Complete a journal of 1 to 2 pages about the articles.
48 CARING RITUALS www.ChildCareExchange.com
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The Invisible Curriculum of Care by Carol Garboden Murray
“We sometimes speak as if caring did not require knowledge,
as if caring for someone, for example, were simply a matter of
good intentions or warm regard. But to care I must understand the other’s needs and I must be able to
respond properly to them, and clearly good intentions do not guarantee this. To care for someone,
I must know many things.”
— Milton Mayeroff
“I didn’t get a master’s degree to change diapers!”
Nicole, a speech therapist who I worked with for many years, taught me a great deal about language development. We worked with toddlers in an integrated program. Nicole was not the type of therapist who came into the classroom to do a ‘speech lesson’; instead, she worked alongside me and embedded therapy naturally into every activity.
Carol Garboden Murray has been
working with young children and families
for many years. She is a credentialed Early
Learning Trainer in New York State
(NYSAEYC), the director of Bard College
Nursery School, and the founder of the
Early Childhood Institute of the Hudson River Valley www.earlychildhoodhudsonriver.com/. Carol is currently writing a book about cultures of caring and the pedagogy of care.
While the children ate snacks, she ate with them and helped them learn to communicate using sign language, gestures, and words. We did therapy on the playground, and discovered the swings and slides were perfect tools for social pragmatic language. Nicole was my partner in just about every aspect of our work, except for diaper changes. When she was working with a toddler who had a dirty diaper, she would deliver the child to me. One day I said, “Nicole, it’s okay if you want to change diapers, too; the kids love you and trust you. Besides, it is an opportunity for reciprocal language and purposeful vocabulary.” Nicole turned to me, shook her head and said, “No thanks, I didn’t get a master’s degree in speech and language pathology to change diapers!”
Nicole’s comment got me thinking. When I got my degree, I did not foresee the amount of time I would spend in caring rituals either. It took me many years to see caring as the core of curriculum excellence. The deep assumption about caring is that it is something anyone can do, but we do not take care of human beings the same way we take care of a house or a lawn. In childhood, the sensations
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It Takes Two
The Role of Co-Regulation in Building Self-Regulation Skills
Linda Gillespie
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Two-month-old Daryl cries softly as he wakes up from his nap. Jodi, his teacher, calls to
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him, saying, “I hear you, Daryl. Miss Jodi is coming as soon as she washes her hands.” Daryl
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quiets.
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Four-month-old Charlotte rubs her eyes and begins to whimper. Her teacher, Jan, says,
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“You’re getting tired, aren’t you?” Jan sits in a rocker and begins to rock and hum to
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Charlotte. Charlotte calms, and Jan places her in her crib, gently patting her tummy before
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walking away. Charlotte fusses just for a minute before drifting of to sleep.
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Ten-month-old Bess is sitting with a shape sorter. She is concentrating and trying very hard
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to push the round shape into the square hole. Vivian, her family child care provider, sits
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nearby, tending to a crying baby. Bess looks at the baby, catches Vivian’s eye, then goes
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back to concentrating on the shape-sorting task. A few minutes later, Bess moves her shape
to the round hole and it falls in. Bess looks up and Vivian smiles: “You did it!” Bess smiles at
Vivian before picking up the next shape.
Thirty-month-old Shane has the toy camera, one of the children’s favorite toys in the
classroom. Kayla comes over and tries to take it out of his hands, and Shane pulls it away.
Liz, their teacher, squats down and says to Shane, “Remember when Kayla was playing with
that camera yesterday and you really wanted it? That’s how she feels now—she really wants
it. Will you give it to her when you are done playing with it?” Shane looks at his teacher, then
at the camera, and then at his friend Kayla. A few minutes later he takes the camera over to
Kayla. “Thank you, Shane, that was very kind of you,” Liz says.
Each of these adults is facilitating the
development of self-regulation, or the
“conscious control of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors” (McClelland & Tominey 2014, 2). Another way of thinking about self-regulation
is as a person’s ability to manage attention and emotions well enough to complete tasks, organi
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Fostering Attachment in the Child Care Setting for Infants and Toddlers |
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By Kristen Johnson, senior writer for Parents as Teachers National Center |
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For young children attachment is more than just a feeling; it’s a critical part of healthy development. “Attachment is a reciprocal relationship formed between a child and a care giver, most often a parent,” explains, Jane Kostelc early childhood specialist at Parents as Teachers National Center. “Although the expression of love is an important part, the most secure attachments form when the parent can accurately read the baby’s cues and meet the child’s needs. The child then responds with trust and interest.” Caring adults are essential to a baby’s or young child’s development, especially social-emotional development. Since many children spend much of their day in child care settings, it’s important for attachment relationships to include adults other than just parents. Children can love and become attached to more than one adult. Children thrive in environments that foster attachment through consistent and loving care. This is why child care providers, in addition to parents, are also encouraged to form attachments with the children in their care.
Attachment Is Critical In The Early Years
Factors That Promote Secure Attachment
Respect. What does this term mean for infant and toddler teachers? Can or should this word be used to describe teachers’ behaviors when interacting with very young children? Before such questions can be answered, a definition of respect must be established. Use the following prompts to assist with thinking about your definition of respect. Stop and Ponder: Take a moment to write down your personal definition of respect. Reflect: 1) Circle the features that are vital to your definition (i.e., these aspects could not be removed without greatly altering your definition), and 2) Identify features that seem less important to your definition. Cross them out. What remains? Review your new definition. Does it more succinctly reflect your beliefs? Now, compare your definition with the one found in the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language (2000): • To feel or show differential regard for Although the dictionary definition may initially seem clear-cut, its application to teachers of infants and toddlers is not immediately apparent. Is it respectful, for example, for a teacher to pick up an infant without preparing the child for the move? Is it respectful of a toddler to encourage her to make decisions? Is it respectful of an infant teacher to secure interesting posters to the wall for the children to look at? Is it respectful of a teacher to teach toddlers how to interact with one another? Your definition, more than likely, already connects closely to your behavior. This article will present examples of how we can translate the formal definition of respect into useful examples of behaviors with young children. Demonstrating Respect 
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