Day: January 8, 2021

A positive work environment can make a world of difference when it comes to effectively managing stress and successfully transitioning into the New Year. A positive work environment is the responsibility of each person on the team. You are all in it together, as they say.

Make a commitment to your team members to only express positivity when interacting with one another.  This doesn’t mean that you don’t address problems or concerns, we will talk about that in a minute.  What we mean is, refrain from complaining. Refrain from engaging in gossip. Refrain from passing the buck.  Commit to building each other up. Commit to recognizing a job well done. Commit to taking responsibility when you make a mistake.  These are all behaviors that contribute to a positive work environment. Your commitments to one another may be a little different as each program has a different team dynamic, but these examples should start a healthy conversation.

When problems do arise, treat them as opportunities to improve skills and practices. Rather than complaining that something isn’t working, ask, “How can we fix it?”  Instead of burying your frustrations, bring them to light and ask for support from your team. Become solution-oriented rather than problem-focused.

Create a support system at work that utilizes each coworker’s unique strengths.  This means that each teacher will need to reflect and work with teaching teams to create a list of strengths that can be shared with the team. Perhaps there are two or three teachers that are skilled at incorporating mathematical language into the daily routine. Anyone who is challenged by that task can reach out to those individuals for advice and coaching.

Once again, you are not an island, you are part of a team. These team members live in your community they are going through many of the same challenges that you are experiencing.  Commit to creating a positive work environment – even if it is not a team-wide initiative, you can at least commit to not add to others’ stress levels.

For the main article Stress Reduction in the New Year, CLICK HERE

For the article Self-Care in the New Year, CLICK HERE

For the article Supporting Children during the New Year, CLICK HERE

For the article Offer Family Support, CLICK HERE

Many of you likely have children in addition to working in a child care program. Even if you are not a parent, take some time this month the reconsider your relationship with the families enrolled in your program. Identify the stress you are feeling. Identify the causes of stress for you or within your community. Recognize that if these factors are stressful to you, they are probably stressful for others, as well. Everyone is doing the best they can with the tools they have to manage stress. Taking time to empathize with families and identify shared struggle can help you open up to the possibility of working with families in new ways.

Consider sharing stress reduction strategies with families in your newsletters, daily reports, text messages, or on social media. Some people do not have the time to research effective ways to reduce family stress at home. Your efforts could make a big difference for parents and children.

Share the self-calming strategies you are practicing with the children. Offer a video demonstration of the practices in action for parents to watch.  Identify keywords and phrases that you use in the classroom to help children tune into their bodies and initiate self-calming tools.  Doing so not only introduces new skills to families, but it also creates consistency for the children.

Limit demands as much as possible. 2020 has been demanding, the holidays in a “normal” year are demanding. Interactions with your program don’t have to add extra demands to families. For example, it is common for family/teacher conferences to be held in January, but can they wait a few weeks until things calm down for families? Most interactions with families are limited now anyway due to COVID restrictions. Communication is so important, but maybe this year, we can structure things a little differently. Gather with your team and brainstorm out-of-the-box ways to share interact with families that don’t add more stress to their lives.

For the main article Stress Reduction in the New Year, CLICK HERE

For the article Self-Care in the New Year, CLICK HERE

For the article Supporting Children during the New Year, CLICK HERE

For the article Committing to Positivity with Your Team, CLICK HERE

The past year has been challenging – both professionally and personally, for those of us in the field of early childhood education. 2020 brought us the COVID-19 pandemic, instances of racial injustice, and political theater unlike any other year in recent memory.  As always, we have adapted, learned, and found different ways to persevere in the face of unprecedented circumstances.  Throughout the year, we at CCEI have endeavored to provide the child care workforce with strategies and resources to ensure that you were able to maintain high-quality standards of care for the children and families enrolled in your programs. Looking back, we have covered many topics that were not necessarily part of our original plan for the 2020 newsletter publications. These topics included:

• Resources related to the COVID-19 pandemic
• Reopening and operating during a global pandemic
• Self-care resources for early child care professionals
• Using the arts as a means of coping with stress
• The NAEYC Position Statement on Equity in Early Childhood Education
• Family engagement (from a distance)
• Promoting prosocial behaviors and executive functions

In this New Year, we can look back on the many opportunities that 2020 provided with a sense of optimism and a positive outlook. We made it through 2020! And while 2021 will continue to test us, we are better prepared to meet these challenges with the tools we have learned.

