I have been an early childhood educator and director for the past 22 years. I became an early childhood education educator because I have a passion for working with young children and believe that quality early childhood education is paramount in developing a lifelong love of learning. I love advocating for our profession and am always looking for new ways to improve our centre and industry by working with like-minded professionals across our field.

One of the most critical time periods in child development and learning is from birth to five years. The first five years of child development are crucial to their health, well-being, and the overall trajectory of their lives in a variety of ways. We, as educators, are in a position to assist and guide children to help in their growth and development through fun, engaging, interactive experiences and interactions.

I believe that providing children of all ages with rich, purposeful caregiving prompts frequent, individual, and intentional interactions with children. We, as educators, recognize that teachable moments can happen anytime during the day, and we can use routine times such as meal times and nappy changing times to have lots of individual interactions with children, or while using lots of rich language input. Each of our routines and experiences of the day should include care, emotion, and learning. By showing children that we have taken a genuine interest in what they are doing, it helps to nurture our relationships with them, allowing us the opportunity to really get to know each child.

I love our early education field and working at Perfect Start Mary St. because we are a team. Children and educators are mixed personalities that share our language and skills with each other. We are curious and enthusiastic about learning and teaching as we accomplish all of this through play.