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Volume 72, Issue 48,
Thursday, October 26, 2006
News Kids get early lesson in culture UH Child Care Center celebrates
holidays from other religious,
by GABRIELLE LYONS
UH Child Care Center's celebration of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, and Eid-ul-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan, Wednesday brought a taste of culture to parents and staff as well as the children. "It was a success with our students, our staff and our parents," Sherry Howard, director of the child care center, said. "We're all just excited about celebrating diversity, which is the commitment that we decided to embrace this year." The main lobby of the center was decorated with pictures that the children had colored of Diwali lamps and a star and crescent symbol. Tables of food and desserts were set up so parents could stop by as they dropped their children off in the morning to sample the cuisine or receive a henna tattoo. The majority of the food and the decorations were supplied by members of the staff and did not come from the center's budget. "Everyone made their own contributions," Howard said. "Teachers are some of the most generous people I know." Parents of children at the center said they were pleased with its decision to celebrate various cultural holidays this year. "I think it's wonderful for them to bring the different cultures to the children," Sara Duval, a parent and psychology senior said. "I like that they promote diversity, they do many different events throughout the year to expose the children to different things. "I want my son exposed to as many things as possible at a young age. So I think it's wonderful that they go through such lengths to do that." Duval also said celebrating different cultural events throughout the year "makes the younger children comfortable; they get to show off their culture for a day. That has to be nice." Shawnacy McArthur, a parent and University Studies freshman, said the best part about the cultural events is they allow the children to be exposed to things that they might not normally see early in life. "I think it's great because not a lot of parents do that," she said. McArthur uses her own experience as a parent to describe the benefits of exposing children to different cultures. She takes her children to various restaurants and festivals to expose them to different cultures. "(It is important to) let them see it so if they see it they know that they should not be scared of it. It might be different, but it's not something strange," she said. The child care center also tried to involve parents in the celebration. "The display gets our attention. It breaks up the coming in, turning around and leaving," McArthur said. "You actually get to stop and look at everything. I've gotten into the habit of walking straight in and straight out. "But this makes you stop and makes you start talking to people, like other parents and staff that you normally don't stop and talk to because they're not your kid's teacher." McArthur said the center did a good job with the event. "You can tell these people put a lot of thought into it, and it shows. You can tell this wasn't something thrown together at the last minute," she said. "And it shows that they're actually interested in the children at the school, they're actually interested in community." Staff members hope events such as this one will get better in the future, especially as parents become more aware of what the child care center is doing. Bijoli Saha, a teacher in the Infant Program, said this year was a good starting point. "It is wonderful; (parents) like it and they want to know more. Parents will come up to me and ask when the festival is," she said. "Next time we'll do live something like dance or cooking … This year we didn't know how to make things happen, but next year we'll do it in a bigger way." Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu |
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