Born in Englewood, an under-resourced community on Chicago’s South Side, Marina got an early start to her education at Educare Chicago, a program operated by Start Early, as a precious 6-week old. Her mom wanted her to develop her love for learning at a very young age. Since then, she became a student leader at Herzl Elementary School, where she graduated Valedictorian in 2017. Now a senior at Northside College Prep, Marina leads her peers as the president of the Yearbook committee and vice-chairman of the Black Student Union. To this day, she continues to embrace her love of learning and looks forward to starting her journey to becoming a psychologist in the fall of 2021. It all began with her mother making the decision to Start Early for her to become a success!

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ShaLaya was seeking a more enriching learning environment for her daughter, but she ended up finding her calling. Just two months after enrolling her daughter at Educare Milwaukee, a school in the Educare Learning Network — a partnership between Start Early and early learning champions across the country, ShaLaya joined the staff as a teaching assistant. Once hired, she quickly wanted to do more. She wanted to give her students the same services that the teachers were giving to her child. Her goal was to become an Educare teacher and provide a better life for her family through education and a higher salary. In 2016, she achieved her goal by earning her bachelor’s degree, a teaching requirement at the center. Today, she loves seeing her children grow and looks forward to impacting many more children and their families down the road. She could not be prouder of her daughter, who is currently thriving in her local elementary school, or herself.

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Starting early is important to me because I am a dreamer. I have been a dreamer since I was a young child growing up in New York. I dreamed of being a singer, a doctor, a lawyer and eventually an educator. My dreams were nourished by my family, my community, and my teachers. All played such an important part in my world. “Dream big,” my parents would say and “Keep dreaming,” my teachers would cheer. I believe all children deserve the opportunity to dream and reach their full potential. Dreams fuel our goals and a quality early childhood education provides the means for us to attain those goals. Now I am an educator and can cheer on young children and their families to dream big and look beyond.

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Together, when we start early, we can close the opportunity gap and ensure every child has a chance to reach their full potential.

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As champions for early learning, we each have a personal story about the power of quality early education that connects us to our cause.

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Learn more about how we are supporting children, families and early childhood professionals as we improve the state of early learning in America.
In our fast-paced world it can feel like issues of violence and racism are dominating the content we consume from the news to social media to conversations with our friends and loved ones. While we are all working to process our thoughts, feelings and emotions around these difficult topics, so are our little ones. They are seeing these topics play out around them and, more importantly, they’re watching how the adults in their lives are responding. They might not be able to fully grasp what is going on, but even our youngest learners are picking up on our emotions in these challenging times.
That’s why here at the Start Early we created this series, Tackling Tough Topics with Your Little One, to give you helpful advice from our experts as well as tips to navigate discussing difficult topics such as violence, racism and loss with your children.
Why Racism?
The racially charged murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd have been in the spotlight recently, but for every high-profile death that makes national news, thousands of similar incidents are quickly dismissed or ignored. As our country works to dismantle and rebuild in the wake of these violent events, it’s important to remember that even though your child may be too young to understand it, they are seeing how racial injustice and anti-Black sentiment are playing out on a national stage. Children as young as 6 months old begin to notice race-based differences, and by age 2 children are beginning to internalize racial biases. That is why it is so important to talk to your children about racism and discrimination early on and in an age appropriate way.
