Prioritizing Joy; Helping Children ‘Fly’

“The word joy will probably not show up in a curriculum guide...[However], those of us working hard to ensure a childhood for so many children know that if we did not hear laughter, giggling, hoopla, shouting, and cheering in our centers we couldn’t go on. It is the joy of each child that keeps us doing what we do,” wrote the late, admired Bev Bos in the book, Child Development.

And in the book, Art of Leadership: Cultivating an Early Childhood Curriculum, Margie Carter provides questions for educational leaders (actually all of us) to ponder, written as if a child is asking us. Here is a sampling:

• "Do you appreciate and understand my interests and abilities and those of my family? Do you know me?
• Do you meet my daily needs with care and sensitive consideration: Can I trust you?
• Do you engage my mind, offer challenges, extend my world? Do you let me fly?"

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