Their Ideals are My Ideals

In reading and reflecting on the NAEYC Code of Conduct ideals, I found several, which, I feel, are very meaningful and significant to my position as a Training and Curriculum Specialist.
My responsibility to children is of the utmost importance within my work. I1.4 states, "To appreciate the vulnerability of children and their dependence of adults." Is the prime reason I entered into the early childhood field. Many times children are marginalized by the adults around them and it is up to early childhood professionals to ensure they can meet their full potential within a caring appropriate environment. In doing so we will meet I1.5 "To create and maintain safe and healthy settings that foster children's social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development and that respect their dignity and their contributions." All children have the ability to learn and grow. As a professional I need to advocate for programming which will help them progress successfully through childhood and beyond.
In working with the child, we must be familiar and receptive to the families, I2.2 guides us to “develop relationship of mutual trust and create partnerships with the families we serve.” Creating a bond with parents promotes knowledge and understanding of the child. It can provide us and avenue to educate parents on best- practices and child development. As a Training and Curriculum Specialist, I must educate the staff within our program I3A.3 tells me to “support co-workers in meeting their professional needs and in their professional development.” As I learn new resources within the context of this class, I share my insight with the staff of our program. I have challenged several staff members to seek higher education and have utilized articles and other resources within my training practices.   Utilizing our basic resource, each other, I have come to realize we all have skills to advance our thought process. Articles, books and journals are wonderful to spark our interest but we must utilize our other resources as well. Families, children and other caring professionals are underrepresented amongst all the scholarly works in terms of resources.