How to Address the Topic of Racism
- Five things to remember as a parent when talking to your child about racism:
- Remember to take care of yourself. Do not binge on news and social media. Watch what you need to stay informed and then make sure you process the information in a health way.
- Use mindfulness activities, exercise, spending time with your family, or music and movement activities, etc.
- Practice what you want to say ahead of time. These conversations can bring up a lot of uncertainty and fear in parents, too. It’s ok to call a friend or family member and practice ahead of time so that you will feel more comfortable when the time comes to talk to your child.
- Be aware of your own biases. Your child is paying attention to your behavior and learning from how you act and react in different situations.
- Be open to your child’s questions around racism and encourage them to come to you with them. Remember, it’s ok if you don’t have all of the answers.
- Consider that this conversation is approached very differently between Black and white parents.
- The “talk” in Black families is often started very early, usually around when the child is 4 years old and includes:
- Don’t resist police.
- Don’t run when approached by police
- Don’t talk back
- When in a store, do not run and keep your hands visible at all times
- Don’t think that just because your white friend can do it, you can to
- Do stay close to your parent at all times
- For white families sometimes the talk happens much later, or not at all, and parents don’t know where to start. If you are struggling to have the “talk” with your child, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Children aren’t colorblind, all children develop racial prejudices unless their parents engage them directly about it, which is why talking about racism is so important.
- Be direct and intentional, use the words race and racism when talking about this topic.
- Lead by example to help your child understand why it’s so important to be anti-racist
- It’s ok to point out that skin color doesn’t have much biological significance, but skin color does have a lot of historical importance.
- If your child does say or do something racist, help them to understand that it’s not ok. You can thank them for being honest, and even admit if you’ve felt that way before. But explain why it’s racist and wrong. Intention doesn’t matter, even if they didn’t mean it, comments and actions still do harm, and they need to know that.
- The “talk” in Black families is often started very early, usually around when the child is 4 years old and includes:
- Remember to take care of yourself. Do not binge on news and social media. Watch what you need to stay informed and then make sure you process the information in a health way.
- For Infants and Toddlers
- Read picture books—make sure they see images of themselves reflected in the pictures at storytime.
- Make sure you present different races and cultures through books, toys, food, languages, etc.
- Reinforce that difference is not bad—recognize and celebrate differences.
- For Children Ages 3-5
- Read books
- If all of the characters in the book look the same, ask your child what they think about that.
- Add different books that show black and brown children of different cultures being the hero or solving the problem.
- Introduce age appropriate books the discuss topics of Civil/Human Rights, Discrimination.
- This might sound simple, but it’s actually pretty important—ask your child how they feel. You know your child best and can sense when they are upset. Try asking what they might be worried about or afraid of so you can reinforce that you are there to protect and support them.
- Use the idea of fairness to help describe how racism is unfair and unacceptable; young children understand the concept of fairness very well, and this will help them understand why we need to work together to make it better.
- Read books
Other Resources
- A Kids Book About Racism
- Recommended books with characters of color
- Recommended books on social justice
Stay tuned for the next article in our series which will cover how to talk to your little ones about loss. Connect with us for more resources, tips and expert advice.

