Creating a sense of “Belonging” BUT does it have to be a Tree?

I am going to play Devil’s Advocate. The reason being is that so often I see and hear educators talk about or request photos and information on “Belonging Trees”.

While these can look quite beautiful and effective I question why? With the many changes occurring in early childhood education over the last decade include the Scrapbooking fad, Emergent Curriculum which at times ended up as pre-planned themes and now the “Tree”, I have to question whether it is another fad or possibly a quick fix or tick the box approach to reflecting the Early Years Learning Framework in our services.

Like I said, these Belonging Trees can look amazing and I am not against them, however they can only be viewed as one aspect, a practice, a tool if you will, to demonstrate how educators are creating a sense of Belonging, Being & Becoming in their service.

Unfortunately some services and educators perceive that this “Tree” or a “BBB” sign is enough and daily practices don’t actually reflect these concepts.

So I ask… do we need a tree? Have we actually asked ourselves and others what would make children, families and educators feel a sense of Belonging, Being & Becoming? As an educator and parent (and once a long time ago, a child myself) this would be about relationships, trust, respect, open communication, being able to ask questions, share lives, laugh, challenge safely, feel comfortable, be able to be myself….

I have asked children what it would mean for them and their responses were similar…. having friends, feeling safe, laughing and playing.

Not once did I think about or hear others say they wanted a tree with photos, a sign or display with these words. As Belonging, Being and Becoming is much more than this – is a feeling, it’s a state of mind, it is about emotion and relationships.

So as we are putting up our displays we really need to reflect on these and ask ourselves, why and how do these support positive relationships and more importantly are these displays reflective of our daily practices, hence just one part of the “big picture”?