You Know You are Doing Something Right When...

I have seen lots of posts lately about how hard our job is as Early Childhood Educators.
How low our pay is.
How meager our benefits are, compared to other jobs.
It is a frustrating, but social media rants and listing pay is unprofessional. I fear some do not realize it is also grounds for firing in many centers.
It makes our whole profession look ungrateful, and takes the focus off the important job we do.

As professionals we have the duty to educate others, that we are not “baby-sitters”, we are Early Childhood Professionals.  We need to share the education it takes to become a good teacher, learn what we know about children, child developemnt and how we prepare the children to be successful later in life.
We don’t do this by whining and ranting, it does not work for the students in my class. So why would it should it work for an adult who is supposed to be a professional?

We can make a difference by loving our students, doing our job the best we can, being partners with parents, lobbing politicians to educate them and to share our knowledge.

I knew that the pay and benefits would never be what I was worth, when I made Early Childhood my career.
But the joy in my job, the trust families give me, and the excitement my students greet me with can NEVER be taken from me by taxes, politicians or others.
So I know I must be doing something right.

Yesterday was perfect proof of this:

I was greeted by every student in my class with loud cheers of, “Ms.Helen is here!!!!!” Followed by many hugs, lots of conversation about things that happened the night before and hand holding.

A new student and his family gave me and my coteacher plants for making his transition easy and helping him feel welcome.

I received a note in my mailbox that said: “Ms. Helen, Thank you for being “SO NICE”(M’s words).
He really enjoys school! The M.. Clan”

Another mom came to me, she gave me a big hug and said, “Tomorrow is L’s last day.  I wanted to be sure I got to say goodbye and tell you, Thank you for loving my son.  You made it possible for me to go to work everyday knowing he was safe and cared for.  You care deeply for him and I am grateful for the peace that gives me.”

So no I do not make what a school teacher makes.
No I will never make what a doctor or a lawyer makes, but I create the path for many children to become great doctors, lawyers, plumbers, janitors, astronauts, teachers, etc....
You can choose to look at what you don’t have, and don’t make OR you can be very proud of the difference you make and carry yourself like the most important, and influential, individual in your circle of influence.  This creates respect.
When you are respected you can make a WORLD of DIFFERENCE all around you.

Do You Like Kids?

Recently I was gone for a few days on vacation.
I returned to cheers of: “Miss. Helen! You’re back!”
I had been gone 4 days over 2 weeks.  I was greated with cheers, multiple hugs, snuggles and lots of hand holding. My lap was full every minute of the day. It was nice to know I was missed, but more importantly they were showing me I was loved.

“I like it better when you are here,” one little guy said as he snuggled up.
“You do? I like it when you’re here too,” I told him.
“Yes, Miss.Helen, I do,  I know you like kids. You love us too.”
We shared a hug, “You know, I miss you guys when I am on

vacation.”
“Yes, that is what I like about this school.  All the teachers like kids, and come back to see us again.”

Wow, powerful words.
So, I ask you do you like kids?
In spite of the frustration, bureaucracy and day to day issues, do you like kids?
How do you show kids, you like them?
Do you let them know they are loved, all of them, not just the easy ones?

Another child joined us.
“I am glad you are back too.”
“Me to, do you know I miss you guys when I am not here?’
“Yes, we are special, little kids.  Everyone misses us when we are gone.”

Are you imparting to your students, these feelings?
Do they feel like special, little kids?

As the summer, begins to wrap up and the new school year looms closer ask yourself these questions?
Why do I do this job?
Do I like kids?
Do my kids, know I like them?
Be honest and real with yourself. If you can’t be honest with yourself, your children already know the answers, and probably you are both not very happy with where you are at in life, school, work, etc...

Do you like kids?  If your answer is NO or I DON’T KNOW what are you going to do about it?

A Fight For Our Families and Children

Perhaps, my maternal grandmother knew more than anyone gave her credit for.
My mom has told me stories about how, my name sake, did NOT want the television brought into her house.  What others saw as the wave of the future and modern technology, she referred to as “the one-eyed, foul-mouthed, stranger”.  He was not welcome in her house.  She only saw him adding strife to the family and introducing the family to things they did not welcome in their house when others came to visit.

Fast forward to today.  We all have multiple one-eyed, foul-mouthed strangers in our house.  Some of us let them in every room of our house.  Most I dare say allow them to sleep in our bedroom, with us. But it is not just these strangers, we’ve allowed them to bring family members, close-knit and extended, freely into our home.  They clutter up our life, rob us and our family, of our time, and bring lots of garbage into the house, we would never let others bring into our home.

Our house is full of, computers, tablets, phones, Alexa, gaming devices and the list goes on an on.  We sit inside our homes and isolate ourselves.  We allow this one-eyed stranger to control our time (free time and the time we should be devoting to other things), he robs our family of our attention, he tracks our move and broadcasts it so others know what we are doing and where we are. He brings crude humor, graphic violence, and hate language into our home and is allowed to stay.

I dare say stranger or friend walking through your door and acting out of control would be asked to leave and if he did not then he would be removed by a call to the police.  Yet because he is one-eyed and captivating we allow him to have places of honor in our homes, families and lives.  Yes, I think my Grandma was way wiser than any of us, who would consider her back woods, uneducated and poor. While we laugh at her misgivings, think of the peace she would have had today none of us have.