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Watch as NEAR@Home facilitators explore topics such as the power of listening, the parallel process and the therapeutic use of self in these meaningful conversations that discuss best practices and aim to empower home visitors.
Therapeutic Use of Self
In this video, NEAR@Home facilitators explore what we mean when we talk about “use of self” or “therapeutic use of self.” Home visiting is a relationship-based practice and how we connect with families is more important than what we “do.”
The Power of Listening
In this video, NEAR@Home facilitators explore the meaning and impact of listening. Listening is a powerful strategy for engaging with parents/caregivers. Spacious listening is a skill we can develop to counter the pressure of thinking we need to “do something” or to “fix it.”
Parallel Process
In this video, NEAR@Home facilitators explore the nuances of the term “parallel process.” How we are within each relationship, past and present, and how that influences other relationships.

Download the Toolkit
The NEAR@Home toolkit is a resource for home visitors to respectfully and effectively address ACEs with families.

Washington State Hub
Learn more about our work in Washington state and access relevant resources and publications.

Resources for Professionals
From interactive courses to engaging events, we support educators in building powerful practices that transform teaching and learning.
The term doula is one that most people might think of when it comes to celebrity pregnancies, but know little else about. At the Start Early, we know that creating strong bonds between parents and babies is crucial to a baby’s future development. Our Healthy Parents & Babies program’s doulas and home visitors serve children and families, beginning prenatally and through age 3. Our doulas and home visitors are trained professionals who provide the highest level of care to help families from under-resourced communities thrive. In the wake of COVID-19 crisis, our program has had to adapt services to a virtual format to continue to meet families’ needs while keeping everyone safe and healthy.
But first, what is a doula?
A doula is trained professional who provides continuous educational, emotional and physical support to a mother before, during and shortly after childbirth to help achieve the healthiest pregnancy, labor and delivery possible. Doulas support and comfort mothers and help them to have a safe and memorable birthing experience. A doula is responsible for informing and educating families about the different medical interventions, comfort measures, patient rights and other topics related to childbirth and post-partum education. Typically, doulas accept mothers who are entering into their third trimester. Doulas are required to have a series of monthly home visits with the participants to ensure they are able to not only retain the information, but to also make informed decisions.
What is the difference between a doula and a home visitor?
A doula coaches mothers through pregnancy and the first few weeks of their baby’s life. This helps the mother to develop healthy habits prior to birth, prepare for a successful pregnancy, labor and delivery, and create strong bonds with the baby. Our Healthy Parents & Babies program empowers mothers to make the right decisions for herself and advocate for her child’s health.
Once the baby is born, families transition from a doula to a home visitor who helps continue building a strong relationship between parent(s) and their baby, creating a safe and stimulating home environment, developing healthy eating routines for the family and connecting families to health care resources. Parents learn activities and habits that will stimulate their child’s brain development to help them thrive.
Why are doulas/home visitors important during a child’s early stages of life?
Doulas are important during pregnancy as they provide education to women about the stages of pregnancy, changes to their body and fetal development. Doulas also provide support to pregnant women during labor and delivery by providing comfort measures, support and guidance to advocate for their laboring and delivery preferences.
Home visitors are important during a child’s early stages of life as they provide families with individual educational support with early attachment and learning about their child’s growth and development. Home visitors also support families with individual parent-child education and recognize that parents and caregivers are the child’s first teacher.
What does doula/home visiting look like at Healthy Parents & Babies?
Start Early’s Healthy Parents & Babies Program offers support and coaching to pregnant women, young parents and children birth through age 3. Each family is provided with an individualized home visiting plan that is tailored to meet their needs. Pregnant women learn about their pregnancy and their child’s growth and development. Home visits include story time, parent-child development activities, parent reflections and planning for the next home visit.
How has Healthy Parents & Babies adapted services during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Out of an abundance of caution for the health and well-being of our families, doulas, home visitors and family support staff, Healthy Parents & Babies has moved all of its work to a virtual format in the wake of the current health crisis.
Our doula’s have continued to support families with weekly virtual check-ins and support during labor and delivery. Our home visitors have maintained contact with their families on their scheduled home visit day by checking-in via cellphone, FaceTime, messenger, Class Dojo and Zoom.
Our family support specialists have been maintaining weekly contact with parents and providing information on proper hand washing, symptoms of COVID-19 and locations where families can get tested for COVID-19. Family support staff have also continued to provide weekly check-ins with families that include well-being checks, and information on resources such as: support services for unemployment, community food pantries and resources for immigrant families.
What makes Healthy Parents & Babies unique?
Healthy Parents & Babies serves children and families prenatally through age 3. Women can enter our program at any stage of their pregnancy, and after their children are born, they transition to our Early Head Start home visiting program. Program participation is not limited to first-time mothers or first-time participants in the program. Participants must meet Early Head Start income eligibility guidelines.
We also support families with children who have special needs through individualized lesson plans which are inclusive to the child’s Individual Family Service Plan. Our team serves a diverse population, and we employ bilingual staff to support the families we serve.
Our families genuinely love the program, their doulas and home visitors:
“Healthy Parents & Babies has helped not only my family but every family in this program and I can only speak for myself, but we will forever be grateful that during this time you are able to help us.” –Elizabeth H.
“I’m really thankful with all of you for all your support, I know it’s a lot of people who are a part of the program that don’t even know me. But Rosa and Vicky thank you so much you are always there for us, in the times when I even need to talk to someone you have been there, always trying to look for help for us. And loving my girls. I will be sure to tell my girls all about my experience with you all and pray that they grow up to help and care for the next family in need of help. Thank you so much!” –Debbie C.
Other program benefits include:
- Prenatal and parent group meetings
- Events to socialize and interact with other children and parents
- Literacy events
- Male involvement groups
- Limited transportation assistance
- Services for children with special needs

Take Action
Raise your voice and encourage lawmakers to prioritize early learning and care at the local, state and federal level.

Support Our Work
Together, when we start early, we can close the opportunity gap and ensure every child has a chance to reach their full potential.

