Imagine if every meeting

Imagine if every meeting that was set up by PROFESSIONALS to make plans for a child started with a reminder that this child is honored. 

I would enjoy having meetings like that; focusing on the child, calm discussions, sharing stories of the child, and honoring the child. 

This type of meetings seems like

·      It wouldn’t cause friction amongst others—People can share what they want without worries

·      Peoples opinions matters—There isn’t a hierarchy of who can speak and when someone can speak. 

·      The child isn’t put down—the people involved can discuss matters of a child without having their ideas criticized and the child himself isn’t forgotten. 

Þ   Forgotten:  meaning the purpose of the meeting (for the child) is not forgotten, the idea to help the child is not forgotten, and the child himself is honored therefore no insults are made on his behalf.   

·      It’s a casual meeting—There isn’t pressure on anyone.  The meeting is comfortable for all participants, and it seems like everyone there was important. 

I have only had experience in this field at one childcare center.  We do have classroom meetings amongst staff on Friday’s, and there are some aspects of the story meeting that resembles my Friday meetings. 

»          We do have snacks at our meetings, made by the main teacher and shared amongst the staff.  Though its not a feast, having a snack during meetings makes the scene of the meeting comfortable for people to eat and converse at the same time.  

»          We don’t sit in a formal arrangement; we sit in somewhat of a circle, more like a jagged circle, at the table area.  Though we are sitting at the children’s table, we don’t have assigned seats, we don’t sit in any order, at times we move around the classroom, and thinking about it this adds to the comfort of the meeting, it allows us be relaxed so that we can focus and not have to worry about other things. 

»           During some meetings we are invited to share stories of the children and say what our concerns and ideas are to help the children and classroom, during other meetings we listen to the teacher and her concerns, and during other meetings we are just preparing the classroom and next weeks schedules.  Allowing to have a voice during certain meetings gives me, and hopefully others, an assurance that what we say matters and that we have a say in our work environment.  If we weren’t allowed a voice I think I would hate working at where I work at, I think that I wouldn’t show passion in what I do because it isn’t my own, it’s someone else work especially if I think it doesn’t look good. 

There could be some changes with the meetings I participate in, but I am satisfied with how the meetings are presented.  Our meetings could be worse, What if we had no meetings?  What if we had meetings like those on TV, people sitting in a big room with a large table in the middle, people are assigned to sit in a certain spot, and everyone is nervous about what is going to be said.  What if every meeting we had was only about concerns of a child?  Maybe that is why my teachers mixes up meetings, she isn’t consistent with what is happening in each meeting so that we keep our mind focus on the over all quality of the childcare, and not just on the child. 

I hope that as I participate in more meetings, I would envision a greater idea of how I could conduct meetings of my own.