Category Archives: Early Childhood

My Baby Can Read! Really?

Posted on November 16, 2010 by | 1 Comment

Guest blogger Debbie Bruemmer has a few words of wisdom on early literacy and language development, speaking as a parent and a parent counselor!

We hear it all the time: research tells us how very important the first three years of life are for learning and development.  We have month-by-month milestones and chart after chart to tell us if our baby is on target, or even off the charts!  We push our children at an early age so they can have an advantage for grasping knowledge and “getting ahead” for school readiness.  And now we want our babies to READ.

Earlier this month the TODAY show presented its take on the “Your Baby Can Read” program that hundreds of parents and even child care providers have fallen for. The program claims that a baby as young as three months can learn to read, not just memorize and repeat. Why are programs such as these so appealing to parents?  Obviously, we want our children to succeed!  But my heart almost stopped when I had a child care provider tell me she was using this program as part of her curriculum.

Child development experts tend to agree that the brain of a three-month-old infant is just not developed enough to read, that it is not until a child reaches the age of four or five-years-old that actual reading occurs. Literacy begins by exposing children to language at an early age, thus laying the foundation for readers. Talking to and reading aloud to your infant not only allows for a great bonding experience but creates physical responses in baby as you do so. He may not understand the words you are saying but watch his eye movements, a responsive kick or vocalization.  He hears you!  Hearing leads to listening comprehension which is the predecessor to reading comprehension.

Most babies pass through stages taking them from listening and observing to babbling, on to making words and phrases. Typically, at four-months-old a baby recognizes his or her own name and may coo and make noise when spoken to.  Receptive language (ability to understand what is being said or read) develops  between six to twelve months: babies may imitate sounds, respond to his name, and start  combining syllables into word-like sounds.  An infant’s phonemic awareness (understanding that words are made up of sounds that make different words) comes into play at eight to ten months. By eighteen months they may attempt multi-syllable words and speak three-word sentences.

Communicating with your baby evokes so many more emotive responses than plopping them down in front of a DVD.  It also promotes a closeness between the two of you, fostering emotional development, as well.  I can remember when my babies were little.  There was no greater and more comforting feeling than holding that little baby and singing a lullaby or reading “Goodnight Moon” for the umpteenth time.  Not only was it good for baby, it was good for me, too. A relationship was forming.

Having said all that, why do we think if something is costly, endorsed by someone with a degree, or sounds like a quick fix it must be good? Remember, talk is cheap, in fact, it’s free.  But it just might be the biggest investment you can make for your baby.

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children(NAEYC) and the International Reading Association (IRA), “the single most important activity for building reading success appears to be reading aloud to children.” The journey to reading begins at birth when parents speak their first adoring words to their baby, not when they pull out the first flash card!

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Posted in Choosing Quality, Early Childhood, Family, Parenting

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Setting Expectations — One Child at a Time

Posted on November 12, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Every child is different, right? Guest blogger Carolyn Brinkman wonders if those differences extend to what we expect from children, and what we trust them to do for themselves.

This past week I had the honor of attending a Strengthening Families Parent Café, where parents have the opportunity to talk to other parents about relevant parenting issues. At this particular café, parents joined in a conversation about building strong relationships with their children.  One issue that surfaced was how to know when children are able to handle more responsibilities and when expectations parents have for their children are reasonable. What became clear during this conversation was that this issue can be the source of much stress and conflict for the parent/child relationship.

All and all the parents really felt that handing over responsibilities to their children was important for the child to become independent, confident and assured. Parents acknowledged that they don’t know what to expect, that knowing when their child is ready for more responsibilities can be a tough call. Sometimes they hover too much and don’t allow their children to “do for themselves,” especially when time is an issue. Other times the child seems to become frustrated with additional tasks and it is hard to know when to let the child “work through it” and when to step in and assist.

One thing that the parents did all agree to was that the handing over of responsibilities needed to be individualized to each child. Parents clearly recognized that different children have different skill sets, problem solving abilities, strengths and weaknesses… and that these differences contributed not only to their ability to handle new tasks or responsibilities but how they would respond to frustrations and unforeseen difficulties.

