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11 Behavior Management Techniques for Preschoolers #AllAboutPreschoolers #MyFriendAlexa

Hi Everyone

This is my last post for #MyFriendAlexa. I hope you enjoyed reading my posts. I am planning to continue this series so please stay tuned.

As a parent or a childcare provider if you are looking for an effective learning environment, you ought to focus on early childhood behavior management. Nobody is born well-behaved; you need to create a supportive and inclusive environment wherein children can feel safe and comfortable. It becomes the responsibility of every adult who is interacting with them to model good behavior and avoid the bad ones.

Each child entering the school comes from a different environment and are equipped with different set of behaviors, skills, knowledge and attitudes. Most of them are not even aware of what is expected of them when they enter pre-school. Therefore, setting clear, positive and well defined rules and expectations for children becomes very imperative.

When we talk about childhood behavior management techniques we are teaching them values and habits that they need to adhere to and at the same time making sure that they get along with others and achieve their goals as they grow.

A well -behaved child not only reduces the disruptions but will make sure that he or she is in sync with other kids and the activities planned can be delivered smoothly. Learning good behavior is one of the key development outcome which can help child to be successful not in their early years but build a foundation for a lifetime success.

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES

Set clear, well defined rules and expectations

This is just a beginning; they have put their first step towards learning. It is vital to give them clear instructions which they can understand and not confuse them and create anxiety. Do not expect too much at once, reinforce the rules by giving them concrete examples and visual aids. This will not only help them in better understanding, but they can enjoy the process of learning too.

Set proper routine and schedule

Having a set routine and schedule allow children to know what is expected from them , in turns makes them more confident. When they know what is coming up next makes them excited and happy. Uncertainties creates anxiety that leads to bad behavior or tantrums. Disoriented child gets distracted very easily and may cause disruptions which can leads to chaos.

Appreciate good behavior

To create a mental model of good conduct, it is important that a child is encouraged and rewarded when good behavior is displayed. A bad behavior should not be punished but acknowledged and corrected in the best possible way without hurting their feelings. Once a kid realizes that a good behavior is rewarded , they go extra miles to please you.

Create a reward chart for good behavior

Anything tangible, something which can be touched or seen and felt is appreciated at this early age. Kids do feel happy when they are encouraged but if it is accompanied with something tangible , they remember it for long. By letting kids visually see how their actions lead to rewards, you help them get excited to do their best, as well as building the important developmental skill of learning to make progress toward a goal over time.

Improve your Emotional Quotient

As a care provider, you should know how to control your emotions by not getting angry, or defensive or emotional when bad behavior happens. Showcasing such emotions creates shame or guilt which creates a negative impact on children which might lead to withdrawal or continuing of their bad behavior. Instead display compassion and understanding while still reinforcing age appropriate consequences.

Identify the trigger point that causes bad behavior

Observe and if necessary, document the bad behavior by knowing the trigger points. Once you know whether bad behavior is recurring in nature or just onetime affair you would be able to address it accordingly. While making behavior reports and tracking progress over time, you can identify patterns and make sure you’re meeting each child’s individual needs.

Ignore mild misbehavior

Sometimes kids misbehave due to boredom or the desire to be noticed. Everyone likes attention so do kids. By doing this they attract attention without being harmful. Paying attention to this might create further disruptions. So best way to deal with this is to ignore.

Ignore their mild misbehavior by reinforcing positive behavior makes them realize that if they want attention, they will have to earn it by trying their best. Make sure that they are observed for a particular time period to understand the pattern.

Place effective consequences

Positive reinforcement is necessary to make them understand the importance of good behavior but setting consequences is even more vital to stop bad behavior. When kids know well in advance the implication of bad behavior, they will not only respect the rules but will refrain themselves from showcasing it. Kids should know that there is a direct relation between a bad behavior and their consequences.

Join hands with parents

As both parent and care provider share the same goal of guiding kids to showcase their best behavior, it would be nice if they collaborate for the same. By having same expectations, their will be less chances of confusion and discipline a child would become more and more consistent and effective.

Use positive language

Sometimes what you say doesn’t matter but how you say does. Picking up right vocabulary is very important while dealing with kids. Try not to use negative words like “Don’t do this”, instead say “This can harm you, let’s try something else”. If explained the consequence well, there is 100% possibility that child will not indulge in bad behavior at all.

Be patient

Never deny a child’s feelings. Only behavior is unacceptable. Kids are still exploring and trying to understand everything from their own experience. Give them time, do not be in hurry. It takes a special kind of personality to connect with children on their level and build rapport with them. You need to play with them on the floor, smile, and show sincere affection so they feel they can trust you. To do this, you not only need to love children, but also have a high level of patience.

If you want to see the change, Be the change and if you want to see the good behavior, showcase one!

You can read my previous posts here

How to choose right preschool for your child?

 7 Main Domains of Early Childhood Education

Importance of Early Childhood Education

What is Early Childhood Education?

How To Develop Child’s Creativity?

How to teach the importance of health , hygiene and safety to Preschoolers?

Teaching Aids Help Children Learn Better

I am taking my blog to another level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

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Teaching Aids Help Children Learn Better #AllAboutPreschoolers #MyfriendAlexa

Teaching aid is a tool used by teachers, facilitators, or tutors, to illustrate or reinforce a skill, fact, or idea. As the name suggests, teaching aids, aid the process of teaching for the teachers, and provide opportunities for better learning for the children. Next to parents, teachers are the most important adults shaping the future of children. Indeed, teachers do so much more than just teach; they are involved in the lives of their children in many ways to enhance their learning experience. Teachers are more than just that, they are facilitators. They not only facilitate, they also are friends, confidants, role models, etc who identify children’s’ strengths and areas for development and plan instruction to maximize children’s learning and potential. Making use of a teaching aid rather than using just verbal communication enables better understanding and learning of a concept.

