It seems like every day there are new articles being released that talk about the crisis in early childhood education and care due to COVID-19. Unfortunately, there is good reason for this. The field which has always been underfunded and run on thin margins has disproportionately been negatively  impacted by the virus.

Everything going on right now in the industry is unprecedented. There is no Lucy Wheelock or Maria Montessori quote about dealing with a pandemic. We can’t read a book about how Reggio Emilia kept children and the community healthy by social distancing all while catering to young children’s social and emotional needs. While there are bills in congress like the recent one announced by Katherine Clark created to support the ECE field, given who controls The Senate and The White House there is not a large chance those bills will pass. into law right now. The process of creating a vaccine that is effective and widely available or herd immunity will most likely take until 2021 or even further down the line.

So who will solve these issue? Who will lead early childhood education into the future in these unprecedented difficult times?

It is going to be early childhood educators themselves. Early childhood educators are a remarkable group of people. Every day in their jobs they play a variety of roles included educator, caregiver, nurse, therapist, family counselor, entrepreneurs, meal prep worker, political advocates, police expert, entertainers, singer, artists, decorators,  website designers, photographers, repair workers, marketers, and a myriad of other tasks. Early educators are some of the most creative and flexible people in any industry as they are used to constantly adapting to meeting the needs of young children. Early educators have the knowledge, talent, creativity, and experience needed to figure out how to take care of the world’s children in a time of worldwide crisis. Many do all this all while getting not nearly the pay they deserve and dealing with systemic sexist and racism.  

This is not to say they will not be support. The early childhood education industry should get support from the business community, government at every level, and everyday people. But make no mistake about it, it will be the early childhood educators figuring all of this out like they have done before. And 20 years from now, when the history books, textbooks, and NAEYC articles are written, we will learn about this time when early childhood educators used their considerable skills to figure out all the challenges that are before them now.