Centering Equity in Holiday Celebrations

What does an inclusive anti-bias approach to holidays look like in school settings, and how do we get there? A good place to begin is to take some time to reflect on your current approach to holidays with others on your team. Ask what is working well and what isn’t, and what messages your current activities convey. These conversations can then lead to the creation of a holiday policy to guide your program’s practices that reflect all the children and families in your program and embrace the four anti-bias education goals. This policy should include objectives for holiday activities, the process for deciding which holidays to include, and guidelines for addressing the religious aspects of holidays (see Bisson, 2017, for further discussion and strategies).

One overarching guideline for inclusive holiday activities is to center your holiday practices on what and how your current children and families celebrate. What teachers celebrate should be included as well, but teacher’s own home practices shouldn’t overpower what children and families celebrate. Balance is important because an over focus on one holiday gives the message that it is the most important one, when in truth all families’ holidays are equally valuable. Find out what the children and families celebrate and provide opportunities for the children to see themselves and the traditions that are important to them reflected through children’s books, persona dolls stories, conversations, and by inviting children’s families to come in the classroom and share photos, stories, a book, or special food. You can then consider whether or not to introduce holidays that aren’t celebrated by families in your setting that meet your goals for holidays. Another guiding principle, especially when introducing holidays that aren’t celebrated by current families, is to focus on learning about a holiday, rather than celebrating that holiday, which in many cases wouldn’t be appropriate and could lead to a tourist approach, trivializing a holiday. Julie Bisson, Center Director, Epiphany Early Learning Preschool.

RESOURCES

• “A Season for Everyone: Inclusive Holiday Practices for Families and Educators", Tiny Talks on Early Learning (October 21, 2024).

• Bisson, J, "Celebrate! 2nd Edition: An Anti-Bias Guide to Including Holidays in Early Childhood Programs" (2017).

• Bisson, J. & Derman-Sparks, L. "Holidays and Anti-bias Education", Child Care Exchange (September/October 2016).

• NAEYC, The Four Anti-Bias Goals