Eat What We Grow

What is the essential element of early childhood education? How my views have changed now?

When I was studying at H.C.C. on my E.C.E. classes, I learned about child’s development, how to set up your classroom, do observations and plan activities. But after I read the 7 chapters of New Possibilities for E.C.E. my eyes have been opened and I realized that the interrelationships with our children and their families are far more important than teaching our young children. The ladies in chapter 6 shared that through the classes they took, they have learned to become a better parent. They became more self-confident, more aware of their relationships with their children. They had also expressed that through their learning experiences, they felt that they earned more respect and their voices and opinions mattered. Do our children and our families feel the same way as the ladies in chapter 6? Does having a respectful relationship and providing listening ears matter more than getting our children to become kindergarten ready? Are building and strengthening our children and their families’ self esteem being shadowed by our “We don’t want to get into anybody’s business”? Will the silence of their past be kept and never shared? Early childhood education is about teaching our children to love others. But before they learn to love others, they need to learn to love themselves.

How do we teach our children to eat what we grow?

In “A Pedagogy Of Ecology”, Ann Pelo shared that in our culture, we tend to move frequently and we find it difficult to build a stewardship with our home ground, our mother earth. A few years ago I was working in a community where there was a large taro patch one mile down the road. Three families in our classroom who operated the taro farm came with a tiler at the beginning of the school year. With the cooperation of our elementary school, our principal gave us a small patch of land to grow some taro. These families showed our children how to loosen the dirt with the machine and with our hands. We spend the whole morning under the hot sun. We learned, what is a “oha”, the keiki of a taro plant and “Huli” the parent plant of a taro. The children watched the uncles and the aunties plant the baby taro plants. I have never seen my children ever so enthusiastic of any activity. We all walked to the back of our school and watered the plants everyday. We measured the growth of the plants. And best of all, after we waited patiently for almost nine months, Uncle John harvested and boiled the taro for us. We learned how to hold the poi pounder with our right hand and wet with our left hand and fold the poi on the wooden block. We learned to enjoy and appreciate the harvest of our labor. We learned to eat what we grow.

How can we have a “zero-waste lunch program”?

In “Bringing The Earth Home”, Ann Pelo pointed out the importance of raising the consumption and sustainability of our environment. She suggested to have a zero-waste lunch program. I work with Head Start and every day I see so many foods are being thrown away in the large garbage bag. All the unopened milk cartons and the uneaten foods were disposed every day. I often make the comment,”Oh! What a waste!” I like the idea of having a zero-waste lunch program but how do I implement it? Send me some ideas.