Plenary Keynote | Dr Junlei Li | How Do We Know We Are Enough?
| Thursday, June 12, 2025 |
| 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM |
| Plaza Terrace |
Synopsis
What makes any of us “good enough”? Whether we serve children directly, or support families and educators, we invest ourselves in building healthy relationships with human beings. Often, no matter what we do or how much we do, it seems that helping professionals often work in a “never enough” environment.
This presentation is intended as a reflection and a reminder that the simple, ordinary things we do with other human beings do in fact matter. They matter in ways that can be seen and felt in moments when we really show up for others, and in ways that can be measured over the long run even if we are not there to see or hear it ourselves.
Speaker
Dr Junlei Li
Co-Chair, Human Development and Education; Saul Zaentz Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education
Harvard University
How Do We Know We Are Enough?
Biography
Junlei Li, Ph.D. is the Program Chair of the Human Development and Education and the Saul Zaentz Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. As a developmental psychologist, his research and practice focus on supporting the helpers – those who serve children and families on the frontlines of education and social services. Studying orphanages, child care, schools, youth programs, he co-develops the “Simple Interactions” approach (www.simpleinteractions.org) to help affirm what ordinary people do extraordinarily well with children in everyday moments. His work is significantly inspired by the pioneering work of Fred Rogers when he served as the Co-Director and Rita M. McGinley Chair for Early Learning and Children’s Media at the Fred Rogers Center.