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Learn more about how we are supporting children, families and early childhood professionals as we improve the state of early learning in America.
In this blog post, Melissa Manning, with contributions from Sarah Bergman, share perspectives from the Educare Learning Network’s Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships Community of Practice on rebuilding and recovery post COVID-19. Including, specific thoughts on equitable access to high-quality early care and learning and the need for viewing early childhood systems through a racial equity lens.
In mid-June, after early learning settings were initially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, 12 early learning practitioners from seven states gathered virtually for a Build It Back Better dialogue. The dialogue took place during a meeting of the Educare Learning Network’s Community of Practice for Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership grantees and included leaders of Educare schools and child care providers. Below is a summary of what these leaders in the early childhood field shared about their experience with rebuilding and recovery post-COVID-19:
1. What are some of the hopes, dreams and goals for children that were shared during your Build It Back Better dialogue?
A hope is to provide children with the same educational opportunities as children in more affluent communities, as well as resourcing teachers to support their implementation of best practices in service of children’s school readiness and their own personal growth. We hope that all children will have the opportunity to reach their full potential and want to be mindful of what is needed for staff, communities and families to ensure children have those opportunities. We hope that a young child’s family income, race and/or adverse experiences do not predict their later success. Finally, when we see our kids, especially our Black and Latino kids, we want to be able to give them a fair shake in a world we know is not set up for them currently. Kids in our community who came to our programs are no longer living because of street and police violence. There is hopefulness to see changes to systemic racism in our lifetime.
2. What are some of the worries or concerns for children that were shared? What is keeping people up at night?
Children of color are growing up in a society with a long history of structural, institutionalized racism. So many kids are not in quality programs right now as programs start to reopen in limited capacities. We worry about the domestic and child abuse that might be going unreported right now. We are also worried about the social and emotional development and relationship-based work at every level – including physical contact especially with younger children.
Everything we know about child development is seemingly unavailable during this pandemic. We are worried about what the child care landscape is really going to look like for families. There was a teacher who tested positive the night before school was scheduled to reopen. The Remind app was then used to notify parents of a delayed reopening date. There were 55 families who were scheduled to arrive. Four families did not get the information – one uncle even tried to drop off a little girl, who got so upset that school was not open that day. This incident was a reminder that these kids are at home with family members and wanting to come back. Our kids need these environments. In some cases, we are their stability – their constant.
3. According to participants, how did the supports for young children and families respond or fare? Who has been disproportionately impacted by the challenges?
A positive has been that there was some security built in for families through child care subsidies. There was no parent fee, and slots were saved. Another positive has been smaller group sizes. Adults have time to build relationships with each other and kids.
Some negatives? It is up to states to figure out where their money lands, and that really varies. Also, funding that came through in grant form was insufficient in many cases. Head Start and child care in Illinois are not on the same page, and many programs could not open as emergency care because of the loopholes and discrepancies in policies and procedures. The longer a program stays closed, the harder it is to reopen. The Black Lives Matter movement has had a significant impact on the Educare Seattle community. For equity and racial justice to be a part of what we do, we must understand how white privilege plays out in the child care setting.
4. With respect to concerns or challenges shared, what did participants say has or would help alleviate these issues or make things better?
It would be helpful if different sub-systems were firmly aligned and communicating clear expectations. The conversation should also be raised between public school leaders and local child care providers. Providers want to be responsive to school decisions in order to best serve the community. We are still concerned, though, about how do we partner with families to empower themselves as the most important teacher for their child, while also meeting the need for child care and education? Some families are not quite ready to return on-site, but also not quite comfortable being their child’s teacher.
We want to make sure we are supporting families’ mental health situations and ensuring families have access to services and affordable technology. In order to make things better, we need to be able to manage movement effectively in case someone tests positive for COVID-19. Tulsa Educare was operating 7 a.m. – 6 p.m., and to make it work, there were so many substitutes, interns and aides required. So many folks going in and out. They’ve adjusted, so that now, there are three teachers with children all day. It is so calm. That is a solution that children will really benefit from.
5. As we work together to rebuild the early childhood system, what questions should we all be asking to ensure that ALL young children and families thrive?
We need to ask ourselves: what is it we really want? We need to slow down and have dialogues about this. What is it we want our children to experience? What kind of citizens do we want them to become? What is the role of profit in our child care industry? How can we cultivate more respect for teachers, especially our birth-to-age 5 teachers? Who do we want to be taking over this world? What skills do they need? And of course, in each conversation, we need to ask ourselves, how are the children?
To learn more about how Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership grantees have faced the COVID-19 pandemic and what policy recommendations they have made, please read the Educare Learning Network’s blog series “A Path to High-Quality Child Care through Partnerships.”
