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Marie Lanen
Head of parenting section (baby, pregnancy, family)
Bring together the trio of parents, children and early childhood professionals; this is the main objective of the National Early Childhood Week. This event celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2023. The opportunity to come back to the challenges of the sector with Eléonore Barthouil, director of operations and communication of the association Agir pour la Petite Enfance.
This year, the National Early Childhood Week celebrates its 10th anniversary. For the occasion, the association Agir pour la Petite Enfance, at the genesis of this popular event, wishes to explore the extraordinary in everyday life as children do. Through workshops and guides for professionals in the sector but also parents; Early Childhood Week 2023 accompanies the trio of parents, children and professionals in order to strengthen their bonds around babies. Doctissimo met Eléonore Barthouil, director of operations and communication of the association Agir pour la Petite Enfance who tells us more about the National Week of Early Childhood.
Doctissimo: Early Childhood Week is celebrating its 10th anniversary, who is behind this event?
Eleonore Barthouil : Under the impetus of the latest scientific data around the development of toddlers on the one hand, and the observation of a lack of knowledge of the population on the other (professionals and families), a collective has been organized around of an association Acting for early childhood bringing together scientists, pedagogical engineers, educators of young children and committed enthusiasts. A strong idea has emerged: organize events to strengthen the ties of the trio parents, children, professionals, while promoting the work of early childhood professionals. The idea is to make scientific and educational data accessible and to support parenting. This is how the National Early Childhood Week and the Girafes Awards were born (1st creativity trophies for early childhood professionals).
What is the purpose of Early Childhood Week?
Eleonore Barthouil : The initial objective is to bring together the trio parents, children, professionals around games, workshops and exchanges, meetings, coffee-parents for a week to celebrate creativity and pedagogy in early childhood. This event also aims to fight against inequalities of destiny through play and awakening.
Eleonore Barthouil : An ethics and educational committee meets every year to define the theme of the annual edition. To celebrate 10 years in 2023, the committee has chosen a festive POP theme such as Popular, Open and Sparkling. The explanatory phrase: “Exploring the extraordinary in everyday life” encourages you to question and reflect on your own environment and rediscover it with a fresh and playful eye like a child for whom everything is source of gameexploration and learning.
How does this National Early Childhood Week translate concretely?
Eleonore Barthouil : Each childcare center organizes its own system using the tools created and made available by the association free of charge on the weekpetitechildhood.fr website. You can find a communication kit and an educational kit there.
We are very proud of the progress made. Today, more than 10,200 places have signed up and downloaded the kits. Families can also draw inspiration from these tools.
It is estimated that more than 2 million people are involved in the system between professionals, children, parents and institutions, including many municipalities, neighborhood associations, cultural venues and even paramedics.
This event is also a way to highlight early childhood professions, what are the current challenges of these professions?
Eleonore Barthouil : We must rely on early childhood professionals as bearers of social cohesion: they help to strengthen the bond between parents and their children. Moreover, the impact of professionals on the awakening of the child is considerable.
In practice, they must be accompanied by:
- Supporting continuing education;
- Raising wages;
- Improving the quality of life at work;
- Changing the way people look at these professions.
Upgrading early childhood professions is essential to solving the shortage problem in this sector. On the other hand, it is important to promote the role of early childhood professionals with parents and to create concrete exchanges between them. They bring a lot in terms of parenting support. Let’s not forget that they are on the front line in preparing the generations of tomorrow.
What message would you like to send to parents? To children and early childhood professionals?
Eleonore Barthouil : To parents: have confidence in yourself and in your children. When you need help, don’t be isolated.
To professionals: You are essential. Your professions are essential for the society of tomorrow. Do not doubt your positive impact in the awakening of the child.
To children: Explore this world at your own pace and marvel.
3 questions to Juliette Laugier, Director of the crèche in Thiverval-Grignon (Les Petits Chaperons Rouges Group)
How long have you been celebrating Early Childhood Week?
I have been the director of the crèche since 2018. We have celebrated National Early Childhood Week every year since my arrival, as my predecessor had done since 2013, when the event was launched.
The Les Petits Chaperons Rouges network has participated in the National Early Childhood Week since its beginnings 10 years ago. At each edition, this event particularly mobilizes the commitment and creativity of our teams, who are always very inspired by the originality and quality of the themes offered. The organization of this big week is even now part of our quality commitments as part of the crech’Expert label. This year, we are an official partner of the SNPE and 407 of our crèches signed up on a voluntary basis to highlight the POP theme.
In concrete terms, how does this work within your crèche?
Each year a new theme is launched for the week of early childhood. Once the announcement of the theme given (usually in October), we plan the event in the event calendar of the year, and send the dates to the parents. Then the team works several months upstream on the theme by section to think about the proposals for games, activities, exploration time that they could offer by adapting to each age group, from babies to older children. . Each day of the week a different proposal is chosen around the theme. This takes the form of an awakening workshop, or exploration time for the youngest, sometimes an open-door workshop between sections inside but also outside. Parents are invited to come and participate with their child in the various workshops, we suggest that they register on the program notice board installed in front of the section. We can also offer parent cafés to discuss an educational theme related to the program.
Does this event highlight the teaching teams?
This event is always eagerly awaited by the teams, their daily work is really highlighted during this event, but also more broadly the jobs in the Early Childhood sector. Each professional is involved in research, development and implementation, this allows each to bring into play their creative skills, imagination. We work on the subject of the early childhood week several months before the event, to prepare it and develop the program for the week on each section (during team meeting time, time off): ideas, organization and conditions practices, workshop schedules, necessary equipment, supervision of children’s workshops, parents’ invitations, creation of the supports and materials used. It’s real teamwork. We also do not hesitate to collaborate with parents to prepare the event by asking them to participate to bring recovery equipment, or to offer to come and animate with the team according to their area of expertise.
It is also a new opportunity to bring parents into the crèche and get them involved, since the national week of early childhood honors the trio Children – Parents – Professionals. This is an essential element that is close to our hearts, because Co-Education is a strong value of our educational project and the pillar of the necessary relationship of trust with families, of the construction of educational coherence around the child. and therefore the quality of reception.
During workshops with parents, it is an opportunity to talk with families about different times of transmission, a moment of friendly sharing where parents can observe their child with others and professionals in a context that changes from daily. Professionals can highlight their pedagogical knowledge, but also accompany and support parenting during these moments.
To find out more about the events of this National Early Childhood Week, discover the interactive map of the association Agir pour la Petite Enfance.