Including All Children and Families during the Holidays

by Vicki Lehman, Professional Development Specialist

The holiday season is often a very exciting time of the year. This goes for both children AND adults! For children, they are experiencing all of their family’s traditions. For parents and caregivers, they also have the opportunity to share traditions with their children. As an early childhood professional, it is easy to get caught up in celebrating a certain holiday within your classroom or center. It is very important that you are intentional with your planning and you ensure that all children and their families are represented appropriately. The most important thing for the children will be that they see themselves and their families reflected in the activities and celebrations that you plan.

You want to be sure that the activities you are planning accurately represent the different ways families may choose to celebrate different holidays. Here are a few ideas to help you get family members involved. (Julie Bisson, Celebrate!: An Anti-Bias Guide to Enjoying Holidays)

• Encourage families to share information about their holidays and how they celebrate. You will find that most of the families will share information with you. They will be grateful that they were included and that you took the time to ask them for specific information.
• Ask for activity ideas! Most families will be more than happy to help you incorporate their holiday into your lesson plans. Ask them if there are any fun activities or games they think would be appropriate for the age group you work with.
• Invite family members in to share a story or activity with your class. It’s always great for kids to get a different perspective straight from the source, and little ones will have a sense of pride when their own family members can participate.

It is also important to remember that December isn’t the only month in which holidays take place. If you have children in your care that celebrate holidays in other months, recognize and include those holidays in your plans. Give equal emphasis to all holidays celebrated within your group of children to help them feel respected and included.

Remember, the “Holiday Season” is not the only time you should celebrate diversity. Your classroom should represent many different cultures year round. Post pictures of the children and their families on the wall, place books on the shelf that are culturally diverse, and talk about the different kinds of family units present in your classroom.  Do your homework so you know the information you give the children is accurate.

Holidays are incredibly important and personal for the families that celebrate them. Taking that extra step and incorporating ALL of the holidays the children in your care celebrate will really go a long way. Enjoy the fun and excitement that will come with the children getting the opportunity to share their traditions with you and the class. Happy Holidays! 

Cover image by Flickr user mel, Creative Commons license.

Feeling stressed?

Another mentor (thanks Amy!) forwarded me the following story over a year ago and I've held on to it knowing I just might need to reflect on it from time to time:

A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they'd be asked the "half empty or half full" question. Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: "How heavy is this glass of water?"

Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz.

She replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes." She continued, "The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything."

It’s important to remember to let go of your stresses. We have had one heck of a winter and the blahs can really take a toll on some of us.  Here at Child Care Answers we have seen an increase in calls requesting technical assistance for challenging behaviors...this can be very stressful for early childhood educators.  It's tax time, another contributor to our stress!  I saw there's more snow coming Wednesday...stress!  It's only Monday...stress!  The list goes on and on and on... 

Television actress and author Marilu Henner said, "Being in control of your life and having realistic expectations about your day-to-day challenges are the keys to stress management, which is perhaps the most important ingredient to living a happy, healthy, and rewarding life."

American philosopher and psychologist William James wants us to change our thinking when we begin to feel stress, "The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another."

As early in the evening as you can, put all your burdens down.  Ask yourself if you are being realistic and consider alternative responses to the stress you are feeling.  Don't carry your burdens through the evening and into the night. Remember to put your glass down!

School Bus Information

One of the questions I ask providers when I call for our 6 month update is "What school bus picks up and drops off at your location?" The answer I hear the most is "IPS," or another township name. This is helpful, but not entirely accurate.

The information that helps us match you best with parent's needs is what SPECIFIC school's bus will pick up and drop off at or near your child care. For instance at my home, my elementary school is Heather Hills, my middle school is Brookside and the high school is Warren Central. I found out this information by calling the Warren MSD Transportation Department, I gave them my address and they told me what school buses would drop off and pick up and where the bus stops are. So please call your school district's transportation department and find out your information so we can match you with parents who are looking for providers within their child's school bus drop off and pick up zones.

Provider Updates

As we are starting out the New Year, I wanted to pass along a little information on how we administer the referrals database. Our database has over 1,400 active providers: LLEP homes, licensed and exempt centers, licensed home providers, and unlicensed registered ministries. Most of our information comes from the state list of providers and CCDF eligible LLEP's. There are a some of you out there who are not on any list other than ours and we appreciate that! What differenciates Child Care Answers from other referral services is that we are free for parents and providers. We are required by our funders to update this database twice a year. That is why I call every six months. If for some reason we are unable to update your record, meaning I have tried to contact you at least three times, then the record is marked as "No Intake" and "No Referrals". We do our best to make sure you are aware that it is time to update, by calling you, emailing you (if we have your address), and if all else fails we send out a letter. Once a record is marked as "No Intake" and "No Referrals" the child care will not be included on any referral lists, either online or from call ins. We will still attempt to updat the record on a regular basis.

If you think that your business is NOT receiving referrals from us, please email me and let me know, I will look up your information and get back to you. If you would like to update your record in our database click this link and fill out the form.