IMPORTANCE OF TECHING AIDS

  • They encourage brainstorming and generation of ideas.
  • They give children the opportunity to see what they are thinking.
  • Teaching aids are motivational tools that draw greater attention of children.
  • They help in increasing the attention span of children.
  • Teaching aids can be preserved, updated and reused.
  • They are cost effective.
  • They provide visual, tactile and auditory experience.
  • Teaching aids can be used with large and small groups.
  • They can be used for children across all age groups.

3 TYPES OF TEACHING AIDS

There are many aids available these days, but they are broadly classify as

  1. Visual Aids: The aids which use sense of vision are called Visual aids. For example: actual objects, models, pictures, charts, maps, flash cards, flannel board, bulletin board, chalkboard, overhead projectors, slides etc. Out of these board and chalk are the commonest one.
  2. Audio Aids: The aids that involve the sense of hearing are called Audio aids. For example: radio, tape recorder, CD, gramophone etc.
  3. Audio-Visual Aids: The aids which involve the sense of vision as well as hearing are called Audio-Visual aids. For example: DVD, television, film projector, film strips etc.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF TEACHING AIDS

Flash Card

Flash card should have a boarder on all the four sides. The ideal size of a flash card is 1/4th of the mount board/ A4 size. Background of the flash card should be white or plain (depending upon its use, for example, Concept flash cards need plain background; story flashcards will have a colorful background based on the plot). Flash card should be held in such a manner that the picture on it is not covered in any manner. All the flash card has stories written on the back side of each scene, they should be numbered and kept in sequence. After speaking about a particular scene that flash card should be placed on the back side of the other cards and not on the table or on the floor, to avoid distraction of the children.

Calendar

The calendar must contain Day/ Month/Year ,Date- Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow, Season/Weather/Special Event. Festival, Holiday. The calendar can be made on one of the walls in the classroom at the child’s reach. Use a range of colors and texture to make the calendar interesting and attractive.

Picture Talk

Picture talk is used to take a recap of a particular concept. There should be boarders on the four sides. As it is too big to handle in the hand, it should be kept on a chair or table with the facilitator sitting at the back holding it. The background should be colored and not plain. While showing the picture talk of a particular concept allow children to first speak about all the things, they can see on it and then the facilitator can elaborate and cover the points missed.

Object Talk

Most of the object used should be real ones except rare cases like wild animals. The objects should be given to children to feel, observe and have a practical and better understanding about it. It is mostly use for introducing a new concept.

Flip Chart

Flip charts are usually used to narrate a story but sometime can also be used to introduce certain concepts. It is made in the form of a spiral bound table calendar. It helps in saving time and energy of drawing and making the same character again and again.

Flannel figures

Depending on the concept, the characters should be drawn and cut outs should be out of box board/ mount board. The characters should not be made too heavy otherwise they will not stay on the flannel board. Sandpaper should be stuck on the back side of the characters so that it can be placed on the flannel board and moved when required. The basic advantage is that it is very easy in handling and can be used either while teaching a concept or telling a story. Children can also use them easily to retell stories or revise concepts.

T V scroll

A square or a rectangle carton should be used by cutting one side to make the screen of the TV with gelatin paper. Cover the other sides with chart paper. Story is drawn, painted or made on the individual sheets and are attached together in sequence to make a long roll. The beginning strip of the roll should be attached to one rod and the end to the other rod. Turn the rod to rewind or forward the story.

Poster

Poster is used to introduce concepts. It can also be used to introduce and remind children of the different rules, revise concepts, for display. Use variety of colors and textures to make the poster interesting and attractive.

Word Wall

A word wall is made to help children revise the words learnt in the class, it provides a ready reference for them to see as and when required. It is an effective technique for print exposure. Word wall should always be at the child’s level, in large print format, must have only words that have been introduce to the children and should laminate the words so that they don’t tear easily.

Puppets

There are different types of puppets to name a few there are finger puppet, rod/spoon/stick puppets, shadow puppets, body puppets, bag puppets, box puppets and glove/sock puppets. While using puppets it is extremely important that child has a good eye contact, get the puppet to look from one child to another, the puppet appears as if talking to the audience.

There are certain guidelines with respect to teaching aids

  • The décor of a classroom can transform the space into a welcoming and inviting place where children feel comfortable.
  • The chart should be displayed such that it is at the eye level of the children.
  • Display all children’s work such as worksheets and activities in the classroom.
  • Use strings, ribbons, cloths pin to hang worksheets
  • Avoid pasting directly with cello tapes and fevicol

The right classroom environment can play a pivotal role in how well children learn. These aids should provide them with educational, stimulating focal points without becoming distractions. Involve the children, let them help you hang posters or choose which wall hanging goes up next. This will keep them more personally engaged and make them an active learner.

You can read my previous posts here

How to choose right preschool for your child?

 7 Main Domains of Early Childhood Education

Importance of Early Childhood Education

What is Early Childhood Education?

How To Develop Child’s Creativity?

How to teach the importance of health , hygiene and safety to Preschoolers?

