The Birthday Cake: Balancing Responsibilities to Children and Families - The Dilemma | National Association for the Education of Young Children | NAEYC YC

	YOUNG CHILDREN \| November 2012
	Dilemma: The Birthday Cake: Balancing Responsibilities to Children and Families
	by Stephanie Feeney and Nancy K. Freeman

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This month’s Focus on Ethics asks you to consider a situation involving a program director’s efforts to provide children with a healthy diet in response to growing concerns about childhood obesity. It will give you an opportunity to apply the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct and the Supplement for Early Childhood Program Administrators. Perhaps you have encountered a situation like the one described that makes you think carefully about welcoming and accepting all families while upholding program policies aimed to promote children’s health and well-being. It provides us another opportunity to emphasize the Code’s 2011 reaffirmation and update, which sharpens our focus on the importance of nurturing two-way communication between teachers and families and that ensures cultural consistency between children’s homes and early care and education programs.

— Stephanie Feeney and
Nancy Freeman, Column Editors

The dilemma

Olivia, a program director, is committed to serving nutritious foods and providing healthy choices for children. For that reason her center does not regularly serve cookies, cakes, or other foods full of sugar, fats, or preservatives. The program’s family handbook describes these policies. It states clearly that birthday cakes are not allowed. Policies strongly encourage families to celebrate special events with healthy foods such as berries, watermelon, sliced fruit, vegetable plates, and veggie pizza.

Another important part of the program’s philosophy is developing close relationships with all families. Olivia strives to warmly welcome children and families each day. One morning a mother who is new to the center, who has been shy about participating, and whose mastery of English is limited, arrives with a large, elaborately decorated cake to celebrate her child’s birthday. On one hand Olivia wants to avoid violating the center’s policies, but on the other she wants to strengthen her relationship with this mother and make her feel that she and her family are important members of the program community.

What do you think a good early childhood program administrator should do in this situation? How can Olivia use the NAEYC Code and the Supplement for Early Childhood Program Administrators to guide her thinking and decision making? Remember, the Supplement is to be used in conjunction with the Code, never alone. These important documents work together. The Supplement addresses some of the unique responsibilities of program administrators, including directors.

Resolving the dilemma

You might use this case as the focus of a staff meeting or as an assignment for undergraduate or graduate students. You might mull it over on your own or with a friend or colleague. We recommend following these steps to avoid jumping to an intuitive response instead of arriving at a resolution that systematically applies the Code and Supplement.

Identify the problem and discuss why it involves ethics.
Identify to whom Olivia has conflicting responsibilities. What does she owe to each of the stakeholders? (In doing an ethical analysis it can be helpful to summarize the conflicting responsibilities as a choice between alternatives. “Should Olivia ___________, or should she ___________?”)
Brainstorm possible resolutions.
Consider ethical finesse, a way to resolve a problem that is satisfactory to everyone involved and that avoids having to make a difficult decision.
Look for guidance in the NAEYC Code and the Supplement for Program Administrators. Carefully review their Core Values, Ideals, and Principles, particularly those that apply to responsibilities to children and families. List the relevant items in the Code and the Supplement and indicate how you prioritized their importance.
Based on your review of the Code and Supplement, and using your best professional judgment, describe what you think is the most ethically defensible course of action for Olivia.

Correction

The September 2012 print version of Focus on Ethics failed to list guest editor Rabbi Meir Muller, PhD. Meir earned rabbinical ordination, and is a clinical assistant professor of early childhood education, at the University of South Carolina. He is the principal of Columbia Jewish Day School. Meir was awarded the Scholastic Early Childhood Educator of the Year award in 2006 and has served on the Council for NAEYC Accreditation. He has lectured across the United States and in Israel for the International Research Group on Jewish Education in the Early Years. meirmuller@sc.rr.com

This error was corrected in the online digital version of this column at www.naeyc.org/yc/columns/focusonethics/ response-differing-faiths-in-faith-based-program.

About the Authors

Stephanie Feeney, PhD, is professor emerita of education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has served on the governing boards of NAEYC and the National Association for Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE). Since the 1980s she has been involved in developing and teaching the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct. feeney@hawaii.edu.

Nancy K. Freeman, PhD, is an associate professor of early childhood education at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and director of its Yvonne and Schuyler Moore Child Development Research Center. She chairs the Governor’s Committee on the Regulation of Child Care Facilities and is the immediate past-president of NAECTE. nfreeman@sc.edu

An archive of the Focus on Ethics columns is available at www.naeyc.org/yc/columns/focusonethics.

	Responding to this Dilemma
	Proposed resolutions to this dilemma are accepted until Dec. 10, 2012. The analysis of this dilemma will appear in the March 2012 issue.

	Send Us a Dilemma
	We hope you will share with us an ethical dilemma you have encountered in your workplace to be considered for presentation in this column. Send a short (400–500 words) description of the situation to the coeditors. Be sure to use the subject line “NAEYC ethics.” Contact the coeditors by e-mail: Stephanie Feeney at feeney@hawaii.edu and Nancy Freeman at nfreeman@sc.edu.

	From the Editors

	Ethics and the Early Childhood Educator seeks to inform and guide those who work with children and families through the tough decisions they must confront. Learn more »