Healthy Families in Early Childhood Education

"If kids come to educators and teachers from strong, healthy functioning families, it makes our job easier. If they do not come to us from strong, healthy, functioning families, it makes our job more important." 
~Barbara Colrose  

Child Development Theorists That Help Us Teach

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Bowlby, Skinner, and Dr. Spock all have major contributions to child development theories we use today. We found a great cheat sheet video we can use when parent conferencing or simply providing a great scientific foundation for why we teach the way we do in our classrooms.

Dr. Spock has the #2 Best selling book globally!

We like to always be ready to have an answer next time anyone make the comment that all we do is play all day.

We know, if anyone really knew how hard teachers actually worked they wouldn't call it play at all.

For all you hard working teachers out there...

We understand.

4 Things to Look for Before Potty Training a Child

"Are we there yet?"

Let’s face it, everyone has some pretty interesting insight on how to effectively potty train a child. Well meaning pediatricians give lots of information but are sometimes vague in the approach. Dr. Tony Braselton,  has always advised patience and mutual respect (well said). Then of course, there is the old school method of the naughty child that must be punished for making a puddle.
I have found it unfortunate that many preschools will not take children into programs until they are potty trained. This puts a tremendous amount of pressure no only on the parents but on the child as well. With so much to do, see, touch taste and feel, not all children learn about how their body works after merely strolling on the planet three years.

What I have found is most helpful is if we are aware of what would make children successful potty learners in the first place. Sure, we can all run around placing a child on the potty every half hour but who is really trained then?
I have actually narrowed it down to 4 things to look for before potty training and this will cut down the potty training/learning time by 50%.

4 Things to Look For Before Potty Training a Child

1. The child shows interest in the toilet and when others go potty.
2. The child shows bladder control and can stay dry for long periods of time.
3. The child feels uncomfortable when wet or soiled. He/She will usually tell you before, after or during the process of elimination.
4. The child can remove simple clothing like buttons or snaps. Removing their own clothes is part of this process as well.

Having all four attributes are best. All attributes may not come at the same time, some may manifest early.
Talking to your child very young, getting and reading books about the potty really help encourage and prepare them.
We hope these tips are helpful and let us know how it’s all coming along for you!

Mine!

Egocentric: The thinking in the preoperative stage of cognitive development where children believe everyone sees the world from the same perspective as he or she does.

I have often been asked by parents, “When will my child stop saying, MINE!” or “When will my child learn to share?” My comedic answer is when 16, but going over the whole developmental explanation of why children share or not can be quite lengthy. In the preschool environment we take turns with toys. All toys are shared through this manner. It has been my experience that a preschooler who is fed, content and happy will be more apt to share than one that is discontent. Whatever the case, early childhood educators have to be on alert and ready to assist children during these times.
Armed with the knowledge I have as an educator I still struggle with sharing somethings as an adult. How does one take turns with chocolate, anyway?
I did have one parent try to pin me down on an age a child is ready to ‘share’. I finally answered her by asking her for her car keys to her coveted Lexus. She reluctantly handed them to me out of her purse as I said, “You wouldn’t mind sharing your car with me would you?”
“But that’s different.” She explained, “What if you crash my car or something?”
“I’m sure children worry about others destroying their toys.” I said flatly.
“But…” She stammered.
“But what?” I smiled, jiggling her car keys.
“But it’s mine!”
 Sometimes the answer just seems to work itself out through the conversation.

Mary Ainsworth and The Origin Of Attachment in Early Childhood Education

"There are two lasting bequests we can give our children. One is roots. The other is wings."
~Hodding Carter, Jr.

Mary Ainsworth was so helpful to me in understanding separation anxiety in young children and the need to bond with children. I had actually worked at a wonderful school that had a “Separation Anxiety Policy” built around Mary Ainsworth’s theory. The parents loved it and it worked like a charm. The assistant director happened to be a Psychology major.
There will always be tears in preschool, all kinds of tears. I like the little ones to know we understand-the tears dry much quicker when there is an understanding hand to dry them.

