Teamwork

Today's thought is about 'Teamwork'.

We have to remember that we live on this earth together. It means that we are sharing this earth with others.

The word teamwork by itself contains two words which is team and work.

We need to question ourselves whether we are contributing our work to the team efforts or not.

As a leader, we need to be more careful to lead and direct our team. 

It is important that everyone in the team have a healthy body and mind.

Example:

Some people trip others up to get what they want.

Explanation:

That example shows that there is no teamwork.

Another example:

A leader deceives one or more people in the team to get a certain result.

Explanation:

A leader is the head of the team.

If the leader deceives the team, the leader is destroying the team spirit.

Self-reflection: 

What will we do as a team member or as the leader of a team to maintain the team spirit?

©Tina Adi

THINGS THAT EDUCATORS DON'T DO

Being an educator means he or she is always aware to be a role model for children. 

While in front of children, Educators are not supposed to do the things that are listed below :

• sit down on a table. 

• eat any food that fell down on a table even though it landed on the table less than a minute (or ten seconds!).
• wipe their wet hands on their clothes after washing their hands.

• call a child's name using the name of the country of their ancestry.

©Tina Adi

HOW TO STOP COMPLAINTS QUICKLY

Back then I was a Head of Department of Early Childhood, an Acting Early Childhood and Primary School Principal and a Primary School Principal in international and national schools in Indonesia, I used to handle complaints from parents. 

I succeeded in softening the complaints by listening their complaints attentively and then waiting until they (parents) finished talking.  After that I would say, "I am sorry about that". Then I promised them to find out what caused it to happen and then to get back to them as soon as possible to sort out all the problems. I also encouraged them to complaint to me if they were not happy with the results or conditions that occurred during that time.

To cut a long story short, I could reduce complaints that occured or might occur by delivering what I promised to them (parents),  making myself available to listen to their complaints respectfully and solving the problems that occurred as soon as possible.

©Tina Adi

BE AWARE OF SOME TYPES OF LEADERSHIP STYLES

When we are a newcomer in an organisation or company, we have no idea why our colleagues are doing this and that. Most of the time people are responding to the leadership style in the workplace.

Here are some tips to understand the workplace environment:

• Humiliate and crush leadership style

This style is absolutely against the psychological, professional, development and  wellbeing their subordinates.

• Lip service leadership style

It feels nice in the beginning, but it will be destructive at a  certain point.

• No communication leadership style

This leadership style will cause frustration to their subordinates because communication is important.

• Handball the problem leadership style

This leader has a tendency to handball the problem to their subordinates inappropriately. This leadership style is enjoying their position, reward (salary) and facilities, but not the responsibility as a leader.

©Tina Adi

BOREDOM CAN CAUSE ANXIETY, UNCONTROLLABLE BEHAVIOURS AND INJURIES

Based on my observation as an Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) Educator at a variety of services, I witnessed bored children were anxious and they did not know what to do. They came to me every 10 minutes and asked me about the time until they were picked up by their parents.

Sometimes some of them endangered themselves by going to the places that were not safe for them and out of bounds.
Most children could not do some risk assessments before playing.

Boredom can cause children to do unsafe activities. This might cause injuries to themselves. Example: children went to the bushes area that is out of bounds without asking permission from their educators. They (children) might forget that snakes can be in the bushes area and there are deadly snakes in Queensland, especially during mating season. There maybe other types of reptiles there, as well.

How to help children to overcome their boredom?
The best way is to redirect them (children) to do some fun and safe activities before their boredom escalated.
It is important for educators to know what caused the boredom. For example, if a child's best friend does not attend the service, often the child will be bored. Understanding this, the educator will provide those children who are missing their friends with activities to redirect them to focus on positive and safe activities.

I could see that most of the children who are attending the OSHC program need guidance and direction on how to enjoy their play in a safe environment.

It will be better if the service also provides a variety of decent toys and tools for children to play with.

Sometimes bored children might yank their peers or educators' chain to get rid of their boredom. Educators need to be aware of this. Educators need to be careful so that their emotions will not kick in as a result of a child's negative behaviours.

Educators need to guide the victims of the harassment to be calm, So that they can think clearly in order to act appropriately.

The key to create a boredom free and safe environment for children is educators supervise properly, observe actively, stay focus on the task and step in at the right time to minimise any children's behaviours that may trigger unwanted conflicts.

©Tina Adi

A Multicultural Food Idea, About Japan

Sushi Making

Ingredients:
Sushi rice:
• ½ kg of sushi rice
• 2 dessert spoons of raw sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 5 dessert spoons of sushi seasoning

Filling:
• 5 sausages

Note: filling can be changed according to your taste.
You can use a can of tuna or cucumbers or carrots or fried finger chicken nuggets or beef floss, etc.

Sushi wrappers:
5 sheets of seaweed for sushi (nori)

For serving:
• soy sauce for sushi
• Japanese mayonnaise

How to make sushi:

• Put a piece of seaweed (the shiny side down) on a chopping board or a flat plate.

• Cover it with an even layer of seasoned sushi rice. 

• Put the filing on top of the rice closest to you according to your taste. 

• Hold the seaweed, rice and filling and then roll it away from you. 

• Squeeze the sushi roll tight so that the filing and the rice will stick together. 

• Cut the sushi roll according to your taste.

• Ready to be served


Sushi rice can be changed with mashed potatoes if you cannot eat rice

How to make mashed potatoes:
• Slice the 5 potatoes into 4 to 6 pieces each making them easy to steam and mash.
• Steam the cut potatoes until they are soft (about 10 minutes).
• Mashed them down.
• Let them cool down. 

• Ready to be used

©Tina Adi

A Multicultural Food Idea: Xiao Mai Making

Ingredients:

500 gr of minced chicken

4 cloves of garlic

2 chicken eggs 

15 gr of shiitake mushrooms 

2 medium sized carrots

½ of a teaspoon of sesame oil

¼ of a teaspoon of ground white pepper

¼ of a teaspoon of salt

150 gr of tapioca flour 

5 leaves of spring onions

2 dessert spoons of chicken powder (brand: knorr)

Dumpling skin wrappers:

100 dumpling skins (the round ones)

How to cook:

• Cut the mushrooms and carrots into small pieces.

• Combine all the ingredients and stir it evenly. 

• Place a desert spoon of the stirred ingredients on each dumpling skin wrapper. 

• Pinched together all side of the wrapper to form a flower like shape at the top, sealing in the minced chicken ingredients at the top. 

• Put each xiao mai in the steamer using a high heat setting.

• Steam them for 20 minutes.

• Ready to be served.

©Tina Adi