Posts Tagged ‘Add new tag’
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Wakeful Nights
by Dr Kyle Pruett
Growing up is heady stuff for kids. So sleep problems are not uncommon. If your child routinely has trouble getting to sleep or wakes up at night and needs comforting, his developmental achievements give you some important new tools to work with at this age.
Dr. Minde reminds parents of the importance of routine in the daily life of a child. At an age when children are learning so much so fast, predictability and regularity in the timing and location of meals, bathing, and bedtimes is soothing and comforting. In today’s environment of working parents, such routines may be harder to provide, but they are no less important to the child.
He encourages parents to use quiet bedtime rituals to ease the transition. Bedtime stories are a proven staple, as are songs and prayers. But you can personalize the routine and periodically update it to match you child’s special interests, such as helping him put his favorite stuffed animal or doll to bed.
When the child cries, he recommends that the parents check on the child every five to ten minutes (whatever time frame is tolerable for the parent), perhaps patting and reassuring the child, but making it clear that the child is expected to stay in bed. If necessary, he recommends that the parent withdraw from the room in stages, first sitting on the bed, then in a nearby chair.
If problems persist, Dr. Minde suggests that you enlist your child’s help. You can put your child’s growing language and imaginative powers, as well as his growing independence, to work on the case. Explain that you need your sleep, and ask your child what would help him to stay clam when he wakes and to get back to sleep on his own. Perhaps holding and talking to his favorite teddy bear or snuggling with his favorite blanket. Make sure these items are within easy reach at bedtime.
To learn more about The Goddard School click here.
Tags: 28277, 5 Star Child Care Centers, 5 star Preschools in Charlotte, 5-star Preschools, Add new tag, Back To School, Biting, Charlotte Preschools, Child Care Centers Charlotte, Child Care Centers in Ballantyne, Child Care Centers in Charlotte, Child Development, Controlling Worrying in children, Goddard School, New School, The Goddard School
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Monday, November 8th, 2010
Students at The Goddard School® located in Charlotte, NC, benefit from added safety measures like door hinge guards.
fingersafe® produces door hinge guards that prevent children’s fingers from being pinched or crushed at the hinged end of doors.
The unique accordion shape of the fingersafe® door hinge ejects fingers from the opening area.
- fingersafe® has been installed in restaurants, hospitals, schools, homes and government facilities throughout North America and Europe.
- Joe Kaplan, of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter-National Safety Council has described fingersafe® as, “The best new safety product to hit America in 50 years.”*
To learn more about The Goddard School, click here.
Tags: 28277, 5 Star Child Care Centers, 5 star Preschools in Charlotte, Add new tag, Back To School, Charlotte Preschools, Child Care Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Charlotte, Child Care Centers in Ballantyne, Child Care Centers in Charlotte, Child Care Charlotte, Child Development, Child Vacations, Goddard School, New School, Role of Fathers
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Wednesday, October 6th, 2010
The Goddard School® located in Charlotte, North Carolina recommends trying new activities with your child!
Materials:
Contact paper (clear)
Colored tissue paper
Permanent marker
Double-sided tape
Scissors
Ruler
*Children should have adult supervision throughout this activity.
How To:
- Cut two pieces of contact paper into 5” X 5” squares.
- Place double-sided tape on the dull side of one square and secure the square to a table or flat surface.
- Peel off the contact paper backing so the sticky side faces up.
- Cut or tear small pieces of different colored tissue paper and place them on the sticky side of the contact paper square until completely covered.
- Place the second square on top of the first square (sticky side down) so the tissue paper is sealed between the two contact paper squares.
- Trace a leaf shape onto the contact paper squares.
- Cut out the shape to make a colorful fall leaf.
- Use tape to adhere the leaf to a window where the sun will shine through it!
To learn more about The Goddard School, click here.
Tags: 28277, 5 Star Child Care Centers, 5 star Preschools in Charlotte, Add new tag, Back To School, Child Care Centers Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Charlotte, Child Care Centers in Ballantyne, Goddard School, Literacy, Pacifier, Saving Money, The Goddard School, Thumbsucking, Traveling Children
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Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
Your experience as a sibling counts hugely in perpetually shaping and re-shaping your own perspectives and judgments (positive and negative) about how not to get stung in this hornet’s nest of competing interests, needs, and abilities.
I’m the middle of three sons, and have dozens of cousins. Several of them have special needs, but most don’t. I recall a riveting exchange from an Oklahoma Thanksgiving decades back where my loving (but daunting) grandmother chided one of her 7 year-old grandchildren for ‘cruelly teasing’ his sister; “Craig – you just can’t be that harsh with her. It’s your job to compromise – adjust yourself accordingly!”