I am taking my blog to another level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

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How to teach the importance of health , hygiene and safety to Preschoolers? #AllAboutPreschoolers #MyFrinedAlexa

HEALTH AND HYGIENE

Health and hygiene go hand in hand. Proper hygiene for children begins at the moment of birth when their tiny bodies are scooped up in towel or wrap and the protective coating from the womb is gently cleaned away. As a child grow, he/she can begin to learn personal hygiene with a little assistance from their parents. Developing good hygiene skills in childhood can set the stage for cleanliness habits as an adult. Personal hygiene is the practice of maintaining cleanliness of the body, it is done through bathing, hair grooming, and hand washing, brushing teeth, trimming nails and cleaning ears among others. Through these personal behaviours, social acceptances are gained.

Education can play a critical role in supporting the efforts of primary health care providers by teaching children about healthy behaviour. All schools should be aware of the importance of school hygiene and sanitation for their students. Teaching students about health focuses mainly on the dissemination of hygiene information aimed at changing or modifying their behaviour.

Maintaining good classroom hygiene is an important aspect of improving the educational efficiency of a classroom. Reducing the environmental factors that can cause illness will ensure that students and teachers will not miss out on valuable class time. Healthier and happier children will perform better in classroom, and teaching children about classroom hygiene could help them grow into environmentally proactive adults.

Role of Teachers in maintaining Health and Hygiene

Teaching the basics of proper personal hygiene is important for keeping kids healthy and clean by teachers. It is especially important for preschoolers to practice good hygiene, particularly hand washing because they spend so much of their time in close contact with each other in the classroom, sharing everything from desks and chairs to germs.

Teach proper hand washing

“Good health begins with clean hands”. The most important health and hygiene habit to teach children is to wash hands, especially after coming back home from school or playing outside and before eating. Hand washing is, without a doubt, one of the best ways to prevent the spread of germs and illness. Teachers should remind them from time to time to wash their hands with soap and lathers for at least 20 seconds before rinsing.

Teach them to cover sneezes and coughs during concept time

Germs can travel far and wide on a sneeze and cough. Get your child into habit of covering their mouth and nose with a tissue or their arm if they cannot reach a tissue fast enough when they sneeze or cough.

Remind them not to touch the eyes or mouth or to pick the nose

Germs can easily enter the body through the mucous membranes of the eyes and through the nose and mouth.

Encourage good dental health and hygiene in the classroom

Children have the motor skills necessary to do a fairly good job of brushing teeth on their own, though you may still want to take a quick turn until they are 6 or 7.

SAFETY

Young children deserve to live and play in safe environment, and it is the responsibility of every adult to help keep children safe. Preschool children should not be expected to actively protect themselves; however, it is important to offer children the opportunity to learn about safety as early as possible. Learning safe habits during early years may have lifelong benefits. Integrating safety education into the daily curriculum can help children learn and practice safety.

10 most important environmental concerns in keeping children safe:

  • To protect against falls, stairways, windows and elevated surfaces
  • Children should be protected from electrical outlets by using specifically designed outlets or safety caps
  • Electrical cords should not be within the reach for children.
  • Emergency phone numbers should be posted near each telephone (Poison control, fire department, emergency contact number of parents and others and the child’s doctor)
  • To prevent poisoning , make sure all cleaning supplies and medications are in locked cupboards.
  • Toys need to be safe by being age and developmentally appropriate for the group.
  • Buckets and tubs containing water needs to be closely supervised and emptied when not in use since small amount of water can be a drowning hazard for young children.
  • A daily safety check and maintenance is critical to keep equipment and the child’s environment safe.
  • Children should be safe from other children who are aggressive.
  • Children should be taught about good and bad touch.

Even if the environment meets safety guidelines, supervision is critical in ensuring child’s safety. The majority of injuries (60%) that occurs in early childhood settings are due to child’s behavior rather than environmental causes, for example, a child tripping and falling, colliding with objects, or one child pushing another as they go down a set of stairs.

Most of the states have established child-staff ratio assist in providing adequate supervision. It is critical that program maintain these ratios. In addition, it is important that adults actively monitor children. Many program require staff to maintain visual contact with children as they play. Low classroom strength can help children to feel a sense of privacy, while still allowing adults to adequately supervise children.

Although severe injuries are rare in early childhood setting, it is important to be alert and to immediately correct safety dangers. It is also important to assure children remain safe through adequate supervision.

The sense of safety and security, afforded by teachers provides children with responsibility. Keeping everyone safe and healthy should be a class effort, and everyone in the classroom, be it children , teacher or other staff should feel accountable for the overall health of the class.

While taking care of health, hygiene and safety of children , teachers needs to develop effective rules with the class. Remembering the rules are important and the best way to do that is actively teach the children.

  • Class discussion : Talk about why we have rules. Talk about situations when the rules help us. Ask children to give examples.
  • Act it out : Let children role play the rules.
  • Play games and show the importance of having and following rules.
  • Refer to the rules when children use challenging behavior. This will help teachers to stay positive with the children and redirect them to an appropriate behavior.
  • Read scripted stories about the rules and class room safety and hygiene.

Remember having effective rules with regards to health, hygiene and safety, well designed environment, appropriate learning activities, and nurturing relationships reflect what we know about how young children learn.

You can read my previous posts here

How to choose right preschool for your child?

 7 Main Domains of Early Childhood Education

Importance of Early Childhood Education

What is Early Childhood Education?

How To Develop Child’s Creativity?

I am taking my blog to another level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

Pics courtesy : Pexel / Canva

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How To Develop Child’s Creativity? #AllAboutPreschoolers #MyFriendAlexa

Hi Everyone,

Here is my fifth post for #MyFriendAlexa. In the previous post I talked about 7 Main Domains of Early Childhood Education, to add on to that today I will be sharing with you another domain which might not be included in there but is considered as the most crucial and most vital development when it comes to children’s holistic growth.

