Better Together ECE Conference 2019

ECE brochure information 2019

When I Left the Role as an Early Childhood Educator

Who am I if not an early childhood educator? This was a question I thought about over the months that I contemplated if it was the right time for me to change career paths. Who am I? I am a mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a student, a volunteer. But the thought of not connecting my role in the world and my community as an early childhood educator felt hollow. After all, I had begun my studies in early childhood education when I was still in high school. For the last twelve years of my life, my job title has been Early Childhood Educator. If it is true that the cells in our bodies are replaced every seven years, then I am through and through an early childhood educator. So who am I if not an early childhood educator?

In January, I paced the lobby of a band office. I had arrived five minutes early and had been pacing, looking at the flyers and posters displayed around the lobby, and making small talk with the people who passed by. In all honesty, I was so nervous I could barely read the posters, but I tried my best to put my nerves aside and look put together as I waited to be called in for my first interview in over six years. I felt my stomach turn and was worried that I would be so nervous that I would actually be sick. This was the first time ever that I had felt nervous about an interview, but also the first time in twelve years that I was not walking into an interview that I could confidently introduce myself as an early childhood educator for a position with the title of early childhood educator. Instead, this time I was leaping into the unknown and applying for a position as a Youth Initiatives Supervisor.

My world has been about fresh tiny people having their first experience in childcare – learning attachment to new caregivers. It was toddlers painting the paper, the table, the chair, and sometimes the walls all the way to the bathroom where they washed their hands. Diapers. Need I say more? My world was about celebrating social successes and budding friendships. It was saying good-byes to children as they headed to the next chapter of their lives, whether it be kindergarten, welcoming new babies, or moving to a new town. My world (and my role in it) was clearly defined for a long time. Like many others early childhood educators I have spoken with, for a long time I wondered what I would do if I ever left childcare.

When I sat in my interview, the HR person flipped through my resume and asked, “Am I missing a page of your resume?” My resume had been full of the last twelve years of my work which all related to working as an early childhood educator. When I was asked questions specific to working with youth I was pulling from my very early work experience from when I was still a youth myself, working as a youth worker and summer camp leader in my teens. In fact, when I was in grade 12 and starting the ECE program as a duel credit program with the school district of Langley my heart was set on working with youth in recreation, but then I fell in love with working with the under fives . . . and the rest is history.

I pulled out a book that I had made the week before. It is a professional portfolio. It created the opportunity to talk about my skills rather than my title. For twelve years I was an early childhood educator as my profession, but I brought love, creativity, commitment, passion, innovation, vulnerability, bravery and emotional intelligence to my work. Through my role as an early childhood educator I have developed strength, patience, and trust that will come in handy when a difficult stage of development comes up. I have learned how to be a safe hug on a bad day, how to have difficult conversations, and how to set boundaries. In being self employed I have learned to be self-reliant, to manage a business, and to work like I had never worked before even with always having a strong work ethic.

When I accepted my new role (the title has now changed to Child and Youth Initiatives Supervisor), I was told that I was hired for my heart. You can’t go to school for heart, it’s something that you need to develop and I credit my years in early childhood education for growing my heart to what it is today.

But I feel that it would be cutting this blog post too short to simply end this story here. Yes, my work in the field of ECE gave me skills and grew my heart, but I also took other steps to prepare for this change even before I realized that I wanted to make a transition. I think that the first step was actually when I felt most tied and committed to early childhood education and wanted to grow my business to a facility outside of my home. Beyond my closest friends most people don’t know that I tried to expand my business three years ago by attempting to apply for a grant with the BC Provincial Government that was worth up to $250,000. I worked towards completing this grant when my daughter was only three months old and I had already been back to working 50 hours a week since she was six weeks old. To be honest, the process of trying to write the grant destroyed me. I had never worked so hard for something that did not have a positive outcome. As the weeks drew closer to the deadline and my attempts to meet the strict criteria fell through with potential community organizations, I fell flat on my face and did not get to the point of submitting.

The silver lining in this story of apparent failure is that in applying for this grant I wanted to demonstrate that I had the skills and ability both through experience of running my business and through some degree of education to be a worthy candidate. As I did not have a business education when I learned about the grant, I enrolled in business courses at BCIT to try to complete a statement of completion in small business development. By the time that the grant application attempt had failed, I had completed two proper three credit course in entrepreneurship and marketing and was half way through a human resources course. I had also started a course in grant writing where I learned that my instructor, a seasoned well-established grant writer, had been asked by an organization to write a grant for the same application that I had not been successful in completing and she had declined the job because of the extreme difficulty of the grant.

As I picked myself up after feeling a hardship and bruised ego for not being able to complete the grant, what I leaned into was a new found love for school. Before going back to school I thought that I would be an ECE lifer. I was a damn good early childhood educator with a successful program that had a great reputation. I am an advocate for the early years and I love early childhood education. What I learned though, at risk of sounding arrogant and cocky, is that I am also a savvy business person, a strong servant leader, a passionate adult educator and I am also kicking butt as a straight A+ student in the Community Care Licensing Officer Program. I’m also confident that when I take on my next step and apply for a MA of Leadership program, which has been my educational dream that I have been working for over the last three years, that I will be awesome at that too.

I have heard fellow child care providers say that they can’t imagine being anything other than an early childhood educator. If that is because your heart and passion is so deeply connected to early childhood education that it completely fulfills you and feeds your soul, then you keep rocking early childhood education. If, on the other hand, you have been an ECE and your heart longs for change and a new challenge, I hope that this blog shares how versatile and powerful your skills are and that the world is your oyster. I may not work as an early childhood educator anymore, but I am an early childhood educator and I know this because my heart grew from loving the children and families I worked with for twelve years. I bring with me the learning and love from years in early childhood education to serve the team, community, and children of my new workplace.

You may also be wondering how the families felt when I told them that I was closing my daycare. They were a little bit sad, but the support and encouragement I got from them blew me out of the water and gave me the confidence that I am taking the right step. Do I miss little painty hands? Yes. But I am also excited to shape programs, lead staff and youth, work on an amazing welcoming team, and collaborate with professionals from school councillors to biologists. I also am commitment to keeping ties to the ECE community through teaching child care providers and continue advocating for the early years. My new work will give me a new perspective to share with the ECE community about child development.

What Human Resources Taught Me About Self Care as a Self Employed Early Childhood Educator

The last six months have been a whirlwind for my family and me. In April we decided to buy a new home with a long closing date. The market took a dive and sales of homes slowed to a painful crawl. My family, like many others, were biting our nails hoping for a sale of our old home. Having a daycare on the main floor made the process that much more challenging as it would take up to two hours to convert our daycare space into a home-like space each time there was a showing. We’d hold our breath and hope for an offer. After weeks of waiting, the huge stress of hoping for an offer was lifted and we finally sold our house. Then came packing and moving – not only our home, but my business.

All careers have stresses and joys and being an early childhood educator is no different. Fortunately, working with kids comes with a lot of joy, but many early childhood educators struggle with burn out and/or caregiver fatigue. Even the best careers can come with feeling worn out even when we love what we do. If you look up self-care there are an abundance of articles, both scientific and opinion based. When I have explored self-care, I found that much of the advice was too general or difficult to apply to my work setting. For a long time self-care seemed almost like an oxymoron because my career as an early child care educator is about providing care for others. Especially earlier in my career, I found that there wasn’t much time to take care of me.

It wasn’t until three years ago, when I returned to school and took a course on Human Resource Fundamentals from the British Columbia Institute of Technology, that I really thought about how I treated myself as an employee. The truth was, I wasn’t a good employer (as a self-employed person who works alone.) The pressure that I put on myself was way more than I would expect from an employee and much more than I would take from an employer. At the time, I was working fifty hours a week with a six month old baby in tow. My son was three and my daughter had been with me in my multi-age daycare since she was six weeks old. At a time where most Canadian women would be just halfway through their maternity leave, I was juggling toddlerhood, infancy, self-employment, business school, and the care of eight tiny humans 50 hours a week. Even as an overachiever and people-pleaser, it was too much and I needed to make a change.

