Helping a little one through their early years can be challenging, wonderful and crazy, all at the same time. Here you’ll find stories, parenting tips and some answers to help make your time with your children as great as it can be.
May is the month we celebrate and honour our most valued citizens, our child care providers! Caring for children is often rewarding and challenging work.
Early Childhood Educators support and enrich the lives of families and the development of children.
ECEBC and the BCGEU is proud to celebrate child care month with the launch of a series of short animations.
Most adults have a pretty good grip on the difference between fantasy and reality. We can easily separate and make sense of stories that are made up and embellished from those which are factual and based on reality. We are so comfortable with our sense of fantasy and reality that we may not realize this ability to distinguish the two has not always been present, in fact, it is not fully developed until about school age.
For a preschool aged child, the world can be a scary and confusing place without a clear sense of fantasy vs. reality especially during holidays. Elaborate and strange characters, completely out of the norm are suddenly welcomed into our inner family circle, quite confusing to a child who has been taught to keep distance from strangers. The thought of a human sized rabbit entering their home can be more of a cause for nightmares than sweet dreams for many children, understandably. We have all witnessed this scene before: lineups to see Santa 20 minutes long, and once reaching the front, a terrified child clinging to her parents’ leg, is desperate to escape the fear of this unnatural meeting. Despite it all, we parents forge on to wear down our child’s innate response to avoid experiencing the holiday mascots, without little consultation with the question “why are we doing this?” If we did ask ourselves, we might have to challenge and discredit our own childhood memories, memories we have grown to cherish in our adult perspective.
Some clear lines can be drawn connecting childhood admiration for holiday mascots and grooming young consumers to feed our never satiated economy, but that aside, we really should ask, “how are we doing this?” The intention of creating fantastical experiences for children certainly must come from a place of playful, spirited fun, in which to engage a sense of wonder and delight not fear and sadness. Age, previous experience/understanding, physiological condition and adult response have a lot to do with how a child will perceive holiday character encounters. For children whose interest in fantasy and magic is already piqued, the possibility of seeing or meeting a fantasy character is exiting and positive, and the imaginative play and creative thinking processes opened up have much to offer a child who is developing their critical thinking.
The child who is in a place of fear and sadness is not experiencing these benefits, and although well intended, parents may be further imposing feelings of anxiety and shame by trying to minimize their feelings and coax them into something they do not want to do. But, by being aware of our own childhood experiences and the needs of our children, we can best construct our unique and personalized family rituals and traditions for years of fond memory building.
Rhonda Teramura, ECE and Mom of Three
Childcare is often times a secondary home to many children in our society. Families come to rely heavily on this service to meet their children’s day-to-day needs in a variety of ways including socialization. Even families who do not rely on childcare seek social opportunities for their preschool aged children in environments similar to Daycare in the pursuit of socialization.
Research has shown that the sociability of preschoolers is actually a loss of shyness, as explored in Dr. Gordon Neufeld’s book “Hold On To Your Kids”. Children are not shy in their own home, and when feeling a strong sense of attachment, they feel free to behave authentically. So are all attachments created equally? No. If peers fill this role we see children controlling and being controlled by children purposely and unintentionally, when given their immaturity, could be very detrimental and leads to stress of all kinds.
So how do we promote an attachment between our children and their care providers and a sense of home outside of home? Children need to develop relationships with the care provider and spend one on one time and lots of eye contact throughout the day. This is much more easily attained in smaller group settings where care providers have more opportunities to connect with individual children. When children are represented within the space they can gain a sense of belonging.
By displaying photographs, art-work and items from home or familiar cultural objects/images children are reminded that they are important and part of the centre. The Parent and Care provider relationship is important in supporting the child’s connection. When a child observes positive communication, genuine relating and consistency they will have an easier time attaching to the new adult.
While many parents are keen to focus on peer socialization, the important first step begins with forming an attachment to the adult and feeling at home in the centre order to develop healthfully into an independent social being, with a strong sense of self, before disappearing into a sea of peers. Children who develop socially out of healthy attachments have strong future friendships and relationships with their peers.
Gordon Neufled, PH.D., and Gabor Mate, M.D, Hold On To Your Kids, (Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2005), p. 238.
Rhonda Teramura
ECE and Mom of Three
Evolution and modernization has changed many things in our world, and as hard as corporations might try to include young children in this realm, it seems, some things will and should never change. As parents, we can all relate to moments when our very young child receives a toy, and is far more interested in the box and packaging than the plastic do-dad inside. For some strange reason we tend to feel obligated to distract them from their instincts and insist on the acceptance of the less desired object. Interesting. We also notice how our children gravitate to water and marvel at the length of time they will spend with sticks and rocks if we do not interrupt with concern of getting “dirty. So why not support the child’s natural interests and nurture their instincts? The benefits might surprise you.
1. The Stick. Or sticks of all shapes sizes- including wooden blocks. These are very versatile outside offering fort/structure building that develops problem solving, coordination and communication. Dramatic and imaginative play is inspired in groups of children, encouraging cooperation. Even art can be included with use of sticks by drawing in the dirt, and weaving yarn and beads on twigs. With bark and splinters removed sticks, and small log rounds can become part of all types of indoor play- trucks, dolls, building and so much more- just provide sticks/or blocks, add children and enjoy the inspiration.
