Cultivating Professional Friendships in Early Childhood Education

Early childhood educators are skilled in supporting and promoting children's friendships. But adult professional friendships, sometimes known as critical friendships, are also integral to early childhood education, giving educators daily support and collaboration, nurturing their professional and pedagogical growth, and-not to be discounted-making the job fun! Using a parallel process that makes connections to children's friendships, author Diane Kashin draws on a wealth of research and a lifetime of professional friendships to invite readers to muse with her on what it means to be a friend, how to make friends and keep friends, and what happens when friendships end.