Applying Piaget's Developmental Theory in Early Childhood Education

“The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done.”~Jean Piaget

There is a lot to say about developmental theorists and where it all started in early childhood education. After a while, getting to know my preschoolers and organizing my class seems like good old fashion common sense. But before I actually got the hang of preschool my common sense was not so common.

I enjoy David Elkind and Jean Piaget.  After a while I realized there were a lot of fancy words they used with applications that were automatic within the preschool environment, or a home daycare. Here are some of Piaget’s developmental theory highlights…

Piaget on Learning
Learning is a creative activity. The child always takes something of himself or herself and puts it all together to construct a product that is new-a product that cannot be reduced to either the child or the environment.
Piaget on the Teacher’s Role
The role of the teacher is to create an attractive environment conducive to learning. The end point is the ability to have rules and to use rules in flexible and open ways while creating fresh ones for new situations.


Do you think Piaget’s Developmental Theory still hold true today?

What is Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Education?

“A child’s play is a child’s work."

I have often looked at ‘early tools’ in museums done by skillful cave dwellers. Today we still have difficulty replicating them.

In the Montessori, play is viewed a bit differently, but there is a history behind it-I am not so quick to judge methods to learning for children because we all learn in so many different ways in early childhood settings. I know I learned many thing in unconventional ways, and many things I never learned in school.
I am often concerned when I see children made to ‘big kid work’ before they are ready or even interested. Early Childhood theorists have stated there are no tools out there today that will make any child smarter despite their claims, yet those marketing tactics are still out there. The fact still remains that the natural way children learn is through their work/play. In early childhood education this means bonding with the child, allowing the child to take healthy risks, enjoy meaningful activities, gain confidence in their skills/abilities and setting the child up for success in social situations.
Children recognize when they do something well. They appreciate when others notice it as well.
As a little girl I received lots of encouragement for certain skills and intelligences I had and I pursued them. It proved to be quite lucrative for me in the long run.
I have always seen compliments and encouragement as verbal hugs…
What kind of verbal hugs do you get or give?

Brain Development and the Importance of Play in Early Childhood Education

“The conscious mind may be compared to a fountain

playing in the sun and falling back into the great subterranean

pool of subconscious from which it rises.” 

~Sigmund Freud

 Expressive art and art experiences, opportunities for music and movement, literacy and pre-literacy are all part of a child’s 'work' or 'play' in early childhood education.

This is all part of early learning and there is a tremendous impact on a child’s brain during the early years.

When a baby is born he has approximately 100,000,000,000 tiny cells that make up his brain. It’s about the same number of stars we have in our Milky Way Galaxy!
By age two his brain is forming faster than it ever will in his entire lifetime…
And by age three he has more cell to cell connections than the average adult!
The more connections your brain can make…the more it can do.
Pretty amazing…
Whatever we do teach our children, I am so glad we care enough to teach them well so this will stay with them for a lifetime....

Cognitive Development in Preschool

Dr. Einstein was not successful in school, 
but he found something in the air from his 
own imagination and his own brain power, 
and look what he did.
~Eartha Kitt

The brain has always fascinated me. I see children struggle with various tasks and parents fret and compare their child to siblings or other children with in the preschool classroom…. Often times within weeks or months they have surpassed their peers and everyone’s expectations with skills they have acquired.

The human brain is working so rapidly at this time that we often for get that a little person is still under construction….foundations are being laid, walls being built, a whole lot of hammering and shaking is going on.
It is such an amazing process and I am so glad to be a part of it. Just like what we feed the body I know it’s important to feed or minds proper information. There are things I can do with the preschoolers to keep the cognitively alert with in the early childhood setting.
*Maintaining a safe happy environment
*Promoting kindness and a sense of community
*Encouraging creativity, questions, and science all around us
*Including the children’s ideas and play in the preschool curriculum.
I like the video because it had so much information…David Elkind was one of my favorite authors. I apologize for the music at the end of the video…um, at least I think it’s music.
It gave me the heebee-geebee’s.

Freud on Children

“What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.”
~Sigmund Freud

I guess Mr. Freud would have found me more interesting as a child then?
Come to think of it....

Appreciating Teachers

"One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child."
~Carl Jung