2. The Box. Again this can be plural- depending on space. A large empty box free of sharp edges and staples is every child’s dream- they can make it their own in so many ways. With addition of some adult supervision and art supplies this play has many levels of purpose and learning. Construction process can include measuring and math, which can be adapted for pretty much any age. Children will have hours of fun ahead planning prepping and playing. Puppet theatres, houses, space ships, cars, caves, t.v.’s are some things you might see being developed. As long as the box is sturdy (dryer boxes work great) and you have space for it to stay- this toy will be one sure to bring kids back again and again taking new forms along the way.
3. Earth. We are talking everything from large rocks to dirt. Like sticks- this versatile toy is great in its natural environment, but can be brought inside in tubs for exploration. A group of boulders outside can provide a natural playground for children to climb, jump off, and create secluded play spaces with. Pebbles, sand and dirt are almost always attractive to very young children, and with close adult supervision they can enjoy the sensory and cause and effect experiences. This kind of exposure builds science thinking, a relationship to nature and again can connect to other play interests such as vehicles, art, miniature worlds and more.
4. Water. Of course in all of its forms- frozen, snow, warm, cold, clear, colored you name it kids love playing with the stuff. In a large tub or water table with cups and scoops young kids will love learning about cause and effect, add sinking and floating and the preschoolers are absorbing further early science concepts. Mix in color and science is not only expanding again, but now leads into art. There really is no end to fun and learning with water. And of course never over look the greatness of streams, beaches and mud puddles!
5. Fabric. In large bolts fabric inspires the fashion designer and performer enhancing dramatic play greatly. Unlike packaged, adult constructed costumes, fabric is cheap and open ended which invites the child’s imagination to direct the play, not the costume. Provide a variety of textures, weights, colors and sizes. Combine fabric with fort building with sticks and with dolls and the play continues to expand. In smaller pieces with scissors, glue and bits of craft supplies and adult supervision as needed, fabric can provide art projects that develop creativity.
So there you have it! Cheap and accessible brain-building play for kids of all ages, great alternatives to the expensive imagination robbing plastic we can feel good about avoiding.
Rhonda Teramura Mom of three and ECE
Teddy bears are family too, so “Henrietta” the Campbell River Library hippo would like to invite all book-loving teddy bears to celebrate Family Literacy Week by attending a Teddy Bear Storytime Sleepover at the library on Jan. 25.
Bears and other stuffed animals may bring their favourite humans to the library on Wednesday Jan. 25 between 10 am and 8 pm. Bears and humans may select a book from the library’s collection for the bear to enjoy during the storytime, then the humans go home and the fun begins!
Bears will be photographed listening to their favourite stories and tucked into bed for the night, and can be picked up by their faithful humans on Thursday Jan. 26.
On Family Literacy Day, January 27, photos of all the fun will be ready for pickup at the library for bears and humans to keep and enjoy. The Campbell River branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library would like to thank its co-sponsor Photo Tech for providing the photography and printing the photos.
“Family Literacy Day provides a moment for Canadians to come together in their homes, at work, and in their communities to practice literacy-building activities and to have fun,” says Elaine Julian, Customer Services Librarian. “Learning happens everywhere, and it’s easy to make it part of your daily life.”
The library is also offering a “Passport to VIRL Libraries” contest and everyone is invited to drop by their local library, pick up a copy of the passport, and complete as many activities as possible. The passport can be completed as a family, as an individual or as a group. When you have checked off at least 5 activities, enter the passport at your local branch by closing time on Saturday January 28 for a chance to win a Robert Munsch book.
The Vancouver Island Regional Library at 1240 Shoppers Row will also be the hub of an exciting array of community activities on Family Literacy Day January 27 from 1:30 – 4:30 pm. Additional attractions at the library will include free used books and the Willow Point Jugglers, so be sure to include the library on your “Learning Journey”.
For more information about the Vancouver Island Regional Library visit www.virl.bc.ca or phone 250-287-3655. Visit http://abclifeliteracy.ca/family-literacy-day for information about the Canada-wide celebration of Family Literacy Day.
Our first experiences have a lasting impression and influence how we respond and feel about all things in our lives. If we identify something we are afraid of, for instance, and trace it back to our earliest memory of it, there is a good chance we had a negative experience with it. That is why it is so important to make children’s early interactions with books positive.
Since we are such a large part of an infants’ environment, our state of mind, focus and general mood plays a large role in the overall experience of a baby or toddler. When you and your child are well rested, recently fed, not rushed and generally comfortable, it is a great time to share books and songs. I have fond memories of singing to my babies when they were already happy, while we were face to face, and enjoying the range of their responsive expressions with the variation of my voice. I soon discovered the power of this positive association, and quickly used it to manage the cranky diaper change time- it worked like a charm! Babies love your voice and naturally attract to singing, so using song to share books is a great way to bridge a positive feeling to a new experience. Some board books are created from a song and are meant to be sung, so this can be especially easy. Board books in general are great because they also give very young children opportunity for independent exploration, their durability withstands chewing, throwing and lack of fine motor control. Regular and positive interaction with books forms a foundation of comfort and familiarity for children, which provides benefits that will last their lifetime.
Rhonda Teramura, ECE and Mom of Three
