At a recent YWCA Toronto total staff meeting Karen Hipson, Manager of Children’s Services at Bergamot Early Learning Centre recognized her team ahead of Early Childhood Educator & Child Care Worker Appreciation Day on October 21st. This blog is an excerpt of that presentation.
I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the heroes of my team. We have been faced with overwhelming obstacles this past year. We held emotions of fear, worry, anxiety and yet we opened our doors, revised our programs, learned about Heath and Safety and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), all in response to COVID-19. My team found new ways to engage children in music without singing and ways to stay connected from a safe distance. We created virtual platforms for family orientation and program tours which helped to build trust and a sense of security for families when dropping their child off to us at the front door. As Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) we were put into cohorts, directed to limit communicating with each other, and still find ways to stay connect while social distancing. Despite the severity of the pandemic, we were successful in providing safe and high-quality care to our children and their families.
My team decided to share key lessons and takeaways learned this past year working through this pandemic. Below is what they shared:
As a Registered Early Childhood Educator, the pandemic has taught me to appreciate life and my passion for working with children from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. For example, I was watching a child who was in the toddler room and while in the playground, he unzipped his sweater and tried to take it off by moving his shoulder up and down. While he was moving his shoulder, the wind blew and the sweater moved up and was flying. He got excited and was running around the playground screaming, “I am the Superman!” I joined him and the other pre-school children along with the other teachers. This was a joyful moment. The mindset we bring into the classroom influences the learning outcomes of children, and deciding how it affects the children in my practice helps me enrich and improve my work with them. – Viji
Since the pandemic started, it has been very challenging for all of us. We were concerned about changes we had to make to the room, programming, interaction and how to support to the families. ECE is a profession that needs you to be flexible, but with changes to protocols, policies, procedures, ministry directions, public health guidelines, and personal protective equipment (PPE) was a lot to handle. I think as a team, we made the greatest effort to adapt to all of that. We had some bumps on the road, but we overcame everything. – Edlinda
This past year has taught me to be strong and be grateful to be alive. I am so happy that I am able to support children and their families. I have learned that I have a high level of compassion and humanity. I am happy to make people laugh. I was grateful for opportunities to plan social events in my work place, to make others happy and still feel a sense of belonging. -Annmarie
Last year was a lot of unknowns. As an ECE, I experienced many emotions, from having to be unvaccinated at work, wearing full PPE throughout the day, maintaining social distance, and not being able to hug the children or sing for them. However, we had a lot of successes as well. Eventually, I settled into working from home and supporting the children from there. When we reopened the daycare, the team was able to further support the children, this time in person. – Suzana
These last two years have been tremendous for us all. I have learned to be very gentle with myself. I am so grateful to be working for an organization like ours. YWCA Toronto takes care of their people and it feels good. I am grateful for my co-workers and the healthy social interactions we’ve had have been really appreciated. The children and their energy are always wonderful too. – Sarah
For us RECEs, we learned how to adapt in the midst of the pandemic, to be flexible at work while being creative with fewer resources. We did all of this while being aware of social distancing to ensure everyone is safe. During this time, our children learned how to be more resilient, responsible and independent. They embraced new ways to play with their peers outdoors, at a table through a plexiglass barrier, wearing masks and hanging them up when they needed a break.
In our view, it seems that most of us adapted very well to this situation, and we all watched out for each others health and safety. – Grace and Besa