Over the last year I have written several articles for Nursery World magazine and yesterday I was delighted to be able to present at their show. I feel a strong affinity for Nursery World having started my career as a nursery nurse, I remember cycling to the newsagents every week to collect my copy, then years later when I worked as a childcare lecturer I used Nursery World articles again for workshops and discussion during my lectures.
The event yesterday was well organised and I felt the buzz and vibrancy as soon as I arrived. My workshop was at the end of the day and I was pleased to have so many enthusiastic participants. During the workshop I showed some images of children and we discussed what they might be trying to communicate to us. The diversity of responses from the audience made for an interesting discussion on how hard it can be for us as adults to try and work out exactly what young children are trying to tell us through their behaviour, for example I had assumed this was a picture of a child in distress, but as one participant pointed out, it could be a child playing hide and seek.
tiffany terry
It was a reminder that we can all be quick to make assumptions about what other people may be feeling, often based on our own experiences. I went away feeling pleased with the number of smiling faces I had observed in the workshop, but will never really know whether they were actually smiling with relief as the clock above my head signalled home time!
Thank you to Nursery World and the workshop participants for such an enjoyable first workshop experience. I spent most of my four hour train journey home wondering what I might do for next year!