This, my friends, is my 100th post on my website! I have been thinking about life, learning, and writing these posts for four years. I’ve written once a month, once a week, and every two weeks with time off for travel or book writing.
And what have I learned and shared about life and myself? It’s good to write about what I know. My focus is early childhood education, the foundation for a healthy human. What do I need to do to be an expert in that realm? To zero in on early childhood, I need to go wide.
I need an understanding of human development; the lens I view it from is based on the work of Rudolf Steiner, whose picture of the four-fold human being gives a framework for development that is commonsensical and inspiring. When we found Waldorf education for our children, I was introduced to Steiner and have dedicated most of my working life to bringing his teachings into the realm of early childhood education.
“The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” Those are the words of Robert Louis Stevenson. They were my mantra when my children were young and whenever the demands of life grow heavy, I remember them. It helps me to shore up my foundation, uplift my attention, and find beauty amidst the challenges.
Through my years of writing about early childhood, I have confirmed that a broad foundation supports healthy human development. What does that require of an early childhood educator? The young child is open, full of wonder and curious about everything. Children call that way of being out of adults – to meet them there – to be expert generalists. That is one of the reasons why I love that stage of development!
And that is the platform that I write this blogpost from. It’s the long and broad view. Children are interested in everything and the adults in their company need to engage in the world along with them. Besides this general interest in life, the way of being that serves the young child involves living in the moment which also serves adults seeking serenity.
There is nothing we cultivate in early childhood that does not have its place in the whole and healthy human being. In other words, knowing what young children need is essential lifelong. The more I experience, the more convinced I am of the value of early childhood education – my primary motivation for writing about it.
Early childhood is the foundation that supports subsequent stages of development. When a building is restored, the foundation must be stabilized before construction. Human foundations need to be strong enough to support the will, emotions, and thoughts of a lifetimes. When challenges come, shoring up on the lessons of early childhood can make all the difference.
I’ve heard it said, “when it’s hysterical, then it’s historical.” That means, when we have a very strong emotional reaction to something, stronger than the situation might warrant, then it is based on something from early childhood.
That’s when we call upon the expert generalist, one who knows about a wide range of things from insects to dinosaurs, tending a boo boo to repairing a broken toy, making a delicious and nutritious meal, allowing painful emotions, or creating a peaceful environment.
Besides the outside world, the expert generalist knows her self – thoughts, feelings, actions and sensory experiences. They are aware of their inner world. Children have a nose for authenticity. When adults are denying or resisting their own truth, they will poke at us to call our attention to it.
That is the high calling of early childhood education. To be an honest actress, who knows her authentic self and engages in the sensory world in a playful way for the benefit of children, offering a model of humanity that is worthy of imitation.
I celebrate and strive to elevate the young child, early childhood education, and early childhood educators. It is a world full of hope, possibility, and joy. If we feel we were denied the opportunity to experience the world is good as a young child, if we have wounding, traumas and triggers, – we can find healing when we embrace the lessons of early childhood.
Practices from early childhood:
Engage your senses in noticing the wonder of the natural world.
Feel your emotions without causing harm to yourself or anyone. Then elevate them with gratitude for what is.
Be in the moment without thoughts of the past or the future.
Forgive yourself, cultivate self-love, and trust life. It will lead you.
The potential of our humanity is vast. And we are called to live into it for our own sake and for our children’s sake. If you are attracted to a broad view of humanity and the possibility of wholeness, you may be an expert generalist, one with a strong foundation. You have retained the essence of early childhood!
Bear in mind that the foundation built in early childhood can be shored up on at any point in life. That is the art of being human and the science of human development. It is something to know about and to celebrate!
With this 100th post, I applaud you, dear reader. Without you, it would not have been written! And there is more to come.
