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My PED TALK at the 29 th EECERA EECERA gives the opportunity to people to do a PED talk. What is that? A PEDagogical talk is not a scientific talk and the purpose is not to talk about your research. The idea is to talk about something you are passionate about! It is an 8 min talk, no slides, no notes, then 2 minutes of questions from the audience. I embraced the challenge and loved it! Had my PED TALK done with my family waiting outside, all packed and then straight to the airport. It was a beautiful way to say goodbye to EECERA: high levels of adrenalin! Below, I am sharing some lines taken from my talk. You can see the full abstract here: https://www.eecera2019.org/programme/2019 ‘I could bring my child in her pyjamas so supportive they are’ Hello everyone, thank you for being here today. My name is Melissa. I am a former early childhood teacher and have worked more than 10 years in the early years sector in Ireland. I am also a founder member of a voluntar
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Going to EECERA (My personal photo, please don't share it) Recently, we attended to the 29th EECERA annual conference in Tessaloniki in Greece. EECERA – European Early Childhood Education Research Association – holds an annual conference each year in a different country. “It is the largest world-conference in research in the early years. It is home for so many interesting people who have been researching, writing, advocating in the sector, not just in Europe, as it has expanded to all the other continents” (EECERA, 2019). From that, you can have an idea of how exciting is to be attending to the EECERA conference! I first attended to it when Dublin hosted in 2016. I was starting my PhD journey and had a poster accepted that time. WOW, that was my first time moving around so many people from all over the world interested in research in the Early Years – and the chance to meet face-to-face people that I have been reading their work. After that, I attended to the 2017 co
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The Magic of having a baby! (Photo: my personal archival, please do not duplicate it. Thank you!) I realized I had said a lot about being tired and how tough it is to having a baby without having your family around to give you a hand. This is all true. But I haven't said about the magic! Yes, having a baby is magical! It is powerful and empowering! Every morning I look at my boy and see a beautiful smile face saying to me how happy he is ... The fact is, he may know how happy he makes me...  I kiss his little fat hands and feet and love to make noises kissing his belly! He thinks it is hilarious! He absolutely loves to play hide and seek. Yes, he laughs loudly!   I love to see different steps and new discovering every week! In fact, each day is a little box of surprises.  Since he has learnt to hug, cuddling has become even more special. When he lays his head on my shoulders I know he is calling for some prime/cosy time. He is only 9 months and 2 weeks and he is
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Again, RTE undercover (Photo: google images)  6 years later and we are again presented with very distressful images of young children mistreatment, child abuse (yes; some situations are child abuse), violations of children's right, very poor practice in the Early Years and a show case of bad management of creches in Dublin. First of all; let me express my sincere feelings to the parents of those children who have to sit in the sofa and watch this. Those who will never go to work with a complete peace of mind again. So  sorry I am for those children who were prevented opportunities to learn and explore; being treated negatively with no responsive and positive interactions. To all of them, my heart goes to them.  But our sympathy is not enough. It cannot be good enough if we want this to change. Secondly, let's acknowledge that there a large number and solid great practices in this country. That Anne type of manager is not the rule; I want to believe she is the e
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10 Tips to choose your child creche!  What a mission! Finding the most appropriate childcare option to suit our family needs is definitely not easy. If you have decided for putting your child in a creche; this can be a very hard job. Having worked for more than 10 years in the early years sector didn't make my job easier to choose a setting. I was probably looking for a perfect place - what is impossible to have even if you have a very good one.  It was my partner's words that brought me to reality: any childcare arrangement will have challenges; so you must weight it all at the end.  Now, having experienced both sides: being an early years teacher staff and a mother; I finally feel ready to share a few tips I consider very important when it comes to choose a creche.  1) Friendly and interacting early childhood teacher; who is usually well qualified: interactions play a massive role in children's development. Child/child interactions; child/adult i
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10 Tips to use cloth nappies I had in mind I wanted to use cloth nappies for my baby, but I knew very little about the new designs. They are literally cloth nappies but different types from the times our mothers used to put on us. So, as a first-time mother, I went through a journey of researching about the whole universe of cloth nappies. I found a few things that work well and others that don’t, and I am going to share with you in case if you are considering using cloth nappies (read the previous post about considering using cloth nappies). 1)       Research about it extensively: there are many different types of cloth nappies. They vary on material, colour, sizes and styles. I had to spend some time looking at different companies’ websites and chat groups (especially Facebook ones, there are many groups that support the cause) to try to understand what style/maker/price I would choose. There are a lot of choices in relation to boosters, wrap, liner, day and night nappy.
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Why do we use cloth nappy?  Yes, I know! At the moment cloth nappy is mentioned, you turn around, make a disgusting face and automatically think of the work it can cause. But, please, let me tell you a few things and then we can talk again!  As any first-time mother, I had a whole universe of things to learn. It is unbelievable the number of things you must learn in order to taking care of a new born! So basically, since the moment you know that you are pregnant, you don’t stop researching reading and seeking information about baby’s stuff.  In the middle of all of that, you are also very sensitive to the life you wish to give to your son/daughter and to the world he/she will grow up.  It is impossible not to think about Mother Earth and the way we “human beings” have been treating her.  Cloth nappy advocators say that a disposable nappy can take centuries to decompose. The amount of rubbish a house with a new baby can produce is huge.  My partner has a great w
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