Build It Back Better is a project of Start Early (formerly the Ounce) focused on identifying the critical questions that early childhood systems and services must ask as we rebuild after the COVID-19 pandemic. The writings that emerge from the initiative center the experiences and voices of those most directly and disproportionately affected by the pandemic’s impact on early care and learning. Join the conversation at the Early Child Connector’s Recovery and Rebuilding Hub.
Melissa Manning is the Early Childhood Services Training and Professional Development Coordinator at Sunbeam Family Services and Co-Chair of the Educare Learning Network’s Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships Community of Practice. Melissa has been in the field of early childhood education for three decades in a variety of capacities including, Infant/Toddler teacher, Center Director, Health Services Manager, Program Operations Manager, Quality Assessor and her current role as Training & Professional Development Coordinator for Sunbeam Family Services’ Early Childhood department. Melissa has worked with Head Start programs since 2002 and has extensive knowledge about Head Start Program Performance Standards, nonprofit management and best practices in the field.
Sarah Bergman was the Leadership and Educational Equity Fellow at Start Early this past summer. Sarah has her Master’s in Early Childhood Education from Erikson Institute and is a Chicago Public Schools teacher. Sarah’s interests are focused on bringing developmentally appropriate teaching practices to all primary aged students and connecting the dots between policy decisions and everyday life in the classroom.
In our fast-paced world it can feel like issues of violence and racism are dominating the content we consume from the news to social media to conversations with our friends and loved ones. While we are all working to process our thoughts, feelings and emotions around these difficult topics, so are our little ones. They are seeing these topics play out around them and, more importantly, they’re watching how the adults in their lives are responding. They might not be able to fully grasp what is going on, but even our youngest learners are picking up on our emotions in these challenging times.
That’s why here at Start Early we created this series, Tackling Tough Topics with Your Little One, to give you helpful advice from our experts as well as tips to navigate discussing difficult topics such as violence, racism and loss with your children. During the first installation of our series, Kristie Norwood, Start Early grantee education manager, shares tips and resources on how to address the topic of violence with your child.
Why Violence?
To say that recent events in our country have been violent would be an understatement. Children see the violence happening around them whether that is on television, at school or simply by hearing what the adults in their lives are saying. Even though very young children may not be able to talk about these topics in depth, they can still pick up on and respond to how the adults in their lives feel. It is important to address the topic of violence with your young children to make sure that they have accurate information and can learn how to handle their emotions. Most importantly you want to make sure to reinforce that that you love your child and that you all are working as a family to be safe and to help keep others safe, too.
How to Address the Topic of Violence
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For Infants and Toddlers
- It’s critical to instill a feeling of safety and security with your infants and toddlers. Their well-being is linked to the strength of their relationships with their caregivers.
- Let your child know that it is their job is to be a kid, and your job as their parent is to keep them safe.
- Let them know that you are staying safe and are trying to be safe in everything that you do.
- Even babies can sense if you are sad or upset, so as much as it might be difficult for you, try not to expose your children to your anxiety around this topic. It might be helpful to try a few mindfulness activities to reduce stress, such as breathing exercises or repeating positive mantras.
- Work with your child to find a way to identify and process their own feelings of anger, stress, fear and anxiety in a healthy way. For example, you could ask them to draw a picture about how they are feeling and talk about it.
- Talk with your child about their feelings and reassure them that you are there to love and support them.
-
For Children Ages 3-5
- Have conversations about what they are talking about at school with their friends—this will let you know if they are discussing current events.
- When your child starts to discuss topics like gun violence, death or police brutality, let them. It is only natural for them to be curious. Use this as a learning opportunity to ask how they feel about these topics.
- When your child asks you a question, keep your answers short and focused on what you and your family can do to be safe.
- Remember to stay calm and use simple language that your child will understand. And if you don’t know the answer, it’s okay to say just that.
-
For Both Age Groups
- One of the best ways to start a conversation with your child is through books. Pick an age-appropriate book on the topic for storytime and then start to read. Your child’s questions will naturally develop from there.
- Ask your child questions like: How do feel about that? Tell me more about that? Why do you think they are angry?
- Monitor your child’s television viewing and screen time to prevent “overload.” This will help to ensure that you know what kind of content your child is consuming.
- Try to limit your own viewing of the news or other potentially violent content to times when your child is either asleep or not in the room.
- Explain the concept of safety using examples your child will understand. For example: Remember how we hold hands when we go outside so you don’t get lost? That is one way we stay safe. We work very hard to make sure that we can be as safe as possible.
Other Resources
- Recommended books on the topic:
- Something Happened in Our Town, ages 4-8
- I Walk with Vanessa: A Story About a Simple Act of Kindness, ages 4-8
- Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights, ages 4-8
- Consider talking to your pediatrician if you notice any of the following signs of anxiety:
- Withdrawal from activities your child used to love
- Excessive nail biting
- Regression in potty training
- Separation issues
- For example “James used to love going outside for walks, now he cries whenever I suggest it.” Or “Hannah is starting to bite her nails until they bleed. She just started doing this within the last couple of weeks.”
- It’s always good to have an open line of communication with your child’s doctor, they are trained to note differences in behaviors and what those differences can mean medically.
- From our friends at ZERO TO THREE: Racism and Violence: Using Your Power as a Parent to Support Children Aged Two to Five
- Addressing childhood fears with our friends at PBS Kids