In a conversation with my sister this morning, she was talking about the decision to leave her 12-year-old son home alone in the evening, by himself. This is her youngest and so when left alone he would not have other siblings with him. As we talked through it, she brought up a description of her son that she has heard from others, that he is “the youngest old man they have ever met.”  I laughed at this description, as that is truly him. He tends to be very particular (what he wears, how his room is kept),  he has a sense of wisdom and is very quick witted.  She used this description and knowledge of his skills and attributes to make a decision that was right for him. It was a decision based upon her son and his individual strengths and needs.

A mother at the Parent Café shared a similar story about children. Her two year old daughter is very independent, able to process feelings and has a strong vocabulary. Her older son does not possess the same skills sets and tends to become more easily frustrated. This mother talked about how she has struggled in letting her daughter do more than she thinks a two-year old “should do”  while holding back on her older son who becomes agitated and frustrated if not successful. She is trying to help her children advance while also being clear that each requires different supports and allowances so that they can take on more at the speed that is right for them.

So it seems that knowledge about child development is helpful in being able to determine what a child should or should not be able to do at a particular age, and that this would help in setting expectations for your children and handing over responsibilities to them. However, is it just as important to truly know your child?

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Posted in Early Childhood, Family, Parenting

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Three Strikes and They’re Out!

Posted on October 26, 2010 by | 5 Comments

Guest blogger Debbie Bruemmer, parent counselor, has been getting a lot of calls lately from parents whose children have been expelled from their centers for reasons you might not believe!

If I were talking about baseball, this might be appropriate, but I’m not! Some child care centers actually have a three bites and you’re out policy, which means children who need help learning appropriate behaviors are instead being expelled from those programs that could be teaching them to respond differently. Biting is a very typical behavior for toddlers, and it’s the duty of teachers and parents to help children learn how to respond to their feelings in a way that hurts less!

I can see where it’s an issue for some centers, that it’s a liability for the other children and a source of exasperation for a teacher that is sometimes caring for as many as ten children. One center that has this policy, however, is a star rated center, and if they don’t know how to help the children who are biting, who does? Children bite for many reasons: feeling frustrated, a limited ability to communicate with words, experimenting with their senses, or testing their limits. If a child is biting, teachers and parents should pay close attention to what is happening around the child when they are biting. Is the child hungry or tired? Is there some stressful situation in the classroom, like a thunderstorm outside, or their parent is late in picking them up?

When a child bites, intervene immediately between the child who is doing the biting and the bitten child. Stay calm and don’t overreact: adults should use their voice and their expression to show that biting is not okay, and should let the child who did the biting help in comforting the bitten child, like getting an ice pack (asking the bitten child first, of course, if they are okay with this).

If you know your child is at the developmental stage where they are biting, talk to the director at your program, talk to the teachers. Make sure that they’re aware and know what to expect, and that they’ve had training in positive discipline techniques. With the right positive reinforcement of desired behaviors, children can learn that biting is not appropriate. If they’re getting expelled after three bites, they’re not being given that opportunity!

Resources: Fact Sheets for Families: Biting

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No Halloween! What’s the Big Deal?

Posted on October 25, 2010 by | Leave a comment

It’s nearly Halloween, and after reading a recent article on some truly horrifying Halloween costumes for preschoolers, I wanted to caution parents of young children about their choices this year.

Parents are sometimes surprised to learn that their child care program doesn’t celebrate Halloween. Why won’t they allow costumes and let the kids have some fun, they wonder. Are these child care providers spoil-sports, or are there good reasons for their policy?

While not the biggest issue in early childhood these days, consider this: Halloween can be very frightening to children under 5. While costumes and make-believe are fun for older children and adults, this can be downright scary for younger children who can’t yet separate fantasy from reality.

Though Halloween is widely accepted as a secular activity by most, it does conflict with the religious beliefs of some families. So programs are being respectful of the diversity of the families they serve when they limit celebration of holidays to those that are strictly secular.

If your program is one that chooses to celebrate Halloween, consider discussing with the director or caregiver how he or she will take steps to avoid frightening experiences. One simple precaution is to not allow masks and to keep costumes limited to simple dress-up items.  Better yet, consider a no-Halloween policy!

