Early childhood educators' pathways are as varied as early childhood educators themselves. Our professional journeys are full of starts and stops. Our past experiences inform our current and future practice. However, our belief in the importance of early childhood is the touchstone in our work of defining ourselves as early childhood educators. Our work gets shaped by many experiences that define our values, beliefs, and ethics. Our communities of practice reinforce our professional identity, professionalism, and engagement and strengthen our sense of belonging in early childhood education.

As early childhood educators, we bring our emotional lives into our work to scaffold the children's emotional language and build the relationships that are the foundation of all meaningful learning. The thoughts, feelings, and impressions we experience as we engage in our work are called emotional labor. Educators work in a profession that requires emotional labor. We must acknowledge how we support our emotional states so we are resilient and can engage in the complex work of supporting young children.

While we define who we are as educators, we experience scrutiny in a changing climate that is trying to determine how we teach. Rather than have an authentic seat at the table, we get overlooked in policy development, leading to the us (early childhood educators) versus them (policymakers) mentality. A lack of trust between the two groups further reinforces this divide. The outcome of this bifurcation of early childhood education/policy leads to early childhood educators' beliefs that state policymakers fail to acknowledge the range of the early childhood field. 

While acknowledging the range of early childhood education, policymakers and system administrators often fail to communicate a genuine understanding of the work of educators in the classroom. Further, the complexity of the early childhood system often leads early childhood educators to minimize their engagement in professional development systems. 

The unintended consequence of this bifurcation is that it leads to a perception that policymakers think of the early childhood field and profession as simple. The simplification of early childhood education prevents educators from making meaningful and positive connections to state professional development systems, separating professional practice from early childhood policy.