If you’re mindful about what you eat, how you eat, and when you eat, you don’t need to diet. -Renée
I figured this would be good topic to discuss right after the Thanksgiving holiday and right before the winter holidays and festivities. Mindful eating.
Most of us stuff ourselves, gain weight, then work hard to get it back off through spring up to summer. We bring mindfulness to our daily lives from taking breaks, having mindful minutes, breathing, and meditation. So, why not just take a step back and bring mindfulness to our eating habits. Not just through this time of year, but all year around.
We listen to advertisements and others opinions what’s good or bad for us and what’s healthy or not. We all know what is and what isn’t by now. If we just listen to our body we can manage to eat better, healthier, and wiser. It’s all about knowing what your body needs at the right time. It’s about what you eat, how you eat, and when you eat. Even throwing in some kind of detoxing and/or fasting routine for the unhealthy stuff we consume.
Along with this, be mindful during mealtimes. Instead of “your eyes being bigger than your stomach,” eating too fast, or scarfing down your food, take the time and slow down. Enjoy your food. Get the right portions your body needs. Take in all the essence of the food with your senses. Feel the textures and listen to it as you’re preparing it, the cutting of the knive into the vegetables you might be slicing or the sounds it’s making while it’s cooking. Feel the difference of textures from raw to cooked. When looking at it, notice the colors of the food. Smell the food, smell all the ingredients/spices you might be adding to your dish. Then of course, as you’re eating, slowly taste each ingredient as it enters your mouth. Notice the texture of the food in your mouth. This is a good way to slow children down that are fast eaters and want to shove their faces.
At meal times you can discuss what they think it smells like, what colors they see on their plate, and what they think it tastes like. I’ve done this with groups of children I’ve had in the past and currently. They really delight in it, it gives them a chance to talk while enjoying their food at meal times. They’re actually learning a lot doing this, as well. From using their senses, learning colors (for the young,) to social skills. It may even ease them into trying new foods. Make it a new habit, or add it to your mealtime ritual.
Another thing I would like to add, it’s okay to play with your food, respectfully. For children, as long as they’re still eating, there’s nothing wrong with them playing a little, they’re learning through their senses about their food.
Nature seems to show you love when you appreciate her, even when you’re not looking for it. Sometimes it’ll pop out of no where when least expecting it.
While on my nature walk with my husband this past weekend this little lone leaf appeared to me on the ground. It captured my attention and I knew it was a sign of nature showing her love. I was looking up at the time listening to the birds sing and watching them fly by up in the bright blue sky. I noticed a cardinal, in which he was trying to photograph. I was standing still, very quiet, trying to get his attention. By the time he realized what I was doing the bird flew off. I stood there, listening, for a few more moments, emersed in the sounds of nature and that’s when I looked down and noticed the leaf. I wasn’t just listening with my ears, but with my heart, as well. Connecting with Nature this way, she’ll connect back with you in mysterious ways.
I love playing with words and I know a picture/meme has been done with the words “hear” and “heart” before. I’ve seen it floating around and I may have even shared it in the past. It has a quote saying something about the two words, the letters of the word hear are also in heart, and about “listening with your heart.” While on my nature walk it came to me to add the word “ear” to this mix, as it made sense.
We all have the ability to hear with our ears and with our hearts. When we only listen with our ears we only hear sounds and words. Yes, that can be just as important, as it’s how we communicate and comprehend things. We also listen with our ears for the sounds in nature and music, etc…
We listen to music with our ears for the words. When we listen to it with our heart, we connect, empathize, we dance, we move, we thrive, and feel alive. Sometimes we feel down and want to cry, depending on the music. There’s also a lot of neuroscience on how music effects our brain. It helps with learning and there’s music therapy, as well.
When we hear with our ears, we listen to words. When we hear with our heart, we listen with our soul. We’re more empathetic to others. It shows compassion. It let’s them know we’re connecting with them and wanting to better understand them, including children. Connecting with each other is important, it is the key, it is the heart of everything.
So, how are you listening to others? How are you listening to children?
