Ease Childhood Fears

Every child has fears, but the key to helping your child get over their fears is how you help them cope. Here is an article that offers ways to ease childhood fears. Click here to read the article.

When Good Kids Play the Bad Guy

Scholastic.com talks about when your little one starts to act out both good and bad roles and how it’s all part of them growing up. Read this informative article to learn more. Click here to read the whole article. 

Teaching Kids To Learn From Failure

No one wants to see their child fail at something but you need to remember that kids can learn from failure. This article from Parenting magazine gives some great tips to help your child along this bumpy road. Click here to read more

Interaction is Important for Your Baby’s Development

Experts suggest the first three years of life are extremely important in the long-tern development of young children. You can jump start your babies emotional and intellectual development by providing the right kind of stimulation.

· At a basic level, facial expressions, like playing peak-a-boo or smiling can begin to stimulate your baby’s brain from a very early age.

· Reading aloud to a baby can provide stimulation and the basic building blocks of speech and language development.

· The stimulation your baby receives by touching various types of fabrics, shape blocks and even playing with water during bath time can help develop a baby’s motor skills as well as stimulate their brains.

· Hugs, kisses and other positive interactions can help stimulate your baby’s brain and provide emotional development and support to make your baby feel secure.

· There is a fine line between providing enough stimulation to your baby and too much. Soothing music and baby massages are a great way to stimulate your baby’s brain why at the same time calming them.

The best way to make sure your baby is getting enough stimulation is to fill their environment with books, colorful objects and pay toys of all different sizes and shapes.

Facts About Learning Disabilities

When your child is diagnosed with a learning disability it can be scary. Here are some facts about the causes and diagnosis of learning disabilities.

• Although learning disabilities can be caused by variations in a child's central nervous system, most learning disabilities are not a result of brain damage or mentally retardation. 
• Children are often born with the tendency for learning problems and learning disabilities seem to run in families. 
• Since most children play and act like other children it is often difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of a learning disability. 
• The diagnosis of learning disabilities has improved substantially along with advances in healthcare. In the past, learning disabilities were often misdiagnosed and treated incorrectly. 
• There is a wide range of learning disabilities (mild to severe).It can be very difficult for parents to recognize a mild learning disability in their children. Most mild learning disabilities are diagnosed in  kindergarten and first grade as children have difficulty keeping up with the class.

 Learning disabilities generally affect the following three skill areas:

•  academic skills (reading, writing, spelling, math)
•  language skills (speech) 
•  motor-sensory skills (coordination, balance, writing) 

 The good news is that treatments for learning disabilities have advanced in the last ten years. Public schools have also put a lot of emphasis on the early detection, diagnoses and treatment of learning disabilities. More resources than ever are available to help children with learning disabilities. If you think your child has a learning disability consult with your family doctor.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to teach your children about the importance of giving thanks. Thank you is becoming an endangered word, because of its infrequent use.  Volunteerism and charity is being reinforced more in schools but many charities remain in need of more help. Here are some simple ways to teach your children the importance of giving thanks and helping others.

Send a thank you Text or Tweet

Children learn by seeing. Watching you write a thank you text or Tweet or, hearing you make a call on your cell phone to someone to thank them will allow your children to learn by example.

Show children the meaning of the word thank you

Here are some ways to help your children gain a knowledge and appreciation for giving thanks to others through volunteerism and charity.

• Arrange for your children to gather used toys, clothes, video games or other items to donate to a charity.
• Volunteer at a charity. If your children see you devoting your time to a charity they will be much more likely to do so when they grow up. If it’s appropriate take your children with you.
• Take a warm meal to an elderly relative or neighbor. Let the children help you prepare the meal. 
• Visit elderly relatives during the holidays. This is a win-win because wise older relatives often have a lot of wisdom to pass along to younger generations.

The simplest way to remind children to give thanks and be thankful is to remind them how much they have to be thankful for and to remind them that there are others in the world that need our help. 