Creative Development which also include Aesthetic development. Creative development refers to the development of child’s abilities in terms of creative skills and aptitudes using development appropriate practices; it involves children setting off their own learning, making choices and decisions by themselves. Aesthetic development in children is the artistic processes that a child experiences or goes through as he/she grows. Artistic processes that a child goes through are drawing or painting, creating structures, pretend play and using props during games. Aesthetic development is considered as an important factor in human development.

8 WAYS TO DEVELOP CHILD’S CREATIVITY

A child’s creativity starts with their method of thinking and problem solving. Daily challenges to expand their reasoning and understanding of the world, along with an encouraging environment allows for a child to become more confident of their views and opinions. There are several ways to develop child’s creativity, most of which can be incorporated into daily life.

  1. Allow your child to make simple choices, such as what to eat for dinner or where to go on a weekend. This encourages them to think independently, exercising an important aspect of creativity.
  2. Encourage independence from caregivers and media. A child that is constantly entertained by others or the television will struggle to find things to do on their own without access to media.
  3. Provide items in your child’s environment to stimulate their imagination. Drawing supplies, blocks, books, and random craft supplies can all contribute to elaborate dramatic play schemes.
  4. Brainstorm different uses for items with your child. For example, a cardboard tube can be a telescope, tower, or person. Validate all your child’s ideas, praising him or her for such an impressive imagination.
  5. Ask your child open ended questions to stretch their understanding and help them to postulate ideas. Ask your child “what if” questions. “What if people could fly?” “What if people lived in space?” “What if dolphins walked in land?” Involve your child in figuring out ways to make an improvement upon something. “How can we clean up the living room faster?” “How could we water the flowers without spilling any?” “What could we do to make the ball bounce higher?” Reading a book is an excellent activity for your child to exercise their creativity. Ask your child what could happen next, or how a character feels and why?
  6. Play with your child. Work together to establish dramatic play scenarios, using substitute items for props when needed. Pretend play allows children to imagine life from a different perspective, an important building block of creativity.
  7. Be prepared for “messy play”. While it may seem that your child is playing in the mud simply to make more work for you, in fact there is a great deal that is learned by playing with such things. When they are finished playing, make it a rule that they must help clean up. If faced with the choice of getting messy then cleaning it up and not getting messy at all, almost all children will choose the former option.
  8. Engage in storytelling. Start a story and take turns building upon it. Follow your child’s lead in what the mood of the story should be. Expect most stories to be more on the silly, impossible side. Since this is just a story, no idea is too farfetched.

CREATIVE PLAY

One of the most important types of creative activity for young children is creative play. Creative play is expressed when children use familiar materials in a new or unusual way, and when children engage in role-playing and imaginative play. Nothing reinforces the creative spirit and nourishes a child’s soul more than providing large blocks of time to engage in spontaneous, self-directed play throughout the day. Play is the serious business of young children and the opportunity to play freely is vital for their healthy development.

Even as early as infancy, play fosters physical development by promoting the development of sensory exploration and motor skills. Through play and the repetition of basic physical skills, children perfect their abilities and become competent at increasingly difficult physical tasks. Play fosters mental development and new ways of thinking and problem solving. Through block play, children are confronted with many mental challenges having to do with measurement, equality, balance, shape, spatial relationships and physical properties.

One of the strongest benefits of play is the way it enhances social development. Playful social interactions begin from the moment of birth. Dramatic play helps children experiment with and understand social roles. It can also give them countless opportunities for acquiring social skills as they play with others. Through dramatic play, children gradually learn to take each other’s need into account, and appreciate different values and perspective.

Through play, children can express and cope with their feelings. Play also helps relieve stress and pressure for children. They can just be themselves. There is no need to line up to adult standards during play. Play offers children an opportunity to achieve mastery of their environment. They control the experience through their imaginations, and they exercise their powers of choice and decision making as the play progresses.

Play helps develop each child’s unique perspective and individual style of creative expression. Play expresses the child’s personal, unique responses to the environment. It is a self-expressive activity that draws on the child’s powers of imagination. Play is open-ended, free-form and children have the freedom to try out new ideas as well as build on and experiment with the old.

Play provides an excellent opportunity for integrating and including children with disabilities in your program. The opportunities play provides for control and independence are important issues for any child but are especially important for these youngsters.

Therefore, as a caregiver, we must be careful to avoid dominating the play ourselves. Play should be the result of the children’s ideas and not directed by the adult.

Pay attention to play, plan for it, encourage it!

You can read my previous posts here

How to choose right preschool for your child?

Importance of Early Childhood Education

What is Early Childhood Education?

I am taking my blog to another level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

Pics courtesy : Pexel / Canva

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Seven Domains of Early Childhood Education #AllAboutPreschoolers #MyFriendAlexa

Hi Everyone

This is my fourth post for #MyFriendAlexa and one of the most important aspect in Early Childhood Education for everyone to know. Now before we move on to know these domains it is important to understand what development is.

Development describes the growth of humans throughout the lifespan, from conception of death. The scientific study of human development seeks to understand and explain how and why people change throughout life. This includes all aspects of human growth, including physical, emotional, intellectual, social, perceptual, and personality development.

THERE ARE 7 DOMAINS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Gross Motor

This involves learning to use all the “big” muscles on our body. Crawling, walking, running, skipping, jumping and climbing are all examples of gross motor activity.

Fine Motor

Fine motor involves activities teach hand-eye coordination. These activities require a child to learn to precisely control the muscles in the hands. Things like colouring, writing, cutting with scissors, using tweezers, tearing paper, etc. all help build fine motor skills.