I learned in my human resource course how good employers take care of their staff and that many workers, especially millennials, are choosing work environments that offer flexibility over the traditional 9 to 5 steady job that was previously sought after. I learned that at the end of the day a worker should be satisfied and better for working the day, rather than drained. One example of this is how someone who works in physical labour can use the labour as an opportunity to build their physical strength if done consciously and carefully thereby reducing injury. As I worked through the course I had many ‘aha moments’ where I realized that my ‘hard working’ approach to self-employment with long days and high pressure that I put on myself was not sustainable and that I needed to re-evaluate what self-care looked like for my own benefit and the benefit of the program that I offered. When there is turbulence in the air and the air masks fall from the cavity in front of you on the plane, who are you supposed to help first?

Here are the best lessons I’ve learned as a self-employed early childhood educator on self-care that have changed the way I care for myself:

1. Are your hours working for you?

The first big change I made which will give longevity to my work in this capacity is that I changed my hours. When I opened Saplings Early Learning Childcare I was open from 7:30am to 5:30pm Monday to Friday. These ten hour days did not include the additional work that goes into running a childcare centre. When I opened my daycare I assumed that these were the hours needed to run a successful business. I felt that I needed to accommodate the diverse work schedules of whatever clients I could be serving. What I missed in taking this approach was that I needed to think of my own needs in my work schedule. Working 50+ hours, as well as being a mom with a new baby and a toddler, did not meet my needs as an employee. After taking the HR course, I evaluated my work situation and realized that there was an opportunity coming up that I needed to take. That Spring I had two children moving on from daycare and I was able to meet all of my clients’ needs by shuffling the schedules so that all the children attended between Monday and Thursday and I was able to reduce my work schedule by one day and my weekly work hours by 20%. Believe me, I was hesitant and worried that it might be difficult to keep clients with reduced hours. For a long time I felt obligated to have similar hours as bigger centres, but I realized that by being a smaller centre I have a niche market and that many of my families only required part time care. Since that change, I made a second change of reducing my hours again so that I am open from 8:45am to 5:30pm. This change may have been even more beneficial to my work life balance. With these two changes. I am now able to make appointments without having to take off work and I am able to drop off my son, who is now five, to kindergarten and not feel that I am missing an important part of his life.

2. Work and Life is not Black and White. It’s Gray

I still remember my teacher from my ECE program at college stressing the importance of leaving your home life at the door. There is no physical door between my life and work as an in-home multi-age child care provider and there really isn’t a figurative door either. When I moved I was moving my home and my business. They could not be divided. I knew that for my family it was time for us to move to a larger home. When I negotiated the terms of the move I put the flow of my business first over what would personally be better for me. This is one of the many examples of when business and life cannot be separated. I believe we need to be more aware of how these two worlds are interconnected and be mindful to have harmony than to have a black and white perspective that they are separate.

When I initially opened my business I assumed that I needed to keep a professional face on and that it wasn’t appropriate to be friends with clients. I thought it was important to care about your clients, but there needed to be a professional line. I was also warned that if I was friends with my clients that I was at greater risk of being taken advantage of. What I learned very quickly, even with one of my first interviews with a family in the early days, is that, for me, clients naturally become friends. I am fortunate that I have had awesome families join my program and many of them have become my friends over the years. I recognized that our morning hellos and afternoon goodbyes were a good portion of my adult interaction for the day. I was naturally curious about them and I felt that the more I learned about their family the more I would connect with them and the better care provider I would be for them. I have seen many of my clients on bad days when they cry and at their best times when we celebrate. Some of them have seen me on my bad days too. During my pregnancy with my second child, I had to be honest with my clients about the challenges with my pregnancy. One day one of my clients and friend saw me cry only for a brief moment because I was scared because I had not felt my baby move since the day before and, since I was having a challenging pregnancy, I feared that something was wrong. These emotions and connections make us human. Everyone is going to have good days and bad days and it’s not about leaving it at the door. It’s about managing ourselves and our emotions whether we are in the workplace or at home. This goes both ways because it is just as easy to bring work into our home life as it is to bring life into our workplace.

3. Love What You Do. Do What You Love.

Chances are you have heard the old saying ‘love what you do, do what you love’, but have you really thought about that and how it plays into your work day. I hope that if you have chosen a career as an early childhood educator that you love what you do. What I challenge you to think about is how you are incorporating what you love into your work. When I plan my program, I typically have at least five vague ideas of how we might spend the day and I make decisions about what to do based on the children’s verbal and non-verbal feedback. Are we full of beans this morning? Maybe a long walk at the river will do us all good! Having about five ideas in the morning about how to spend the day is not because I am up late at night studying the finest, most current ECE textbooks and articles. It’s because I know my kids and I know myself and that is what the program is built around. I love nature, walking, art, and gardening and if you look at the Saplings Facebook page that probably wouldn’t be a surprise to you. Doing what I love does not simply mean working with children. I want to get as much of doing what I love into my day as possible. Think about it as doing what I love squared. I love gardening – the planting, the digging, the care taking. I want it all. The children in my program want it all too. I share my interests and passions and they are excited to engage with them too. Just yesterday we incorporated using scissors to cut down old growth before we planted Fall bulbs. Sure this is my interest, but they are keen to be involved and we all benefit from it. What you love might be a gift in your program. What’s your ‘do what you love squared’?

4. Where’s your brain at?

Remember how I said earlier that I took my HR course when my daughter was six months old? I actually decided to go back to school and registered for business classes when she was four months old. My whole career and education was about early childhood education and then at four months postpartum I wanted to go to business school. I often joke that it must have been the postpartum hormones. (I still think that might be true!) When I thought about going back to school it was intimidating, but then I signed up for the first class, walked in and found my place – not only in the classroom, but on my life path.

Have you ever thought if I wasn’t an ECE what would I be? I have heard many ECE’s say that they don’t know what they would be and some who feel pigeon holed in their field. Going back to school was initially to improve my knowledge of business because I am self-employed. The journey through school has taught me about skills, strengths, and potential. What started as a statement of completion in small business development from BCIT, lead to an associate certificate in leadership and then a diploma from VCC in the BC Provincial Instructors Development Program. Now I am half way through the JIBC licensing officer program.

For a long time I thought my skills were mostly in caregiving and early childhood education. I am a strong teacher with a great program and I am proud of my work as an early childhood educator. For me, igniting the learner within was key to my understanding of myself and my self-care. Although my school programs have been diverse, it is amazing how much I have learned about my work with children in my business classes. Education looks different to different people. It could be reading a book about a theory you’ve been curious about, taking the Early Learning Framework’s free workshop online from the BC government, taking a workshop on cooking, or going to university to try out something totally different.

I hope that these four ideas might inspire you to look at your self-care and how you incorporate taking care of yourself while you take care of so many others. There is no one size fits all for self-care. I know that at this point deep-breathing and yoga is not my thing; however, I will remain open to trying it again. I hope that these ideas of how I have altered my work for self-care might be a point of reflection for you.

An Early Childhood Educator’s Perspective: The Benefits of Camping with Young Children

This summer my children, Atticus and Maverik, are three and five years old and this summer we have gone backcountry camping and bear country camping, provincial park camping, national park camping, hike-in camping, and canoe-in camping. It’s mid-August and we have camped together nine times since March. Camping and being in nature are family values of ours. We plan months ahead for a busy summer, maximizing our opportunities to be outside as a family. In March, my husband and I are often perched in front of a computer waiting for the first reservable campsites to become available as we longing for warmer days and outdoor adventures. We love camping and our love of camping is one of the common interests that brought us together. We have built our best memories from our time in nature. We even went camping for our honeymoon to officially start our marriage together in Wells Grey, BC, which is where we have returned again after six years with our two kids. I am writing this blog post from here. We have just spent the past week visiting Kelowna, Revelstoke, Golden, and most recently, having three nights of camping in Jasper National Park. We will end our trip in a quaint little wood cabin in Clearwater, BC.

