WEBVTT 00:00:08.500 --> 00:00:12.320 Welcome to the Forgotten ECE. The show where 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:14.800 before and after school educators, summer camp 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:18.120 and PD staff and CYWs have a place where they 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:21.280 are seen, heard and valued. I'm your host, Jamie 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:32.159 Wakeler, and I'm so excited you're here. Hey 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:36.329 friends, it's Jamie and welcome back. to the 00:00:36.329 --> 00:00:39.829 forgotten EC. It feels so good to be chatting 00:00:39.829 --> 00:00:42.929 here with you again. I don't know about you, 00:00:43.509 --> 00:00:46.549 but these days between all the noise, all the 00:00:46.549 --> 00:00:50.469 schedules, all the shift expectations, I've been 00:00:50.469 --> 00:00:53.490 craving something real. Something grounded. Something 00:00:53.490 --> 00:00:55.590 that reminds me why I started doing this work 00:00:55.590 --> 00:00:58.250 in the first place. So today I thought we could 00:00:58.250 --> 00:01:00.189 talk about something we don't always name out 00:01:00.189 --> 00:01:03.329 loud. But every single before and after school 00:01:03.329 --> 00:01:06.390 educator feels it deep down. The emotional labor 00:01:06.390 --> 00:01:11.930 of split shift work. Join me now. All right. 00:01:12.349 --> 00:01:15.870 There is some benefit to this split shift because 00:01:15.870 --> 00:01:17.849 you have a whole in -between day that you can 00:01:17.849 --> 00:01:19.969 do things in. You can do your grocery shopping. 00:01:20.150 --> 00:01:22.730 You can prep for supper. You can get some work 00:01:22.730 --> 00:01:25.629 done. You can work on your CPL. You can hold 00:01:25.629 --> 00:01:28.099 space for people. But... If you've ever worked 00:01:28.099 --> 00:01:30.200 those early mornings and late afternoons you 00:01:30.200 --> 00:01:33.420 know it's not just about holding time. It's about 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:35.480 holding space for children, for families, and 00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:38.040 for yourself. Even when you feel like there's 00:01:38.040 --> 00:01:42.379 nothing left to hold. Blit shift life is strange, 00:01:42.620 --> 00:01:45.980 isn't it? We start before the sun, often before 00:01:45.980 --> 00:01:48.480 our own kids if we have them even wake up. We 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:51.620 unlock doors, flick on the lights, and we welcome 00:01:51.620 --> 00:01:55.150 the very first sleepy faces of the day. Sometimes 00:01:55.150 --> 00:01:58.049 with cereal in hand, sometimes with tears. And 00:01:58.049 --> 00:02:01.329 those early minutes we've already been doing 00:02:01.329 --> 00:02:04.409 a thousand invisible things. We're reading moods. 00:02:04.590 --> 00:02:06.609 We're diffusing conflicts before they start. 00:02:07.010 --> 00:02:09.389 We're checking the clock, checking the weather, 00:02:09.610 --> 00:02:12.389 checking the allergies, and remembering which 00:02:12.389 --> 00:02:14.969 child's grandma is picking them up today. And 00:02:14.969 --> 00:02:16.889 then just as quickly as it started, it's over. 00:02:17.250 --> 00:02:19.490 The morning ends, the room empties, and suddenly 00:02:19.490 --> 00:02:21.919 it's quiet again. Then there's that middle space. 00:02:22.180 --> 00:02:24.280 You know the one I mean. That strange in -between 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:26.599 stretch of time. When you're off the clock but 00:02:26.599 --> 00:02:29.080 somehow your brain is still running a mile a 00:02:29.080 --> 00:02:32.159 minute. Do I have everything ready for this afternoon? 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:34.319 Did I sign the attendance sheet? Will my staff 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:37.300 be in? And also what am I doing with my life 00:02:37.300 --> 00:02:39.639 right now? You're not working but you're not 00:02:39.639 --> 00:02:43.759 not working either. You're in this limbo. That 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:46.280 takes an emotional toll and no one really prepares 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:48.939 you for. We talk a lot about burnout in this 00:02:48.939 --> 00:02:52.340 field, but we rarely talk about the unique burnout 00:02:52.340 --> 00:02:55.259 of split shift work. The exhaustion that doesn't 00:02:55.259 --> 00:02:57.400 just come from doing, it comes from switching, 00:02:57.659 --> 00:02:59.860 switching gears from work mode to home mode and 00:02:59.860 --> 00:03:02.000 