Take Action
Raise your voice and encourage lawmakers to prioritize early learning and care at the local, state and federal level.

Support Our Work
Together, when we start early, we can close the opportunity gap and ensure every child has a chance to reach their full potential.

Resources for Families
Discover educational activities and resources from Start Early experts to provide easy and engaging educational experiences with your child.
In the last three decades, scientific research has demonstrated how deeply adversity in childhood becomes embedded into biology, behavior, and risk, and how these can be passed on to future generations. This body of science — Neuroscience, Epigenetics, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), and Resilience research, or NEAR — is one of the largest public health discoveries of our time.
Home visitors knowledgeable about the NEAR sciences and research are interested in bringing this information to families but worry about causing harm. The NEAR@Home toolkit addresses these concerns and provides strategies for engaging parents in discussing NEAR sciences and using the ACEs questionnaire in a safe, respectful and effective way for both home visitor and family.
Home visitors are uniquely positioned to help families mitigate the effects of past, present, and future adversity through supporting protective, responsive parenting and safe attachment relationships. The NEAR@Home process gives parents choice, offering information, assuring safety, being respectful, allowing time and space for reflection, and by always closing with hope and resilience.
The NEAR@Home toolkit was created, tested, and revised by home visitors, mental health providers, and other experts in the field of NEAR and home visiting in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The NEAR@Home toolkit is designed as a training manual with guided processes to help you learn and practice language and strategies to safely and effectively talk about the trauma of ACEs. We emphasize safety and reflective support for the home visitor as a critical element in this process.
The NEAR @Home toolkit was developed as a self-study process and is being shared without cost because we believe that all home visitors deserve to have access to this guidance. Many home visitors discovered that while self-study of the NEAR@Home toolkit was useful, they preferred a supported learning experience and have informed the development of NEAR@Home Facilitated Learning. Learning how to be safe, respectful, and effective while talking about the NEAR sciences with parents is a complex process that requires and deserves time and support.
The NEAR@Home Facilitated Learning process is very different from most training programs. Thinking about, talking about childhood trauma stirs feelings in all of us, whether ACEs are part of our life story or not. Our learning process is guided by Facilitators who are relationship focused, trauma sensitive, and fluent in infant mental health concepts and processes. The Facilitators model self-regulation, co-regulation, spacious listening, and reflective processes to walk with home visitors and supervisors through learning how to do a NEAR home visit. Implementation Science guides the structure of the learning process from a mutual exploration of fit and feasibility to follow up reflective consultation to support home visitors as they integrate these new skills.
In this blog post, Educare Learning Network member Drew Giles provides his perspective on how early care and learning administrators can support staff resiliency during rebuilding and recovery.
In spring 2020, Start Early partnered with the Educare Practice Advisory Committee, a broad group of Educare Learning Network members, to share our experiences and join in a conversation that is underway about the future of early childhood systems and supports in the United States. Through the Build It Back Better conversation, several consistent themes appeared, such as concerns about new ways to engage families, the increasing exposure of the digital divide and identifying equitable ways to address this major issue, and the need to prioritize self-care and wellness, not only for children and families, but also staff.
As a Northern California-based school director at Educare California at Silicon Valley, as well as a registered yoga teacher, I am constantly looking for ways to incorporate self-care strategies that support our organization’s climate and culture. The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a light on the lack of funding and positive treatment of early childhood educators, a fact that many of us already knew. While waiting for policymakers to address these issues, one small but impactful thing that I can do for the staff at my school is provide them with opportunities to practice self-care.
On flights, we’ve been trained that in the event of an emergency, be sure to secure your own mask before assisting others. The same is true for us as educators and human beings. We are often asked to do so much with fewer resources and time. In order for us to do this challenging — yet rewarding beyond compare — work, we must prioritize self-care into our program’s culture.