Camping is more than just a fun way to be together as a family. As an Early Childhood Educator, I am filled with joy to see the vast learning opportunities that camping offers to my young children. My daughter, Maverik’s first camping trip was when she was two weeks old and I joke about how she has been camping since before she was supposed to be born. When we returned from camping weekends, my daughter, as a one year old, would refuse to go inside and would insist on playing in the backyard to connect with nature just a little longer. The benefits of outdoor play and connecting with nature are widely known and appreciated in the ECE community, but camping offers it own unique benefits as well. Here are a few of the many benefits to camping with young children.

Community and Camaraderie

A campground is like a small community. A group of people opt to temporarily live in the same area to enjoy being in nature. They have their own site, but they share common areas like paths, play grounds, and bathrooms. Even individual sites are quite public. You can smell the neighbours’ delicious bacon breakfasts simmering on their Coleman stoves as well as hear them ‘saw logs’ from their tent as you try to doze off. It’s common to see the same people with camping hair in the bathrooms time and time again, especially when both families are working on potty training.

If you are fortunate enough to have young children in your life, you can probably picture how a campground can be an inviting place for a child to be a socialite. In Jasper, my three year old enjoyed getting to know her neighbours. She would announce to passer-bys that we were having burritos for dinner and she would let our neighbours know if their music had kept her awake the night before. During camping, children have opportunities to be part of a relatively open community. The camaraderie among fellow campers usually creates a chipper atmosphere where children are able to further develop their social skills with a broader group of people than their own friends and family.

Learning New Skills, Having Control of the World Around Themselves

How old were you when you first made your own campfire? I remember being fifteen when I learned how to build a campfire in my Leadership One course that I was taking in hopes of landing a job at my favourite childhood summer camp. (I later worked there for seven years.) It was early Spring and we had the task of making a campfire in a wet gravel parking lot beside the wood chopping pit. Even at fifteen this seemed like an impossible task and honestly it was frustrating and did not inspire a love of making campfires. Although I understand their intent in challenging us to build campfires in this difficult manner, for me, at least, it backfired and I ended up doing all of my outdoor cooking for the next three years on a Coleman stove rather than on a real fire. There’s nothing like a S’more cooked on a Coleman, right?

So how old is appropriate to build your first campfire? My children have been around campfires since they were babies. Both of them have toddled around fire pits with an early understanding of HOT! Learning about campfires entails a great deal of learning about safety. Since my children were about two years old they have been campfire helpers by putting logs on the fire and roasting marshmallows with proper adult supervision and encouragement. This last camping trip my five year old built his first fire from scratch. He has been around campfires, understands the safety precautions around them and shows an interest in helping his family. For us, this showed readiness for him to build a fire, so he did.

My husband assisted my son in using an axe. Since the axe was an adult sized axe, Harrison did hand-over-hand guidance with Atticus, but let him take the lead. Atticus knew to keep his legs shoulder width apart and to lift the axe in front of his face, but not over his head. If the axe was smaller I would have felt comfortable letting Atticus chop wood without Harrison’s support, but the size and weight of the axe was simply too big. Atticus chopped several pieces of wood of different sizes and then the wood was positioned into the fire pit. Next Atticus lit the match. It took a few strikes to practice, but Atticus got the hang of lighting a match. In our family and with the experience around fire that Atticus has, I felt positive about letting him light a match. Since Atticus has been around campfires since he was a baby he has an appropriate understanding and respects that fire is serious. Atticus also has a sensitive and cautious temperament which makes him trustworthy with making safe choices. When we assessed Atticus’ readiness for this activity, we felt that this was the right time for him.

So why is building a campfire a good skill for camping kids who show the maturity and readiness to develop this skill? For Atticus, it gave him an opportunity to provide for his family. Children often find opportunities to give to the people they care about, whether to pick a dandelion or colour them a picture. For Atticus, he knows how much we enjoy campfires and that it was a big job for him to help with this otherwise grown-up task. Atticus helps share in family responsibilities while camping in other ways too, such as, helping to meal plan, grocery shop, and dry dishes. I support my children being active members of our family and fostering their interest in caring for us. This natural interest not only develops their life skills, but also their empathy.

Enhancing an Appreciation of the Environment and Animals

While camping in Jasper we had the phenomenal experience of having three elk walk through our campsite while we were cooking dinner. Never has a Tuesday burrito night been so exciting! In nature it’s important to give wild animals plenty of space, but it was a cool opportunity to have elk walk within fifteen feet of us to munch on some grass. They actually spent about twenty minutes lying in the campsite next door hanging out under a tree nibbling on their own dinner. Atticus and Maverik had the opportunity to observe the peaceful elk. Maverik compared her own body to the elks and Atticus and I discussed the scars on the largest elk’s hip which looked like they were from a bear. This is one of the coolest experiences that I have had camping and I am grateful that my children were able to witness these tame and beautiful animals in person.

During the same family trip, we have been on the look out to see a moose. Actually, this goes beyond this trip, but we have put a good effort into finding a moose on this trip in particular. I think that moose are amazingly awkward, majestic animals and it is on my bucket list to find one. Alas, we ended our trip still no moose sightings. We even planned specific hikes which we were advised would give us the best chance of seeing these shy animals. Even though we have put a good effort into finding a moose, I am happy that we haven’t. We will continue to keep our eyes open when we drive by swampy grass lands and we will keep hiking to places called “Moose Lake”. The reason that I am happy that we haven’t found a moose yet is because it builds anticipation and excitement about what it would be like to see a moose. It is also a natural opportunity to reflect on how special animals are and how it’s important to take care of their homes so that we can have moose in the future. So much of our lives are on-demand and with little anticipation. Just consider how easy it is to binge watch a favourite series on Netflix. Nature is not one of those things, which makes it so special. Stay sneaky moose of BC.

Activity and Upper Body Strengthening

When children are outdoors they are naturally active, even more so than they otherwise would be. My daughter, Maverik, would spontaneously do somersaults as we packed up the tent in Jasper. Atticus, who is methodical and cautious in his movements, was eager to run on hikes. Earlier this summer we did canoe-in camping at Widgeon Creek where my kids went on over a 5km hike following their canoe trip. Two weeks later we hiked in to Lindeman Lake in Chilliwack which is a rather tricky uphill grind for kids. For that trip they carried their own backpacks, including water. (Please note that it is advised that children do not carry more than 10% of their body weight in a backpack and that it is important for backpacks to be appropriately sized and fitted for children.) In fac, my son’s love of hiking and camping has inspired him to want to wear a “hiking pack” full of stuffies and water bottles to train for hike-in camping when we go for neighbourhood walks as a family.

Camping provides an easy opportunity to meet the three hours of recommended activity for toddlers and preschool aged children. Of that three hours, it is recommended that at least one hour be unstructured and one hour be structured. Camping can include many interesting and natural ways to meet these daily activity goals. Even on our days with long drives we ensured that our children had many opportunities to stretch their legs and be active. We would pack a lunch and do a half hour hike to a waterfall or take a hike at Beauty Creek to break up the last few hours of driving to Jasper in hopes of seeing a moose in the grassy swamp. When we were in Jasper we would structure our days to have a morning activity and an afternoon activity. One day we hiked in the morning and then drove during naptime to a second location and then hiked again for the afternoon. Each hike offers new scenery and challenges which keep kids engaged and excited.

In addition to hikes there are many other activities to keeps kids active while engaging different muscles. In particular, I appreciate that there are a number of outdoor activities that provide opportunities for young children to develop upper body strength. As mentioned above, my son, Atticus, started to use an axe this camping trip. Using an axe engages the core and arm muscles. It also requires concentration, focus, and hand-eye coordination. We swam in Miette Hot Spring which was an opportunity for all of my children’s muscles to be engaged. Swimming is also a resistance activity. My favourite outdoor activity is boating. With my children being three and five, most of our family boating has been canoeing. Both of my children enjoy trying to use the paddle and Atticus, who is five, is beginning to get a good stroke. Using a paddle also engages the arm and core muscles. It is an opportunity for mid-line crossover and is a cyclical motion where the two arms are in motion together, but in opposite positions.

