Build Caring Community with Moments of Meaning During Challenging Times in Your Program by Ruth Anne Hammond. M.A.

These are interesting and challenging times for early care and education. As early childhood professionals, we are holders and molders of the future. The rewards in the field are endless, but so are the challenges. There are so many aspects of modern life that are making it hard for infants and young children to receive the targeted, individual, compassionate care they need to develop into secure, emotionally sturdy and competent human beings. None of us is immune to the stressors of safety net uncertainty and potential cuts in funding for ECE supports. Families, who are children’s “first responders,” are also suffering from anxiety due to job insecurity, changes in access to college loans, and effects of climate change  Join Author, RIE Associate, and master consultant Ruth Anne Hammond, M.A. to gather with your peers to lean on each other to create a caring community to surround children in growth-promoting experiences daily.
 
Realizing that we may be embedded in structures and systems that we cannot control makes it even more important to optimize the impact of each moment we can control. Holding fast to a conscious practice of centering, if only for five minutes of slow breathing before work can change the emotional climate we contribute to in our daily lives. And quietly observing children at play can further build the calm presence that children need for us to provide.
 
Let’s come together to explore sustainable ways of being together as a multi-faceted community that build and protect the competence, empathy and perseverance children will need to carry into the future to impact their own world and care for their own children with grace and confidence.
 
In this session, Ruth Anne will guide you to:
• Identify “moments of meeting” between ourselves and co-workers, parents, and children that build a strong sense of community – and also resilient children;
• Increase useful, practical strategies for inner “centering” to maintain mindful awareness throughout the day;
• Gain perspective as an advocate for children on how to maintain hope and a sense of agency in uncertain times.