Ali Black

In our shared conversations about young children and all that impacts on their lives, we are adept at holding together ideas and concepts which others might consider opposites. For instance, we are comfortable with the notion of education and care, work and play, children and their families. We do not feel the need to choose one over the other, allocate one more importance than the other, nor place in a hierarchical order. This is not even a matter of finding a balance "we know that both are necessary and true (McArdle & McWilliam, 2005). Early childhood professionals are better at living with contradictions than we know. We live with ideas which do not always sit well with each other, but remain in tension. But maybe we are not so good at articulating these ways of thinking in our dealings with others.