Modelling Collaboration, Cooperation, and Communication

With camping, there are always opportunities to collaborate, cooperate, and communicate. Whether it’s choosing which hike to take, planning the meals, or navigating how to get by without a forgotten piece of equipment, there is a lot of communication required. For my family, our summer holiday is typically the time when they see my husband for the most consecutive days and in such close proximity working together. Most weeks my family, like many others, is together on the weekends and on week nights, but because my husband works outside of our home, we don’t see each other for a good portion of the week. When we are camping and especially on summer holidays, I recognize that we are modelling our marital relationship and communication to our children. Being aware of this creates an opportunity to model our values and how we hope our children will be respectful partners and communicators.

In extension to modelling our own communication, we also see camping as a good opportunity to include our children in planning. At the dinner table just after having the elk visit, we discussed what we wanted to buy at the grocery store for the last few days of our holiday. My son expressed his ideas and together the four of us planned. Although a simple conversation, this is an opportunity to develop life skills such as meal planning, awareness of nutrition, and grocery shopping. This validates my children that they are important members of the family and that their opinions matter. In addition, it reinforces the value that in our family we work together and take care of each other. Not only did my kids make suggestions during meal planning, but they also helped pick out groceries, prepare meals, and help with washing dishes. I believe setting these routines early helps children to accept that these are actions that help their family rather than being chores that they need to be rewarded for.

Science: to See it is to Believe it

In my teaching, I consider how to make a concept real for children. I am reflective about what value the activity is adding to a child’s life and how much I anticipate that they will understand about the concept to make it worthwhile. Science can be tricky, but amazing, if you can make it real for children. In the spring, I worked with the Saplings children on plants. They have always been keen to help in the garden, but I wanted to make what’s happening underneath the ground relevant and viable for them. To make the concept visible, we planted gladiola bulbs in a clear jug with plastic crystals in it so that the kids could see the early budding of the stem and the root systems. Camping offers an abundance of excellent opportunities for children to see science.

Over our week long trip, my children saw where forest fires had occurred spotted a wide variety of mushrooms, noticed changes in rocks where waterfalls had formed over hundreds of thousands of years, and saw wildlife. ,Atticus and Maverik expressed interest in these different science concepts that they spotted during hikes and we talked about them to the best of Harrison’s and my knowledge. The great thing about talking with children about science is that there is always so much to learn about, both for the child and for the adult, and often we realize that we know a lot more about a topic when we actually start talking about it. And for the things we don’t know, we can look up and learn together. It is one thing to talk about how there are currently approximately 600 forest fires across BC. It is another thing for a child to see smoke from afar where a forest is on fire and to stop and view a forest where a fire had happened and re-growth has begun.

Lastly, one of the best comments that I have heard this year was at the 2018 Children: Heart of the Matter Conference in Surrey BC by key note speaker Dr. Scott Sampson. He spoke about the importance of children connecting with nature. Dr Sampson said that children need opportunities to connect with nature even if it is just in their own backyard, because if they don’t have those connections there won’t be people in the future who advocate and protect nature. Maybe our moose finding adventures will lead to moose advocacy in their future. I hope that my children continue to connect with and love nature the way that they do now.

Part two: Resilience and Our Happily Every After

Earlier this month you may have read my last blog titled, Will You be Our Fairy Friends? In it I shared the disheartening experience at Saplings Early Learning Childcare of our attempt to build a community fairy forest only to have it vandalized. I shared the dilemma I faced of having the responsibility of telling the Saplings children that their fairy village was gone, but more importantly supporting them to rebuild the fairy village while maintaining confidence in our community. I had mixed feelings about how honest I should be with the children. I reflected on what lessons could be learned and at what cost. Was it appropriate to tell them that someone had broken their fairy village? They have had their experience of having other children break their block towers and draw on their artwork so how would they take learning that their fairy village had been broken? I took the risk and it paid off.

As you may know in my last post, I invited fellow Facebook users to write a letters to the children as if they were fairies. I invited people to write a thank you note to the children to validate their hard work and to express that they did make an impact in the community, even if that was the fairy community. Although telling the children their first fairy village had been destroyed was sad, it was also a reminder of how resilient children are. The children weren’t devastated. They were a bit sad; however, mostly they looked forward to having the opportunity to start over. We had a meeting over snack to discuss how we wanted to continue and voted about whether we should rebuild in our front yard or the backyard. We began to rebuild that Monday and on the same day we started feeling the support of the community. Fairy drops were delivered by a graduated Saplings family, a box of fairy building supplies and fairy houses were delivered by current families, and a thank you note was left in our book box from a community member.

I realized that there were three main life experiences that I wanted to facilitate for the children through the rebuilding. The first was that the fairy village was vandalized. It was an opportunity to feel some loss in a manageable and safe way. I don’t want to be the villain shattering children’s efforts, but I feel that we protect our children from so much that it’s ok and good to have some disappointing experiences. This disappointment felt like an opportunity to feel some grief, but with opportunities to control the outcome and process the emotion. Although disappointment and grief are unpleasant feelings, they are feelings that we have as being human and are unavoidable. One of the roles in my work as an early childhood educator is to help children develop the skills to be successful in their future and I believe one of those skills is managing uncomfortable emotions and working through experiences to be ok.

The second experience that I wanted to facilitate for the children is the question of ‘what comes next?’ This was their choice. As I mentioned before, children have had the experience of having their block tower knocked down and they are able to talk it out with their play mates. When the first fairy village was broken we didn’t have the opportunity to talk to the people who did it, but we did have the opportunity to choose what we did next and that alone is powerful. The children enjoyed creating the first fairy forest and to not continue would prematurely end a project from which they derived enjoyment. The children were excited to start the next fairy village and they dove into the new creation without pause. This caused me to reflect on perseverance. We don’t plan to persevere – perseverance is something we generally do when a challenging obstacle creates an unexpected delay in us meeting out goals. How we respond to that obstacle determines whether or not we persevere and what skills we learn. Although the children were excited to continue on with their project they were somewhat concerned about someone breaking their new village. We explored this feeling to validate their worry, but we also discussed what choices we made that would reduce the risk of it happening again such as having the village in the backyard. One of my favourite speakers is Brene Brown who researches the less pleasant feelings such as shame and vulnerability. Brown says that vulnerability is important because it is a risk that leads to great things such as joy. Through this experience we had many moments of joy because we let ourselves be vulnerable to try again.

The third experience that I wanted to facilitate for the children is an opportunity to connect with the community. This goal was established with the initial fairy village that we began to build in a public area. This was inspired by the Rivers Edge fairy project. When our fairy village was vandalized I had to get more creative about how to facilitate this opportunity to connect with the community. Although this took more thought, the community element became the most exciting and satisfying aspect of this project. As you may know, I posted my last blog Will You be Our Fairy Friend? and shared it as widely as I could on Facebook. This was an invitation for strangers to be our community as fairies. The children have mixed beliefs about whether fairies are real which is interesting. The involvement of the community turned some of our sceptics into believers, but also made the children wonder who was sending the letters. Regardless of whether the children believed in fairies, they felt the impact of community whether that be fairy or human.

Daniel Goleman, the physiologist behind the groundbreaking study of emotional intelligence, speaks in his 2007 TedTalk about his experience of donating to a charity as creating ‘altruistic joy’. Giving is an experience that benefits both the giver and the receiver. With the fairy village, the Saplings Children were the receiver of many things: heartfelt letters, fairy treasures, treats, and fairy houses. Letters were sent from California, Nunavut, across the Lower Mainland and there were many local drop-offs. What I found so interesting was the lengths that community members go to make their fairy letters meaningful and special to the children. One of our first letters was typed in a very small font so small that I could barely read it. The letter was an encouraging thank you poem that rested on a log on my front porch. It was clear that this letter and gift would have taken a good amount of time for the ‘fairy’ to write. What a compassionate, heartfelt offer from a person we don’t know. This is what community feels like.

