Care is the making of humans. Care is the lesson of love, connection, and human dependency deeply embedded in the body and mind of a young child in the present moment. Care is the origin story we all share.
– Carol Garboden Murray, Illuminating Care

Contributed by Pam Boulton.

In her book Restoring Sanity, Margaret Wheatley calls for the development of “Islands of Sanity.” She describes them as “places of possibility and refuge where the human spirit can thrive. May we choose to be those who restore sanity, awaken our human spirits and experience the wonders of who we humans can be no matter what is happening in the external world.”

We who work with children see this every day.  When we are with them, children give us the gift of being here, now, in the present as they are. When we receive this gift, when we really choose to be a part of it and we ourselves are here in the present with our children, we create islands of sanity.

It is not only because children are in the present that we must allow ourselves to choose to be with them in this way.

Their time as children is so precious and so short. When they learn from us, the adults in their lives, to thrive in our islands of sanity they can carry that with them as they move into their own futures. Their experiences with sanity, compassion, love and learning will stay with them for all their lives.

These experiences will help them to shape who they are and who they will choose to be. Who each of them chooses to be will shape the future of our families, communities, and our world. We owe it to them, to ourselves, and to all of our communities to make sure that they know what it is to be in places of possibility where the human spirit can thrive.