Meeting Fear with Courage

I’ve been reading Eleanor Roosevelt’s book, You Learn by Living, appreciating advice from someone who lived through a global pandemic, a Great Depression, and two World Wars. She reminds readers that every generation faces something hard, and writes:

“Often people have asked me, ‘How do you recover from disaster?’ I don’t know any answer except the obvious one: You do it by meeting it and going on. From each you learn something, from each you acquire additional strength and confidence in yourself and meet the next one when it comes.”

I’ve also been reading Jeffrey Perkins’ wise words from an Out of the Box Training Kit, “Choosing Courage in a Climate of Fear,” which has important guidance for all who work with and for children:

“We know that children work out their anxieties in their play and that by investigating topics that cause the fears in children, we provide new material for them to make sense out of their experience. When the topics that children are concerned with involve world events, we can still provide opportunities for children to explore...

There is no doubt that the world is a quickly changing place that provides lots of opportunities for stress and anxiety. Helping young children work with their fears now will help them build the foundation they need for confronting challenges and crises throughout their lives. Perhaps teaching our children courage begins with the simple act of becoming curious about fear.”

With gratitude for all you do,
Nancy Rosenow, Exchange Publisher, on behalf of the entire Exchange Team 

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.

© 2005 Child Care Information Exchange - All Rights Reserved | Contact Us | Return to Site