Relationship Reflection

Relationship Reflection

I think that relationships and partnerships are important to me because I am human. Humans are social beings who crave interactions with others. I want those interactions to be substantial and meaningful. Therefore, I build relationships with others in order to fill an innate need to have socialization. This also lends to my healthy emotional development by providing me with access to people who I feel comfortable asking advice, help, just talking to, and with whom I feel safe having fun. I need all of those things to keep mental clarity.

I currently have a very positive relationship with my husband. He is a great support, always there to lift my spirits when I feel a little down. He helps me (when I ask) with day-to-day issues, makes me laugh, and allows me to cry. He is my emotional support. My mother is also one of my strong positive partnerships. She listens to me and me to her when we just need someone to listen. She gives me motherly advice about anything and everything. Without her, I would not have the confidence, or the strength to be the mother, wife, and educator I am today. My best friend, Missy is another strong positive relationship I have formed. We met about six years ago at work. She and I have similar senses of humor which are not very common in early childhood education. We have cynical senses of humor. For fear of “dirty looks” we save our dark humor for our breaks, which we always take together. This is our stress release each day; laughing together about things that other people at our job just do not find funny. When we need a further release, we spend an evening having a girl’s night. It’s nice to have someone to have someone in your life with which you can safely share ideas and thoughts.

Because I am slow to warm up to people and slightly introverted, it is sometimes difficult for me to form relationships. I also have a sort of block when it comes to showing affection. I’m not a “touchy feely” person. Until someone really gets to know me, these personality traits can make me seem cold and uncaring. (Of course, I am only this way with adults. I care openly for children.) These traits also make it difficult to form personal relationships; while I generally have no difficulty forming professional relationships because the support system within them is different, less personal. For these reasons, the relationships I form personally are often few but very strong, trusting, and lasting relationships. The people who are willing to put the time into building a relationship with a person who may seem stand-offish, are the people with which I build relationships. So, I suppose that stubborn tenacity is a trait that I find positive in building relationships and partnerships.

Because I am much more suited to building relationships that require a little less personal involvement, I tend to build relationships in early childhood quite easily. I am an open listener who does not openly pass judgment on others and families tend to trust me. I am very confidential with information, and though I may not always say what they want to hear, I tell them with respect for them and their child. I am also pretty good at reading the parent who needs a direct answer and the parent who needs a sugary round-about answer. This only comes with years and years of experience working with families.  As for children, my affection for them in genuine and they can feel that. Strangely enough, the ones that I tend to build the strongest relationships with are the one who seem to have the hardest temperaments. The feisty little guys who always get “in trouble” in the other classes, seem to blossom in my class. It makes all of the hard work worth it.