He glared fiercely at her, went very still for a moment, and then burst into tears –“Yea, like I have choice. I’ve adjusted every day of my life for her!” and ran outside, seeking his comfort with the presumably less judgmental barn animals.
How many hours had Craig waited in waiting rooms while his sister received care? How many conversations had he overheard between his parents about her needs, compared to the ones they’d had about his? He loved her unconditionally, was incredibly proud of her, and protected her from insensitive peers. But wasn’t he entitled to think she could be a pain sometimes – just like all other sibling pairs from time immemorial? Couldn’t he not always have to try extra hard to make his parents proud of him since they worried so often about his sister? Couldn’t they talk to him about what was the matter with her and if she’d ever be normal?
These are the things that siblings of children with special needs struggle with every day, and here are some ideas about how to help them keep their balance (not to mention yours):
Let them know that you expect them to have many complicated feelings about their sibling, some loving and some not; and that you are open to listening without making them feel bad about it. They are feelings, after all, not explosives, and ambivalence is a thread woven into every relationship.
- Avoid setting unrealistically high standards – emotional, social, spiritual, moral, athletic or academic. They are just who they are, not compensations for who they are not.
- Expect them to reach their limit periodically (just like yourself), and try to avoid shaming them when they do. They need diversion and recovery time at such moments, not sermons. Guilt about ‘being normal’ is nearly universal in such children; making the sermons at such moments a kind of double-whammy of shame.
- Nothing is more effective than mutually gratifying time alone with you, although careful listening is its equally effective clone.
- As children develop, their understandings (and their worries) get more complex, so have periodic check-ins with them about their (ever-changing) questions about what is ‘the matter’ with and future for their sibling.
To learn more about The Goddard School, click here.
Tags: 5 Star Child Care Centers, 5-star Preschools, Add new tag, Biting, car, Child Care Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Ballantyne, Child Care Centers in Ballantyne, Child Care Centers in Charlotte, Child Vacations, Choosing a Preschool, Controlling Worrying in children, Day Care Center Ballantyne, Day Care School, Goddard, New Place, Phonics, Role of Fathers, Staying Cool, The Goddard School, Worrying in Children
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Monday, September 13th, 2010
True toys have no bells or whistles, they do not do anything and you do not turn them on. Most toys today have taken the fun out of imaginative play. Manipulating toys and giving them life develops reasoning and problem-solving skills as well as creates a base of simple knowledge of how things work.
Infants
Rattles – Fine motor development toy of the century. Grasping, repetitive motion that creates a desired outcome, music, hand-eye coordination and focusing visually on a moving object are all part of infant learning. Have rattles handy in a variety of colors, shapes, sizes and sounds.
One-Year-Olds
Blocks, blocks and more blocks – Spatial relationships, size and shape discrimination leads to early math skills, fine motor control as well as cause and effect. This true toy is fun at any age! A child may spend hours building and knocking down blocks while developing science skills including balance, gravity and concepts of weight.
Two-Year-Olds
Paint and play-dough – It is messy and that is why they like it so much. This tactile experience will open the doors of creativity and thinking. Let them mix the colors, use different tools and add to the experience by playing some music in the background. Finger paint, paintbrushes and textured paint can be mixed with a variety of painting surfaces for further explanation.
Three-Year-Olds
A ball – Look at everything you can do with a ball – kick it, catch it, sit on it, bounce it, dribble it, play alone or with someone. A ball develops gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination and encourages healthy practices. A child needs to learn to handle a ball before they can handle a pencil.
Four- to Five-Year-Olds
Dramatic Play – Dramatic play is more than dress-up. It is a shovel, a whisk, a pad of paper. It is a pile of dirt, an old tire and a cardboard box. The sky is the limit – if your children have seen it, they want to explore it. Cut the cord off an old landline telephone and let them look inside as the telephone repair man. True toys for a four year old are simply real life items. These toys will allow children to try on new personalities and play out roles.
To learn more about The Goddard School, click here.
Tags: 28277, 5 Star Child Care Centers, 5 star Preschools in Charlotte, Add new tag, Back To School, Biting, Charlotte Preschools, Child Care Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Charlotte, Child Development, Child Vacations, Controlling Worrying in children, Learning through Play, Literacy, Pacifier, Preventing Biting, Saving Money, Staying Cool, The Goddard School, The Goddard Schoolol, Traveling Children, Worrying in Children
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Monday, August 30th, 2010
The Grown Up Life: Marriage & Parenting
by Dr. Kyle Pruett
Parental and marital burnout is a common fellow traveler at the end of the third parental year. It should not be ignored, any more than a lump or a polyp. And it is just as important that you fix it while it is still benign.
