To the people who taught us how to be in the world
Think back to your earliest years. Somewhere in that memory, there is probably a face, a voice, a feeling of being seen for the first time outside the safety of home. That moment wasn't small. For many children, it was the first time someone beyond their family said, without words, "you belong here, you are capable, you matter."
Early childhood educators work during the most remarkable window of human development. Before age five, a child's brain is forming connections at a pace it will never match again. What happens in those years, the quality of care, the warmth of the relationship, the consistency of a trusted adult, does not just shape how a child feels at school. It shapes how the brain itself is built.
The relationship a young child has with their first educator sets the template for their expectations of teacher relationships into the future.
What the research tells us
|
90% of brain development is complete by age 5 — the years early educators work in First Things First / Harvard Center on the Developing Child |
30+ years of research confirming the early teacher-child relationship shapes lifelong outcomes Developmental & educational research literature |
1 in 2 Adults say a teacher helped them through a difficult time ING Foundation Survey |
More than 30 years of research backs this up. A warm, close relationship with an early educator supports children's achievement, emotional regulation, social development, and even long-term health. The effect is not fleeting. Studies show it echoes through the primary years and beyond. A child who feels safe with their first teacher learns that the world outside home can be trusted. For a small child, that is everything.
Early childhood educators do this work with toddlers who are still learning how to be people, how to share, how to wait, how to name a feeling instead of throwing something. They do it with patience that is, frankly, awe-inspiring. They do it in rooms full of finger paint and big feelings and very small shoes. And they show up and do it again the next day.
Thank you.
Today, on National Teacher Appreciation Day, we want to say what perhaps does not get said enough: thank you. Thank you for being the first person outside a child's family to show them what a caring relationship looks like. For the songs, the stories, the steady presence on the hard mornings. For building, one small interaction at a time, the foundations that everything else is built upon.
You make a difference. The research has known it for decades. Truth be told, children have known it for a long time too. And today, so do we.
With deep gratitude, on behalf of every child who was lucky enough to begin with you.
