This week’s message is written by Liza Baron, Director, Early Childhood Development

As with most holidays, there are traditions associated with Thanksgiving. Things like eating turkey, playing football and gathering with family and loved ones are a few that come to mind for me. This is a space I enjoy being in, and I look forward to it each year.

Educators working in Early Childhood at the JCC are encouraged to be lifelong learners. Ideally, anyone teaching is actively engaged in learning too, whether through formal or informal opportunities, and not just in an effort to stay current with child development and culturally responsive practices. Actively engaging in your own learning as an adult is also to have moments of inspiration, to discover new interests, and to find sparks of joy that lead to new understandings.

My understanding of Thanksgiving is inclusive of different perspectives about how the holiday came to be, who suffered as a result, and that some will celebrate the holiday while others will treat it as a solemn day. Until I came to work in early education, I spent little time intentionally considering multiple perspectives. Being open to something not being what I thought it always was – this has been fundamental to my commitment to lifelong learning, and something inspired by the approach we take with children in ECDC.

We are teaching children to help a friend in need and to welcome a new friend to the table. We are telling children to use their words as tools for communicating and just as importantly, to use ears as tools for listening. We are saying yes to taking space and to making space. We are creating customs and traditions in the lives of very young children who we know will grow into teenagers and young adults, and they will take these customs and traditions and grow to expect them of others. They will even teach these concepts and ideas to others too when they see the injustices in the world around them. And these are traditions I bet we can all get behind.

I am grateful for the good in my life, for the school community I am a part of and for being with extended family this week who we do not get to see nearly enough. Whichever traditions you enjoyed yesterday and throughout the upcoming weekend, may you continue to enjoy time with family, friends and community.

Wishing you and your families a Shabbat shalom,

Liza Baron

Director, Early Childhood Development