then back to work mode again, trying to have 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:03.879 a normal day in the middle of the work day that 00:03:03.879 --> 00:03:06.960 never really ends. Some of us spend it running 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:10.319 errands, prepping dinner, maybe napping if we're 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:13.889 lucky who naps. I mean I wish I could nap. Others 00:03:13.889 --> 00:03:16.349 pick up a second job because let's be honest 00:03:16.349 --> 00:03:19.169 this field doesn't always pay and now to live 00:03:19.169 --> 00:03:23.530 comfortably on a one -shift and Some of us just 00:03:23.530 --> 00:03:26.650 sit in our cars in silence for a while because 00:03:26.650 --> 00:03:28.930 it's the only quiet space that we'll see all 00:03:28.930 --> 00:03:31.729 day And yet every afternoon here we are we show 00:03:31.729 --> 00:03:34.469 up again smiling grounded ready to hold space 00:03:34.469 --> 00:03:37.409 for a brand new round of emotion energy and needs 00:03:37.409 --> 00:03:41.050 That's not just a job. That's emotional resilience 00:03:41.500 --> 00:03:44.879 That's love in emotion, and it deserves to be 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:48.719 recognized as real professional emotional work. 00:03:49.060 --> 00:03:53.340 You know, sometimes I think about how we're often 00:03:53.340 --> 00:03:56.240 described as before and after school care providers. 00:03:56.680 --> 00:03:59.979 It sounds transactional, doesn't it? Like we 00:03:59.979 --> 00:04:03.659 just supervise time. But what we really do is 00:04:03.659 --> 00:04:07.259 hold the edges of a child's day. We see them 00:04:07.259 --> 00:04:09.780 when they're waking up, when their hair's messy 00:04:09.780 --> 00:04:12.169 and their emotions are big. We see them after 00:04:12.169 --> 00:04:15.310 school when they're overstimulated, hungry, and 00:04:15.310 --> 00:04:17.750 carrying the day's weight on their shoulders. 00:04:18.329 --> 00:04:22.689 We meet them in their most human moments, tired, 00:04:23.370 --> 00:04:27.170 silly, grumpy, joyful, and we love them through 00:04:27.170 --> 00:04:30.449 it. We're the first smile and the last adult 00:04:30.449 --> 00:04:33.350 they see before going home. We really were this 00:04:33.350 --> 00:04:36.170 safe landing. The space where they can breathe, 00:04:36.589 --> 00:04:40.060 reset, and just be. That is not filling time. 00:04:40.379 --> 00:04:44.740 That's building trust. That right there is relationship 00:04:44.740 --> 00:04:49.279 based teaching. That's hard work. The kind that 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:52.100 never fits neatly on a timesheet. But let's be 00:04:52.100 --> 00:04:54.620 honest. It's hard sometimes to hold space for 00:04:54.620 --> 00:04:57.779 everyone else when yours feels empty. The early 00:04:57.779 --> 00:04:59.720 mornings catch up with you. The middle of the 00:04:59.720 --> 00:05:02.600 day limbo makes you feel invisible. And right 00:05:02.600 --> 00:05:05.860 now, when it's dark, when you go to work and 00:05:05.860 --> 00:05:09.220 dark when you get home, it is taxing. By the 00:05:09.220 --> 00:05:12.399 end of the week and by the weekends, you're so 00:05:12.399 --> 00:05:16.180 emotionally spent that even the idea of self 00:05:16.180 --> 00:05:18.680 -care feels like more work. So if that's you, 00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:21.079 if you've ever driven home and cried in your 00:05:21.079 --> 00:05:23.560 car because you love this job, but also it's 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:25.660 breaking your heart a little, I want you to know 00:05:25.660 --> 00:05:28.160 that you're not alone. You're not weak for feeling 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:30.819 tired. You're not ungrateful for wanting more. 00:05:30.980 --> 00:05:35.560 It is hard. It is hard. It is hard. to take all 00:05:35.560 --> 00:05:38.600 of this emotional weight that we take each and 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:41.060 every day with our school -aged children, pile 00:05:41.060 --> 00:05:44.819 on our emotional selves and our lives and the 00:05:44.819 --> 00:05:47.920 things that are going on, and then throw on this 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:53.259 darkness. You definitely are not just anything. