Heart4kidsadvocacyforum's Blog

The Ingredient:

You must be clear- this is living a happy, whole, physically and emotionally healthy life.

I can’t begin to tell you how important it is to be physically, emotionally, and spiritually healthy.  One of the first things I tell my student teachers in their first Child Development course is that they must do a survey on where they are in these 3 domains of their life, before they commit to becoming a teacher.  It is not a one time check in!  It is an ongoing ritual that we as both teachers and parents have to do in order to have a loving and functional relationship with the children we are serving or parenting.  If we owe it to them and to ourselves to live a life that is in alignment with our best life and highest expression of our unique “Divine Identity”.

When we are out of sorts and not feeling well, it is our responsibility as teachers to take a mental health day and re-center our emotions and spiritual well-being so that we can re-enter the environment in a healthier more stable expression of ourselves.  I knew I had 10 full sick days a year and I committed myself to taking one day a month every year to just “Care for Myself”.  I was intentional about doing something special that gave me an opportunity to just “breathe”!  I would get up and take a walk on the beach or take myself out to breakfast.  Sometimes I would just stay in bed and watch shows that did not take any of my thought processes being activated.  WE all need a “Time In”!  We all need to realize that balancing and aligning the elements that propel our existence have to be cared for and nurtured. 

This is not something we have to ask permission to do or have to apology for, it is something that is required of us in order to live a happy and healthy life.  When we come to children, we need to be whole, healthy and happy.  Now in terms of happy, I am not saying that children expect us to be in a fixed static state of being every day.  They need to see us as our authentic selves so they know that we will provide a space for them to be in full expression of who they are and that expression of their “Divine Identity” is respected and accepted.  The thing is that as adults we should have grown in our ability to be cognizant of how we are coming off to them, and with that sensitivity we do what we have to do to “Check Ourselves”. 

The benefit to children when we can self-adjust, is that it makes them feel safe, secure, and cared for.  Another thing I share with my student teachers is that it is really important for them to check in with their inner child, because that holds the “truth of who they are and what they are capable of” being.  What a gift it is to be in service to children because we get to discover more and more about ourselves every day we share with them.