Language

This domain includes alphabetic, phonemic awareness, oral, and written language. Even though your little one won’t be able to read for several years, you can read to them. Talking about things throughout the day even when it feels silly is especially important as well. Learning ABC’s, as well as sound each letter makes is another example of language activity.

Language development is a process starting early in human life. Infant start without language, yet by four months of age, babies can discriminate speech sounds and engage in babbling. Some research has shown that the earliest learning begins in uterus when the fetus starts to recognize the sounds and speech patterns of its mother’s voice. Usually, productive language is considered to begin with a stage of preverbal communication in which infants use gestures and vocalizations to make their intent known to others. According to general principle of development, new forms then take over old functions, so that children learn words to express the same communicative functions which they had already expressed by preverbal means.

Stages of Language Development

Babbling (3-9 months)

Single Words (10-13 months)

Two Words (18- 2 years)

Multi word Sentences (2years+)

As children age, they continue to learn new words every day. By the time they enter school around the age of five, children typically have a vocabulary of 10,000 words or more.

Cognitive Development

This includes cause-and-effect, reasoning, as well as early-math skills. Believe it or not, a baby who continually drops a spoon from his highchair is exercising his cognitive ability. He learns that when he drops it, you will pick it up (Cause-and-effect). Counting and patterning are also included in this domain for pre-schoolers.

Cognitive refers to the inner processes and products of the mind that leads to “knowing”. It includes remembering, problem solving and decision making.

Social/Emotional

Your child is a social being! Learning to play especially with others is a skill. “Teaching” in this domain also involves making sure a child feels safe and nurtured. Manners and using kind words might also be examples includes in this domain.

Self-Help/Adaptive

Activities in this domain include learning to dress yourself, feed oneself, using the toilet, brushing teeth, bathing, tying shoes, etc. Everything that a child needs to know to start being more independent could be included in this domain.

Moral/Spiritual/Cultural

It is difficult to make generalization and identify milestones within moral, spiritual and cultural development. And the reason is, there are many factors which influence their development like nationalities, cultures and families, all do things differently.

Moral development

Morality is the ability to learn the difference between right and wrong and understand how to make right choices. Children do not usually demonstrate moral behaviour and beliefs until they are around the age of two. At this point many children start to show empathy-based guilt when they break rules. As with other facets of development, morality doesn’t form independently from the other areas of development. Children’s experiences at home, the environment around them, and their physical, cognitive and social development influence their understanding of right versus wrong.

Spiritual development

This is often closely linked to moral development. It includes beliefs, whether religious or not, the search for meaning or purpose, relationships, creativity, a sense of otherness, wonder and awe, self-knowledge, feeling and emotions. A child is likely to have the same opinions as their caregivers until they are of an age where they can decide for themselves. This development continuous throughout a person’s life.

Cultural development

Culture refers to the customs, practices, languages, values and world views that define social group such as those based on nationality, ethnicity, region or common interests. Culture affects many areas in a child’s life, including food they eat, the behaviours they are allowed to exhibit, the holidays they celebrate and the activities they participate in.

The main thing to know about these domains is they are all equally important. Each of these domains are also interrelated. For example when your baby starts crawling, he will also be enhancing his cognitive abilities by learning about world around him. Leaning new words will encourage her to participate more in social situations. Just watch your child for a few minutes and you will see how each domain affects the others.

You can read my previous posts here

How to choose right preschool for your child?

Importance of Early Childhood Education

What is Early Childhood Education?

I am taking my blog to another level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

Pics courtesy : Pexel / Canva

Posted on

How to choose right preschool for your child? #AllAboutPreschools #MyFriendAlexa

Hi Everyone,

This is my third post for #MyFriendAlexa. You can read my previous posts here

What is Early Childhood Education?

Importance of Early Childhood Education

THE BEST PRESCHOOL IS THE PRESCHOOL THAT IS BEST FOR YOUR CHILD

How do you know? Start with what you know about your child. Does he thrive on playing with other children? Is she more likely to need the attention of an adult? How do you want your culture and traditions supported? Does your child have special needs? You know better than anyone where your child is most likely to thrive.

With over thousands of preschool partners across country, the Preschool Program offers lots of choices. These choices range from family childcare homes and centre-based programs to classes in public schools. But regardless of the exact setting or type of program, all preschool partners should be licensed and undergone a rigorous quality rating process.

5 STEPS TO CHOOSE THE BEST PRESCHOOL FOR YOUR CHILD

Schedule a visit with your child so you can see how your child feels in the preschool and how staff relates to your child. Remember first impression matters when you walk in the preschool with your child.

  1. Is your first impression positive?
  2. Watch your child’s response. Did adults acknowledge your child or just focus on other adults?
  3. Observe how teachers interact with children. Are they at children’s eye level when they talk to them? Do they appear responsive to individual children by listening closely, asking questions and using positive language?
  4. It is important that your child’s classroom has a variety of learning materials, toys and equipments. Are there places for quite time and an area for dramatic play?
  5. Does the classroom seem clean and safe with enough adults to supervise children? As child’s safely is of utmost importance.

ASK QUESTIONS

  • What is the school’s philosophy about how children learn?
  • What is the school’s approach to children’s behaviour and discipline?
  • How do activities promote social, emotional and intellectual growth and stimulate creativity?
  • Is there space and materials to promote a wide range of development activities from holding a pencil or cup to running and jumping?
  • Walk around the room and ask the teacher what the child is learning from the different activity centers.
  • Since no two children are at the same stage of development, how does the teacher support individual children in their learning?
  • Do children have their own place to keep their special things?
  • What is the daily schedule? Do the preschool offer activities your child would like to participate in and is there time for your child to explore?
  • How does the school communicate with families and how often?
  • Can you visit the classroom at any time?
  • Ask to talk to parents who have a child in the school.

