By: Barbara Bredell-Searle
Life has changed for all of us in the year of 2020, and as you turn on the news or look at any type of social media, it can become very depressing as the world is trying to learn how to live during this COVID-19. As professional educators who work with children, we must try our best to leave all the uncertainties of what is going on in the world outside and focus on providing the best quality care for the young children in our programs.
As a survivor of COVID-19, I have become more aware of the things around me that I have never taken the time to see. I am appreciating my life, my job, family and friends. Yes, this is still a scary and unknown world that we are living in; however, if we focus on the negative of what it is going on, it can deplete our emotions and put us in a depressed mood that can be brought into our workplace.
One gift my supervisor gave me a few holidays ago was a coffee mug that read “Start Each Day with A Grateful Heart.” Each morning I drank from that mug, looked at the inscription, but really didn’t see what it said. Now, as of today, I really see those words. Gratitude.
What are at least 3 things that you are grateful for? Are you grateful for having a job that you can go to, seeing the children each day come into your program healthy and happy or ____?
Maybe after thinking about what you are grateful for, you can start a gratitude book (use a composition notebook, tablet or you can buy a fancy journal). Try it for a while. Each day write at least 3 things that you are grateful for, and as you do, you will feel yourself smiling as you reflect and write in that book each day.
Optional Activity: After you try it, maybe you can have the children in your classroom do something similar as well. The younger ones could express themselves with pictures or verbally.