Connection…in simple terms, means a relationship between others, events, or things. We’re all born with an innate feeling of needing a connection with someone or something. It’s what we all thrive for, it’s what we need to survive.
Original source unknown.
Popularized by the western philosopher, John Locke, the long debated “blank slate” theory suggests that babies come into the world with no mental content. In the section, What Babies Are Teaching Us in the book Babies Are Cosmic, author Dr. Neil Carmen, PhD, explains that this is no longer the case. Babies enter the world with a “full slate” of consciousness. They are aware, thinking beings capable of memory and learning, disguised in tiny bodies and lack of speech. He also shares a few quotes that resonated, in his Why We Need to Talk to Babies section:
“Babies communicate through eye contact, facial expressions, changes in where they place their attention and states of consciousness, body movements and gestures, crying….” -Dr. Wendy McCarthy
“So when we sit with children in their play or in their movements and have a curiosity about what it is they are working to show us and tell us. We may learn a lot about what their perspective was in early experiences before they had words to speak about it.” -Mary Jackson, author of The Consciousness of Infants
“Memory does not begin at age 2, but stretches back to birth, newborns have led us to this truth…In crossing this boundary, it is the unborn who are teaching us.” -Dr. David Chamberlain
Adults that expect to hear baby chatter are blindsided when they hear children as young as 2 and 3 talk about spiritual and philosophical concepts. If they listen closely they may be gifted with these recollections. These memories from children display knowledge beyond their years of experience. The wisdom, hidden gifts, and truths children share reveal and elicit wonder and healing for adults. These would answer the question on how to listen to children whether verbal or non-verbal. Dr. Carman also states that babies record their experiences in the implicit memory, which Dr. Dan Siegel talks about in his book The Whole-Brain Child. The implicit memory is what begins forming before we are born. So, connection starts in the womb.
Once born into this world an attachment is already formed. An attachment is described as a strong emotional bond between a baby or a young child and a caring adult who is a part of the child’s every day life. Looking back at Dr. Wendy McCarthy’s quote and reading Secure Relationships by Alice Sterling Honig helps with reassuring this connection. She explains that making eye contact and looking into the child’s eyes helps nurture that connection, whether it’s mother, father, a family member, or another caregiver. Touch is special, as well, it is crucial. A loving touch is the secret ingredient that magically helps babies and young children feel emotionally secure. Dr. Neil Carman also mentions the term “love sensing,” which is the ability of a newborn to know whether they are truly desired, welcomed, and loved. Alice Sterling also writes about attachment and cognitive development and that loving and learning are deeply intertwined. Secure attachments seem to prepare children to be confident and independent learners, along with having strong social-emotional skills. Clinicians and researchers found that when children feel loved and worthy of being loved, solving cognitive tasks is more successful for them. This is where playing and learning first take place. Attachment is also the first social- emotional behavior system to develop. As the attachment evolves, exploration and curiosity emerge. Child-Teacher attachment is independent from child-parent attachment. In Extending the Dance, Helen Raikes and Carolyn Edwards go on to explain that teachers of secure children were more sensitive to their signals during play and show higher responsiveness compared to those without a secure attachment.
According to Rudolph Steiner, the human being has 12 senses. The book, Waldorf Education: An Introduction for Parents, explains the first four as the foundation of a healthy development in the young for all the higher level skills – cognitive, social, and spiritual – in childhood and through out life. They are the sense of touch, which is the first to be awakened, the sense of life, our basic needs, the sense of self-movement (proprioceptive,) and the sense of balance (vestibular.) Even Peter Lorie discusses the many senses in his book Wonder Child. These are the foundation for connection and play. Play appears to be a natural motivation for young children and adults alike.