Learning to Write

How will you know when your child is ready to write? The ideal time to start helping your child with writing is between ages 4 and 5. One signal to look for is that your child will begin forming figures that look like letters. Your child may also begin to string multiple pictures together to create a story. This means that your child’s motor and cognitive skills are becoming more refined and developed.

Here's a few ideas to move your child’s writing skills along:

·         Make sure you have a lot of markers, crayons, pencils, and paper in places around your home so your child can scribble anytime they want.

·         Offer your child a choice of colors in paper, pencils, markers and crayons, the more colorful the better.

·         Encourage them to do projects that reflect everyday life. Here are a few fun projects that reinforce early writing skills:

o   Create a menu and play restaurant

o   Have them write out checks to play store

o   Have them create a program for their big play or dance recital

o   Have them create tickets to a show

o   Have them write a note to you every night before they go to bed

o   Make scribbling/writing a lot of fun by using pudding, ketchup, yogurt or other edible items.

Above all, make writing fun for your child and hopefully they will begin to practice their skills on their own. 

Making Halloween Less Scary

You probably never think of it as a parent but Halloween can be a scary for some kids. In fact, it can be downright frightening. Skeletons, mummies, bats and vampires can really take the fun out this great tradition and stop your child from participating in trick or treating and other events.


Try to take the fright out of this Halloween night with some of these quick tips:


• If you sense your child is developing fear about the scary parts of Halloween, bring the subject up. Explain that other kids are in those costumes. Maybe even have a sibling dress up ahead of time to show them what’s underneath the scary costumes and faces.


• Let your child choose their own costume. Make sure that it is appropriate for their age. Try boarding on the scary by choosing a costume with a moderate scare factor like a pirate, ghost or something that your child has been previously exposed to. If your child is comfortable in their own costume they will be more comfortable with those around them and their environment.


• Skip the haunted mansion or the local freight-fest. Attend a fall fair, pinking patch, or hayride instead. Also consider trick or treating at the mall or during the daytime.


Overall you can’t protect your child from all the scary and gory decorations out there, but you can try to minimize it. Talk through your child’s fears so they feel comfortable and can enjoy the season!

Teaching Kids About Fire Safety

October is Fire Prevention Month and Goddard Ashburn is reviewing fire safety with the kids at school, but you can help at home too.

 Here are a few tips for teaching fire safety to kids.

 • Practice fire drills at home – rehearse different emergency scenarios with your family. This can avoid wasting valuable time when you’re dealing with an emergency in your home.

 • Talk about escape routes for each room of your home.

 • Designate a meeting place outside your home that is a safe distance away

 • Test your plan

It’s always good to introduce scary topics to your children through games. Here are a few games that teach valuable safety lessons. 

Feel Your Way to Safety – have your kids close their eyes and feel their way out of the home. This can also help your kids get some exercise. Just make sure you watch your kids closely so they don’t fall and get hurt.

Stop, Drop and Roll – press your fire alarm test button or simply say go and have your kids see how fast they can stop, drop and roll.

Teach your kids about fire safety

Explain what smoke detectors, escape ladders and fire extinguishers are – explain to your kids how they work, why they are installed in the house and what they will do when you use them.

Explain that getting out of the house is most important in a fire. And once you’re out, stay out.

These rules can go a long way to protecting and even saving the lives of your family.

Art and Young Children

At Goddard we often make art the focus of activities and creativity in the classroom. Art can be a great way to introduce and facilitate learning in children. Art offers opportunity for teaching beyond just the art itself. In a trip to the museum or time spent paging through a calendar or an old art history book, you can begin to reinforce the following concepts.

Shapes – it’s fun for you and your child to point out different shapes that can be found hidden in the masterpieces of the great painters.


Colors – shades of colors abound in oil paintings and water colors. Point out and name each color to reinforce the lessons being taught to your preschooler.

Counting – if your child is learning to count, painting and other works of art make for a fun counting activity that will keep your child’s interest.


Observation – play a game of I spy with my little eye with your child using pictures of great masterpieces.