In this month’s newsletter, we will examine ways that we can create calm, nurturing, and safe spaces for the children and adults we work with on a daily basis.  Be sure to check out the past issues of the CCEI newsletter for any information you may have missed during the past year.

For the article Self-Care in the New Year, CLICK HERE

For the article Supporting Children during the New Year, CLICK HERE

For the article Offer Family Support, CLICK HERE

For the article Committing to Positivity with Your Team, CLICK HERE

Some of you may be familiar with the question, “What have you done for me lately?” most notably asked by Janet Jackson. Let’s take some time to reflect on the question, “What have you done for you lately?”

2020 was the kind of year that caused many people to go into self-preservation mode, whether for financial, physical, social, or emotional reasons. There were just too many stressful situations to ignore and even if you were not directly impacted by the events of 2020, you likely felt the indirect effects of what was happening in your community. This means that our normal support systems may not have been readily available to us. When cafes and restaurants are shut down, it is difficult to catch up with dear friends. Zoom meetings with mentors and colleagues might not have the same rejuvenating effect. Everyone is just trying to get by!

In these difficult times, we just cannot afford to wait for others to take care of us – we have to take care of ourselves. Until we are fulfilled, we will not be able to effectively care for others.  Sure, we may be able to give others what they need for a short period of time, but as soon as that reservoir of care runs dry, we will face a serious case of burn-out.

To prevent burn-out and continue to be an effective caregiver and collaborator, we must adopt self-care practices that fill our unique reservoir.

Take some time this month to identify one or two things you can do each day that are rejuvenating and meaningful to you. The things that work for you may not necessarily work for others. You could try:

• Mindful transitions – before transitioning from one part of your day to the next, you can take three deep breaths to clear your mind and get you ready for what is to come. You could wake up and take breaths before getting out of bed, before getting in the shower, before leaving your house for work, before exiting the vehicle to go to work, before entering your classroom, etc.
• Goal-driven decisions – What are the practices or habits that add joy to your life? Which are the ones that add very little value to your life, but you still find yourself doing them more than you would like? If you would really like to read more or get more exercise, or watch less television, examine your daily routine and make realistic decisions about changes that will align your actions to your wishes.  Perhaps limit yourself to half the amount of television that you normally consume and fill that extra time with things that bring you joy.
• Manage social time – Make it a point to reach out to loved ones, even if it is just on social media for now. Positively engage with others; avoid negativity. Recognize when you are engaged in a negative interaction and remove yourself from the situation – especially if it is on social media!
• Stress reduction – Read about how stress impacts the body and mind. Take time to identify how you respond to stress. Look for clues that you are stressed, which can vary from person to person. Perhaps you feel tightening in a particular part of your body, or turn to food when stressed.  Some people distract themselves with their phones or engage in habitual practices that calm them down. Knowing your signs of stress can help you identify your triggers so that you can begin to reduce or eliminate them.

You don’t have to make big changes. Avoid adding more stress to your life by thinking that you have to completely reinvent yourself in the New Year. This is why resolutions fail; change is hard. Pick small practices that are meaningful and joyful to help keep you motivated.

For the main article Stress Reduction in the New Year, CLICK HERE

For the article Supporting Children during the New Year, CLICK HERE

For the article Offer Family Support, CLICK HERE

For the article Committing to Positivity with Your Team, CLICK HERE