It seems to show up now because we finally let ourselves relax a bit, having gotten our kids talking, potty-trained (or at least started), loving and human enough to believe they will at least have a life. But that’s when we often begin wondering about our own life, sometimes for the first time in years.
Research on family development shows that marital satisfaction can get perilously low early in the lives of kids because they seem to be such huge energy sinks. Thoughts of “Are-we-having-fun-yet?” guiltily badger mothers and fathers, especially if they keep these thoughts to themselves. If you are not enjoying parenting, it may mean that you are working too hard at it. You may be allowing yourself no savor time because you are too busy whipping the process of development into a frenzy. My father’s favorite relevant quote: “Trying to teach a pig to sing is just a waste of time. It frustrates the farmer and really irritates the pig.” Return to being a parent, not a driver, and let your child return to growing instead of balking.
As for the marriage or partnership that spawned this child, it, too, is usually nurtured by a heart-mind connection that requires periodic preventive and reparative maintenance. The three-year or 36,000-mile (stairs, chasing, cruise & snooze, shopping) check-up is critical for long-term endurance, because if that machine isn’t purring along, the wheels are going to eventually come off, given the road conditions ahead.
Take time to be together and uncover who you are as adults with minds, opinions, ideas, hobbies, yearnings and dreams. Date, overnight away, lunch, whatever. Pay someone else to feed or entertain you for a change, to reverse the energy flow. Replenishing affection between adults takes conscious effort. Childcare involves so much touching, holding, carrying, bathing and comforting that adult affection can simply get crowded out of a relationship. But the replenishment of that affectional and intellectual tie between the adults will be especially important in the years to come when the older school-age child wouldn’t get caught dead kissing a parent on the cheek, much less discuss the idea!
Bottom line: you’ll be fine. Meanwhile, celebrate how far you’ve come together, and whom you have uniquely become together. These have been golden years to savor and adore. None of us would amount to anything without each other, and these early parenting years show better than any others.
To learn more about The Goddard School click here.
Tags: 28277, 5 Star Child Care Centers, 5 star Preschools in Charlotte, 5-star Preschools, Add new tag, Back To School, boredom, Charlotte Preschools, Child Care Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Charlotte, Child Care Centers in Ballantyne, Child Care Charlotte, Child Development, Child Vacations, Choosing a Preschool, Controlling Worrying in children, Fun in the Sun, Goddard School, Phonics, The Goddard School, The Goddard School-Ballantyne, Thumbsucking, Worrying in Children
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Monday, August 16th, 2010
Parents can help make the “back to school” transition much smoother for their child if they prepare in advance. Try to add activities or planned outings to your child’s day. This structure helps prepare them to be on a schedule when they return to the classroom. If the child will be going to a new school, parents may want to schedule a visit with their child before the first day. Consider taking your child on a fun shopping trip where they can help pick out their clothes, lunchbox and supplies.
Ensuring your child has adequate sleep and proper nutrition is very important. Your child will do their best if they get to sleep early and eat a healthy breakfast each day before school. A daily diet of junk food is not compatible with learning. It can cause listlessness and hyperactivity which can impair a child’s ability to learn. Skipping breakfast especially is a detriment to a child’s education.
Adjust your child’s sleep schedule a few weeks in advance to help avoid struggling to get them out of bed for school. Set up a consistent daily routine so that your child wakes up and goes to sleep at the same times each day. If you have not created one already, start a bedtime routine, including bathing, selecting clothes for the next day, cuddling together for a bedtime story and a kiss goodnight. Begin a regular morning routine that includes a healthy breakfast, packing a nutritious lunch, grooming and getting dressed for the day.
To learn more about The Goddard School, click here.
Tags: 5 Star Child Care Centers, 5 star Preschools in Charlotte, Add new tag, Back To School, Child Care Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Ballantyne, Child Development, Choosing a Preschool, Fun in the Sun, Goddard School Ballantyne, Learning through Play, Literacy, New School, Phonics, Role of Fathers, Saving Money, Sleeping, The Goddard School, water Play, Worrying in Children
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Friday, August 13th, 2010
If you want your child to grow up to be a gardener, it’s important to remember to share gardening experiences with them throughout their childhood. These include frequent, pleasurable occurrences, designs that include messy, colorful plots and great memories of working together in the garden. Each child’s capabilities and attention span will vary so it’s important to adjust your expectations. The goal is to teach your children to respect and enjoy gardening as well as experience a feeling of “I did it myself” at harvest time.
The Composting Council of Canada developed the following good reasons to foster a lifelong love of gardening in children.
- Health: Growing your own vegetables makes it easier to get enough servings each day.
- Exercise: Digging, turning, spreading compost, mulching, hoeing, excavating rocks – all burn calories, help build muscles and strengthen hearts and lungs.
