What's philosophy got to do with Christmas?

Our setting’s philosophy is not a ‘set and forget’ document. And in fact, it's not first and foremost a document. We record it so we're all on the same page, and so we have the words at hand if they're tripping up on our tongue, but it's not just a document. It's something alive in our settings. Something living, seen, felt, and expressed. It's something we uphold, and, beauty-fully -it can hold us. It guides us when we wonder about things or we can check we're not wandering off path.

Something we may not have considered is that we can look at our approach to Christmas and run that by our Philosophy. Is there an alignment?

You might ask, should there be…and we say YES. Absolutely.

Our philosophy states what we believe, about children learning, environments and adults. If we believe those things January to November, we also have to believe them in December! We can't reserve our philosophy following for “typical” days and leave out anything out of the ordinary - especially not when we believe in offering the extraordinary and celebrating lots of life's moments in care-fully thought out ways.

If we believe that children need authentic  hands-on experiences (and enough to put that down in our philosophy statement), can we really feel ok with our Christmas activities being coloring in sheets and gluing the same red pop pop nose as everyone else ‘crafting’?

If our philosophy includes mentions of kindness or community, can we really prepare our seasonal ‘menu’ without some act of giving or caring for our neighbours or a local group? 

If we've made it clear that children and their families are interwoven and to care for one is to care for both, we need to check our Christmas plans include something family-focused. Something authentic and special, not just what's easy or done simply only to say we have done it.

If we say that the environment matters and make that even more specific with words like beautiful, inspiring, or uncluttered, we have to then be able to nod our head when we look at our seasonally prepared space. Is it those things or have we gone for cheap plastic, or an “it will do” approach. Because, guess what? If what we offer doesn't align with our philosophy, it won't do. 

Our philosophy is more than words and Christmas is more than a day in the year. IF we can marry these up, ensure that what we offer is “makes-sensical” to the rest of our programme and practices the rest of time, we get a celebrational season that doesn't just fit with our identity as a setting, but really affirms it. 

If we believe that Christmas is the “most wonderful time of the year”, we'll make it so for the children in our lives (and the adults, including ourselves). We'll go with the verb ‘Christmatising’ (coined by our Kimberley) and take action putting little Christmassy experiences in the children's days so they experience Christmas as a season, not just one ‘big day”. We know a lot of you want to put festivities on your December ‘menu’, but the inspiration or ideas banks can get a wee bit low. We've made it easier, taking the season we have such a heart for, and created hands-on ways of celebrating, and infusing magic for little hearts and big ones. One hands-on, hearts-in ‘way’a day. This IS a wonderful season…IF we make it so.

Looking for some inspiration? Our 24 FREE Advent-ures of the Heart Emails from 1 - 24 December will get you right into the festive season. You can register here for free.