It’s easy to access some of the most cherished artistic masterpieces. You just need to check your local library or bookstore for children’s books on the subject of art. Calendars often feature works by the great masters, so you may already have examples of fine art hanging right in your kitchen.

Of course, the best place to find art is at your local museum, a gallery, or a place with lots of outdoor sculptures. Plan to just stroll through the rooms, letting your child decide which rooms to spend more time in. Pause often to talk about what you see. If possible, try to find a museum that specializes in tours for children. Sometimes they may have exhibits that are especially geared towards the little ones.

After School Snacks

Now that the kids are back to school, you have probably witnessed the scene when the kids walk in the door home from school.  They head right to the refrigerator to find something to eat.  As a parents your concerned they might ruin their dinner or are they getting a healthy snack.  Below are a few tips to keep everyone happy.

• 
  
•          Carrots and celery with ranch dressing
•          String cheese and frozen grapes
•          Fruit with yogurt dip
•          Apples and peanut butter
•          Hummus and pita chip
•          Yogurt Sundae with low fat yogurt, berries and low fat granola
•          Fruit Smoothie (low fat yogurt, ice cubes and a cup of fruit)
•          Low fat popcorn sprinkled with parmesan or cinnamon
•          Fruit Salad
•          Frozen yogurt pops (place some yogurt in small paper cups and freeze for a few hours)
•          Homemade trail mix

Make it easy on everyone by cutting up fruits and vegetables before you leave the house in the morning.  Make it a special time preparing the snacks with your kids even little ones can help you grab a few items from the refrigerator, the plus side it they can tell you all about their day.

Helping toddlers learn rules

Rules are an important part of our social structure. Kids think that rules are set primarily by parents but as they become school-aged they realize that rules are a necessary part of life. But how and when is the best time to begin setting rules for your child?

Believe it or not, by the time your child reaches their first birthday they can begin to tell the difference between right and wrong. And this is an important milestone that can be used to introduce simple rules into your child’s life.

Here are some suggestions on how to introduce rules to your child:

· Be consistent – kids thrive on consistency. Don’t waiver on your rules and apply them on a regular basis.

· Concise – keep rules simple and brief. Don’t set complex rules with conditions like “if, then” statements. This just makes the concept of rules more difficult.

As an example: a child understands that coloring on the wall is not acceptable. If you begin to explain that coloring on a wall painted with chalkboard paint is acceptable this may lead to confusion.

· Be Specific – provide enough details to make the concept real for your child. Stop and don’t do that are too vague and may lead to confusion.

Are you Ready for Kindergarten?

With kindergarten registration underway, many parents wonder if their child is ready for this new frontier. Here are some basic signs that your child is ready.

They have sufficient oral communications skills.

They have the desire to be more independent.

They have a curiosity about books and learning new things.

They can dress themselves without assistance.

They can take care of bathroom responsibilities.

They can listen to instructions and follow them.

They can recognize numbers and letters.

They demonstrate sufficient motor skills (holding a pencil, coloring within the lines)

They function well in a group environment (they can share).

If you have any questions about if your child is ready, talk to their preschool teacher. As always if you have any question about your child’s development contact a healthcare or educational professional for more information.

Picking out books for Preschoolers

Earlier this week we talked about ways to help your little one develop a love for reading. But what types of books are best for young children. Today we are going to give you some tips to consider when picking out appropriate books for your child.

• Preschoolers love a good storyline. Books with a simple storyline are great. You can even buy a longer chapter book and read one chapter at a time. Your child will anticipate how the story will develop each night.

• Stories about characters and objects tend to hold the attention of a preschooler. Trains, boats and storybook characters are great for preschoolers.

• Let your child express their imagination. Let them make up a story to go with a picture book or photograph album. This can be a fun way to get your child engaged in books and storytelling.

• Try to find subjects your child will relate to like school, friends, or people they may experience in everyday life like firefighters, police officers or mail carriers.

• Really concentrate on what your child is fascinated with like trains, trucks, astronomy and construction. These topics provide extra incentive for your child to pick up a book.