- Save Money: Even a small vegetable patch can reduce your expenses.
- Education: Gardening is terrific for providing hands-on lessons in botany, zoology, weather, hydrology, as well as cycles of life, death and physical decay.
- Waste Reduction and Recycling: Compost piles transform kitchen scraps, leaves and yard waste into rich soil amendments. Gardeners can reuse of all kinds of cans, cartoons, meat trays and more.
- Stress Relief: Planting seeds and tending plants can restore balance and perspective.
- Togetherness: Use vegetables grown together to make delicious meals together and donate abundance to people who need it.
- Helps Improve Reading and Math Skills: Children can make plant markers, read seed packets and even help pay for nursery plants.
- Memory Building: Provides great memories for the years to come.
- Satisfaction: The more time you spend with your children in the garden, the more they will feel the garden is truly theirs and the more eager they will be to take care of it.
To learn more about The Goddard School, click here.
Tags: 5 Star Child Care Centers, 5 star Preschools in Charlotte, Add new tag, Back To School, Biting, Charlotte Preschools, Child Care Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Charlotte, Child Care Centers in Ballantyne, Controlling Worrying in children, Goddard School, Literacy, Reading, Saving Money, Sleeping, The Goddard School, The Goddard Schoolol, water Play, Worrying in Children
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Managing Parental Emotions of Childcare
by Dr. Kyle Pruett
Don’t pretend you’re fine when you’re not.
It’s much better to acknowledge your feelings. It’s normal to feel grief at this change. You will come through sooner and better if you face your feelings head on.
Don’t believe you are a bad parent for choosing childcare.
If you have chosen a good center or caregiver, you can be confident that your child is in good hands, so there is no logical reason to feel guilty. But if you continue to feel guilty, it’s important to come to grips with these feelings. Be especially alert if you are tempted to change your parenting style. For example, some parents start easing up on setting limits to compensate for their guilt. Such behavior leads nowhere you or your child want to go.
Don’t become critical of your child’s caregiver.
It’s important to have a good relationship with caregivers. Their observations and advice can be extremely helpful to your parenting. If you find you feel critical even though the caregiver’s work doesn’t merit such an attitude, recognize that your feelings are a part of the separation process. Then begin to focus on the caregiver’s talents and good qualities. Rest assured that no caregiver will take your place in your child’s life or heart. The new attachments to other warm and loving caregivers are beneficial. They also are good signs of your child’s emotional maturity and your achievement in nurturing that maturity.
Don’t underestimate the importance of the transition to childcare.
If you pretend the new routine doesn’t matter, you may underestimate the good things that can come from this new experience for your child and you – new friends, new learning, new sources of information and new ideas on parenting.
To learn more about The Goddard School please click here.
Tags: 28277, 5 Star Child Care Centers, 5 star Preschools in Charlotte, 5-star Preschools, Add new tag, Back To School, Biting, boredom, Charlotte Preschools, Child Care Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Charlotte, Child Care Centers in Ballantyne, Child Care Centers in Charlotte, Child Care Charlotte, Goddard School, Learning through Play, Literacy, The Goddard School, The Goddard School-Ballantyne, The Goddard Schoolol, Traveling Children, Worrying in Children
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Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
STAY-CATIONS: Back-to-Basics Family Fun!
Stay-cations may not only provide a more frugal family vacation, they may also provide an opportunity to create and experience a higher level of bonding with your children.
Upsides to stay-cations include nominal packing as well as minimal airplane or car ride entertainment. Stay-cations, however, provide the challenge of getting into vacation mode when the remnants of your day-to-day life are all around – planning ahead is the key.
Fun, frugal stay-cations include:
- Go on nature walks, hikes and bike rides. Collect rocks to paint.
- Organize day trips to zoos and/or museums. Create a family scrapbook to commemorate your experiences.
- Choose a miniature golf outing and enjoy a little healthy competition.
- Plan a family mini-spa day. Prepare a healthy lunch from your vegetable garden.
- Go camping in your own backyard. Don’t forget flashlight tag and S’mores!
- Plan and prepare yummy goodies and enjoy a picnic together in a local park.
- Rainy day stay-cations are fun too!
- Play board games
- Assemble jigsaw puzzles
- Watch family movies
To learn more about The Goddard School, click here.
Tags: 5 Star Child Care Centers, 5 star Preschools in Charlotte, 5-star Preschools, Add new tag, Back To School, Charlotte Preschools, Child Care Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Ballantyne, Child Care Centers Charlotte, Child Care Centers in Ballantyne, Child Care Centers in Charlotte, Controlling Worrying in children, Goddard School, Learning through Play, New School, Phonics, Role of Fathers, The Goddard School, The Goddard School-Ballantyne, Worrying in Children
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