unreasonable lengths

I've had a lot of people comment on "how good" I am with children. I've been told I "have a gift." I usually pass these comments off with an awkward smile and a shrug of the shoulders. In my mind it was simple; I've been taking care of children since I was a child, it's fun (way more fun than a sales position), I'm taking care of someone else's children (which is a huge responsibility), and I'm being paid good money. Most of all, it's something that comes naturally to me, yes I'm always learning and growing and getting better at it, but I've never had to work hard or really struggled with it. But I guess I'm coming to realise that doesn't mean that being "good with children" is an easy thing or something to take for granted or pass off as not a big deal. And at the risk of sounding like I'm tooting my own horn, the more I'm studying the more I'm realising, I am good with children. I'm reading "Child Development a First Course" by Kathy Sylva and Ingrid Lunt which is an introduction to the psychology of child development and a lot of the observations and recommendations they're making are things that I've always done, intuitively I guess. Maybe this is it, maybe I've realised what my "thing" is. How exciting!

Anyway I really just wanted to share this quote because I love it! It's from the chapter on substitute mothers, i.e. foster/adoptive parents, childminders, day nurseries (those are all British words, think nannies and daycare centres):

"It has been suggested that the crucial characteristic of the parental role is its partiality for the individual child; the child needs to know that to someone he matters more than other children, and that someone will go to unreasonable lengths, not just reasonable ones, for his sake."

How great is that?

yarn along

Another week, another yarn along. I just think this is such a lovely idea! (Even if my photographs leave a bit to be desired.) I'm reading Child Development - A First Course (for school obviously). We've been told many times that we should be reading more than just our text books so I finally decided I should take them at their word. I find child development to be a fascinating subject. Much more interesting than many of the other things we've been studying this year like legislation and health and safety regulations.

I'm still plugging away on the Ishbel. I'm coming into the home stretch and am so looking forward to seeing it finished. It's all bunched up on my needles now so binding off will be a big unveiling!

child development

I am loving learning about child development in college! Most of the other units we're doing are currently focusing on different aspects of health and safety, and in all honesty seem to be running into each other. But our Unit 2 class on child development is so interesting!

As a "childcare practitioner" with over 10 years of experience (that sounds so ostentatious!) I have had ample opportunity to observe children in pretty much all stages of development. But now! Now I'm learning the language, what the normal milestones are, delving into the relevant theorists, learning the reasons behind the mechanics of it all. I'm loving it!!! As we're reading and discussing these things my mind can immediately jump to such and such child in a particular situation and say, "Yes, I've observed that!" or, "My experience has proved different." I'm absolutely loving it! (Did I say that already?)