Something has shifted. And most of us working with children can feel it.
Children are arriving in programs more anxious, less able to sit with discomfort, and more disconnected from their bodies, each other, and the natural world. At the same time, many educators are feeling the pressure to fill every moment, manage every outcome, and respond to behaviour rather than what's underneath it.
The research is clear: children need unstructured time, meaningful risk, and relationships with adults who can resist the urge to step in and make everything easier. But creating those conditions asks something of us first.
Our own nervous systems set the tone for the environments we create. When we are regulated, curious, and present, children feel it. When we are reactive, rushed, or disconnected from the natural world around us, they feel that too.
Nature, when we learn to use it intentionally, becomes what Reggio Emilia calls the third teacher. Not a backdrop for activities, but an active part of the learning environment itself.
That is where Grounded begins.
