projection

It's hard not to project our fears and nervous habits onto our children. It's important that we try not to though. At the first center I worked at there was a little boy who didn't like to get his hands dirty. Anytime he got them dirty he would either wipe them on his pants or ask you to clean them for him. Some children are sensory sensitive and they don't like to do any activity with the senses, however this little boy wasn't a sensory sensitive boy. When his mom was around and he got his hands dirty she would be right there to clean them off and basically didn't like him getting dirty in anyway. This kept him from exploring the world around him because he was taught not to touch anything and if he did to immediately wash his hands.

Some parents are so afraid of anything bad happening to their child they non-intentionally teach their children to fear the world. Then when the child won't try anything new they get frustrated and don't understand that they have taught their child not to be curious because every time their child was curious about something they rushed in and told them no because something bad may happen to them.

It's important to teach your child about the world and it's our job as parents to teach them about the world. Don't touch the stove because it's hot, don't play with the mop it's dirty, don't eat the sand, bite, hit etc. It's our job as the parents to teach our children how the world works and what the rules of the house, child care and world are. It's also important to teach your children why the rules are what they are. If you just say don't touch the stove and don't tell them the reason they shouldn't is because it's hot, they really aren't going to care that an adult told them not to touch the stove. This concept goes with anything you want to teach your children. Tell them why they should or shouldn't do something. If a parent or care giver doesn't tell the child why they'll just blow off what the adult said and not care that the adult said not to do something. A child doesn't care that they were told not to do something and won't unless they're told why they shouldn't do something.It's hard not to teach our children not to fear the things we fear and to not project our fears or idiosyncrasy's onto our children but it's our job to teach them how the world works and why, not teach them to fear it.

training

Training is not a big thing in the early childhood education world. It's sad really. We're supposed to be seen as professionals and yet administration doesn't take the time to do any training. At the first center I worked at, there was no training given to the staff at all. The state required that the staff have twenty hours of training a year, but they never did any. There were training's the state did that you could go to. These were done in the evening after work and for a fee. The center that I worked for though would not reimburse you if you went. It was money that came directly out of your pocket. Maybe it's just me but a business should pay for the training of their employees and in the corporate world they do.

At the second center I worked for they understood this. They did a training/staff meeting every month. We stayed late one night a month for a couple of hours and the administration trained us on a variety of things. At this center we were also paid to be there, so staff showed up. Feeding us dinner helped too. This center understood they were a business and needed to pay for their employees training. You could tell such a difference in the staff between the two centers. The staff that were trained were professionals and the problems at the first center didn't exist at the second. We talked about the problems and found solutions to them and there was a camaraderie among the staff and it helped us work together.  

No one knows everything about a job, there is always things to learn even if it then means taking it to the next level and being promoted-which is another thing that doesn't happen in early childhood education like it does in the corporate world. A person should always be learning new things and training employees does this. It also helps administration know which employees to take to the next level. Training is important in any business and in the early childhood education business if training doesn't occur it simply becomes babysitting.