Two people who work as teachers asked about some of my work with children. I explained “It’s Protective Behaviours.” Shaking their head, one said “Oh, I did that training years ago, it’s not for me… ‘There is nothing so awful we can’t talk about it’ – well actually…there is!” The other person chimed in “Yes, there ARE things we just can’t talk about.”
A year ago, I may have walked away feeling upset, frustrated and isolated. Now I see this type of conversation as an opportunity which feels both inviting and exciting. For themselves, as adults, they can of course choose. For the children they work with, it is essential that they TOO can choose and to have that choice, they need to be offered it.
Hopefully when we parted ways a few moments later, the two people were feeling a little more open-minded. Hopefully, instead of declarations and decisive conclusions, they were left with some intrigue and inquisitiveness about Theme 2 and about PBs generally. Hopefully, they might know that working as teachers, the life-enriching knowledge they can learn from the very children they are lucky enough to work with, is limitless.
I feel certain that the children I work with will persist in sharing with others that “we can talk with someone about anything, even if it feels awful or small.”