Another letter we received had me stumped about who sent it, but I finally figured it out. It was from a grandparent and her colleagues who work in Nunavut. When I asked her daughter if it was from the grandparent she shared with me a little story of a group of burly men up North hearing about the first fairy village being vandalized and wanting to do right to support this group of children they did not know. The grandparent and her colleagues went out to find special ‘fairy’ caves to take a photo of. They altered the photo to say ‘We love Saplings’ and sent a detailed fairy letter.

After three weeks’ work on the new fairy village we furthered our connection with community by hosting two parties. One was for our neighbours and one was for the families. These parties were opportunities to celebrate the children’s hard work. They had created a beautiful, loving home for the fairies. Our neighbours were delighted to have the opportunity to spend time with the children. Both sets of neighbours made a dessert to share with the children. One of the desserts was a British tradition called fairy cakes that my neighbour had when she was a girl. She made them for her children and also grandchildren.

In total we received 15-20 letters and gifts, many of which were from complete strangers who wanted to bring joy to the Saplings Children’s day. We had two parties to celebrate the children’s work and we have an immeasurable connection to the community. Sometimes hiccups and challenges offer great gifts and opportunities if you are willing to persevere and find opportunities. These lemons have officially been made into lemonade!

Want more? Check out these two feel good talks.

Brene Brown: Why Your Critics Aren’t the Ones who Count (Warning it’s a game changer!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-JXOnFOXQk

Daniel Goleman: Why aren’t we more Compassionate?

Part One: Will You be Our Fairy Friend?

Will you be our fairy friend? Please send us a letter to:

The Saplings Children

5961 Sappers Way

Chilliwack BC Canada

V2R0H1

One of the parallels that I notice between leadership and the works of an early childhood educator is the role of being a narrator; a story teller, influencing the interpretation of others. This afternoon, after returning from a fantastic family camping trip to Widgeon Creek, a friend and parent of a Saplings child sent me a Facebook message to let me know that over the weekend the fairy village that the Saplings children had made was vandalized. My heart sunk as I thought about how disappointing this would be for the children. I headed over to the forest right after receiving the message and there was no sign that the village had ever been there. Community members on a Garrison Facebook group had pitched in to clean the space.

 

 

 

 

The Saplings children had become interested in fairy houses earlier in the week when we saw a fairy village by Rivers Edge. Over the week we shopped for supplies and started to create a fairy village in the Garrison Forest. Over the past week I saw teamwork, excitement and community spirit grow amongst the group of two to five year olds. Families told me when they dropped off their children how excited their kids have been about the fairy village and how they talked about the project in the evenings. One family had started their own fairy village in their home garden. Two families visited the fairy village on the weekend and created new fairy houses out of rocks, moss and sticks. Another family who graduated from the program two years ago came to visit the forest on Thursday and left treasures for the fairies. As an early childhood educator I was feeling uplifted and professionally satisfied in seeing this community project unfold, it felt like a fairy tale.

 

 

Unfortunately, this fairy tale has a twist in the plot as many do when the fairy village was vandalized last night. I was optimistic that our little fairy village would be respected because we had seen the fairy village at Rivers Edge which has been growing over the past few weeks. Sadly it’s a risk to create something with children in a public space and there is an unavoidable vulnerability. As the early childhood educator of the Saplings children I am grateful that I learned of this prior to us visiting our fairy village. Still I anticipate disappointment and I have to consider the narrative that I will give as the teacher.

What will be the story I tell, what lessons will I teach? This afternoon I have reflected on what the goals of this project were. First, this project was inspired by a community project we saw at Rivers Edge. Second, this is a means of facilitating a creative process and learning new skills. Three, it united the group of two to five year olds and created a sense of wonder and excitement. The big question they pondered was, “do fairies exist?” This project was being so well enjoyed that we even planned a fairy potluck with the families so that they could enjoy the children’s work.

 

As I prepare myself for tomorrow when a group of chipper children are ready to visit the fairy village, I think what will the narrative of this story be? Did the fairy village disappear which will cut the project short? Should I be truthful and tell the children that someone destroyed the village and leave them with sad hearts and loss of faith? Do we start again and hope for the best? How do I maintain momentum, build community and continue the wonder?

My gut says that we have to turn lemons into lemonade. I teach workshops on developing grit, perseverance and leadership in young children. There are hiccups in life and these are opportunities to learn important life lessons. I don’t want the narrative of this story to be to give up and that we can’t trust the community. Instead I ask for your help in continuing this project by being our community and helping me to foster the sense of wonder and magic in the children. Will you be our fairy friends? I invite you to write a short letter to the Saplings Children as a fairy to tell them that you enjoyed their village. If you do write to us you can drop off the letter at our door or mail it to the address below.

The Saplings Children

5961 Sappers Way

Chilliwack BC Canada

V2R0H1

Do we continue the fairy village? Absolutely! There is a sprit in this project and the children are invested. I want this project to continue for as long as it serves the children. We will continue to build a fairy village in our beautiful backyard play space and we will invite the community to visit our fairy village. Connecting with the greater community is important and sometimes difficult to facilitate. Part of this project was to give back to the community. It is an important opportunity for children to contribute to the greater community and for them to understand that they are part of the community. We have been successful with this in the past when we participated in the Chilliwack Santa Parade in 2015. The children spent two weeks creating their mini floats and participating in the parade. It was a very wet, cold and magical night and one of the most meaningful projects I have facilitated as a teacher. I am still planning how we will involve the community. It may be as simple as inviting our neighbours to come and visit the fairy village or it could be more. That will be a discussion that we have as we start to rebuild our fairy village and continue our teamwork, spirit and wonder.

BC Early Childhood Educator Career Satisfaction Survey Summary

BC Early Childhood Educator Career Satisfaction Survey Summary

Conducted by: Katelyn Moon

Play It Forward – Professional Development and Consulting

https://www.facebook.com/PlayItForwardConsulting/

What is the purpose of the BC Early Childhood Educator Career Satisfaction Survey?

The BC Early Childhood Educator Career Satisfaction Survey was developed as a tool to better understand the trends in organizational culture within licensed BC childcare centres. The BC ECE field is described as being in a state of crisis as child care centres struggle to find quality, educated staff to offer childcare. ECE post-secondary training programs are seeing a decline in enrolment which is increasing staffing pressure as the demand for trained early childhood educators increases and the supply of qualified and certified educators decreases.

Within BC licensed childcare centres there is high turnover of the qualified and certified staff who are working in the field. The ECE turnover rate is reported to be 30-40% annually. (J. Johnson, 2018) The BC Early Childhood Educator Career Satisfaction Survey is a means of collecting data about what satisfies and dissatisfies ECE employees, what are the key factors in motivation, and what organizational culture struggles are prevalent in licensed childcare facilities.

The data collected from over 300 BC ECE respondents is being used to develop workshops to educate early childhood practitioners to better understand their work environments and create positive change in work culture. These workshops are being offered to formal and informal leaders to empower all levels of licensed childcare employees to influence their work environments in order to promote positive work environments.

Further, the data from the BC Early Childhood Educator Career Satisfaction Survey is being shared widely in this summary so that all BC Early Childhood Educators have access to this data. It is the intent of the survey developer to continue this research and publish this data formally.

Who Conducted the BC Early Childhood Educator Career Satisfaction Survey?

The BC Early Childhood Career Satisfaction Survey was created by Katelyn Moon who is a proud licensed early childhood educator. Katelyn has been an early childhood practitioner since 2008 following the completion of her Basic Early Childhood Education Certificate. In 2010, Katelyn returned to school and completed a diploma in Early Childhood Education with a specialty in infant and toddler care. In 2014, Katelyn opened Saplings Early Learning Childcare, a licensed multi-age in-home childcare facility located in Chilliwack, BC. Katelyn has been providing quality childcare for the Chilliwack community, offering play-based learning with a focus on leadership, the outdoors and emotional intelligence. In 2015, Katelyn began studying at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and she has since completed an Associate Certificate in Leadership and a Small Business Development Statement of Completion. In 2017, Katelyn graduated with a BC Provincial Instructors Development Program diploma from the Vancouver Community College. Katelyn is also part way through her studies at the Justice Institute of British Columbia in the Advanced Certificate in Community Care Licensing program.

