Learning to support ourselves and our children
Bunmi Adams, Early Education Manager at 1st Place at Chumleigh Gardens, discusses the importance of wellbeing in the early years.
The importance of supporting emotional wellbeing in the early years cannot be underestimated. Most of the Early Years Foundation Stage advice and guidance tend to focus on what practitioners need to do to support children’s wellbeing. It is only recently that some experts have started to consider the significance of the wellbeing of practitioners.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) is arguably the most important of Ofsted’s seven areas of early years learning. Not only is it the foundation for other areas of learning, but it also determines what type of adult that your child will grow into. In the early years, children learn the skills they need to become actively involved in the world around them. PSED supports children to learn to get on with others and make friends, to understand and talk about feelings, to understand right from wrong, to develop independence, and to ultimately feel good about themselves.
To help children meet their PSED milestones, practitioners need to have more than just knowledge of children’s development. They have to have a certain disposition and be able to identify the risk factors and signs linked to poor emotional wellbeing. We cannot expect practitioners to support children to grow into well rounded, resilient and confident adults if they lack those attributes themselves!
To be effective, practitioners need to work on their own wellbeing through self-care. When they take time to replenish themselves, they are in a better position to genuinely serve others. If they fail to do so, they run the risk of buckling under the pressure and stress of working in an environment where they are constantly giving to others. Popular sayings such as “You can’t give what you don’t have” (Greg Hubert) and “You cannot teach what you don’t know. You cannot give energy if you are not on fire inside” (Jesse Jackson) strongly support this notion.
With this in mind, staff wellbeing has been a real focus at 1st Place, which has had a direct impact on performance. Senior staff have learned about ‘Courageous Conversations’ and have undertaken emotional coaching. At a recent training day, staff carried out team building activities which included making hand cream for each nursery room with shea butter and lavender, sharing a meal together, and undertaking a group relaxation session. From a pampering evening to cooking workshops and proactively encouraging self-care at work, we are reducing stress levels. We are promoting an atmosphere of sharing and caring, and fostering an environment where children feel relaxed and secure.
At 1st Place at Chumleigh Gardens, de-stressing strategies have also been incorporated into the daily nursery routine. To promote a calm start in the morning, everybody undertakes breathing exercises, relaxing music is played in the background and upset or flustered children are given the time and space to calm down before engaging with activities. Staff who may have also experienced stressful mornings are similarly given the space to breathe before they start their day. We are actively supporting children to regulate their emotions and equally, encouraging adults to centre themselves before engaging with the children. This is particularly important, as children are experts in detecting an adult’s emotional state.
We need to stop and ask ourselves ‘What do children really need?’ rather than how do we want them to perform in order to meet our adult expectations. It is only by paying attention to the wellbeing of both the child and adult that we can hope to support and positively impact the personal, social and emotional development of our children now and in the long-term.