Sparking Conversations on Culturally Responsive Childcare
Oct 19, 2026 · 35 min · 10 segments
What assumptions about play might we be carrying without realizing it—and who gets left out when we expect play to look a certain way? In this episode, we sit down with Alison Rinas, Manager of…
I'm really curious if you can elaborate and say and give us some examples about some of those biases.
What is common in Canada for educators or parents to have in terms of image of play or a bias that could get in the way? Maybe you can tell us a few examples so that maybe we can uncover some of the things we haven't thought about before.
And I was listening to a podcast recently, and I think the title was Autism and Play.
But it really spoke to this idea of our own biases and our own ideas of what meaningful play is.
And an example that comes to mind is, you know, in a classroom, we may see children lining up And from an educator's perspective, that might look like a red flag.
They might consider it to be not functional play or not purposeful play or not meaningful play.
And I think it's really important for us to examine who gets to decide what meaningful play is or what functional play is.
We have these expectations that the play that neurotypical children engage in is correct or that's the right way to play.
And that is just a message that we need to disrupt and that we need to examine because all play is meaningful.
We might not understand the purpose or the meaning behind children's play, but it's all meaningful.
So depending on where I come from and what I think is appropriate play or functional play, I might not see as children lining up Or a child that is spinning in a corner and consider that to be not appropriate or not functional play when really we have to look at what play is and is not.
this play bringing that child joy? And is it helping them to regulate? Is it meeting a need for them? Is it meeting a sensory need for them? And we don't know the answer to that, but it's important to examine our ideas of what meaningful play is and what's okay.
And depending on our own culture and our own background, we might have a very different experience of what play is.
And I might view appropriate play as sitting quietly, in a corner playing with materials on my own and the volume has to be quite low and my movements have to be slow and quiet.
And that might be what I have considered to be appropriate play based on my own cultural experiences or my own experiences of childhood.
Yeah, that resonates so much.
I've had so many realizations myself over the years.
For example, what I consider a bedtime story, my boys do not consider a bedtime story.
I've been reading an encyclopedia with one of them and a cookbook with the other one for months.
And that is amazing.
their joy of reading before sleep.
It's not a story.
Stories do not work for them.
I'm really curious if you can elaborate and say and give us some examples about some of those biases.
What is common in Canada for educators or parents to have in terms of image of play or a bias that could get in the way? Maybe you can tell us a few examples so that maybe we can uncover some of the things we haven't thought about before.
And I was listening to a podcast recently, and I think the title was Autism and Play.
But it really spoke to this idea of our own biases and our own ideas of what meaningful play is.
And an example that comes to mind is, you know, in a classroom, we may see children lining up And from an educator's perspective, that might look like a red flag.
They might consider it to be not functional play or not purposeful play or not meaningful play.
And I think it's really important for us to examine who gets to decide what meaningful play is or what functional play is.
We have these expectations that the play that neurotypical children engage in is correct or that's the right way to play.
And that is just a message that we need to disrupt and that we need to examine because all play is meaningful.
We might not understand the purpose or the meaning behind children's play, but it's all meaningful.
So depending on where I come from and what I think is appropriate play or functional play, I might not see as children lining up Or a child that is spinning in a corner and consider that to be not appropriate or not functional play when really we have to look at what play is and is not.
this play bringing that child joy? And is it helping them to regulate? Is it meeting a need for them? Is it meeting a sensory need for them? And we don't know the answer to that, but it's important to examine our ideas of what meaningful play is and what's okay.
And depending on our own culture and our own background, we might have a very different experience of what play is.
And I might view appropriate play as sitting quietly, in a corner playing with materials on my own and the volume has to be quite low and my movements have to be slow and quiet.
And that might be what I have considered to be appropriate play based on my own cultural experiences or my own experiences of childhood.
Yeah, that resonates so much.
I've had so many realizations myself over the years.
For example, what I consider a bedtime story, my boys do not consider a bedtime story.
I've been reading an encyclopedia with one of them and a cookbook with the other one for months.
And that is amazing.
their joy of reading before sleep.
It's not a story.
Stories do not work for them.
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