In the book, Supporting Play: Birth through Age 8, Dorothy Justus Sluss explains that infants enter the world dependent on their senses and physical ability to develop as human beings. Their development is directly related to play and their play is directly related to their development. Even Piaget refers to the first two years as the sensorimotor stage. There’s a section in the book on communication theory which views play as necessary for communication purposes. Gregory Bateson believed that children create a context for play and a shift from reality to play is called a play frame. Catherine Garvey extended his findings and developed a framework for understanding the complexity involved in the child’s language. She noted that a lot of child’s communication involved creating, clarifying, maintaining, and negotiating pretend play. William Carsaro built on Garvey’s work recognizing developmental differences in the use of communication during play. In Chapter 1, Valuing Play, Sluss writes about David Elkind first expressing his concern in 1981 in his book The Hurried Child. The value of play is global, universal. The elements that support play in most cultures are: in a healthy and safe place, schedules for basic needs met, an array of familiar peers, materials, and other culture, adult behaviors that support, but don’t disrupt, and an agreement between child and and adult that play may occur. Sluss also asks, “What is play?” One of the first definitions of play was provided by the founder of Kindergarten, Friedrick Froebel, in 1887. He stated, “Play is the highest expression of human development in children for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child’s soul.” Since then there have been many other definitions. There are 6 characteristics of play: it is voluntary, it requires active involvement, it’s symbolic, it’s free of external rules, it focuses on action rather than outcomes, and it’s pleasurable. In Childhood and Society, Chapter 6: Toys and Reasons, Erik Erikson writes about Play, Work, and Growth. A child’s play begins with and centers on his own body, which is termed as autocosmic play. This begins before we notice and consists of kinesthetic sensations, sensual perceptions, vocalizations, etc. Learning is necessary in order to discover what potential play content can be admitted only to fantasy or only to autocosmic play; what content can be successfully represented only in the microcosmic world of toys and things and what content can be shared with others. The microsphere is learning alone and the macrosphere is sharing with others. As this is learned, each sphere is endowed with it’s own sense of reality and mastery. Erikson also writes what may have common meaning to all children in a community, may have a special meaning to some. Yet, all of it may have a unique meaning to individual children. To understand the unique meaning itself requires careful observation, not only of the plays content and form, but also words and visible effects, which is also known as play disruption. The antithesis of play disruption is play sanitation, play from which a child emerges refreshed as a sleeper from dreams which “worked.”
Going back to Wonder Child, by David Lorie, he explains what his book is about. “This book is designed to show that we are living in the presence of a new kind of child. A child that lives in a state of wonder, which is our natural state, and which we are still capable of recognizing if we know where to look. For we have only forgotten it, lost along the way somewhere.” He goes on to write that if we consider the presence of ourselves in our world, our environment, as something completely connected, then we are affected by everything. It is only the strength of the mind and our determination to be separate that disconnects us. In Chapter 3, Child Power and Hidden Emotions, he talks about consciousness. Just because a child cannot use words yet, cannot tell us how they feel, does not mean that the child is somehow under-developed or delayed. In Eye Talk a child talks to us through the eyes, through a willingness to receive us and everything we put into the child. This can be referred back to and connected with attachment. In The Earthing of the Child, …”it is not really that the child “learns” through mental intake, but that his or her whole being is absorbed into a connection with the Earth.”
Richard Louv wrote an amazing book, Last Child in the Woods that really captures the true essence of connecting with nature. For children, nature comes in many forms. A child finds freedom, fantasy, and privacy. It inspires creativity in a child, demanding visualization and the full use of all the senses. These are some of the utilitarian values of nature, but at a deeper level, she gives herself to children (and adults,) without a reflection of culture. Nature is reflected in our capacity for wonder. As humans we often see ourselves separate from nature, but we are actually part of that wilderness. In chapter 2 Why the Young (and the Rest of Us) Need Nature, Louv goes on to write about the many researchers that talk about ecological consciousness and our connection to our evolution on Earth. There is a wide circle of researchers that believe that the loss of natural habitat, or the disconnection from nature has enormous implications for human health at an almost cellular level. Playtime, especially unstructured, imaginative, exploratory play is increasingly recognized as an essential component of whole child development. A benefit for play in natural settings is that children and adults are more active when they are outside. There are emotional benefits, as well. Green space fosters social interaction and promotes social support. Nature can also offer a nurturing solitude. Children live through their senses and need nature for the healthy development of them, for learning, and creativity. This need is revealed in two ways: by an examination of what happens to the senses when they lose connection to nature and by witnessing the sensory magic that occurs when we are exposed to even the smallest direct experience of a natural setting. There is a long and extensive list in the back of his book to help reconnect with nature, also. Connect with Nature by Anna Carlile and Bringing the Outside In by Sandra Duncan, Ed.D and Jody Martin are two great books that are very helpful, as well.