It is important that when considering an early education facility, caregivers and teachers in the facility have knowledge of the cultural support for the language and literacy learning of the children and families they are serving. They need to have sufficient skills in guiding small groups of children to give full attention to individual young children’s language and literacy efforts. They need to be able to draw out shy children while they help very talkative ones begin to listen to others as well as to speak. Caregivers or teachers need to arrange environment that are symbol rich and interesting without being overwhelming to infants and toddlers. Even the simplest exchange becomes a literacy lesson when it includes the warmth of a relationship coupled with words, their concept, and perhaps a graphic symbol.

To be effective, an early year’s curriculum needs to be carefully structured. In that structure, there should be three strands

Provision for the different starting points from which children develop learning, building on what they can already do

Relevant and appropriate content which matches the different levels of young children’s needs

Planned and purposeful activity which provides opportunities for teaching and learning both indoors and outdoors.

If your child is between the ages of three and six and attends a preschool or kindergarten program, the National Association for the Education of Young Children suggests you look for these 10 signs to make sure your child is in a good classroom.

Children spend most of their time playing and working with materials or other children. They do not wander aimlessly and they are not expected to sit quietly for long period of time.

Children have access to various activities throughout the day. Look for assorted building blocks and other construction materials, props for pretend play, picture books, paints and other art materials and table toys such as matching games, pegboards, and puzzles. All the children should not necessarily be doing the same activity at the same time.

Teachers work with individual children, small groups, and the whole group at different times during the say. They do not spend all their time with the whole group.

The classroom is decorated with children’s original artwork, their own writing with invented spelling, and stories dictated by children to teachers.

Children learn numbers and alphabet in the context of their everyday experiences. The natural world of plants and animals and meaningful activities like cooking, taking attendance or serving snack provide the basic for learning activities.

Children work on projects and have long periods of time to play and explore. Worksheets are used little, it at all.

Children have an opportunity to play outside every day. Outdoor play is never sacrificed for more instructional time.

Teachers read books to children individually or in small groups throughout the day, not just at group story time.

Curriculum is adapted for those who are ahead as well as those who need additional help. Teachers recognize that children’s different background and experiences mean that they do not learn the same things at the same time in the same way.

Children and their parents look forward to school. Parents feel secure about sending their children to the program. Children are happy to attend, they do not cry regularly or complain of feeling sick.

I hope all these pointers can help you select right school for your child.

I am taking my blog to another level with  Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

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Importance of Early Childhood Education #AllAboutPreschoolers #MyFriendAlexa

HI Everyone,

This is my second post for #MyFriendAlexa. Now you know what is Early Childhood Education. So lets move on and understand It’s Importance.

Did you know that the capacity of the brain to absorb new learning peaks at age 3? Scientists have learned that a toddler’s brain develops over one hundred trillion brain synapses. A brain synapse is the wiring between two brain cells that grasps new learning. The more the synapses, the more your brain will learn. It is during this time that the human brain has the highest potential for new learning in its lifetime. Recognizing shapes, drawing, singing and playing with toys are all examples of behaviors your child learns in the first few years of life.

By their third birthday, your child should be able to do many things, including throw a ball overhand, feed themselves, ride a tricycle, balance on one foot or copy a circle, just to name a few. And by age 4, your child will begin knowing their first and last name, following family rules, recognizing colours, eating by themselves, dressing themselves, etc.

High-quality preschools and pre-kindergartens are geared to give your child a jumpstart to learning. Most have standards in place to prepare your child for kindergarten, so that on the first day of school, your child is ready to learn.

Appropriately early childhood programs not only help your child’s brain develop in a timely fashion, but they also contribute to physical, emotional and social development. Along with school readiness, it is also important to look for key development milestones in your children.

Some Development Milestones

Age 2Age 3Age 4
Walk, jump, runTell stories with two
or three sentences		Know first and last name
Kick a ballCan name a friendCopy images
Scribble with crayonsThrow a ball overhandEat by themselves
Imitate othersCopy a circleSing a song from memory

Benefits of quality early childhood education and care:

You can place your child in childcare or kindergarten and know they are safe and well cared for, by people who have a qualification and share an understanding about what is important for your child.

Your child will have the opportunity to develop skills by playing with others and taking part in activities that build on their abilities and interests.

You will be supported in caring for your child.

You will have increased opportunities to work, attend appointments or recreational activities or have time to yourself.

The importance of the early years is now well known throughout the world. These years are a time when brain develops and much of its wiring is laid down. The experiences and relationships a child has, plus nutrition and health, can actually affects this enormously. Positive experience help the brain to develop in healthy ways. Seriously negative experiences such as neglect and abuse, on the other hand, affect brain development in more harmful ways, and contribute to emotional and behavioural problems later in life. So the experience a child has in the early years can either support learning or interfere with it.

“The brain is the only organ that is not fully formed at birth. During the first three years, trillions of connections between brain cells are being made. A child’s relationships and experiences during the early years greatly influence how their brain grows”.

Children’s development and learning can be affected by

Influence within themselves, their genetic inheritance, temperament, gender and health.

Influence within the family, family relationships, parenting styles and values, the family’s financial situation, parents’ level of education, parent’s occupation and parent’s physical and mental health.