Who Answered the BC Early Childhood Education Career Satisfaction Survey?

The BC Early Childhood Educator Career Satisfaction Survey was launched on Facebook on April 9^th 2018. Within the first twelve hours Katelyn Moon’s goal was reached to have one hundred BC ECE’s respond to the survey. By May 14, 2018 over 300 BC ECE’s have completed the Survey. BC Early Childhood Educators were reached from all five BC Health Authorities. The most predominant areas represented were early childhood educators who work in licensed childcare centres in the Fraser Health Authority which represented 49% of the respondents. ECE’s who work in licensed childcare facilities in the Interior Health Authority were the second most represented group who accounted for 17% of respondents. Early Childhood Educators working in licensed childcare centres from the Coastal Health Authority, Northern Health Authority, and the Vancouver Health Authority represented 9-12.5% each.

Respondents had a range of experience in the field of early childhood education. 54% of the respondents had over ten years of experience, 25% had 6-10 years of experience, 18% had 1-5 years of experience, and the remaining respondents had less than one year of experience.

The respondents’ education ranged from students enrolled in a post secondary Early Childhood Education Program to ECE practitioners who have obtained a degree or higher. Respondents’ education level is as follows: 3% are currently enrolled in an ECE post secondary program, 38% have completed the one year basic ECE certificate, 25% have completed an ECE diploma with special needs or infant and toddler speciality, 23% have completed an ECE diploma with both the special needs and infant and toddler speciality, and 11% have completed a degree or higher level of education in a related field to early childhood education.

The career experience of respondents ranged from assistant early childhood educator to director and owner. The respondents were able to select all roles that they have been employed for. 90% of respondents have worked as an Early Childhood Educator, 62% have worked in a supervisory role or higher leadership role, 16% have been directors, and 25% have been owners.

65% of respondents are current employees in licensed childcare facilities while 19% are owners of licensed childcare facilities. 8% have left the field of early childhood education. 6% are on leave such as medical or maternity leave. Less than 1% reported either being retired or currently looking for work in the ECE field.

What are the BC Early Childhood Education Career Satisfaction Findings?

Q 1: In your role as a BC Early Childhood Educator, what factors have influenced your decision to continue to work for your current or previous employer(s)?

*Respondents were able to select as many factors as they required.

50% Feeling valued by management

51% Feeling valued by co-workers

35% Pay

38% Benefits

80% Relationship with children and families

44% Flexibility (eg. accommodation for medical or personal requirements.)

29% Access tools and resources (eg. toys and equipment online with teaching philosophy.)

33% Ratio or Staff (eg. additional staff for children who require support.)

42% Quality of the physical environment (eg. lighting, staff spaces.)

Q 2: In your role as a BC Early Childhood Educator, have you felt that your work is/was valued by your employer and colleagues?

90% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 3: In your role as a BC Early Childhood Educator, have there been social factors which influenced your decision to change employers? (eg. working with a friend or mentor)

51% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 4: In your current or previous work environment, as a BC Early Childhood Educator, have you been intimidated by a co-worker of equal or greater authority?

55% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 5: In your role as a BC Early Childhood Educator, has a relationship with management or your co-workers influenced your decision to continue your employment?

87% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 6: In your current or previous work environment, as a BC Early Childhood Educator, has someone undermined or deliberately impeded your work?

55% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 7: In your role as a BC Early childhood Educators, has the quality of your work environment been influenced by gossip, cliques, or unhealthy competition amongst staff?

65% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 8: In your current or previous work environment, as a BC early childhood educator, have you been isolated or excluded socially?

40% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 9: In your current or previous work environment, as a BC early childhood educator, have your work responsibilities or position changed without your consultation or agreement?

43% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 10: Has an employer at your current or previous BC child care position pressured you to work when you were unwell or required a medical visit?

54% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 11: In your role as a BC Early Childhood Educator, has a current or previous employer pressured you to work outside of your scheduled hours without pay? For example work overtime, respond to non urgent emails or work communications, complete prep or administrative tasks at home.

54% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 12: Have you been required to provide educational materials and/ or supplies for which you were not reimbursed? (eg art supplies)

51% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 13: In your most satisfying BC Early Childhood Educator role(s), did you feel that your employer supported your professional growth?

90% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 14: In your role as a BC Early Childhood Educator, have you been asked to perform a task at work which is against your values?

34% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 15: In your most satisfying BC Early Childhood Educator role(s), did you feel that your employer endorsed a philosophy at work that was inline with your values? (eg. play vs. academic, Reggio vs Montessori, process vs. Product)

94% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 16: Has your decision to continue working with a BC licensed childcare facility been impacted by your employer’s openness to autonomous decision making?

81% responded always, usually or sometimes

Q 17: Have you been asked to perform a task which is against the BC Child Care Regulations? (Example: care for more children than ratio allows)

32% responded always, usually or sometimes

Q19: In a current or previous role as a BC early childhood educator, have you been promised an opportunity for advancement or promotion that was never satisfied?

40% responded always, usually or sometimes

Q20: In your current or previous work as a BC Early Childhood Educator do you feel that your specific contributions have positively influenced your children and families?

99% responded always, usually or sometimes

Q 21: How many times in your career as a BC Early Childhood Educator have you left your role for reasons specific to the employer and/or work environment? (eg. not relocation or maternity leave.)

33.22% – 0 times

50.17% – 1-2 times

12.96% – 3-5 times

3.65% – 5+ times

Q 22: In your role as a BC Early Childhood Educator have you stayed in an unsatisfactory work role due to obligations in your home or personal life? (eg. personal childcare, finances, educational requirements)

62% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 23: In your role as a BC early childhood educator, have you left an employer because the work culture was negatively impacting your physical, mental or emotional health?

56% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 24: In your role as a BC Early Childhood Educator, have you left an employer because of feeling undervalued or disrespected?

55% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 25: In your time as a BC Early Childhood Educator, have you missed a shift due to work related stress or a negative work environment?

36% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 26: Despite challenges, have you stayed with your current or previous BC licensed childcare facility, because you felt valued by your employer?

85% responded always, usually or sometimes.

Q 27: As a BC Early Childhood Educator, overall how satisfied are you with your work?

91% responded very satisfied to somewhat satisfied.

Q 28: How often do you consider changing careers to an occupation other than early childhood education?

71% respond very often to sometimes.

If you would be interested in supporting the further development of this research, booking a workshop or training opportunity or would like to learn more about this research you can contact Katelyn Moon at https://www.facebook.com/PlayItForwardConsulting/ or email katelynponsford@hotmail.com.

References

J. Johnson, (January 27^th 2018) Finding Your Smile Again, Children Heart of the Matter Conference, Bell Preforming Arts Centre, Surrey BC.

Letters to My Younger Self – What I’ve Learned Over the First Ten Years of my ECE Career

I’m turning twenty-nine next week and this is my eleventh year of providing childcare so I decided to write letters to a younger me. These are some of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my career as an Early Childhood Educator.

Dear Seventeen Year Old Katelyn,

Congratulations, you have been accepted into the dual-credit ECE program offered by the Langley School District! You have not even completed high school and you are starting your journey on your very important career path. You have worked with children and youth since you were thirteen and you know that they are your passion. You should be proud!

I’m so excited for you to be beginning your career as an Early Childhood Educator. It is one of the most important professions that you can have. You are literally shaping the minds of tomorrow’s leaders. Remember that early childhood is a profession so act as a professional. Advocate for your work and your field. Educate those around you of the value of your work. Work hard at school, This is the first time that you are going to enjoy being a student, but it won’t be the last!