Freeing the Human Spirit, by Michael Spence, has a small section on Intuition in the School that can help teachers connect with children. He states that it is a complete denial of the soul/spiritual nature of the child or young person if we think we can decide what it is we intend them to become and then plan the education to achieve that end. Nor can we arrive at a proper form of education by listening to the common opinion, or by sensing what is felt by the majority to be right or wrong. There is a great deal that is hidden in the child as they stand before the teacher. How the child will develop, what will transpire as their life’s work and what will come into expression only in later years are not visible to the ordinary senses of the teacher. To see this the teacher has to develop her intuition. In Empowered by Empathy, Rose Rosetree writes about the different types of intuition. There’s physical intuition – informs you about what’s going on in another’s body, emotional intuition – listening to tone of voice and observing body language, emotional oneness – feeling other’s emotions as your own, (an Empath, such as myself,) and intellectual shape shifting – the talent for sharing another’s thought process. When teachers can develop one or more of these, they have the ability to connect with children on a deeper level. Also, to help children develop these. In her Connect to Protect, Rosetree writes that according to research and at the Journal of the American Medical Association, children feeling connected to parents, or other adults was 5 times as important as spending time. Your child will prosper if you have the humility to just come as you are. Even preschoolers can be shown that everyone has an inside and outside. Self-knowledge is especially valuable for children. Helping them to learn to appreciate how quiet experiences of inner learning are the basis of what shows outwardly. In chapter 6, The Me-We Connection of The Whole-Brain Child, Empathy + Insight, according to Dan Seigel is Mindsight. Mindsight is understanding our own mind as well as understanding the mind of another. The We is offering experiences that lead to connection. The essence, happiness, and fulfillment result from being connected to others while still maintaining a unique identity. A few books I recommend in also helping teachers are Really Seeing Children by Deb Curtis and From Teaching to Thinking by Ann Pelo and Margie Carter. These are really helpful. Spirit Whisperers: Teachers Who Nourish a Child’s Spirit by Chick Moorman is a wonderful one, as well. He writes the 6 Principles of Spirit Whispers as Suspended Judgement, Conscious Creation, Inner Knowing, Personal Responsibility, Personal Power, and Oneness.
In conclusion, I’ve always felt that connection is the key, it’s the heart of everything. When you feel connected to someone, a child, anyone, it helps with compassion, understanding, and empathy. You get to know who that person truly is. It helps with all learning, cognitive, social-emotional, intuitive, etc. Connecting with ourselves and with nature is the root of all knowledge, it brings us back to find out who we truly are.
When I was a child and I heard the word race, “I’ll race you” it was seeing who was the fastest, or who could get something done quicker. I didn’t know it had anything to do with the color of skin. Maybe it was the time I was born, how I was raised, the teachers I had, or maybe it was just how I perceived everything as a child. I did feel like I was different than others.
Taneka was the very first friend I made. We went to school together and she lived right down the street in the neighborhood we lived in. When I think back, the neighborhood was diverse. Yes, her skin color was different than mine, but that didn’t change our friendship.
It’s just a color.
I grew up having many friends of different colors. We learned about each other and from each other. I also had many great teachers in school of different skin colors.
I didn’t have any special privileges different from any of my friends. We all had the same or similar opportunities growing up. I didn’t see any others having any other special treatment. I’ve also seen growing up and even more today many successful people of different skin colors, from police, doctors, lawyers, business owners, to athletes, entrepreneurs, etc. So, where does this whole “white privilege” come from?
When you look up the word “race” the first definition is what I previously just wrote. A competition to see who is faster, quicker, or better at something than the other. You can see right here:
Late Old English, from Old Norse rás ‘current’. It was originally a northern English word with the sense ‘rapid forward movement’, which gave rise to the senses ‘contest of speed’ (early 16th century) and ‘channel, path’ (i.e. the space traversed). The verb dates from the late 15th century.
