December 30, 2020

“Children need simple, truthful, empathetic, but direct responses, especially when they are testing and learning limits. (p.17) -Elevating Childcare/Lansbury

This quote resonates on many levels with me as an educator, guide, community member, and human. When I hear a truth spoken in the world, I feel it intuitively when it resounds in my heart and body. Sometimes hearing a truth even brings tears to my eyes. It is a quiet feeling, yet unshakably strong. I believe children have an innate ability to see, hear, feel, and speak truth in a unique way in comparison to adults. Children have such an innate, unfiltered, desire to learn. This translates to their ability to hear a truth and be able to accept a particular reality pertaining to that : even if it is not what they might wish.

This relates to a preschool setting where there are a community of learners with differing needs and wants. If each member of the group is able to feel safe and speak their “truth” then a compromise can be attained. I believe it is our job as adults to model the tools (words/actions) necessary to articulate feelings, needs, and wants. As a guide, I strive to help children take a seemingly impossible situation and boil it down to the root or baseline of the problem. Throughout this process a number of resolutions can become available. These undertakings do not exist within the realms of black/ white thinking, rather in the infinite shades and possibilities of grey. There is no single “right or wrong” way to solve a problem. This is even true in mathematics.

I learned in Graduate School math classes that when breaking down a story problem, proportional reasoning made the most sense to me; whereas for others an algebraic equation was a solution. I needed to see pictorially the problem drawn out and the components of the drawing at play. Both ways for solving the problem arrived at the exact same answer. This metaphor translates to the classroom when guiding children through the problem solving process. It is imperative to allow each child to express their authentic self, while simultaneously respecting each others' boundaries. There is always an opportunity to grow as a group in these instances, and learn how to exist peacefully.