Yours Truly,

Twenty-Eight Year Old Katelyn

P.S. I know that you are a little worried that preschoolers will be covered in drool and have sticky hands. They won’t. You will love them! The drool and sticky hands will come in a few years when you decide to work with infants and toddlers.

P.P.S The drool is just the start of it. 😛

Dear Nineteen Year Old Katelyn,

Congratulations! You have finished your certificate in Early Childhood Education. It’s time to put that education to work. First and foremost, not all childcare centres are the same. What you have been taught in school will not necessarily be what you see in practice. Goodness of fit is not just for children. Make sure you accept jobs where their philosophy is in line with yours. Remember that in a job interview you are interviewing them too.

Find good mentors. You will be so privileged to meet strong, smart, caring women along the way who will influence your practice. Learn from them, ask questions, and share in their passion for children. Even when you are ten years into your career you will value them and seek their advice. You don’t yet understand the importance of feminism, but having strong female mentors will be important to you throughout your career. Trust me. In your worst ECE jobs, you will find your best mentors.

Lastly, I know that you have begun to waitress on weekends and that you make less in a week of teaching than in a weekend of serving. This is a sad reality and the fight for better pay will be going on for years to come. Remember the value of your work and how you are benefiting the children and families you work with.

Sincerely,

Twenty-Eight Year Old Katelyn

Dear Twenty-One Year Old Katelyn,

So you have had a few childcare jobs and you now understand what I meant about the importance of goodness of fit. It’s ok. You have learned so much about yourself and your philosophy. You are about to begin the hardest job you have had as an early childhood educator. You have accepted a job where you will be working with an at-risk population of children. Your eyes will be opened to the struggles that some families endure. This will be the first time that you work with children who have likely witnessed drug use, abuse, homelessness, and even fleeing their home country. You will cry. It will be hard, but you can do it. These kids need you and you will learn how to provide care to them and respond to their needs. This is when you will develop an understanding of how resilient children can be. You will also learn to connect with parents who are quite different than the families you have worked with in the past. They will have different means, parenting styles, and experiences. Take time and invest in developing relationships will all of the families. This is the point where you will learn that children are only part of your work. Developing strong relationships with the families you serve is one of the best gifts that you can give the children that you work with.

Sincerely,

Twenty-Eight Year Old Katelyn

P.S. Say hi to Corrine for me. You are still close and we now live two provinces away. Like I said, you will meet some of your best mentors and best friends in your work.

Dear Twenty-Three Year Old Katelyn,

Yes, you actually just accepted your first job as an ECE manager! This is the moment you have been waiting for. You are officially a mentor. This is the first time where you are truly responsible for your team’s success or failure. You have always loved leadership and now your skills are being put to the test. Keep these values in mind. The more you support your team members and empower them in their own professional journey, the more successful the team will be. Have integrity and honesty even when it feels hard or uncomfortable. Set clear expectations and have your team develop goals. Then support your team in achieving them. As a leader, get to know your team’s passions and interests. Leaders are still members of the team. Stay humble. Learn to delegate and utilize their strengths.

Love,

Twenty-Eight Year Old Katelyn

P.S. It’s a boy!

Dear Twenty-Four Year Old Katelyn,

Congratulations on the birth of your first child! This is a pivotal stage in your growth as an Early Childhood Educator because you now know what the connection is truly like between a child and their parent. Your relationships with parent clients will be deeper now and you will feel that much more honoured to provide care for their children. You now feel a new level of responsibility and you are officially ‘adulting’. You now have a husband, child, and mortgage so there is more pressure to make good career decisions. Take the risk and open your own childcare centre. It will be worth it. This will be the first time when you discover what your philosophy is without other influences or expectations from your employer. You have had a knack for entrepreneurship since you were a child and you will find it very satisfying to build a successful business. Having a multi-age in-home daycare is new territory for you. The idea of having a mixed age group program seems intimidating because you are wondering how you can engage children who are infants with five year olds in a meaningful way. Let them lead the way and they will teach you how to be a better teacher.

By the way go with the name ‘Saplings’. It has a better ring to it than ‘Roots and Shoots’ or ‘Natures Path’. After all, that is totally the name of a granola bar company.

Yours Truly,

Twenty-Eight Year Old Katelyn

Dear Twenty-Five Year Old Katelyn,

Business is booming and you have built a good reputation. You have listened to your gut and have made good business decisions. You have recently found out that you are going to have a second baby and you are very excited. This poses some challenges for business, but just like past decisions, trust your gut and keep communicating with your clients. There is one downfall of being self-employed and that is that you won’t get a maternity leave like you had with Atticus. The one thing that I recommend you do differently is take a few months off rather than six weeks. Having a newborn and a daycare is no easy feat. That being said, your program will be enriched by having the presence of your new baby girl Maverik. The daycare children will connect with her and surround her with love. One of the best experiences you will have in the time that you have your own daycare is witnessing how much your children benefit from the relationships they have with the other children who attend.

You’re a new-mom-to-be again. Be as caring to yourself as you are to the children you care for. Self care is hard in this field.

Love,

Twenty-Eight year old Katelyn

Dear Twenty-Six Year Old Katelyn,

You’re contemplating going back to school, but you have been an ECE since you were eighteen and the thought of putting yourself out there is daunting. Don’t be intimidated. ECEs are jacks of all trades and going back to school is not as scary as it feels. Value yourself and invest in yourself by committing to lifelong learning. You don’t know this yet, but all of your fears about going to school, especially business school, will fade quickly and you will surprise yourself with how well you do. You have heard many early childhood educators express doubt about what else they could do if they were not an early childhood educators. Some say they feel pigeon-holed into their work. Going back to school will inspire you to continue your commitment to early childhood education. Your education in business and beyond will significantly impact your practice and what you are able to offer children to prepare them for lifelong success.

Yours Truly,

Twenty-Nine Year Old Katelyn

P.S. Don’t take that marketing course. You’ll hate it!

 

Dear Twenty-Seven Year Old Katelyn,

Ok, you’re taking this going back too seriously. Slow down and enjoy the ride. Self-care yourself. 😛

From

Twenty-Eight year old Katelyn

Dear Twenty-Eight Year Old Katelyn,

Share your passion and experience with other childcare providers. You miss working with a team, but still love working with children so find your people. Refine your work and share your practice. People want to hear it.

Yours truly,

Almost Twenty-Nine Year Old Katelyn

P.S. Start a blog.

So What is Excellence in the Art of Play?

So what is ‘excellence in the art of play’? It’s not just a catch phrase on my business card, but it is the vision of my business, driven by my values as an early childhood educator. In my workshop, Growing Leaders, I acknowledge when I began my studies in early childhood education that ‘play-based’ was almost a dirty word. There was a feeling that ‘play-based’ care lacked substance and opportunity. When I say this in my workshops, I find that many child care providers nod their heads and can relate to my experience. My career as an early childhood educator has taught me that play-based is, in my opinion, the ideal learning environment that we can provide for young children. Our children today face more pressure than the generations before them to be successful and smart, they are more bombarded by stimulation from technology, and they are growing up in a world that is changing so rapidly that we cannot predict what career opportunities will be available for them as the way we do business changes. I believe that play will be the best way to prepare our children to have the greatest chance of success, happiness, and fulfilling lives.

So, with that great weight on my shoulders of preparing children for a life of success, happiness, and fulfilment, I must be up all night preparing detailed curriculum, jam packed to take advantage of this critical time of development. Right? Wrong! In fact, if families ask what I have planned for the day I generally have the deer in the headlights look. Play comes from the children. I facilitate opportunities for them to play and learn in different ways. When I opened Saplings four years ago, I would put pressure on myself to plan three activities a day to give the children ample learning opportunities. Prior to opening my own centre I worked in a variety of childcare centres for five years. In those centres, it was common for teachers to take turns offering art, sensory, movement etc., activities which created a full day of learning opportunities. When I opened Saplings I felt pressure to offer those same experiences and was worried that if I didn’t, my program would fall short. As I have become more comfortable with my practice, I have been able to let go of that teacher guilt and embrace my values and philosophy which is about children playing and me facilitating opportunities that they can engage in.

