Suzanne:
What a beautiful post. I've been feeling grief: collective grief related to the pandemic that many of us feel, grief related to continuing racist violence and trauma, as well as personal grief of perhaps never again getting to sit in my happy place--the middle of a bunch of two year olds in an early childhood classroom. You've helped me frame what is happening to the ECE field in general, and to the centers I serve specifically, in the framework of grief. Thank you for reframing, naming, and highlighting that.
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Aren Stone
she/her/hers
Child Development Specialist
The Early Years Project
Cambridge, MA
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-16-2020 10:01 AM
From: Suzanne Bayer
Subject: A Teacher's Grief
I taught preschool and now I write and teach a lot about how to help grieving children. These days I've been feeling very protective of my teaching tribe. I wrote a post on my website blog about acknowledging and nurturing teacher grief. The response was robust, there is so much pain within the teaching community. I know I am not to share that post in this forum, but what I do want to do here is to urge all of you to frame what is happening to our profession, to you, in grief. Then, take good care of your hearts as a mourner would. The tenets of grief apply to the multiple losses and stressors happening to early childhood professionals throughout the pandemic. Please talk about your feelings with someone you trust. Be gentle with yourselves. Your grief is valid and understood. Can you relate to this? And what are you doing to take care of yourselves as you navigate the emotional losses of the intimate EC setting?
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Suzanne Bayer
Trainer, Writer
Suzanne J. Bayer, LLC
Whitmore Lake MI
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