Nuts and bolts

Before I headed outdoors to check on the pre-schoolers, I noticed their educator searching for something.

She told me the coat hanger kept falling. Today she was on a mission to fix it.   

In the janitor room, tucked away, she found an old dusty toolbox. But to her surprise, it contained mismatched materials. So, it was hard to find a screw to fit the screwdriver.

After 15 minutes of fitting different pieces, she managed to secure the coat hanger in place

Later outdoors, the educator mentioned that recently the child I support started to struggle with transitions again.

When I first consulted in the fall, they wanted tips to work on this skill. They embodied a few simple strategies consistently and within a few weeks he began to transition with ease.

So, I asked if anything had changed?

After a few questions, they confessed they stopped using the strategies a couple of months ago because he was doing well. They didn’t think he needed them anymore.

We’re all guilty of this, right? We start a new habit, gain momentum, reap the benefits and after a while we take the results for granted. Sometimes we slowly slip back into our old ways or drop the habit altogether.

And then we start back at the drawing board. Searching for random pieces to fit together like the educator did to fix the coat hanger.

But what if instead, we acknowledged how a strategy has served the children. How with belief, patience, love, and persistence our habits helped a piece fit better.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget how it was until it’s gone.

So, here’s an invitation. Keep up your amazing work even after reaping the benefits. Remember to celebrate your hard work. It’s because of your commitment to the practice that bit by bit your efforts help fit pieces together.

With all my love,

Alex