Educating Young Children Volume 1 - Summer 2025 | Page 39

Establishing clear boundaries with families is essential for maintaining balance while still being supportive. I communicate my availability upfront, ensuring that families know when they can reach me. I offer one late evening each week for meetings or discussions to accommodate different schedules and— except for emergencies— kindly redirect nonurgent requests to my designated working hours. This helps me stay present and engaged while also protecting my well-being.

Each of these practices allows me to recharge mentally and emotionally, which enables me to be fully present while working. Prioritizing your own mental and emotional health helps create a more balanced, resilient, and joyful teaching experience.

— Sarah L. Calzone, former special education teacher at Stratford Public Schools, Stratford, Connecticut, and current program chair, associate of science in early childhood education at Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut

“ So, do you think we can get a glider bench outside?”

If you’ ve ever worked with infants, you know that your body works hard. Whether it’ s squatting, bending, lifting, or moving from sitting to standing and vice versa, you feel every stretch, pull, and lift— no matter how young or fit you are. When you find yourself holding a 15- to 20-pound baby outside, you soon realize the power of a good and comfortable place to sit other than a crate or a child’ s chair.

The infant and toddler educators at my program had been asking for a glider bench for the past year. We previously had two glider benches outside, but they were so loved that they eventually fell apart. While our administrators talked about getting a new one, it hadn’ t materialized after a year of conversations.

One day, after observing my coteacher’ s struggles with holding and feeding the babies outside, I decided to talk to our director. It