I believe that being an early childhood educator goes beyond the classroom. Growing up I had a teacher that built true relationships with her students, she took the title of a childhood educator and gave it a new meaning in my eyes. This teacher was, and still is, an inspiration to me and my career in early childhood education. Her name was Miss B, she welcomed me and all other students into her classroom like we were her own. To this very day, Mrs. B is still a part of my life, as well as so many others who have had the pleasure of having her as a teacher. It began when I entered Kindergarten and I was a very shy and anxious child. I had never been away from my mom before kindergarten. Miss B took time to understand me, she worked with me on my anxieties, and made me feel comfortable in her care. Miss B made me feel safe at school. I remember having a particularly hard time one week, my parents were away in Florida, so my separation anxiety was heightened. I looked forward to going to school, I often forgot my parents were gone and when I remembered she was there to help me get through it. It has been 18 years since I left that classroom, and I still remember how Miss B made me feel.

As an early childhood educator, I now know that the relationships we build with children mold them into the adults they will become and serve as a foundation for relationships that these children will have in the future. By crouching down and meeting the children at their level, helping them through their big emotions, and showing them how to solve a conflict, we are showing them skills to build healthy relationships in the future. Miss B built a relationship with me by proving to me that I could trust her, she supported me when I struggled with emotions that I had not yet learned how to communicate and gave me healthy ways to ways express them. As an adult I easily build strong and healthy relationships, I believe that is because growing up I had trusting people in my life that could show me how to have these relationships. I believe my foundations were developed within some of these experiences with Miss B.

Miss B created such a large impact on me as a child that I decided when I grew up, I wanted to be a teacher just like her. We, as early childhood educators, have a large impact on these children’s lives. At just five years old I decided that I wanted to be a teacher, this was solely based on one woman I spent 9 months of my year with. I think about this every day in my early childhood education journey, about how these children might look back 5, 10, or even 15 years from now and think about what their teacher did for them and how that teacher helped them get to where they are today. These children will one day be able to trust others, build strong and healthy relationships and grow into young and happy adults because their teachers viewed their job as more than just a title. This is why I believe that being an early childhood educator goes beyond the classroom.