Influence within the community, children’s services, support for parenting, housing, safety and crime in the neighborhood, unemployment levels and general feeling of trust among the residents.

Influence within their culture, with different cultures marked by differences in parenting styles, beliefs and values, and different views on how children should be educated.

Early childhood is a crucial time for children to learn because this is when they develop the foundation of their brain for learning during the rest of their lives. The things children learn during these years play a very important role in the proper development of children. Children learn by exploring their environment and watching people everyday life.

I am taking my blog to another level with Blogchatter’s #MyFriendAlexa.

Pics courtesy : Pexel / Canva

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What is Early Childhood Education? #AllAboutPreschoolers #MyFriendAlexa

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post for #MyFrinendAlexa, and I am really excited to share my theme for the campaign, “All About Preschoolers”. Here I will be sharing all the important topics related to preschoolers from, It’s importance to how to choose the best preschool, health and hygiene and many more.

In terms of a child’s physical, intellectual, emotional and social development early childhood is considered as one of the most crucial stage of life. It is the time when children need high quality personal care and learning experience as the growth of mental and physical abilities advance at an astonishing rate and a very high proportion of learning takes place from birth to age six.

Whether anyone believes it or not, education begins from the moment the child is brought home from the hospital and continues when the child starts to attend playgroups and kindergarten. The learning capabilities of humans continue for rest of their lives but not at the intensity that is demonstrated in the preschool years. Now keeping this in mind, babies and toddlers need positive early learning experiences to help their intellectual, social and emotional development and lays the foundation for later school success.

Aids In Early Childhood Education

Parent

During the first three years parents will be the main influence in the child’s learning experience and education. Therefore, what parents do and expose their children to, have a vast impact on the development of the child.

Environment

Environment plays a very important role in child’s growth. It is essential that the environment that the child is placed in during these years be as positive and intellectually stimulating as possible.

Speech Development

Speech development is one of the first tools that a child will demonstrate. And a parent or care giver can have a vast impact on child’s speech development by the amount of time that is spent talking with and reading to a child.

Play

Most of the child development experts will agree with me that play is very important in the learning and emotional development of all children. Play is multi-faceted as while having fun, often many skills can be learned. Play helps children learn relationship and social skills and develop values and ethics. Functional play helps children to develop motor and practice skills. Water and sand play is a favourite amongst pre-schooler children and a valuable teaching tool. Constructive play is characterized by building or creating something like puzzles, building blocks, puppets and easy craft activities. Pretend play allows children to express themselves and events in their lives which in turns helps them process emotions, practice social skills, develop a rich imagination, learn values and also develop language skills.

There is a range of early childhood education and care services for young children, include license and unlicensed, center based and home-based services. Talk to individual providers to find out about how they may cater for your child. It is important to consider the full range of early education and care options available to your child.

Education and care services aim to meet the education, care and development needs of children. There are range of different models of early education and care services. Most of these services are approved to operate by the Department of Education and Communities.

Important areas of learning

Health and physical well being are the basis for all learning and development. Such areas as eating, habits, attitudes towards exercise and self care routines build from the child’s earliest experiences. One of the most important things children learn in the early years is about themselves, that is, they develop a picture of themselves that affects the way they approach any situation, task or relationship with another person. In other words, they develop a self concept. An important part of that self concept is the picture they have of themselves as learners. Is it okay to be curious, to explore, to ask questions, to tackle problems, to try to figure things out, to experiment? Is it okay to try something and fail sometimes? Being a good learner means having a go, seeing yourself as capable, and taking reasonable risk. There are many different ways to categorize learning in the early years, but whatever the categories, it is important for parents, and others who work and live with children, to keep in mind the broad range of kinds learning that are important in the early years.

  • Use of body, including hands
  • Respect for others
  • How to relate to others, both adults and other children
  • How to resolve conflict
  • Problem solving skills
  • Communication getting used to things that make people different from each other
  • Self knowledge, understanding of feelings, a sense of your own strength, talents and uniqueness
  • Confidence, a sense of belonging to family, community, culture
  • How to look after and take care of yourself
  • Last but not the least, behaving in acceptable ways and controlling your own behaviour

Early childhood education typically focuses on five domains

  • Cognitive
  • Language
  • Social-Emotional
  • Fine motor skills
  • Gross motor skills

Early childhood educators are professionally trained to observe and enhance children’s development skills and refer children appropriately for additional services when a delay is expected. However, all children do not develop at the same rate and may not complete a development task when it is scheduled to be completed. If a child is having trouble with a development task, the child’s teacher can do extra activities with that child to help the child master the development task they are struggling with. Early childhood educators are trained to know what the time frame is in which to wait before they refer a child for additional services.

Children can never be too young to educate and the younger a child begins education the better. Infant’s and toddler’s brains are rapidly growing and this age is the perfect time to begin educating their little brains.

I am taking my blog to the next level with Blogchatter’s #MYFriendAlexa.

Pics Courtesy : Pexel / Canva

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Are nutrition and exercise inter-connected to strengthen your muscles?

“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.” – Hippocrates

Balanced nutrients and healthy routine exercise go hand in hand just like peas and carrots. One without the other just doesn’t work. As an Image Consultant I always talk about “Image inside out”. Now what does this means? It means managing image is all about developing your inner strength and at the same time reflect them on the outside through your appearance. Similarly, if you are looking for prolonged health benefits and want your body to retain muscle strength even when you age, it is imperative to focus on both diet and exercise at the same time. Nothing exists in isolation. Everything is inter-related.

