June's Big Idea: Diversity
Soccer is the perfect environment to learn and celebrate diversity. Since it is a world-wide sport, we get to learn and grow from people of all different backgrounds. This makes the culture of soccer a rich, inclusive environment. Through our soccer classes, we can encourage empathy, respect, and understanding. Our classes are a great way to learn about and celebrate the differences in all of us.
Teach Respect
Young children naturally notice the differences in others. By encouraging our students to notice and celebrate those differences, we are teaching them that differences are not bad or strange. In our classes, we want to show our students that these differences are important, interesting, and worth learning about. We can use our class times to learn about and celebrate diversity, but most importantly, we can learn to respect those differences in each other.
Encourage Compassion
The root of compassion and empathy begins with being able to see things from others’ perspectives. By learning about each other’s differences, we are encouraging a compassionate mindset in children. The introduction of diverse backgrounds allow for the practice of empathy and understanding of each other’s points of view. At HappyFeet, we love that soccer is a diverse sport that provides ample opportunities for understanding and compassion.
Expand Thinking
The culture of soccer encourages learning from each other’s differences. By experiencing and learning about our diverse world, our preschoolers are given more opportunities to grow and expand their ideas. This creates more creative, thoughtful children.
Why Diversity is Important
Diversity is an important idea for HappyFeet because it is a vital step to helping preschoolers be compassionate, creative leaders. In order to work as a team, both on and off the field, our players need to have experience with respect and compassion for everyone they interact with. We use the diverse world of soccer to learn from each other, experience each other’s differences, and develop respect for those differences.