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Posted in Early Childhood, Family, Family Child Care, Parenting, School

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Are Fairy Tales Appropriate for the Very Young?

Posted on October 22, 2010 by | Leave a comment

How many of us read fairy tales when we were children, or had them read to us “once upon a time”? Most fairy tales include enchantment (magic), a king or queen or prince or princess, a wicked character,  and a kind character (that is usually treated badly). Goodness is rewarded in the end, with the kind character living “happily ever after.”  Is this the type of fantasy we want our children to know and believe?  Guest blogger Sadie Bonifas would like to know what you think about fairy tales…

A few weeks ago there was a blog at Suburp about reading fairy tales to young children and whether it’s appropriate or not. You know the ones: “Snow White,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Little Red Riding Hood”-we’ve heard them all. When she writes about a fairy tale where  the “children are abandoned in the woods because the new wife of their father did not want to feed them, where an old woman wants to eat them and the girl then has to burn her to free herself and her brother… this is about as horrible as a child could imagine!” The blogger at Suburp claims that children can process these kinds of stories without being “traumatized for life” because “like generations before them, they understand the stories as they are intended: fairy tales teach us about life…. and the moral of it all is that it ends well for those who deserve it and bad for those who don’t.”

I agree with the blogger on one thing: that story is about as horrible as a child can imagine. Piaget has taught me that children ages two to seven (or so) are in the pre-operational stage, the stage where children are incapable of making truly logical connections in their thinking. Their imaginations can run wild. Young children actually aren’t able to understand fairy tales as they were intended: they literally don’t have that ability. One aspect of a child’s pre-operational thought is called concreteness, which means young children are able to understand real situations that they have actually experienced firsthand, but have difficulty with abstract ideas and things they have heard described in words only: like fairy tales.

Think about it. If you have trouble wrapping your head around what parts of a story are real and what parts of a story are not real, stories like “Hansel and Gretel” are scary. Even if the fairy tale isn’t violent – although most fairy tales have violence – there can still be some confusion about what is fantasy and what is real. “The Three Billy Goats Gruff,” a fairy tale intended to teach children about greed, is a good example. The three brother goats run out of grass to eat and they need to cross a river into a new pasture. When the littlest one goes over the bridge first, a troll comes out from under the bridge and says he is going to eat him. The little goat says to wait for his brother because he is bigger, and the troll lets the little goat by. When the middle brother goat crosses the bridge, he says to wait for the eldest brother goat because he is even bigger. When the eldest goat comes along, he knocks the troll into the water with his horns and the brothers live happily ever after. The violence is relatively mild other than the troll threatening to eat the goats, but is it really appropriate to expect a child to hear that story and think to him or herself, “I shouldn’t be greedy like that troll or bad things will happen?” I don’t think so. Children will remember the troll and the dramatic ending.

Fairy tales are told all throughout the year, but as Halloween nears even more stories involving fantasy characters enter the lives of young children. When thinking about what to read to children during this time or what stories to tell, be conscientious of your intention. Stories with ghosts and witches can be scary, and may only confuse children about what is real. We want to avoid nightmares, and definitely being “traumatized for life”!

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Posted in Early Childhood, Family, Family Child Care, Family Friend and Neighbor Care, Friend and Neighbor Care, Parenting

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Parents and Teachers Team Up to Care for Children With Special Needs

Posted on October 12, 2010 by | Leave a comment

When a family is dealing with a complex disease or a perplexing disability, the stress and frustration for those involved can be overwhelming.  The challenge of effectively communicating your child’s needs while maintaining clarity with physicians and educators is the juggling act that parents encounter. The following testimony is from one of our staff whose experiences as a family child care provider, a director, and a parent are not unlike those of the parents we serve!  4C is here to support families educationally and supply resources in the 23 counties that we serve.  We strive to encourage a better appreciation of the dynamics involved in a special needs family and how to make it work to the benefit and support of the child.  Parent Counselors are available to assist with an individualized search to support resources available within our community.

Parents of children who exhibit unusual or extreme behaviors are faced with many tough decisions, among them the decision whether or not to medicate their child.   Medications for ADD, ADHD and other disorders are now commonly prescribed for more and increasingly younger children each year.  “But medicine is not always the answer,” says a 4C staff member and mother of a child with special needs. “And even when it is, it’s only part of it.”

