On this week there was a little girl who attends our center. She outwardly disobeyed her parent and was disciplined immediately. The staff shrugged their shoulders and made the assumption that the mother would still allow the child to participate in the activities regardless of the unacceptable behavior. “You know that you people give in and the child is in charge.” During our Summer Program children participate in different field trips and art projects on the next week the children are scheduled to go to the Children’s Museum. However, the mother called back later to check on the child and stated that “She will not be attending the field trip on next week.”
This was a microinsult. Because of the staff member’s experience with that culture they made the assumption that this parent would do the same. That their children are verbally disciplined but there are no consequences. When hearing the microaggression I wanted to apologize to the parent and correct the staff member for making such an accusation.
My observation really made me feel like I needed to do something. Have training with my staff to inform them of what microaggression really are and to encourage them to be more careful when speaking with parents and children because we want them to feel included in our program and not to make statements that would make them feel otherwise.
