Inspired...Thoughts of others

Well, when you stop and really make an effort to understand the thoughts and words of another, you find that you have more in common regardless of who you are and where you come from.  I wanted to share the following quotes -  the first three quotes ground me in the sense I too feel I have a purpose in what I am doing in my work with children; I feel connected to these three educators and they make me want to be better at what I do with the childrearing in my program.

"The preschool years are critical, they are the first most fundamental period when children are in fact noticing who they are, and are noticing the attitudes, and the stereotypes and the discomforts or the positive message about their skin color, their racial identity their ethnic identity."

--Louise Derman-Sparks

  

"A childhood that leaves you ready for optimum life experiences,  a childhood and an education contexts experience throughout your life cycle that opens up the world, to you gives the tools you need to ask question s and investigate things, those are the things I want for all children."

--Renatta M. Cooper

"I’m not here to save the world, I’m here just to  make a difference in the community I am working…. making a difference may sometimes  mean helping one child be able to be successful in the classroom…one little sparkle will make a difference for me throughout the whole day."

--Raymond Hernandez, MS Ed

The below quotes speak to me more in terms of the civil rights of children and truth be told, although we have come along way in advocating for children's education and well being, we still have a long way to go.  You would  think that educating children and providing access to services to all children would be a no brainier, but unfortunately not everyone sees the true benefits.   

"Children don't come in pieces.  They come in families and they live in communities, our communities."

"The state of the world's children today represents both a colossal triumph and a failure for humankind."

--Marion Wright Edelman, Founder and President of the Children's Defense Fund

"Head Start now has so many friends that elected officials appear to be trying to distinguish themselves as the program's best friend by proposing to do more and more for it."

--Edward Zigler, Yale University psychologist and founder of Head Start