That is where caregivers come in. While her son went through multiple diagnoses and a variety of prescriptions, she was lucky enough to foster a relationship with his teachers and develop strategies to help him where medication couldn’t.

She remembers a time when a teacher reported that her young son was acting out in class, climbing on top of desks and making a scene. She was shocked. Her son was usually reserved, more likely to suffer from shyness than outbursts like the ones described.

“Misbehavior isn’t always what it seems to be,” she cautions. The source of her son’s behavior that day turned out to be anxiety about a field trip. He assumed that if he misbehaved, he would be forbidden to go. Sometimes caregivers need to dig a little deeper, ask questions, and devise solutions unique to the child instead of what might be standard practice.

One strategy: letting him stand at his desk: “Standing was his teacher’s idea,” says this  former family child care provider and director of a child care center. “She asked me, ‘How does he eat dinner at home?’ We’d always let him stand. It never occurred to me to share this with his teacher, but we started to work as a team. It takes a really good relationship to make sure that you both understand what you’re seeing in the child.”

The more children are medicated, the more it seems like this is the first and best option, the only option for a child who just won’t sit still, or who throws severe temper tantrums, or is painfully shy. With her experiences as a mother and a child care provider, this 4C staff member knew that her son needed more than medication, that all children do.

“There was no magic bullet,” she says. “He needed strategies. It wasn’t just the medication or just the behavior management plan. We had to find a way to make them work together, and to work as parents with the teachers and relatives who cared for him.” Another strategy: encouraging him to carry a fidget in his pocket.

Patti Craig, 4C consultant and program manager of Promoting Resilient Children in Cincinnati, knows that these situations can be complicated. “All behaviors represent feelings, stress and anxiety,” she says. “Understanding what those are, instead of just disciplining the behavior, gives you a much clearer picture of what’s happening for the child.”

Patti also knows  that sharing concerns with parents can be difficult, and advises that teachers should work from day one to establish a rapport with families. “First sharing the strengths of the child with their families will make it easier to have those more difficult discussions later about behavior or concerns,” she says. “We all want the same things for children in terms of success, and if we stay focused on that vision instead of the specific behavior or concern, we can develop a much more appropriate plan that everyone participates in.”

Beginning with observation and information gathering, a teacher can build a picture of the whole child: how a child transitions, communicates, his or her ability to engage in learning. If a child is stressed or anxious, it’s important for a teacher to understand why, to ask questions of parents and examine those troubling behaviors in the context where they occur. If a child is biting, when are they biting? During pick-up and drop-off times? When they are vying for a parent’s attention?

When parents and teachers share common ground and communicate freely, effective strategies can be developed. Strategies like the ones devised for the 4C staff member’s son were crucial not only in helping him adjust and grow, but also in helping  the family and his teachers give him the best care possible.

“Now my son is medication free,” she says. Though medication was part of his plan for success, his positive growth and his ability to perform socially and academically was made possible by a collaboration between teacher and parent.

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Know more about buying a car than choosing quality child care? New study shows that ‘picking a lemon’ when it comes to child care has lasting impact

Posted on May 17, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Quality really matters in child care. This week a widely-reported new study shows that the quality of child care has effects that persist into adolescence.

Teenagers who had been in higher-quality care were less likely to report problem behaviors such as arguing, being mean and getting into fights. Teens who had been in low-quality care settings were found to have more obedience and academic problems that persisted through age 15.

The research was based on 1,300 children in a federally-funded study. The researchers collected information about the type and quality of care the children received birth through age 4½. All types of care were included from parents, to nannies, to child care centers.

This study speaks to the importance of making sound choices for child care. So what’s a parent to do?  Take the same approach as buying a car: study up on makes and models, read Consumer Reports and take a few test drives. Then make a choice.

Translated to child care: learn the indicators of quality care, get a checklist, visit and observe, check for quality indicators such as accreditation or a state star rating.  For child care checklists and further information visit: www.4cforchildren.org/Parents/ChoosingQuality.

