Top 3 Tantrum Stoppers

This time of year brings out the best in our children, their schedules are off because of all the fun and exciting activities associated with the holidays. Parents often try to squeeze in a few more errands before nap time and this can lead to the dreaded public tantrum. Anyone who has been a parent or guardian has had to endure the public tantrum. Instead of losing your cool, and your senses, try taking a deep breath, smile at an understanding adult nearby, and then see if one of these tips will work:

1. Sometimes it’s ok to give in and choose your battles. Sometimes you need to step in and stop the tantrum, other times if they are not hurting themselves or anyone or anything around them let you toddler express their feelings. Let them get their anger out and then explain the consequences of their tantrum.

2. Bribe. A goal for good behavior can do wonders. Something along the lines of, if you stop fussing until we get to the car, I'll let you watch your favorite video tonight”. The child's favorite things are truly wonderful motivators to use to get the behavior you desire. However be sure to use this tactic sparingly so they don't expect a treat every time they show good behavior.

3. Distract. Distract her/him with something, this a great way to help them to calm down. Put a cartoon video on, listen to music, read a story, watch television, go outside, or watch animals outside your window. This is often not easy to do, but if you find a distraction that works it might be enough to settle the storm.

4. Do not overwhelm a child that really just needs some peace and calm to settle down. Your child mirrors your response to their tantrum. If you respond by yelling at your child this might just increase the tension and raise the level of your child’s tantrum or make it last longer. Try a calming hug and some kind words instead. Your child may just want to know that you understood their feelings or frustration.

Thanksgiving Turkeys

What’s more fun then involving you little ones in decorating the Thanksgiving table. Little ones love to help and parents love to keep the busy during holiday down time. I found this adorable activity on a website called DLTK and added a few ideas on how to use it. Fingerprint turkeys, I love this activity for 2 reasons, the first is that a child of virtually any age can participate in making the turkey and it makes a great keepsake for the family. You can use the fingerprint turkeys to make place cards or even place mats for your guests.

What you need:

brown finger paint

red, yellow and/or orange finger paint
scrap cardboard or an old margarine container lid (something to act as a pallet)
black marker
paper or card stock
contact paper if you decide to make place mats

Directions:

Squeeze a bit of brown finger paint onto a margarine container lid
Squeeze a bit of red and/or orange finger paint onto the lid, spaced away from the brown
paint (or use a second lid)
Stamp the pad of your index finger into the orange or red paint
Use your finger to make an arch of fingerprints as the turkey's tail
Optional: Make a second arch around the first one using your index finger or your pinkie again... you can use the same color or another autumn color for the second arch (it's actually
better to make the outside arch first if you're planning to do two)
Use your thumb finger to stamp a brown thumbprint in the center of the arch as the turkeys body
Use a marker to add feet, a beak and eyes.

This can be a fun and enjoyable activity that will get the whole family into the holiday season. At Goddard Ashburn we use activities such as the one above to keep the children engaged by showing them that learning can be fun.

Call us to arrange a time to visit our school and see what other fun we are up to.

The Teaching Opportunity in Thanksgiving

With the Thanksgiving holiday later this week, I thought we would focus on teaching children about the meaning of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity to teach children about the concepts of compassion and generosity. You may think that your child is too young to fully understand these concepts, but here are a few ways you reinforce these concepts with children.

Volunteer: Volunteering is a great way for your children to see generosity in action. There are numerous chances in every community to volunteer. Homeless shelters, nursing homes, and mentoring programs are just a few. There may also be other opportunities closer to home. Perhaps an elderly relative or neighbor could use a hand. It feels good to help others. Your actions are the most powerful influence on your children and seeing your volunteerism could help them understand and later follow your example.

Being Green: There are several forms of compassion. Compassion can be directed toward people, toward animals and toward the earth. By practicing recycling you can actually teach compassion. Explain to your child why you recycle items. How it’s important to take care of the earth so that it can be in the best shape for future generations.

