10 Tips for Dining Out With Kids

When taking your kids out to eat it can be a little stressful. You want you little ones to be respectful to the dining staff and other dinners in the restaurant. You also want to enjoy your meal to. Here is a great article on 10 tips to make dining out with your little one a little less stressful. Click here to read the tips.

Recognizing Good Behavior

It’s common for parents to focus on bad behavior more than good. At the point when your child is misbehaving is when you’ll reprimand them. Good behavior can often go unnoticed because it can be as simple as sitting quietly or doing chores. These are things parents are likely to miss and thus miss the opportunity to praise and reinforce the good. Here are some ways you can remember to recognize good behavior.

Systematize Praise – Set up some time each week to think about what your child did well, or keep a list of the good behavior when it occurs. Then, when you have the opportunity, let your child know what you noticed they did well during the week. If your child needs to work on certain behaviors, set up a behavior chart. Give them stickers for when they are good. After a week of good behavior, reward them with something they like.

Stay On The Positive Side – Instead of telling your child what you don’t want them to do, tell them what behavior you want. For example: You didn't clean up your room or you didn't put your clothes in the laundry basket. Try telling them why you need them to do these tasks. Let them know that by pitching in they are helping the whole family.

Be Specific With Your Praise – Don’t just tell your child good job. Tell them exactly what they did that was good. For example, cleaning up your room today really helped me out and allowed me to help your sister/brother with their homework. The more specific the praise the more your child will respond to the positive encouragement.

School Friendships: Stay Connected Over Summer Break

Summer can be relaxing, but it can also be pretty busy with family vacations, day trips, and spending time with an aunt or grandparents . Young children sometimes have a hard time understanding that their schedule has changed and why they are not seeing their best buddy all the time. Here is a great article on maintaining friendships over summer break. Click here to read the article.

Ashburn School Receives Top Honor

Ashburn School Receives Top Honor

The Goddard School® located in Ashburn earns SACS CASI Accreditation

The Goddard School located at in Ashburn earned accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI), an accreditation division of AdvancED. Recognition by the organization is highly coveted and rarely given to childcare companies.

SACS CASI provides nationally recognized accreditation, the purpose of which is continuous school improvement focused on increasing student performance. To earn accreditation, schools must meet SACS CASI’s high standards, be evaluated by a team of professionals from outside the school, and implement a continuous process of school improvement.

"We’re proud to earn the mark of quality from SACS CASI, and be recognized for our commitment to reach the highest professional standards," says Madhu Govil, owner of The Goddard School located in Ashburn. "SACS CASI accreditation demonstrates to our community that children in our program receive the best possible care and early learning experiences. Our management and faculty have earned this achievement by performing their very best every day."

The Goddard School located in Ashburn opened in January, 2007. The school accommodates 135, ages six weeks to 8 years. Parents are encouraged to drop in for a tour or call The Goddard School directly at 703-724-0601 to arrange a personal appointment.

"Parents look to The Goddard School for quality childcare and SACS CASI accreditation further emphasizes to the community that Goddard programs have been reviewed by the experts and meet or exceed their expectations," said Dzana Homan, COO of Goddard Systems, Inc., franchisor of The Goddard School.

Dr. Mark Elgart, President/CEO of AdvancED, the parent organization of SACS CASI, stated, "SACS CASI Accreditation is a rigorous process that focuses the entire school on the primary goal of creating lifelong learners. The Goddard School located in Ashburn is to be commended for engaging in this process and demonstrating a commitment to continuous improvement."

Parents and interested community members can learn more about accreditation at www.advanc-ed.org.


The Goddard School®: Celebrating 25 Years of Learning through Play.
Learning for fun. Learning for life.℠ The Goddard School uses the most current, academically endorsed methods to ensure that children from six weeks to six years old have fun while learning the skills they need for long-term success in school and in life. Talented teachers collaborate with parents to nurture children into respectful, confident and joyful learners. The Goddard School’s AdvancED and Middle States-accredited F.L.EX.℠ Learning Program reaches more than 45,000 students in nearly 400 Goddard Schools in 35 states. The Goddard School’s comprehensive play-based curriculum, developed with early childhood education experts, provides the best childhood preparation for social and academic success. To learn more about The Goddard School, please visit www.goddardschool.com.


About AdvancED and SACS CASI
Dedicated to advancing excellence in education through accreditation, research, and professional services, AdvancED is the world’s largest education community, serving and engaging over 27,000 public and private schools and districts in 69 countries and serving nearly 16 million students. AdvancED is the parent organization of the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (NCA CASI) and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement (SACS CASI).

SACS CASI is a non-governmental, voluntary agency that accredits nearly 13,000 public and non-public institutions throughout the world.

Summer Learning

Summer is fun, but your child starts to forget what they learned as soon as classes end. You can help exercise your child’s brain by taking time out of your summer schedule for some skill building.

