Emotions, emotions, emotions

Ohio AEYC has graciously invited me to share my knowledge and expertise with the Ohio early childhood community. I am always excited to be able to talk to educators of young children, and their supervisors specifically on the topic of how our own emotions and biases affect our interactions with children and families. Teachers face emotional conflict within themselves from moment to moment when working with young children. Especially with children’s behaviors that present a challenge for us. I know this because I was a teacher of young children for 15 years!

Our own emotional memory gets in the way! It is not always about the child as it is about you and your own emotions – how you learned to express them as a child, how the adults around you responded and how all that is a part of you today. In my presentations, I use a personal and practical approach to get in touch with your own emotions so you can better help children with theirs. I hope to help us all embark, or continue, on a journey toward self-understanding that will reflect positively on our interactions with all young children in our life. Much of this is based on my book:Don’t Get So Upset! Help Young Children Manage Their Feelings By Understanding Your Own.

My second presentation for this conference is about using dolls to support children’s social-emotional development. More talk about emotions! However, this time it is helping children with theirs! I will share with teachers an approach that will help children understand and cope with everyday events and stressful situations. As teachers learn to tell the doll’s stories or speak for the dolls they model dramatic play skills. They represent each situation through a three-dimensional display using culturally appropriate dolls, props, and a written sign that describes the situation from the doll’s perspective. During the group discussion about the doll’s situation, children practice solving problems. They relate their real-world experiences to the imaginary circumstances of the dolls. They identify with the dolls and learn empathy. Indeed, the doll becomes a symbolic classmate who inspires the children to share ideas and feelings that they might otherwise not be comfortable expressing.

I look forward to meeting many of you on April 29.  Although I have traveled extensively in the United States, and around the world, I have never been to Columbus, Ohio! So, I am looking forward to seeing a new place too.

Thanks so much to the organizers of this conference to invite me to post this piece. I love blogging!

For those of you who are interested, I write my own blog called: Mining Nuggets: The Ramblings and Reflections of a 60 year old Zimraelican.

See you soon!