ABSTRACT
My interest in writing this book came from personal experiences as a practitioner working in a variety of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings. I then taught students, who were gaining higher level qualifications about the importance and value of the earliest years, specifically focusing on the period from conception to two years. Reading related books about infants, I unearthed a plethora of information around development from conception. However, I was finding the readings I was drawn to were predominantly from health, psychology or social work professional areas. Many books and studies, particularly from conception, supported midwifery practice and health visiting professional roles, whilst safeguarding and supporting vulnerable families from conception, birth and infancy were directed to social work practice or psychologists. Within the early years day care context, many books explored these aspects of care but tended to do so from birth and from an educational perspective rather than from prenatal period. This was assumed to be because it is from birth that practitioners, working in ECEC settings, would meet the family and care for the infant, regulated by a national early year’s curriculum However, I regularly met parents during the mother’s pregnancy who were seeking advice about out of home care and what would suit their family in terms of support. In meeting these prospective parents, I was also finding that they were seeking advice about out of home care for reasons beyond employment issues. At one time, this was the usual reason for organising childcare because maternity leave in England was restricted to a few weeks, and status in employment and salaries were affected if more leave was taken. However, with the introduction of financial support and maternity options, the landscape of choices and rationales for choosing childcare beyond the home has shifted. In a day nursery where I worked, many parents chose 212childcare for reasons beyond returning to employment. Parents were opting to go back to study to further their career choices and need childcare. For some parents whose English was not their first language and living in the UK during term time, short term childcare was also sought as a way of meeting people in the local community and allowing parents opportunities to train or work part-time. Many families I worked with who had a child attending the setting stayed on when the mother became pregnant again. I found many parents were seeking practical and emotional support beyond the health visitors and other professionals to whom they were assigned. As an early year practitioner, I was regularly meeting parents to talk about development and play opportunities, becoming the bridge to other professionals responding to questions about care needs including diet and sleep patterns. In addition, sensitive and complex issues such as bereavement, pre-natal depression, medical conditions or attachment, would also be addressed as part of my role. In becoming a parent myself, this became even more prominent as I, too, relied on those early years practitioners for support when my children were attending nursery, particularly when I was expecting twins. Having four young children close in age was challenging and to convey this to those who were supporting me in the care of my children was something I found invaluable. Similarly, further meetings with practitioners who worked at ECEC family centres, developing programmes to support parents from pregnancy to two years, was also helpful in seeking out practical issues and ways to connect to my new-born infant that I hadn’t previously appreciated. I realised how much I had relied on quite old information or generational anecdotal advice, some things working well, whilst other areas needing updating and contradicted advice received from other professionals. This developed my reflective thinking about the ethics of care and how I approached the care role I was placed in as both practitioner and parent. In returning to work as an early year’s lecturer, with the opportunity to teach modules specialising in the period of conception to infancy. The teaching and learning experiences shaped my theoretical thinking further. It was during this time that I appreciated objectively how much information was received about this period of development and care by differing services. However, as a practitioner working with under twos and their families it remained a somewhat less revered place to be in, particularly within ECEC settings. For many practitioners, aspirations to be in the pre-school room in a traditional teacher role seemed to be culturally accepted, particularly after undertaking higher education. For those wanting to remain working with infants, they would often move into specialist roles such health visiting assistant roles, childminders, nannies, maternity nursery nurses or family support workers roles, in developing their own care pedagogies. This was where the initial idea of a book began to take shape. In parallel with this, and in support of my own thoughts, were the practitioners I met and students I taught in universities who were studying infancy and practice. These were predominantly experienced and senior practitioners working in ECEC nursery or childminding settings, who were passionate 213about their role in working with infants, wanting to understand, reflect and improve their practices. My aim for the book was, therefore, to bridge the gap in creating and complementing existing literature for those practitioners seeking to explore development and care from conception to infancy, adding a further contribution about care within and beyond the home context. The focus was on understanding and supporting the practitioner’s role in caring for families and infants from conception. This is where I found the greatest gap between the literatures and what I believe needs further discussion and examination. Parenting books provide another practical and helpful source of information, as they include creative tips and practical suggestions from conception. However, these were aimed mainly at parents and unless a practitioner took a keen interest in these books the contents were not quite there in helping develop and appreciate practice and care from a practitioner’s perspective.
