Imagine that you work in a program with another educator. You have seventeen children aged 4-5 years old. Your group consists of primarily white children of European American descent. An East African family recently enrolled in the program, and the child was placed in your room. Although the child and family got off to a good start, you have been having difficulty with the child arriving late every day. The program has a strict policy that every child must come at 9 a.m. when the doors are opened (and closed shortly after that). Punctuality is part of the program's philosophy, and every family is expected to abide by the rules.

One morning you hear the other educator greeting the new family at the door as they arrive late. She asks the mother, who usually brings the child to school, why they are late. The mother, who is looking down, takes a moment to respond and then tells your colleague that they are late because of the start time for class conflicts with their morning prayer time, which is also at 9 a.m. She is apologetic yet asks if there is any way the program can make an exception for her child. She explains that they do not have many resources and would like to stay in the program. She describes how the transition from Africa has been difficult for the child, and she does not want him to have to go through another change.

Next, you overhear the following response from your co-worker:

"I'm sorry, but we can't allow you or any other family to be late. You will have to change your morning prayer time or go to another school where they do prayers. None of the other families have a problem getting here at 9 a.m., and we expect you to be able to do it too!"

• Share an alternative suggestion on how you would support the colleague in the above scenario.
• Or reflect on your peer's personal experiences with cultural differences and share additional solutions to resolve or manage those differences.

Peer Post_

If this happened in my workplace, I would first approach my coworker and tell her that her response was inappropriate. It is okay to enforce the rules, but not in a hurtful way. I would share with her ways she could have handled the conversation and provided different cultural resources. I would also suggest that, in the future, she seek help from an administrator when things like this occur so that everyone is comfortable and knowledgeable in such situations. Then, I would suggest that the concern about the 9:00 drop-off time be brought to the attention of the administrators. Many parents may not have verbally disagreed with it, but there may be a few who'll agree that the 9:00 drop-off time is a hassle. Most parents have to be at work before 9:00 and may have to leave just to take their child to school. Changing the time may be beneficial for a lot of parents. I've previously worked at a canter that had a 9:00 drop-off time for the same reason: instruction time started at a certain time. We had a few parents who did late drop-offs and were asked to obey the drop-off times but never in a harsh way. In most cases, the parents did what they wanted until they realized that the child was missing out on a lot of morning instruction and some activities. We also had parents who didn't like that we were a religious-based center and opted out of a few things in our schedule, however, we didn't dismiss the family or treat the child differently. We respected the parents' culture and wishes and had the child do something different during those times.

I would suggest that she work on her own cultural awareness. The more she learns about herself and other cultures, the more she will be able to be less biased in such situations. I would also suggest that she do little training to help with communicating with families and caring for children from different cultures. To support her, I would share links to training and answer any questions she may have or direct her to someone who can.

In my work experience, just recently, I had a new student who did not speak any English, and neither did her family. It was a huge challenge for me because I didn't know any Spanish, and other than having a translator on the phone all day, we didn't have the resources to support and care for her. After day two, she refused to talk through the translator and went mute. I took it upon myself to download Google Translate and learn as much Spanish as I could to communicate with and support her. Over time, she began to feel comfortable, and she learned as much English as I did Spanish. It was a challenge, not just for me but for the student as well. Looking back, the only thing I would do differently is use Google Translate from the beginning, mainly to get an understanding of who the child is and what makes her comfortable.