Eagerness for Relationships - by Deb Curtis (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Share the joy of relationships with toddlers. Young children are far more socially capable than we often assume. In Eager for Relationships, Deb Curtis invites readers to see toddlers as caring, observant people with an innate drive to connect, cooperate, and belong. Drawing on stories from real early childhood settings and current research on early social development, this book challenges the idea that children need to be "taught" how to relate. Instead, it shows how empathy, fairness, and collaboration are already emerging and reveals how adults can nurture those strengths with intention and care. Warm, practical, and inspiring, Eager for Relationships offers educators examples, strategies, and reflection questions for recognizing children's natural gifts for relationship-building and for supporting those gifts in everyday practice.

About the Author

Deb Curtis has spent the past forty years working with children and teachers in early childhood programs. She holds an MA in human development from Pacific Oaks College and has worked as an infant/toddler caregiver, preschool and school age child care teacher, CDA trainer, Head Start education coordinator, college instructor, and assistant director of a child care program. She is the coauthor of numerous professional learning books with Margie Carter, including The Visionary Director, Training Teachers, The Art of Awareness, Reflecting Children's Lives, Learning Together with Young Children, and Reflecting in Communities of Practice, and the author of Really Seeing Children.