Equally vs equity.

To be treated equally, you are to be treated the exact same way as everybody else. In life, no-one ever gets treated equally, between favouritism and the fact that everyone’s needs are different, no-one will ever be treated equally. Nor should anyone be equally as it doesn’t meet the needs of anyone especially in childcare, to treat all children exactly the same could become abusive toward the children in your care because each child’s needs vary so wildly form child to child and age to age. So why do educators pride themselves on treating every child equally? And why is equality such a big thing in the sector?

The first five years of a child’s life are marked by rapid development of life skills, each milestone achieved is a step toward the next. Unless something is very wrong with your four year old, you don’t change there nappy anymore equally, changing your six month olds nappy is important to insuring there health and wellbeing. A four year old has reached more developmental milestones then a six month old has, therefore, you can’t treat them equally without abusing one or both children. As an educator who works with children aged between six weeks and six years, I’d be in breech of the educator code of ethics if I attempted such a feat. I can treat children of a similar age group and developmental level somewhat equally, because there physical needs are similar however every child is different. Not even full siblings grow up in the same household.

The same applies to emotional and intellectual development, a baby doesn’t feel or understand the nuances of the emotional range of an older child, you can not credit them with the same level of discussion about a given topic. It won’t work as intended because a six week old doesn’t understand what your saying. Equally you can’t pull a six year old out of harms way like you could a baby, there bigger, heavier and should have the ability to understand why something isn’t safe. Having a conversation about a given choice is the best way to set them up for success and build trust and confidence in your relationship with a child.

This doesn’t mean being unfair toward either child, ‘picking favourites’ isn’t fair on anyone and can cause behavioural issues in both children. If one child feels unloved, they may act up in an attempt to gain your attention, equally, the favoured child will become reliant on your continued soul focus. Both of which will cause unwanted behaviours though out childhood and into adulthood. Sometimes children need to be treated equally based on a few things, age and developmental milestones met. If you buy one child an expensive gift for a milestone birthday, you must provide that to the other and equivalent gift on their’s or it becomes un fair.

Again, I work directly with children aged between six weeks and six years. I like to build a firm relationship based on trust and material respect with every child that I work with, that means keeping my word and being fair and equitable. Equitable doesn’t mean equal, it means to adapting the equal treatment of people to a wide range of ages and skills based on each child’s skills and abilities. You don’t favour one child over any others but you adapt your approach to fit all children in your care. As each child ages and gains more competencies, you continually adapt your treatment of that child to reflect the changes in their development.

Just because you treat each child equally doesn’t mean your treating them fairly. Equal does not mean fair, equal means the same across all and everyone can see why that isn’t fair. I don’t believe in equality, I believe in equity. Remember the difference.

Activity of the week

Threading activities are really good at building hard eye coordination, fine motor skills and grip strength. Often beads are too small for younger children who might put them in their mouths and choke and string is flexible and difficult to thread though the hole.

You will need,

Penne pasta

Pipe cleaners

Food dye (optional)

Allow your child to thread the raw penne pasta onto the pipe cleaners to create a bracelet. I recommend dyeing your pasta to add a pop of colure by mixing your dried pasta with food colouring.