Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/she-turned/5025330/
*Photos can be found in the pdf version of this article.
As directors, administrators and managers of early childhood centers, leaders dedicate their days to manage multiple tasks (Bruno, 2014). Directors lead fearlessly, tirelessly and often at the expense of their personal health, relationships and work-life balance. In the changing landscape of early child care and education, the growing needs of families, queries from funders, curriculum questions, administrative deadlines, teacher mentorship, dwindling funding and unexpected visits from licensure, the work of early childhood administrators has become increasingly more challenging. Directing a children’s center is an exhaustive amount of work. Moreover, directors play a huge role in shaping the quality of early childhood programs (Bloom, 1992).
With a focus on data, assessment and standards, administrators begin to forget about what really matters: children (Pelo & Margie, 2018, 2020). For many of us, it is time to reflect on why we entered the field in the first place. Self-care, as identified in research, involves the simple joy of being present, and unfortunately for many directors, engaging interactions with families are far and fewer between. We must bring our full selves to our relationships with children, families and colleagues (Pelo & Carter, 2018). This article ...