This fascinating book presents the stories of infant/toddler caregivers and their work to illustrate the complexity of balancing relationships with babies, families, coworkers, and self, yet remaining emotionally present and mindfully engaged. Enid Elliot explores the inevitable tensions of working within these various relationships and demonstrates how proficient caregivers can develop strategies for achieving this delicate balance. In the process, she raises provocative questions about how we care for babies, and how to provide education and support for their caregivers.

Pedagogical narration is a way of recording ordinary moments of children's play through photos, video, or transcription. Inspired by Reggio Emilia's call to look at documentation as a valuable tool for making learning more visible, pedagogical narration offers an opportunity to move beyond checklists and quick answers to a more complex understanding of how children learn through play, and how teachers might facilitate and support that learning in innovative ways.

Many early childhood educators are familiar with pedagogical narration, but are less clear on how to integrate it into their teaching or practice. This book is designed to help instructors do just that, and to inspire them and their students with new ideas. The book includes both a rationale for the need to critically reflect on early-years education and an outline of the process for doing pedagogical narration in the classroom. It includes stories the authors have collected and discussions of how to use these stories to render a more complex understanding of how children learn. The goal of this cutting-edge work is to create possibilities for alternative childhood pedagogies and to revitalize early childhood education and practice.