So, what are we racing for?
Then here is an insert from Britanica on race:
Race, the idea that the humanspecies is divided into distinct groups on the basis of inherited physical and behavioral differences. Genetic studies in the late 20th century refuted the existence of biogenetically distinct races, and scholars now argue that “races” are cultural interventions reflecting specific attitudes and beliefs that were imposed on different populations in the wake of western European conquests beginning in the 15th century.
Going back to when I mentioned that my friends and I learned about each other and from each other. When we’re exposed to different ethnicities and cultures we become more open-minded and accepting of each other. We didn’t always agree on everything, but we still remained friends. We accepted each other’s differences.
The word race in the human world isn’t that old, but not that new either. You can read the history here:
So, going back to skin colors, none of us are technically white nor black. Black is the absence of color, a void. Whereas white is the prism where all colors combine.
Together they make gray.
We’re all shades in between from the darkest of browns to the palest shade of cream. I see many beautiful colors, colors of cultures, colors of nationalities, colors of ethnicities, colors of the world. I believe in the human race. I believe in humanity.
There was a few nice rainstorms in my area over our 3 day weekend. So, when the toddlers and I were ready to go on the playground they had much to discover and explore.
I only had 2, so it was a very nice and relaxing day. It was also loads of fun for them! While most early childhood educators I’ve known, past & present would start dumping water out of things, picking up sticks, etc. I wouldn’t do such a thing. I love watching the curiosity & exploring. It’s all a part of their learning.
They first discovered that there was water in the back of a toy riding car. What toddler wouldn’t? It’s water! Only having the 2, they actually played cooperatively and took turns splashing in the water, soaking the front of their shirts. I just sat back immersed in their delightful play.
They took a break and went exploring the playground. We saw that the patch of dirt we play in was still slightly damp & that some of our sand toys were filled with some water, as well. They immediately dumped the water and started patting at the mud. I made a few castles and they crushed and squished them with their shoes and their hands. I was able to get a quick, but blurry picture before they started squishing it with their hands, feeling the dampness of the dirt between their fingers. One of them squealed with joy as they squeezed the wet dirt against the ground.
What did they find next? Some long, intertwined, full length sticks. They held them up high and proud, as if they were knights with swords. They laughed and giggled as they tapped them against each other, against the poles, and the ground. Observing their play this morning was such a joy! How could anyone not let children play this way?
I started writing my poetry at age 13 many, years ago. I very rarely shared it, not thinking or feeling it wasn’t good enough. I still wrote it in a journal that I’ve always kept close by. This poem I’m about to share is one of the very first poems I wrote. I still feel it is relevant today, especially with all that’s going on with the politics, crime, etc….
It’s a hard time to go through and everyone experiences it differently. Some may take longer than others to get through it even with support. For some, it may take a long time. All we can do is be there for each other and keep that connection alive.
Edit to note: I originally started writing this a few months ago when I heard a friends father passed away. I didn’t get to finish, as I was busy with other things. Then I was recently informed that an old colleague from a few years ago left us earlier this week, as well. I thought the timing for this is now with everything going on, and today being my father’sbirthday. He would’ve been 70 today. He left this world 10 yrs. ago come Aug.
Here, I’m going to share some of my older poetry from about 15 years ago. They were written when I was a lot younger, but I still would like to share them. I’ve shared them with grieving friends in the past and have even recited one or two at a funeral, even at my father’s funeral. They also come a from a few different perspectives. I hope you enjoy reading them and may you find some comfort within at least one….
Memories Never Fade
Seeing all the pictures throughout her/his years.
Brings family and friends so close and so near.
Brings them all the memories of laughter, joy and tears.
A beautiful soul the Lord & Lady had made.
From our memories she/he will never fade.
And the memories never forgotten.
So, to rest her/his remains are laid.
Between Worlds
Beyond the bounds of time,
Where the worlds meet,
His/her soul is wandering.
His/her soul, so kind and sweet.
