. The door is closed inside by a large wooden bolt passing through a hole in this post and pressing with its free end against the door. The other end has three holes into which fit three pegs running in vertical grooves inside the post. The door is opened with a wooden key about a foot long, somewhat curved and sloped off at the butt; the other end has three pegs corresponding to the holes, in the bolt, so that, when it is thrust through the hole in the wall and inserted into the rectangular opening in the post, the pegs can be lifted and the bolt drawn out.[50]

MODE OF INSERTING THE KEY

With no small pride first one householder and then a second showed me on the spot the action of this greatest invention of the Makonde Highlands. To both with an admiring exclamation of “Vizuri sana!” (“Very fine!”). I expressed the wish to take back these marvels with me to Ulaya, to show the Wazungu what clever fellows the Makonde are. Scarcely five minutes after my return to camp at Newala, the two men came up sweating under the weight of two heavy logs which they laid down at my feet, handing over at the same time the keys of the fallen fortress. Arguing, logically enough, that if the key was wanted, the lock would be wanted with it, they had taken their axes and chopped down the posts—as it never occurred to them to dig them out of the ground and so bring them intact. Thus I have