Practicing the pedagogy of care…asks adults to make sound judgments and intelligent decisions within the balance of simultaneously trusting children and protecting children who we see as both strong and vulnerable.
– Carol Garboden Murray, Illuminating Care

What do daily care routines have to do with liberation? In one of the ‘May-triarchy’ episodes of That Early Childhood Nerd, podcast guest Kisa Marx noted how bell hooks influenced her thinking on liberation for children:

“In the real world, what liberation means is the freedom to be, that you don’t have to ask permission to think freely, to move freely, to make your own choices, to stand up for yourself, to say whether you’re hungry, cold, sleepy, tired, not sleepy, not tired. These are all aspects of freedom, and children don’t get them, by and large, just because adults call all the shots for children.”

Later in the conversation, host Heather Bernt-Santy recalled her former pride in how quickly she could diaper a child, until realizing the act of diapering was a precious moment one-on-one with a child, an incredible opportunity to expand on the kind of partnership and conversation Garboden Murray writes about in her influential book, Illuminating Care.

Garboden Murray (a frequent guest on That Early Childhood Nerd), describes care as a partnership, likening it to a conversation, in contrast to more domineering forms of care:

“When we see the other as whole and capable, we practice caring as a conversation—a reciprocal exchange. As with excellent teaching, this kind of care requires us to listen, to observe, and to meet the child with respect. Caring in this way asks us to honor the other’s goals, directions, desires and needs as their own. Valuing the teacher’s presence as a collaborator fosters a reflective practice where we can grow a mindful, intentional way of being in the care partnership. In the caring partnership, we cannot perform on autopilot. It requires thinking, attention and responsiveness. We acknowledge our own surprise, joy, delight, questions and even frustration within the teaching-learning dynamic.”