Good reading habits can make a big difference in developing your child’s love for learning. Any time you can spare to spend reading with your child is an investment in their future.

Helping your little one to learn rules

Rules are an important life skill. At home, at school and then at work, rules are a fact of life. So starting early to begin to teach and reinforce the importance of your children following rules is a good idea. You might be asking yourself, how early can I start to teach this skill? Well, studies have shown that kids start to understand the difference between right and wrong as early as a year one year old. And, since rules are based on right and wrong you can start with some very basic rules at this age.

• Young babies need one word reinforcement. Use the words no and yes to reinforce good from bad. As your child gets older, begin to introduce the consequence behind the rule. No, don’t do that, because you will get hurt.

• Be specific about rules as your baby develops. For example, no don’t color on that picture book. Rules aren’t always black and white; it’s o/k to color in a coloring book but not in a picture book.

• Like teaching any skill, it is important to be consistent with rules. It may be a pain to always be the enforcer but if kids know rules can be bent or broken they will try to bend them and break them.

Your child looks to you and other adults to provide structure to their lives. Rules can actually provide comfort, support and boundaries to your child. This can help them become confident teens and well adjusted adults.

The First Day of Preschool

It’s a time when you realize your child is growing up and for many moms and children it is a time of intense emotion, the first day of preschool. Since many moms will be sending their child off to school for the first time, we thought it would be good to collect some tips and share them with you to make this transition easier.

Dealing with fear

• Feeling comfortable – it’s important for you to be comfortable with your decision to send your child to preschool. The more unease your child can sense the more uncomfortable they will become.

• Invest time in the transition – you can’t expect your child just to wake up and be ready on the first day. Start discussing the idea of preschool with your child several weeks prior to their first day, what activities they will participating in, what their day will be like and how their teacher will interact with them.

• Mock-preschool – play preschool with your child throughout the day. Set up desks and chairs and actually complete some activities that will be part of their preschool day.

• Visit preschool prior to the first day – a week or two prior to the first day stop in and visit the school. Let your child spend some time in their new surroundings. Let them play with the toys. All of these familiar things will give your child comfort the first day of school.

• Downplay the significance of this milestone with your child – remember that the more you build the first day up to your child the more they could become scared.

Try to be calm, cool and collected when you drop them off for their first day. The calmer you are, the easier things will go. Children are resilient and they will be playing with the other kids, having fun and learning soon after your departure.

Back to School Routine

It’s time again for back to school preparations. This time of year is always hectic for parents. The budgets are stretched thin with back to school purchases and everyone is a little sad that summer is ending. Here are a few ways you can make this yearly transition tradition a little easier.

Adjust sleep times

• Start adjusting bedtime and wakeup back to school year time now
• Make this transition easier by adjusting in 15 minute increments until the desired time is achieved
• Practice getting up, dressing, eating breakfast and brushing teeth, before your normal school departure time to make sure they can make the bus.

Verify summer school work is done

• Check all assignments to make sure they have been completed
• Check the reading list to make sure books have been read
• Sit down with your child to review a few assignments to make sure they maintained levels from the end of last school year

Organize

• Have your children help get the house organized
• Buy bins, folder, flip charts and dry erase boards, anything to help you get and stay organized
• Tell you kids what’s expected during the school year. Coats hung up, school bags put away and clothes in the hamper

Following these simple steps will help you make the transition into the school year a little easier for you and your children.


Sources:http://www.modernmom.com/

Helping toddler curiosity grow

Curiosity is one if the basic fundamentals of learning. As you know from spending time with your children, if your child isn’t curios about something it’s impossible to keep them interested. The key is to help your children be curious about the world and about learning overall. Emphasizing that learning itself is fun and rewarding will help build your child’s curiosity and make them engaged learners and happy students.