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:56.660 You're an educator, a professional, a caretaker, 00:05:56.819 --> 00:05:59.819 a guide, a bridge between school and home. The 00:05:59.819 --> 00:06:03.480 work you do matters, even when it feels small 00:06:03.480 --> 00:06:07.300 or invisible. It ripples out in ways you'll never 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:11.160 see. Every single high -five, every comforting 00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:14.959 hug, every joke at snack time, those moments 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:18.279 built. Belonging they tell children you are safe 00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:21.459 you are seen and you matter and you my friend 00:06:21.459 --> 00:06:25.120 you as the educator do that you Make this safe 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.660 space for them every day You teach them how to 00:06:28.660 --> 00:06:31.040 hold space for others just like you've been holding 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:34.079 space for them this entire time But here's the 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:37.540 thing you can't hold space for others if you 00:06:37.540 --> 00:06:40.300 don't hold some for yourself So I invite you 00:06:40.300 --> 00:06:42.300 to pause and think about what fills you back 00:06:42.300 --> 00:06:45.410 up Is it music on your drive between shifts? 00:06:45.709 --> 00:06:49.649 I know it is for me. You can catch me blast in 00:06:49.649 --> 00:06:52.670 right now. It's golden in between my drives. 00:06:52.930 --> 00:06:55.870 I have an empowering it's called empowering playlist 00:06:55.870 --> 00:06:58.430 and I absolutely love it and it just it pumps 00:06:58.430 --> 00:07:01.040 me up. Is it laughing with your coworker after 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:03.860 a chaotic day? Is it giving yourself permission 00:07:03.860 --> 00:07:06.259 to not be productive in the middle of that time? 00:07:06.500 --> 00:07:11.180 To rest? To walk? To just exist without guilt? 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:15.000 Refilling does not have to be grand. It's small, 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:17.920 steady moments of kindness to yourself because 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:21.100 this work... The human, emotional, beautiful 00:07:21.100 --> 00:07:25.000 work of school -aged care runs on love, not caffeine. 00:07:25.220 --> 00:07:28.480 Okay, a little caffeine too. Because I wouldn't 00:07:28.480 --> 00:07:30.319 die without caffeine. Okay, I'm being dramatic, 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:33.139 but you know what I mean. It's not selfish. It's 00:07:33.139 --> 00:07:36.379 sustainable when you take care of yourself because 00:07:36.379 --> 00:07:38.500 you're protecting your ability to care for others. 00:07:39.019 --> 00:07:41.920 So, in case no one's told you lately... I'm here 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:45.519 to do so. What you do matters. How you show up 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:48.699 in this role matters. And the way you keep holding 00:07:48.699 --> 00:07:51.819 space, even when you're running on fumes, that's 00:07:51.819 --> 00:07:54.800 something sacred. You're not just managing time, 00:07:55.019 --> 00:07:57.779 you're managing hearts. And that's the kind of 00:07:57.779 --> 00:08:00.800 work that leaves a mark not just on children, 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:03.079 but on the world around them. So take a deep 00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:05.860 breath, take a break, drink a coffee or a tree, 00:08:06.120 --> 00:08:10.100 maybe some water. And remember, you are not forgotten. 00:08:10.889 --> 00:08:13.129 Thank you so much for being here with me today. 00:08:13.629 --> 00:08:17.069 If this episode hits home, please share it with 00:08:17.069 --> 00:08:19.129 someone who gets it. That co -worker who always 00:08:19.129 --> 00:08:21.509 shows up earlier, stays late. Or the one who 00:08:21.509 --> 00:08:23.730 makes you laugh on these hard days. Until next 00:08:23.730 --> 00:08:27.490 time, keep showing up, keep caring deeply and 00:08:27.490 --> 00:08:30.970 keep remembering that you are real. And what 00:08:30.970 --> 00:08:34.509 you do is vital and extraordinary. You are not 00:08:34.509 --> 00:08:43.129 forgotten. Thank you. Amazing listeners for your 00:08:43.129 --> 00:08:45.330 support. Don't forget to follow me on Instagram 00:08:45.330 --> 00:08:48.750 at missjamey underscore R -E -C -E. Give a star 00:08:48.750 --> 00:08:51.169 rating and leave a review. Have something you 00:08:51.169 --> 00:08:53.330 want to hear about in relation to before and 00:08:53.330 --> 00:08:55.330 after school programs or full day summer camp? 00:08:55.610 --> 00:08:58.809 DM me or comment. Again, thank you so much and 00:08:58.809 --> 00:08:59.389 happy learning.