Lost between the worlds,
Between ours and what we call heaven,
Floating endlessly, until the night,
Of Halloween or also called Samhain.
When the veil is open at twelve that night,
He/She’ll be drifting to what we know as the light.
Floating higher and higher on that All Soul’s night.
Then at the Gates at the Land of Youth is where he/she will patiently stand,
Until the Lord and Lady guide him/her and gently takes his/her hand.
The Land of Youth is where he/she will be
Floating along and forever free…
Guardian Angel
Her/his memories in all our hearts and minds will never erase
And she/he will be floating around visiting friends and family from place to place.
Watching over us, taking care of us,
And making sure we have a smile on our face.
Her/his beautiful soul Looking down on us in her/his place in Heaven
And visiting everyone throughout each night, time and time again.
This sweet angel from up above, our guardian.
Born Again
Like a bird in flight,
Forever free she/he is flying,
To a happier place filled with peace and love
And her/his soul never dying.
She/he will remain in your hearts forever,
As well as your friends and mine.
For the entity up above
Must’ve known it was her/his time.
Her/his deeds were done in this life
And so her/his physical self must go.
Memories of her/him will always be with us
And so will his soul.
In Nature, everything is born
Whithers and dies and is born again.
It is an endless, everlasting continuous chain.
She/he will eventually be here again
In physical form someday
Whether we realize it’s her/him or not.
Just always leave an open pathway.
Whether it be dog, cat, bird, or any other form.
Again she/he will be born.
Saved Lives
Bless his/her soul
That now must go.
For he/she has saved children’s lives
Who also could have died.
Bless his/her heart,
For another life he/she could start.
Another life a child has gained
And yet his/her spirit still remains.
This last poem was written for a friend who lost her son in a car accident and they donated his organs to other children in need.
These are all my original poems. Please respect my poetry and I appreciate you reading.
If we’re not taking care of ourselves, how can we help take care of others? Take care of our students, especially the young? And even our own family?
It was about 10 yrs. ago, when I was working at a center where the owner just decided to close up on 3 day’s notice. All staff & parents came in on a Thurs. to a sign posted on the front building stating “Friday will be the last day. We are closing.” There were so many emotions those two days from parents and staff. I was looking for any kind of work the following week. I had some doubts and was also feeling a little burnt out. Everywhere I went didn’t seem to be hiring, but low and behold, a previous employer was and rehired me. That’s when I knew what field I’m definitely meant to be in and that’s when I slowly started changing some of my routines and habits. Self-Care is on my “top priorities list.”
I have done all of these on the list in the past, plus a few others. Some I don’t do as much or at all because of family changes & routines. Some stuck and some became part of my daily rhythm.
Staying Hydrated, Eating, & Drinking Healthy
I’m sure most of us are water drinkers and pretty healthy eaters. This is most important, especially in this time. Drinking warm lemon water when you first wake up is a great kickstarter. There are many health benefits to do doing this, especially now, one boosting your immunity. Kombucha and probiotic drinks do this, as well. Making your own fruit infused water. (I have many different mixes posted on my Instagram.) There’s no shortage of any fruit in the stores. These are all good for our ECE’s that are in centers that are still open. If you take echinacea & vitamin C tablets, like I do from Nov. to March, keep taking them. For eating healthy, you can check out my Mindful Eating blog for a few tips that I wrote back between the holidays before all this mess. I’m a tea drinker, as well, herbal, green, just about any.
Get Enough Sleep
We all know this.
Yoga, Meditation, Mindfulness
I’m sure we’ve all started some of this in some form or fashion. Sometimes I’ll nap or meditate, listening to binaural beats on my break, since I usually eat with the kids. I’ll do simple Yoga poses throughout the day with the kids, then I also have a 5-10 min. routine at home at night before going to bed. Simply taking a minute or 2, or 5, to “just breathe” when you need to throughout the day will help tremendously. Whether on your break or with the kids, just go outside and look up at the clouds. When you’re home at night, just look up into the night sky.
Connect with nature and you will connect with yourself.
Just get outside, go for a walk, a bike ride, enjoy the sunshine, a cloudy day, even the rain.
