Nursery World - Screaming point

People who work with children are prone to various forms of stress, but they can learn to avoid it or turn it to positive effects, says Andrea Clifford-Poston No-one is immune from stress and maybe this is why the word has become so popular. It is also possible, however, that stress is a word used nowadays with many different meanings. A grandmother who says she 'didn't have time to be stressed by childrearing in her day' probably found it just as difficult as her daughter does, but describes it differently. She was, she says, 'just busy'. What is the difference between ordinary 'busy-ness', hard work and stress?

No-one is immune from stress and maybe this is why the word has become so popular. It is also possible, however, that stress is a word used nowadays with many different meanings. A grandmother who says she 'didn't have time to be stressed by childrearing in her day' probably found it just as difficult as her daughter does, but describes it differently. She was, she says, 'just busy'. What is the difference between ordinary 'busy-ness', hard work and stress?

When stress starts

One nursery I visited had increased its places for children with special educational needs from four to eight. Staff reacted with mixed feelings, pleased that their work was being recognised but anxious about 'the extra workload'. By the time I was present at a team meeting, two weeks later, people were feeling angry and frustrated. Most of the staff were afraid they wouldn't be able to cope and felt the decision had been 'foisted upon them'. They described feeling 'stressed' by the change in policy. In fact, they were anxious about the change in policy.

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