What is self-care, you might ask? According to PsychCentral, “self-care is any activity that we do deliberately in order to take care of our mental, emotional and physical health. Although it’s a simple concept in theory, it’s something we very often overlook. Good self-care is key to improved mood and reduced anxiety. It’s also key to a good relationship with oneself and others.”
In this blog post, I will share five free things that all administrators can do to ensure that we rebuild and recover in resilient ways.
1. Begin meetings with breathing exercises
Whether you’re having an informal check-in with a colleague or a formal meeting with your program’s staff, begin each meeting by bringing attention to your breath. You can do this by coming to a comfortable seat, gently closing your eyes or finding a soft gaze in front of you, and taking three collective breaths as a group. This helps to calm and reset the mind and bring awareness to the present moment.
2. Encourage mindfulness breaks throughout the day
Taking mindfulness breaks throughout the day is a great way to recharge your energy, improve focus and increase concentration. There are several ways to take a mindfulness break, such as meditating in a quiet space, doing a few yoga poses under a tree or taking a mindful walk around your school by consciously focusing on your breath or your senses. What do you hear? What do you smell? What sensations are coming up, and how can you acknowledge those feelings?
3. Create a schoolwide culture of gratitude
Robert Emmons, the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude, has revealed that gratitude can improve our social, emotional, mental and physical well-being. There are several ways to develop a gratitude routine in your program by building in time at the beginning of each meeting for staff to share gratitude for any other staff member, family or person in our school community. If your organization is new to this practice, be patient and consistent. At first, it may feel uncomfortable for your staff to publicly share gratitude amongst one another, but eventually, it’ll become an important routine that your staff will enjoy! As a school leader, it is incredibly important that we model this practice with our staff. The following quote is my personal mantra for how I live my life, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it,” by William Arthur Ward.
4. Embed self-care strategies into PD opportunities
We may not know what the professional development (PD) structure will be like when we reopen. Will it be virtual or in small groups? As program leaders, we have the opportunity to create the conditions for our staff to thrive. One of the ways that we can do this is by embedding self-care strategies into PD events. As a former director of professional development for a large urban school district, one of my proudest accomplishments included adding yoga and mindfulness classes for our staff to participate in… for credit! Find out what fills your staff’s “happy” buckets and incorporate those passions into your PD opportunities. Whether it’s working with a master gardener who can show staff how to plant a garden, structuring your PD so that staff can break out in small groups and have walking discussions outside, or inviting a local yoga instructor to facilitate a trauma-informed learning session, there are plenty of ways that you can embed self-care into your PD plan.
5. Practice self-reflection
Self-reflection is a great way to learn more about yourself, process your emotions and grow positively as a human being. At Educare, “reflective practices require conscious time and intentional thinking about school procedures and classroom activities; they ground staff in their work and build competence and confidence by allowing them the opportunity to consider the “how” and “why” of their roles in relation to children, families and co-workers.” Keep a journal and develop a consistent routine to jot down what’s going on in your life and the world around you. This may help you to process and make sense of current events, challenges and opportunities.
Early on in the pandemic, I came across a quote by florist Cecilia Tran that stuck with me, “Self-care means giving yourself permission to pause.” With so many changes and challenges coming at us, now — more than ever — we need to give ourselves permission to slow down as we focus on the basic needs and well-being of our children, families, staff and most importantly…our self.
Build It Back Better is a project of Start Early focused on identifying the critical questions that early childhood systems and services must ask as we rebuild after the COVID-19 pandemic. The writings that emerge from the initiative center the experiences and voices of those most directly and disproportionately affected by the pandemic’s impact on early care and learning.
Drew Giles, MA, RYT, is an author, kids yoga teacher and leader in early childhood education. Since June 2018, Mr. Giles has served as Director of Educare Programs at Educare California at Silicon Valley, an innovative early learning school that narrows the opportunity gap for low-income children ages 0-5 and their families and caregivers. Drew has a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education and a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism.