"Teach Only Love..."

"Teach only love, for that is what you are."  Dr. Becky Bailey.  This is my opening quote for woolseyacademy.com.  It sums up everything I believe about Early Childhood Education, relationships with others, who we are, life...really...

During our precious Christmas celebration party the families of the children in my care presented me with this lovely quilt.  It literally made me speechless.  I didn't have the words to convey the feeling of love in my heart.  All I could muster was, "Wow, wow, wow, wow..." in a whisper, choking back tears.  In that moment of receiving this beautiful gift and looking out over all the families present I was the student of, not the teacher of love.  What I was given in that moment was twelve sweet pictures representing moments throughout our times together all placed in a quilt of our intertwined lives.  That gift...that lesson of love, for me, was, "What you do matters so much!"  And that is no less what the little ones in our care say each and everyday with their tantrums and tears, their demands and diapers, their little hugs and happy eyes.

In the business of day to day milk spills and dish duties, it is easy to forget that all this hurried care and teaching is actually love with hands and feet...it is love in motion. 

"Teach only love, for that is what you are."  Yes, at the essence of who we are, not what we do, what we know, or what we have....this one thing remains...love.  It IS who we are...it IS who our children are...who we are meant to be and were created for.

L.O.V.E.

This is why in these early years of developing skills and language, relationships and reactions, that it is vital that our lessons are ALL lead to love.  These lessons will be the ones that carry our children throughout their lives.  Frued believed that a child's personality was formed by the age of 5.  If that is true, then I can think of nothing better to teach than how to love and be loved.  Mastering this will be the cornerstone of living a life well spent.  It is the foundation of world changers, champions, and under-dogs that become over-comers.   Isn't that at the very core of what we want for ourselves, our families, and our children...to love and be loved? 

Great love leads us to determination and passion...  Great love leads us to persist even when times are very difficult and the circumstances look grim...  Great love leads us to hope and faith...

Despair tempts us to give up.  Pride entices us to show others who is the boss, the best, to hold grudges and manipulate others to do the same.  Ego demands we only show love to those we feel have earned it from us.

But love...love doesn't notice any of that and if it does, it forgives.  Love forgives...something small children are so natural at doing.  Ever notice that?  Children are amazing forgivers (is that a word?).  An adult or another child says something unkind, or is impatient, and for a moment they may cry, but they always come back to try again.  It isn't until much later that children learn to stop trying, to not play with other children due to their actions or words, to shield themselves from the harm of others.  Small children are happy to play with anyone....everyone...  They don't notice the color of skin, the outer beauty of another, the fashion worn.  They are just as happy to play with someone regardless of dirty diapers, mismatched clothes, matted hair, abilities or age.   They only seek togetherness, acceptance...love...

It is just one of the many attributes that amaze me about the times I am privileged to spend with these little ones.  They hearts are so pure, untouched by the hardness of the "real world." 

L.R. Knost best stated this, "It's not our job to toughen our children up to face a cruel and heartless world. It's our job to raise children who will make the world a little less cruel and heartless.”

I wish you well and I hope you get to play today.

-L

 

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