The Emotional Lives of Early Childhood Educators

As early childhood educators, the emotions we share with the learning community are a part of our practice. Being positive, helpful, and involved in the lives of young children, parents, and the community is our contribution to the greater good. Our work is rewarding and challenging. All educators experience the effects of emotional labor and have classroom experiences that may have lasting impacts on our health and happiness.

In The Atlantic, author, and sociologist Arlie Hochschild, who wrote The Managed Heart, Commercialization of Human Feeling, said that emotional labor is "the work, for which you're paid, which centrally involves trying to feel the right feeling for the job and involves evoking and suppressing feelings. Some jobs require a lot of it, some a little of it."

At a recent school-age conference, a group of educators shared some areas in self-care where they struggle. The number one area of struggle was the demands of emotional labor. Other professions also engage in intense emotional labor, like nurses, doctors, restaurant staff, police, and fire. Jobs that ask the practitioner to suppress their personal feelings, act calmly, and follow the best practices in their field while under emotional pressure.

Many educators shared stories of their struggle with emotional labor demands at the conference. Reflecting on my work with children, being a professional and engaging in the classroom provided little space for my genuine emotions to land. Suppressing emotions caused fatigue and influenced decision-making, altering teaching outcomes. To help find a new perspective on my emotions, I searched for techniques to help me cope with the effects of emotional labor.

The first concept I discovered was emotional self-awareness, our ability to understand our emotions and how they affect us in life and our work with children. Emotional self-awareness is about the recognition of what we are feeling and why. Emotional self-awareness invites us to see things as they are and to greet our emotions with acceptance.

Emotional self-awareness is a practice that gives us a more accurate sense of our strengths and weaknesses. It provides clarity for our work with children. The method I use to incorporate emotional self-awareness into my work is journaling. At the end of each workday, I write one page about the day. I reflect on what happened in the classroom. Sometimes my journal writing includes the emotions experienced while working in the classroom.

Another aspect of emotional self-awareness is harnessing our emotions and applying them to solving problems. I find that journaling in the evening and reading my words the following day gives me a fresh perspective on the emotions of the work. It also helps me process a situation from the previous day. This practice guides me toward a path of understanding and action that benefits my work with children.

An emotional self-awareness practice includes our ability to manage our emotions and the emotions of others. Our ability to engage with and negotiate with our feelings and the emotions of others is a common practice in our work and is a big part of emotional labor.

I searched for more perspectives on the emotions involved in our work. I discovered that a large part of our emotional experiences as educators is born from a need for understanding. We are trying to understand what children, parents, and the community needs from our service position. We are trying to understand our role and how much we can give of ourselves. One idea that may help us visualize our experience is a quote I found from author Steven Covey. In his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he says, "Seek first to understand and then be understood."

We cannot control emotions by our will. If we first seek to understand the emotions of others, then we can understand our emotions. Our recognition of others' emotions leads to being present with our emotions. If we get caught up in the moment's emotions and are not seeking to understand others, this distracts us from the moment's reality.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, and author, says mindfulness "Is to be aware. It's the energy that knows what is happening in the present moment." The true answer to the experience of emotional labor lies in being present and authentic with our emotions within the classroom. Thich Nhat Hanh shares. "True happiness and true power lie in understanding yourself, accepting yourself, and having confidence in yourself."

Educators have an opportunity to recognize and accept the emotional labor it takes to be in our field. Our recognition opens the door for us to take steps in our personal and professional journey to nurture our feelings. Then our emotions will not overtake us and become negative in our life and work. We can be practicing early childhood educators that serve our community, support young children, and care for ourselves by engaging with the emotions of our work.