When I was 22 I was living in Minneapolis. Fresh out of college and underemployed. I joined a free local support group at a women’s center and met my friend Andrea. A few weeks later Andrea said to me, “You said you liked kids, right? I’m looking for a part time aide in my Three’s Classroom…” ..and next thing I knew I was an early childhood educator!
When I was 32 I learned in my special ed training that instead of telling children “use your words” I should give them the words and prompt them to use them. Example: “Jamal, tell Sandra, ‘I’m using it.’” #lifechanging
A few years ago I learned that whole Marie Kondo thing of rolling your clothes and putting them in the drawer so you could see the tip of each shirt. Thus avoiding pulling from the bottom of the stack, disrupting the pile, and messing up the drawer (and relating to myself as being neat on the outside and kind of a mess on the inside). Brilliant!
A few years back, I learned that for my entire 50+ years on the planet I’ve been saying “a new leash on life” when it’s actually “a new lease on life”. Um, really? Whoops! (Thanks, Dylan).
And so it is in life where we have these simple moments - something someone says to us, something we read in a book, we try something new - that changes everything.
Just like that. In an instant.
Relief. Excitement. Order restored. Time saved. A new lease on life.
So, what about you?
What’s something you did or learned that changed everything for you - in or out of the classroom, related to challenging behavior or not - in an instant?
Speaking of life changing moments, our Transform Challenging Behavior Online Conference has been one of the favorite sources of inspiration and life-changing learning when it comes to challenging behavior in early childhood.
Some conference participants have literally told us it has changed their lives.
You can still get in on some learning from the last conference. Click the button below to check it out.