Top of Form
Thanksgiving is the perfect opportunity for children to learn about compassion and generosity. Teaching children compassion “thanks” is more than having them learn polite phrases and manners. Compassion means that children recognize the impact their actions can have on others and on the world.

What To Look For When Selecting a Childcare Center

Today, parents have several quality childcare options to choose from. Parents can choose to place their children in daycare or preschool for different reasons, but it's safe to say that all parents are seeking the same end -- a safe and caring environment for their children.
Here are the 3 factors that could weigh significantly in making your selection:

SAFETY:

Ask yourself: Is the facility a safe and protected setting? Look for the obvious child safety precautions. Are electrical sockets in the infant room appropriately protected, are steps securely blocked by safety gates, are first aid supplies readily available and up-to-date. Also, make sure to verify that everyone on staff is properly trained in CPR and emergency safety measures. Taking this one step further, check to see if your daycare/preschool provider has an emergency response and evacuation plan. If their facility needs to be locked down or relocated what is their plan?

Goddard School Owners are committed to the safety and security of the children and teachers in their Schools and choose security systems that work best for their individual locations. In addition to formal security, School Owners and their Directors provide the most effective security - that of a personal nature. Visitors are required to present identification and register in Visitor Logs. Alternate caregivers, authorized by children’s parents, must present identification and password information. In addition, GSI developed the Goddard Quality Assurance (QA) program to monitor health and safety policies and procedures, curriculum guidelines and program standards at all Goddard Schools.


QUALIFICATIONS:

Most day care centers don’t have employees who have been trained to work specifically with infants and toddlers. So look for state licensed or accredited facilities. Childcare centers of this type are much more likely to be trained.
Each Goddard School’s faculty is made up of warm and nurturing teachers with a combination of formal education and experience. Goddard School teachers are:

· Selected for their ability to engage children warmly in the learning process through the use of effective and unique lesson plans.
· Required to fulfill education and/or experience requirements.
· Provided opportunities to participate in Goddard Systems University (GSU). GSU has been approved as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET).
· Required to complete an exclusive training series developed specifically for Goddard School teachers. This unique program coaches teachers in the areas of health and safety, curriculum, developmental guidelines and enrichment programs.


ACCREDITATION:

Daycare centers and preschools that wish to be accredited apply to a private accreditation organization. These organizations set stringent standards that are usually much higher than state standards. The purpose of accreditation is to improve the quality of early educational programs. Daycare and preschool directors like to have their programs accredited because parents view accredited programs highly.

Goddard Schools, are accredited by CITA - the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation. CITA is the same accreditation board that accredits private and public schools, colleges and universities. The CITA evaluates quality, continuous improvement and student success. You can be assured that the Goddard programs meet or exceed the accreditation standards and support the emotional, social, behavioral and educational development of your child.

Goddard School Ashburn provides the highest standard of care in a safe, educational challenging environment. Experience the Goddard Ashburn difference.

About Goddard Ashburn

One of the tenants of the Goddard educational philosophy is family communication. The purpose of the Goddard, Ashburn blog is to educate families and potential families on the great things happening at our school. This blog will be updated twice a week with information about what’s happening in our classrooms, from curriculum to projects to art activities we’ll highlight why we are the best choice for your child’s education.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Goddard School, Ashburn, VA, here is a little information on our philosophy

The Goddard School® is dedicated to providing the foundation to encourage each child’s lifelong love of learning in a safe and nurturing environment by:

• offering a wide range of enriching activities to meet the needs of each child focusing on building each child's emotional, social, cognitive and physical skills
• offering multi-cultural and developmentally appropriate materials and equipment
• complying with Quality Assurance Reviews and parent surveys conducted by GSI
• supporting the professional development of teachers through GSU
• offering open communication with families in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect

Our Programs

Whether gently holding an infant, encouraging toddlers to share, or providing preschoolers with a variety of enriching activities, caring teachers support the healthy development of children from six weeks to six years.
We’ll be providing a lot more detail in future blog entries about our programs for Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers, Pre-K and Junior-K and School Age children. So check back on a regular basis to see what we’re up to.