ECE, Honestly

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month!

Pardon my language, but it’s giving a s**t and understanding how social injustices and how the stupidity of those in power can and will affect the most vulnerable ESPECIALLY children

We don’t get to pick and choose which children we will fight for; ALL CHILDREN MATTER
And if you disagree with that, then kindly go to hell and G**O of education

We must carry forward
The work of the women who came before us
Ensure our daughters have no limits on their dreams, no obstacles to their achievements
And no remaining ceilings to shatter
- Former President Barack Obama

Happy International Women’s Day to ALL the wonderful women out there
In these times where misogyny, racism and fascist movements try to take our power away, we will raise the ultimate hell

The current state of the world terrifies me
It has made me think things that I never would have thought, like the colour of my child’s skin as a protective shield. I have seriously wondered if we should be cautious (not scared, not panicked) but cautious regarding the threats of invasion

I cannot fathom what educators must feel when they hear about ICE agents attempting to apprehend their students; first the threat of potentially being shot while teaching, and now the threat of their students being taken away by the North American Gestapo

My wondering is, how do we in Canada and around the world help? What can we do to support our American colleagues?

I am so grateful your skin is white
Not because of colonial BS
In these uncertain times, I hope that your white skin will be your protector and not the reason people will look down on you as sick as that may be

I pray that your white skin will keep you safe from prejudice, from vile racial slurs and racist remarks and will instead be turned onto me; I can take the blows

But while your beautiful baby skin is a slightly olive tinted white, I hope your heart has the Marroquin rebellion
The one that fought and continues fighting for a just world

The blood of your ancestors runs through your veins, of those who shouted from the roof tops or kept their voices quiet but their actions heard and seen knowing what the end result could be

I wish this was a better world, my hope is that it will get better not just for you but for everybody. But while we are fighting towards that, I find some odd peace hoping that the colour of your skin will not work against you

Had a conversation with an amazing group of educators lately, and we discussed why it’s so hard to be our own hype person.
We are so quick to validate one another, and hype each other up and remind each other why we are amazing and why we deserve everything the world has to offer and more. And yet we do not give ourselves that same grace…
So today, I am making an effort to say that, instead of having imposter syndrome, I am instead going to validate that I deserve to be where I am. I have something important to say, my experiences and what I have to share are valid. My voice is worthy of being listened to, and most importantly, I deserve to get paid for my knowledge and expertise

If a mediocre white man can have all the confidence in the world, why can’t I? No more imposter syndrome!

Community over competition 💕💕💕
Love you all!





Educators

I am so excited to FINALLY release this episode!
After technical issues and a broken laptop, my chat with Erica is finally uploaded for you to listen to
Big thank you again to Erica for coming on and sharing all of her knowledge!

I am not gonna lie, this is the first time in my 15 years of being able to vote that I am going to the polls with my shoulders slumped and with no optimism. I truly feel like I am in a damned if I do and damned if I don’t position; as the owner operator of my own childcare program, I cannot help but disagree with so much of the NDPs platform. However, at the same time, I understand that a conservative government is guaranteed to screw over my families and my educators. Instead, the way that I look at it is like this; politicians are public servants, and they work for me. Therefore, as a voting citizen, it is my responsibility to ensure that those politicians are doing good on their promises. And I’m going to continue advocating for myself as an in-home multi age program, and I will continue to push against this narrative of “ for profit equals s**t quality” (HA! If only they knew that the only money I pay, myself is the $6 wage enhancement… everything goes back to the children)
and I will continue showing that those of us dedicated educators who have the ability, will open and will run quality centers. That it does not look or fit the mold of the supposed superior quality not for profit centres is probably a good thing, because then it means that I am showing that childcare can be done differently and it can be absolutely amazing.
In the last month, I have had two instructors from Douglas College visit their students in my program and have marvelled at the amazing program that we are running. One of them even thanked me for running an amazing program that was so supportive of future early childhood educators, and they would definitely continue sending me practicum students
*Cont in comments*

In my humble opinion, for a field where we are continuously preaching that we lack highly qualified Early Childhood Educators and continue to advocate “It’s not a job that just anyone can do”, why is it that the people at the top seem to be just that?
Either people who haven’t worked on the floor and are only part of the academic world, people who haven’t worked in ECE, only school age, people who’ve only ever held management positions or politicians who don’t have any ECE experience?
And why is it that damn near all of these people are privileged middle aged white women who pat themselves on the back because their form of diversity is a land acknowledgment and hiring the occasional BIPOC to be the token face of diversity? And god forbid you call out the blatant racism in this field… because how can they be racist if they do land acknowledgements and hire BIPOC diversity picks?