As human as we are

So often we expect things of young children that we don't expect of adults. Or rather, perhaps we accept things from adults that we don't so readily accept from children. We accept that our adult friends and family will have different ways of being, and they'll be in our spaces in their own way. 

We throw a party - one party-goer (at least) will be called “the life of”, another will find the people they already know and stick tight to them for the night, not trying to make new connections. And we know this is totally fine. One of our friends might cruise the bookshelf, and another will take on the role of the “hostess with the most-ess”, even when it's not their house. Again, we accept that different people (adults)  “do” differently, and wouldn’t expect it to be otherwise. 

Yet, how often do we expect children starting in our early childhood settings to come at it the same way?  To be in the space the same way? To take the same amount of time to settle in?

If we schedule how many visits are needed before we meet the child and family, we are saying that one size fits all. Or, if we are panicking that a young child is observing the environment for days before being hands-on with what's there, we're saying that “straight into it” is the only way to be. (And truly, it isn’t). 

Our children are as human as we are. That's a fundamental belief we need to hold (and ‘heart know’ it, not just head-know-it) if we are to be in deep relationships, with kindness at the core.

So if our children are as human as we are, they have as many ‘right’ ways to be human as we do -  so many ways to “attend the party”. Their ‘role’ is to show up exactly as they are, and ours is to remove that “one size” thinking, and notice who THIS child is and what they need to find their way in our space - not for our comfort and how we think it (they) ‘should be’, but for THEIRS.