Here's a few ways to create a stimulating learning environment

Infant
• Colors, shapes and movement – create an environment with interesting things to look at.
• Placement – putting toys and objects just out of baby’s reach will allow them to stretch and help develop early problem solving skills
• Multi sensory – smell, touch and taste can be a lot of fun. Try flowers, fabric and interesting foods
• Bubbles – another sensory experience that will keep your baby interested for hours
• Sound – musical toys, instruments (chimes and rattles) and games can keep a baby engaged for hours

Toddler
• Offer choices – let your toddler make simple choices such as what pajamas to wear, what activities to do (color or draw), what drink to have at a meal
• Surround them with educational resources - books, music and art supplies. Make easy for them to pick up education all around the room
• Take it on the road – libraries, zoos, museums, toddlers want to be on the move when it comes to curiosity and education

Sources: http://www2.scholastic.com/
http://toddler.yeahbaby.com/

Books for Little Ones

Summer is the perfect time for reading. Sitting on the porch, on the beach, at the park on a blanket, there are just some many great places to read in the summertime. So it’s a great time to get you little one’s into reading or to keep older one’s in good reading habits during school break.

But how do you decide which books are best when standing in the children’s area of your local book store. If you find yourself looking and just not knowing which books to buy, or your budget isn’t able to stretch to far, maybe the children’s book buying tips below will make short work of your shopping.

Where to Find Books for Babies and Toddlers

Your local library and garage sales are great places to find used books for children. Most libraries hold a used book sale each year where you can buy great children’s books at rock bottom prices. Libraries also have books available to borrow for babies and toddlers. This can be a great way to regularly introduce new books to your children.

If you’re planning to build up a library of books for your child book of the month clubs are available where you can select books from a catalog and order them from home. This is a great way to involve your child in your book purchase decision. They will get excited about selecting a new book each month and then you can watch the excitement build as you wait for his or her new book to arrive in the mail.

Choosing Storage for Children’s Books

It’s very important to store books on low book shelves or in low drawers. You want your child to feel like they can have access to books so they will be encouraged to pick them up and read them.

With a cardboard box or storage container you can help your children feel a connection to their books by decorating their own bookshelf.

Which Book is Best for Babies and Toddlers?

For babies colorful board books that are easy to hold and easy to handle work best. Thick cardboard like books are more durable and books with soft sides and vinyl covers allow babies to chew without getting hurt.

Simple story lines that rhyme and books that relate to their life are the favorites of toddlers. Such as stories about potty training or going to school, something the toddler is experiencing now.

Picture books are great for both babies and toddlers. Babies like to look at the colorful pictures and toddlers like to make up story lines to go with the pictures.

Selecting a Time to Read to Children

Try to work reading into your normal routine. Bed time or after bath time is recommended by many child development specialists. If reading becomes a routine soon your child will want, expect and even demand that you read to them.

It’s important to take every opportunity to bring a love for reading into your child’s life. So when your toddler brings you a book and asks you to read, you should take advantage of the opportunity. Reading time will build more the just memories with your children.


Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/

Parent Teacher Conference

This week Godard Ashburn will be conducting parent teacher conference, some parents may feel anxious and excited about their child’s progress in school. Conference time is a great opportunity to discuss your child's developmental and behavioral progress. Typically, the conferences cover a child's play style and social, language, cognitive, and physical development.

What to expect during conferences: teachers will often offer a balanced assessment of your child’s progress. This should include both strengths and opportunity areas that your child may need to work on. Often you will receive some skills to work on at home that can reinforce what’s being learned at school like writing letters, stringing beads, or practicing cutting skills at home to improve fine motor skills.

Take the opportunity during conference time to discuss with the teacher what you’re seeing at home. What skills do you see your child excelling at and what areas do you have concern for. Try to build a relationship with your child's preschool teacher so you can work as a team reinforcing shared goals both at school and at home.

Below are a few questions you may want to ask your child’s teacher

1. Is my child's development on track for his age?
2. Is there anything we can do at home to reinforce the skills that you're working on in the classroom?
3. What are my child's strengths and weaknesses?
4. What is he/she like in class?
5. How does my child interact with the other kids?
6. Does my child participate in group activities?

Source: http://www.articlealley.com

http://kidshealth.org

http://www.babycenter.com