Journal
Or just write something a thought, a poem, a story, anything. If you’re at home, maybe get your children into this. This could become a family group project.
Get Creative and/or Pick up a New Hobby
This is pretty self explanatory. Every Self-Care blog has this one. This is great for all those that have to stay home. Listen to your favorite music, as well. Sing, dance, & play!
Pamper Yourself
With all the salons closed, it’s time to do it yourself. Color your hair, give yourself a pedicure, manicure, & facial. Take an Epsom salt bath, this is a great end of the week stress relief, and add some essential oils. Use an oil diffuser & mix find or mix your own blends. Or light some insence. Then follow it with a glass of wine, or your choice of alcohol, or other beverage. You deserve it.
I leave you with this that I just came across today Mindfulness and Purpose for ECE’S. 😁
Happy Social Distancing, Be Safe, and Stay Healthy
“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers, you will always find people helping.” -Fred Rogers
This is one of my favorite quotes of Fred Rogers. Look for the helpers, the one’s shining their light, the Lightworkers.
There are Lightworkers all over the world in many different fields, there are those in the retail, trucking, engineering, & medical fields, etc. that are sticking it out and fighting this battle to the end. Those in retail making the sacrifice to make sure we have the products we need. Ones in trucking making sure those products are delivered. Those in the medical field treating many who are entering their facilities. The engineers that make the parts for our vehicles and medical equipment, without them we wouldn’t have any of this.
I’m writing this today to give credit where it’s due. Our Lightworkers in the Early Childhood and Education fields, because without them, we wouldn’t have those mentioned in the fields above. Although all public schools have been closed, many teachers have been stepping up and sharing many resources to help students and parents through these times, keeping them on track with their studies and other learning. There are also many in the therapy fields sharing their resources helping to cope. There are so many, I wish I could share them all here. You can find what fits yours and your childrens needs. While all this is happening, a lot of Early Childhood centers are still open and operating. We’re open for a few reasons. NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) wrote a very important statement on March 15, 2020, titled Childcare is Essential and Needs Emergency Support to Survive. You can read it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VzAZI4UvbAYG8nsiO_DJGU3Rp41F1k0y/view
We’re here and in it for the long haul. For a lot of us, this is our passion and purpose. Granted, some centers have been recommended to close in highly affected areas, but there are many still open and running. We are working diligently to keeping these children healthy, safe, calm, and still have fun playing and learning. These are the children of those in the highly needed fields right now, all those mentioned above. We are protecting, guiding, and nurturing our future generations, as we always do. Another reason for staying open is for financial reasons, but this is not why I’m writing this. Here is a great article I came across this week: https://www.heartofachildconsultation.com/post/the-dilemma-of-childcare-in-covid-19
It is time to value and appreciate all educators from the Early Childhood field all the way up to high school teachers. Those in the Early Childhood field should be honored and respected just as much as our nurses. We care for these children for up to 9 hrs. a day, 5 days out of the week, connecting with them, nurturing them, keeping them safe and healthy, etc. It is time for the Lightworkers in this field to stand up, stand proud, and shine. We are the ones needed at this time. We are are the ones leading the line.
We can do this and do it together. This we have to remember. It’s our time to shine. The world needs our light. Sing, dance, create, smile, laugh, cooperate, pray, help others, meditate, excercise, have fun, it’s love & connection we’ve got to stay focused on. Let’s also try to stay centered in our hearts. Don’t forget to practice Self-Care every day, it’s what helps keep us healthy and keeping our immune systems strong. (I’ll try to write my next blog on this topic next week.) It’s okay to break down and cry sometimes. We’re going to have those days. Crying helps us stay emotionally healthy. Just give yourself that moment, then pull yourself back together and keep going. We are all one team, pulling together, holding each other up, and always having each other’s backs. We can do this. For ourselves, for each other, for our children, and for their future.
I hope this helps parents and encourages or inspires teachers to stay strong. In conclusion of this, I leave you with my poetry, this poem I originally wrote 2 1/2 yrs. ago, that I’ve recently revised. -Renée
The Owl’s Nest 