In Preschool 2, we learned that there are many different types of families through a few books that we explored together. One of the books, called “Families”, explores many types of family dynamics, such as families with one mom and one dad, families with two dads, families with two moms, families with single parents, adopted families, mixed families, big families, small families, extended families, families where grandparents live with them, and all types of families. The other book, called “Stella brings the Family”, tells the story of a girl named Stella who has two dads, and is worried about who she is going to bring to the Mothers Day party at school. In the end, Stella learns that she has many people in her life who love her and who do things for her that other children’s moms might do for them. She decides to bring all of these people, including her two dads, her grandparents, her aunts, her uncles, and her cousins to the Mother’s Day celebration.
One morning we focused on exploring our own families, and had the opportunity to draw our families in the art centre. Many children worked hard creating and colouring each member of their family in detail. The children discussed similarities and differences between their families, such as how many people are in their family, how tall their parents are, how many siblings they have, and their family members' facial features and body parts such as eyes, nose, arms, legs, and even belly buttons! We learned that although no two families are the exact same, we can all be kind to each other and learn together. The one similar feature between all families is that there is love between the family members.
