Image of the Child: Part 2

How do our actions reflect our image of the child?

At today's parent forum we reflected on the question: How do my actions express my image of my child?

We looked back on the past week or even just the past 24 hours and discussed how our actions reflect our image of the child and then shared these with our partners.  These are some of the reflections that were shared:

• I have found myself waiting and being more patient with my child this week.
• My child even commented "Mummy you're being very nice today"
• I have taken more time to listen to my child.
• I have learnt to let go and let them lead themselves in their play this week.
• I have realised it's not the quantity of time I spend with them, but the quality of time.
• I have learnt to see my children as unique and not compare them to their siblings.
• It's about being positive in our talk and not limiting our children with our words.

We then reflected on the impact that adults can have on young people and the power of considering what is possible and seeing strengths in our children like Mr. Jensen in the following video.  He was able to see one of the Hundred Languages that Malaguzzi talks of.

We considered what we would like our children to say to us when they graduate or move on to the next chapter of their lives.  Hoping our children would say:

Thank you for:

• being there for us and letting us be what we wanted to be, letting us follow our dreams
• believing in me
• helping my dreams come true
• the chance of having lots of different experiences and opportunities
• allowing me to be what I am
• being tough when you needed to be

And finally we brought these ideas together to develop our own definition of the image of the child... this is what we created:

Next week we shall be moving on the next value in our Foundations of Learning series with a look at the concept of Agency.  If you missed these past two forums that focused on the image of the child please note that we shall be revisiting the same conversation in Kampala on September 26th at the first of this year's lecture series: Image of the Child.

#ISUParentBlogs #ISUParentForum #FoundationsforLearningSeries