The Wicked Witch of the West's hat used to follow me to bed every night. I could see it in the closet, suspended on the wall where the corner of the house dipped inward. I would stare at it, wide awake, my little body longing for rest, but my mind unwilling to let go of its fears. I had the cognitive ability to tell myself it was imaginary, but nonetheless I did not know how to make my fear and restlessness go away.
It is hardly uncommon for children to be frightened by imagined monsters. Unfortunately, life presents many other situations, objects, and even people, that are not imaginary, but that can evoke fear, sadness, frustration, anger...hatred, jealousy, bitterness in children and adults. These are the monsters--they lurk in us and around us. And daily we must deal with them whether they are in the form of an increased heart rate, curse words, pinching fingers, depression, or rock-throwing. We see the results of these monsters in the news, in the angry words of a best friend who "is never going to play with you" again, in the broken bones of a beaten child in the emergency room. Sometimes the results are petty, but sometimes they are disastrous. The disastrous ones are the ones that make me burn with a passion to teach children the right way to deal with those monsters.
I adhere strongly to a Mennonite faith tradition that is rooted in peace and non-violence. Just this week at church we were discussing Jesus' words to "turn the other cheek." This is often mistaken with being passive and just letting people beat you up. However, I firmly believe that Jesus was about not continuing the unending cycle of violence that ensues when someone retaliates with an equal action. If someone hits you, hit them back. Neither did he want people to get beaten up. There's a third way. A way of facing that monster head on and disarming it with something unexpected, with kindness, with forgiveness, with love.
Now whether or not you agree with my faith--surely you do not want your child...or any child...to be violently attacked, either physically or emotionally. Well, that's what happens when we teach children to hit back. That's what happens when we teach them to be passive. There has to be another way. I do not want to believe that I live in a world that has no option but violence.
One of the biggest buzzes in the field of early childhood education is social and emotional development and how it should be, basically, the first priority in early childhood. My desire is to start a conversation about how this actually plays out in the classroom--or at home or the park. So here is a cyber space where I can reflect on how this actually works. I've been drawn into all the education blogs out there (see my blog list)--they're so cool and really I just want to be like all those cool teachers. But I also need to reflect on my practice in the classroom and in life. So now to face my fear--is the font of my title going to draw you in?
