What is that old lady DOING!??
When I first start visiting an ECD centre some of the children are rather suspicious of me. (And of course the ECD practitioners are also!) After all what am I there for? The children know that adults who suddenly arrive and are not their teachers may come wielding unpleasant things like needles. And I remember clearly how displeased it made me feel as a child to get those vaccinations – it seems that ‘my own good’ was not a very desirable thing at all...
So here comes this strange person who starts rummaging around and sorting toys and moving stuff around. The caregivers look apprehensive and a bit resentful perhaps?
Don’t worry – the ECD practitioners are always consulted and they have asked to be on the three year journey with us before we start – and we tell the children what we are about to do...BUT it doesn’t take away from the peculiar behaviour we display...
But suddenly, the empty rooms start filling up with shelves and things get moved and toys appear on the shelves and fill up colourful buckets and WOW...we are allowed to play with them!
The next time we arrive the ECD teachers smile at us and tell us what they have been doing since we last visited – and we visit often- and the children...Well they have learnt our names like magic and smile and touch our hands and arms and tell us excitedly all sorts of things and lead us to show us their pictures or what they have made in the block corner...
Trust? Hmm – it happens quite fast that the teachers and children feel that we are worth having around but I know that we still have a long road to walk before we are really trusted because it takes time to show that one is reliably there for others...
And that is particularly what we want to be – reliable – trustworthy and a partner in growth, the children’s, the teachers and our own...
If one wants a tree to grow one has to nurture it well at first, support it when winds and drought threaten it. That’s why we spend so much time on the nurturing process!
It is easy to provide a pile of toys – but only time and nurturing create real change and playrooms where children can play and learn through play.