My current program puts play first. It’s real play, where children are playing what they want, the way they want, with no expectation of how their play should be. It is during this raw play where I see children develop meaningful friendships, tap into their imagination, master new skills, and be freer to be themselves. There are hours of this wonderful, natural, essential play every day at Saplings. In general, children are experiencing less free play in their childhoods nowadays compared to even the generation before them. I know many kindergarten teachers who fight to find time for their students to have play time during school hours. Beyond kindergarten, play is practically non-existent. Knowing how little play children get in their education after the time in my program inspires me to maximize the opportunity for play in the time that I have with them.

So what about giving children an education? It’s true. There is tremendous pressure on educators to ‘educate’ children. That’s how children become successful and obtain good careers as adults. Right? You might have guessed that I believe that the best education comes through play. The best scientific learning that children experience at Saplings is when they play with something like our ramps and balls and experience scientific concepts that I could only stumble through explaining in circle time at best. In addition to the education they gain through play, I also facilitate a variety of opportunities for the children to learn life skills and connect with the community. Today, for example, we used naturally dyed Easter eggs with red cabbage. Is this Hippy dippy nonsense or a great learning opportunity?

Let’s break this activity down to highlight just how many opportunities the children had today by learning to dye Easter eggs. As I mentioned earlier, when it comes to curriculum planning I am bare bones. I like to keep it spontaneous and based on the children. Over March, I have offered several provocations and activities around gardening because the children are keen and engaged. We typically do one activity a day so that the children have an opportunity to try something new while giving optimal opportunity to play for the majority of the day. Today felt like a good day to try out natural Easter egg dying. Of course, Easter is this weekend, but also the children are talking about Easter and are interested in plants making this a winning combination. I don’t plan activities because of a holiday. I offer opportunities based on their interest.

One of the perks of spontaneity in program planning is that it often requires a trip to the grocery store. The grocery store is a great opportunity for learning about social interactions, nutrition, occupations, and life skills. Developing life skills is important for all children, but has also been shown to be one of the top three means of building resiliency to overcome adverse childhood experiences (ACE). The higher a person’s ACE score, the more likely it is that they will have challenges with health mentally and physically. (Redford, 2016) As with many of the activities that I facilitate, I look for ways to offer the children an opportunity to develop life skills. In going to the grocery store with the children, rather than pre-buy the materials and just doing the activity with the children at daycare, they learn valuable life skills such as how to pick produce, navigating the neighbourhood and grocery store, interacting with people in the community, and purchasing groceries.

When we returned to daycare we started the egg dying process. The process of dying Easter eggs naturally is actually very simple which in some ways makes more work for me about how I can give them the most opportunity to experience the process. Today we used red cabbage to dye the eggs so I took apart the cabbage in front of them and gave them big leaves to tear apart as a group. We sat around the table tearing the leaves into tiny chunks and filled up our measuring cup. Although simple, this activity teaches them about cooperating in teamwork, fine motor skills, math, following a recipe, and creates a sense of wonder which should not be under-estimated as a valuable life skill.

After we had torn the leaves I simmered the cabbage while the children played. At lunch I showed them the pot of boiled cabbage and they made observations of how the leaves and water had changed. The children ate their lunch as the water cooled and then before nap they placed their boiled eggs into the purple dye. They customized their eggs with wax crayon colouring so that they could identify their own egg. They thought that it was quite rebellious that we were dying eggs rather than heading for a rest and they relished this flexibility. It’s important to seize opportunities and to not be stuck in a routine that limits experiences. The eggs soaked over the two hours of rest time and when the children woke up, they jumped out of their beds to see what had happened to the eggs. The red cabbage, which made purple dye, turned the eggs a beautiful blue!

Some of the skills that seem to be lessening in how we live our lives these days are patience and anticipation. There is an old saying that ‘good things come to those who wait’; however, there are fewer times that we need to wait. Learning how to wait and the building of anticipation are important for having success in life. Many important goals that we set in life have multiple steps and setbacks. We have to wait to find the right partner and to find the right career. Although every step of egg dying today was enjoyable, it also developed the children’s ability to wait, take steps, and have anticipation for good things. This is the first time that I have dyed Easter eggs with children with natural dyes, but it won’t be the last. In fact, tomorrow we will be dying Easter eggs with beets which is a different process. Since the children enjoyed this activity and it still gave ample time to play, the opportunities are endless for where we might go with this.

If you are interested in learning more about ACE or dying Easter eggs with natural dyes take a look at the references below. E. Stark (March 2017) Simple Step by Step Guild to Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs [retrieved from] https://www.babble.com/best-recipes/simple-step-by-step-guide-to-naturally-dyed-eastereggs/?cmp=SMC%7Cnone%7Cnatural%7CBabble%7CBabbleFebruary%7CPIN%7CdiyeastereggsBabble%7CInHouse%7C2015-02-17%7C%7C%7Cesocialmedia

 

 

Meet My Co-Teacher

One of the Reggio principles that resonates with me is the recognition that the environment acts as an additional teacher. I work on my own, but by creating a dynamic play space, I have set my classroom up for success. Over the winter break, my husband and I revamped the Saplings classroom to reflect the needs and interests of the children. I have had the same core group for quite a while and; although, many of them are going to kindergarten next year, I wanted to freshen up the space so that they get the most from it before September.

Today Saplings looks completely different from Saplings in December. I should have taken before and after photos, but I was so excited to get started on the last day of daycare before the break that it was overlooked. We rolled up the carpets and piled all of our furniture into the middle of one of the rooms to get started with painting the first day of break. Following the painting my husband was passed the torch to build the loft of my dreams. I sketched a simple drawing of a loft and reworked it to ensure that it met the BC Licensing Regulations. We adjusted our plans so that there are only two directions that a child could fall from (the stairs and the slide) and that there is six feet of fall space from those openings. Child Care Licensing requires resilient surfacing around play structures including indoor play lofts. We used Ikea Plufsig folding gym mats to cover our floor. (http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/90278927/) The mats are thick so we opted to do the whole room. We were able to use five mats to cover the majority of the room and then I cut and fitted one mat to work around odd corners.

My husband created the loft over the remaining Christmas break. It’s handy to have a handyman as my husband. The loft has been well-loved by the children since it was installed in early January. In a small daycare, space is precious so when I planned the loft I wanted to make it a multi-functional play area with a darker light table area below and the play kitchen up top. I have noticed since making the daycare changes that the children have been much more interested in dramatic play, both in the loft and in other areas of the classroom.

Prior to having the loft, light table, literacy, and rock climbing wall in the far room, I felt that the room was under-utilized. Before this change the room had a large inviting carpet, a couch, the puppets and the books. Although the room was cozy, the children often would run in circles in that room and not engage in meaningful play. This room has become the focus of play, offering the children many options while not being over-stimulating. Rather than running in circles, the children are collaborating, challenging themselves, and using their imaginations.

The main room of the daycare has become more open and clients have commented that the room feels bigger. I found a mid-century pink love seat which nicely blocks the fireplace without being too heavy. This is an ideal location for me to read stories to a few children while being able to watch the activities of the other children. One of my friends and clients offered our daycare a neat dark wood coffee table which is the perfect size for a child’s table. This has developed into the discovery table where I rotate new provocations weekly. I have tucked this table into a well-lit corner which is inviting and naturally limits the number of children who are able to create at it. I have also moved the children display board to be around the table rather than in the entry way so that they are regularly seeing their art at their eye level.

Lastly, we have installed a short rock climbing wall. Although it is short, it gives children an opportunity to challenge themselves. Even lifting themselves onto the lowest rocks gives them an opportunity to engage their muscles. When I first reflected on the play environment, I use to say that the outside play area of Saplings offers the same benefits as our inside area does. Now my goal is to offer the same benefits indoors as the children have outdoors through offering opportunities for gross motor development and being active as well as by adding more natural elements, such as plants.