The real act of, say, building a friendship or creating a community involves performing a series of small, concrete social actions well: disagreeing without poisoning the relationship; revealing vulnerability at the appropriate pace; being a good listener… knowing how to sit with someone who is suffering; knowing how to host a gathering where everyone feels embraced; knowing how to see things from another’s point of view.
– David Brooks, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen

In recent articles in EED we quoted writer David Brooks on the importance of having deep conversations, and physician and author Rachel Naomi Remen on the value of sharing our stories with each other, and with the children in our lives. The World Forum on Early Care and Education is offering early childhood professionals an opportunity to engage in meaningful, courageous conversations at least twice a month in the online WoFo Global Café.

Three upcoming opportunities are on the horizon:

March 8 – Celebrate International Women’s Day: Courage and Joy for Our Times (women and men both are invited)

March 12 – Inclusion: Stories of Strategies That Work

March 19 – Global Impacts on Children of Recent Cuts in Foreign Aid
Share stories about how children around the world are being impacted by drastic changes to USAID programs. Come to share, listen, commiserate and find a path forward.

Some who visit WoFo Café come just to listen at first, and others jump right in to sharing their thoughts. Whatever your comfort level, you are invited to visit this supportive worldwide community.