{"id":741,"date":"2013-08-27T00:54:30","date_gmt":"2013-08-27T00:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/content.scienceofecd.com\/secd-intro\/?page_id=741"},"modified":"2025-07-08T18:41:24","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T18:41:24","slug":"ec-2-1-families","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/content.scienceofecd.com\/secd-intro\/ec-2-1-families\/","title":{"rendered":"EC 2.1 Families"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Family experiences are a young child\u2019s most potent experiences. Families mediate a child’s contact with other environments. Parents and other primary caregivers and the home environment are the most powerful and long-lasting influence in the lives of young children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Coping and Competence module examines family dynamics, focusing on attunment, attachment, and parenting styles and their impact on early child development. Here we consider the structure and characteristics of families and homes as important contexts for children’s development.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Consider…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Josef lives with his mother and auntie. Aisha lives with her father, step-mother and older brother. Every other weekend she visits her mother, step-dad and two older step-sisters… Read more<\/a> <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Sometimes, images of family represented in early childhood programs can exclude children by not representing their family situation. Can you give some examples?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does \u2018family\u2019 mean to you? What is your image of family?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some ways to organize the environment in early childhood programs so that all families are respected?<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

The Vanier Institute of the Family documents family life in Canada and maintains an up-to-date database on family trends and issues. The link below takes you to a page with several resources and fact sheets based on Canadian data on families. See, for example, the 2024 “Issue Brief: Family Change and Diversity in Canada”. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\n EXPLORE<\/span>\n Vanier – Resource centre<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n\n
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Were you surprised by any of the data?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you see any practical implications for the work that you do?<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

Legalization of same-sex marriage across Canada was accompanied by an increase in parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Dr. Zeenat Janmohamed,\u00a0academic chair of the School of Social and Community Services at George Brown College,\u00a0studied how early childhood educators respond to same-sex parents.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n VIEW<\/span>\n Janmohamed – studying early childhood educators (1:07)<\/span>\n \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
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