Contrary to popular belief, exercise alone will not help you with weight loss or stimulate your metabolism.  Healthy eating accounts for roughly 70-80% of the work with exercise being the rest. Too many people think that they can eat crap as long as they exercise. But it is just going to do more harm than good.

If you are looking for perfection, I am sorry to disappoint you, but no one is perfect nor should they expect to be. In life and nutrition, it’s about finding a good or right balance. Proper nutrition and right exercise will help you obtain the body you desire, improve your self- confidence and boost your fitness performance.

There is a 80/20 rule. Aim for healthy nutrition at least 80 percent of the time and exercise accounts for approximately 20 percent of the work. Try to set realistic goals, look for progress and not perfection. As far as exercise is concerned, do not force what your body can’t bare. One thing you need to remember, your metabolism decreases as you get older. So, eat mindful, build a life style which can be maintained and gives you longer, happier and healthier life.

As you age your nutritional need also alter. This is because aging leads to varity of changes in your body like, nutrients deficiencies, decreased quality of life and poor health outcome. But luckily there are things you can do to prevent all of these by taking nutrient rich food and taking the appropriate supplements for example Ensure supplements. #EnsureStrongerInsideOut.

6 Ways To Stay Strong And Healthy As You Age

Do you know that people over the age of 40 may lose up to 10 % of their muscle mass per decade? And the rate of decline may double after the age of 70. But can we do something about it? The answer is Yes! Now let’s understand How?

  • Add Movement

Engage in regular exercise, including resistance training, to maintain muscle and strength. Exercise not just keeps you fit physically but also mentally.

  • Add protein rich diet

Eat good amount of protein from lean meats, eggs and beans. Aim for 25-30 grams of protein at every meal. As we know protein is a muscle building nutrient and while aging bodies process protein less efficiently and need more of it to maintain muscle mass and strength, bone health, and other essential physiological functions.

  • Add balanced nutrients in your diet

Choose a balanced diet full of veggies, fruits, whole grains, proteins and healthy fats. It also lowers your risk of developing chronic health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes.

  • Add considerate supplements to you diet

Consider adding a nutrition drink to your diet to ensure you’re getting all the nutrients you need as you age. But one needs to remember, they can also have unwanted side effects. Therefore it’s important to understand the supplements you are taking and why you are taking them. Talk with your doctor if you are considering taking a supplement.

  • Add regular health check up in your lifestyle

Consult your healthcare provider about nutrition, especially if you’re ill, hospitalized or recovering from surgery, to manage illness-related muscle loss. And go for regular health check-ups.

  • Add more positive people in your life

Surround yourself with positive people. When you surround yourself with positive influences, you will feel better about yourself. You’ll feel energized and motivated and in turn have longer and healthier life.

Build a lifestyle, not just a diet and treat your body as a holistic system for long term results. When these two lifestyle factors Diet and Exercise are combined, they provide holistic health.

This Post is part of Blogchatter’s Campaign #EnsureStrongerInsideOut

I have taken my test.. Have you taken yours?

Check your muscle age here https://bit.ly/MuscleAgeTest

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3 Simple Ways To Change A Habit

How are habits formed? Is there any habit which you wish to change? It is our thoughts and actions that create pathways in our brain. And as we repeat the thinking and response, so the pathways become a tarred road and in no time, highways develop, along which our response travel. This means that whenever we are required to respond to a certain type of thought or situation, our brain follow the road most travelled. And that’s how habits are formed.

Identify The Habit You Want To Change

Make a list of habits you wish to change. Find the trigger point or the cause which is leading to those habits. It might be overwhelming but you need to be focused and determined. Once you learn what prompts them, it is easier to find solution.

Follow 21/120 Rule

Any habit which you wish to change, you must train yourself to turn off the freeway and start a new path, which involves change and hard work. The trouble is that when a crisis arises, we inevitably rush back to the old familiar path or way of doing things. New Year’s Eve is the time when many of us decide to rectify certain bad habits. But how many of us really abide by them? It is said that if you can maintain a cessation of your behavior for 21 days then you are a long way down the road towards maintaining the new behavior. After 120 days you have truly turned the new path into an established road and are far less likely to revert to the old road even during the periods of stress.

But then why we find it hard to stop a bad habit? According to my observation giving up on habitual behavior is hard as we must engage voluntarily in the change, but anything which is forced upon us is easy as we have very little say in the process. Change is something that we humans are not very good with, rather we use up huge amount of energy trying to ensure that change does not happen to us. So, when we are required to change a habit, we need huge amount of determination and courage if we are to succeed.

We develop certain habits because they make us feel good. They help us ease tension and bring relief. This is not just true for good habits but bad habits too.  Someone who self-harms know it very well that what they are doing will cause a scar, but the negative implication of doing this surpassed by the emotional release. This really sounds scary and one must strive hard to change these negative habits.

Take Small Steps

Change in habit will not happen overnight. And changing something completely is also not practical. Or setting huge task like “I will stop eating chocolate” might not work as well. So, what are we supposed to do? Take baby steps which you can fulfil. For example, if you just aim not to eat chocolate for a day, then the goal would be more attainable. At the end of the day, you would feel good about yourself and resolve to continue the process for another day, and so on. After 21 days the craving would have reduced, and you could look at weekly target. Now having build up on your success and affirmed a positive sense of self, you would be ready to take up any habit which is a hinderance in your life. Once you’ve established that habit, you continue to do it for another ninety days. It is like throwing a small pebble into the pond and watching how ripples increase in size as they more outwards. One small success can lead to far bigger ones.

Once you understand the only thing which is constant in this world is change, you will dug up your fear , win over your mind and will see a ray of hope.

@ Swati Mathur