• Reading – 30 minutes a day of reading will keep your child’s mind sharp and their reading skills even sharper. Relax the reading rules and let them read something fun and out of the normal. Let them stretch their skills by reading up a level or let them read down if they just want to get through reading time and back outside to play. Just keep them in the habit of reading so it’s not a shock to their brain when school starts.

• Indoors and Air Conditioning on Hot Summer Days – the museums are air conditioned and not so crowded during the summer. It makes summer a great time to visit. Avoid the crowds, keep cool and exercise your child’s brain.

• Pick a Number/Any Number –to practice math skills establish a number of the day and do activities around that number. If the number is five let them have five pieces of candy for the day. Challenge them to run around the yard five times or throw an imaginary party for five guests. 
  
  

Study Nature – it’s summer time and being outdoors is what summer is all about. Take a nature walk. Let your children spot animals and look them up on the computer when you get home to find out all about them. Let them pick flowers or capture butterflies or fireflies. Get a book from the library that tells all about the animals or plants you saw on your walk.

Treating Poison Ivy

The spring and summer months are a great for getting the kids outside to play and burn off some energy. One of the issue you may run into is poison ivy. Here is a great article that offers some advice on what to watch out for and how to treat poison ivy. Click here to read the article.

Wetting the Bed – Normal or Not?

Even the best potty trained child can have a nighttime accident. Nearly half of all children still wet the bed at age 3. Even at age 5 doctors consider bed wetting normal, as one in five kids still wet the bed. (Source: WebMD). So when is the right time to be concerned about bed wetting? Generally, if your child still can’t stay dry overnight by age 6, it might be time to consult your pediatrician.

Reasons

There are many causes of bed wetting. Generally, bed wetting is caused when a child's normal, under-developed bladder gets full. It can also be caused by your child;s body not sending signals to the brain to wake from sleep when they have to go to the bathroom.

Stress such as a new sibling, a death of a close family member, a change in school or other event can sometimes lead to bed wetting.This could be the body’s reaction to stress, or a call out for attention.

A Few Quick Tips To Help

· Limit liquids before bed

· Have your child visit the potty several times before bedtime

· Don’t punish your child for the accident

· Have them participate in cleaning up but not as a punishment

· Use positive encouragement and rewards for staying dry at night


If you suspect that your child has a urinary tract infection, diabetes, or some other medical problem relates to their bedwetting, take them to your pediatrician.

Pool Safety

Now that the heat of the summer has arrived, families are heading to pools more often. Pool safety is an important part of this summer ritual. Family Education.com offers some tips to help keep your family safe while at the pool. Click here to read the article.

Moving with Kids

Moving is stressful on everyone in the family. Parents are selecting a new home and schools, possibly starting a new job, and sometimes starting a new life. Kids are leaving old friends and meeting new ones, starting all over again in new schools and in a new neighborhood. Kids can easily feel left out amongst all this change. Here are some tips to help manage this change for your children.

Talk, Talk, Talk

• Break the news of the move gently. Be understanding and avoid justifying or debating the decision with children. Give them time to cope with the decision.

• Talk to your children about what to expect the day of the move and once you arrive at your new home.

Involve Them in the Move

• Let them pack their items and watch them go into the moving truck. Let them unpack so they know the items important to them will not be lost or forgotten. 

• Let them pick out their room and personalize it to make their own (paint, new furnishings, arrangement of furnishings). This will create excitement and give them ownership of their new surroundings. But remember to make their new room familiar. Hang up their old pictures and personal items as soon as possible.

• Visit the new neighborhood with your children ahead of the move. Point out the benefits of your new surroundings (lots of kids, close to the playground).

• Arrange a special tour of your new home with your children. This will make move in day a little less scary.

Keep Your Routine

• A routine is very important to young children. Keep sleep and wake-up times consistent. Try to keep your schedule as similar as possible. 

• Try to make your children feel that life is the same, just in a new place.

If your child seems to be taking longer to adjust, seek out professional help through your pediatrician.

14 Ideas for Camping Out In Your Backyard

Staying local for the holiday?  No problem, have a staycation in your own backyard.  Parenting.com offers some suggestions for things to do while on your staycation. Click here to read the article.

Fourth of July Fun With Kids

Fourth of July will be here later this week and you want to make it a fun event for the whole family.Below are a few tips on making it an exciting time for the kids.

• Head to your local library and pick out some books to read to the kids about Independence Day.

• Teach the kids some patriotic songs like "Yankee Doodle Dandy," "America the Beautiful" and "The Star-Spangled Banner."

• Crafts are always a great hit. Have them make an American flag or a paper chain of red, white and blue construction paper. Make fireworks on black construction paper.

• Everyone loves a Fourth of July Parade. If you don’t have a parade in your town let your children decorate their bikes and make their own parade. Even better, get kids from the neighborhood involved. You just might start a tradition.

• Everyone loves dessert. With some whipped topping, strawberries and blueberries they can create a sweet treat everyone can enjoy.

• When the sun goes down attend a fireworks display or, have them look for fireworks off in the distance. End the night with a fun game of flashlight tag.

Have a safe and happy Fourth of July!