–Elaine

Posted by 4cforchildren on Monday, May 17, 2010 10:00 AM

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Strength Training for Little Fingers

Posted on March 8, 2010 by | 1 Comment

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of being a part of the “Learning Through Play Conference” at the Cincinnati Museum Center. It was a wonderful day full of educational sessions for parents and early childhood professionals. One session included play ideas for children to help them develop small muscle coordination–necessary for writing and develops naturally over time as a child plays. Here’s a small list:

  • Play with playdough and clay.
  • String beads.
  • Fingerpaint, shaving cream, pudding and cool whip.
  • Work puzzles.
  • Cook, especially when it involves stirring, spreading, cutting etc.
  • Dress dolls.
  • Tear up paper for pasting and gluing.
  • Play “office” by using tools like scissors and hole punchers.
  • Drive toy cars and trucks along masking tape roads.
  • Build with tinker toys, legos, and blocks of all sizes.
  • Poke pretzel sticks into soft cheese cubes for snack.
  • Make a rubber band board for your child by pounding roof nails into a flat, square board.
  • Shell peas.
  • Wash doll clothes and hang them to dry with clip type clothespins.
  • Snap fresh green beans into pieces to cook for dinner.
  • Play with pegboards.
  • Pick dandelions.
  • Paint with water colors or poster paints.
  • Garden together. Plant seeds. Pull weeds.
  • Play in the sand or water with colanders, sieves, flour shakers, funnels, plastic tubing.
  • Scribble and draw.
  • Crumple up wads of paper and aim them at a basket.
  • Play a game of matching …use different jars and lids and practice screwing the lids on.
  • Enjoy action songs and fingerplays such as “Twinkle, Twinkle” and “Eency Weency Spider”.
  • Play dress up, especially with clothes that have buttons and zippers…old billfolds, purses etc.

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!

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Posted in Early Childhood, Family, Parenting

Moving Matters: The Power of Dance

Posted on February 2, 2010 by | Leave a comment

Last week I had the opportunity to experience a dance and movement class with young children who are attending The Treasure House Child Development Center in Covington, Kentucky. 4C was asked to connect a local author, Connie Dow to a NAEYC accredited center for the opportunity to gain information and pictures of young children for an article that would be written for the NAEYC magazine “Young Children” and her new book. My experience was wonderful. I not only got to witness the smiles and joy on the faces of these young children as they danced with the Dance and Movement Specialist, Danielle Ashley but I encountered children taking a trip on a boat, riding the ocean waves, creeping through a jungle and crawling, galloping and soaring to music. This is just a glimpse into the excitement in store for young children who are offered the opportunity to participate in creative dance.

In all these examples, the children are solving tasks and problems both individually and together with the group. They are learning to approach problems kinesthetically, and exploring innovative solutions. In addition to nurturing creativity, guided movement sessions help children practice listening skills, develop body control, and discover a new form of self-expression, all whil participating in fun and lively movement activities.

Creative dance is often missing from the early childhood arena. Children are moving the instant they are born, and it is what they do from the moment they wake up in the morning. Dance packs a particularly powerful punch in the daily lives of children, because it is both an art form and a physical activity. Thus, it offers the positive experience of exploring a creative art form, with the added benefits that lively physical activities can bring. Connie states, “Dancing and movement have important components on why they are so important for children”. ”Accessibility, Curriculum Enrichment, Physical Development, Fight Against Obesity, Social and Emotional Development, Creativity, Brain Development to mention a few. Current research is showing that movement and exercise can spark new brain-cell growth and actually facilitate learning.

Evidence is mounting about the benefits of movement in the learning process. Once educators and parents alike become familiar with movement and its many benefits, it is my hope that instead of “What is creative movement?” the question will be “Why not creative movement?” I thank Connie Dow and Danielle Ashley and all the children at Treasure House Child Development Center for a wonderful morning of dance and movement and sharing your wonderful smiles and giggles….it started my day in the most perfect way! 

-Karen

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Posted in Early Childhood, Family, Parenting

Toy Shopping Checklist

Posted on December 1, 2009 by | Leave a comment

The holidays are just around the corner and parents are making a list and checking it twice. Here are some questions to as before you buy a toy for your child. If you answer yes to most of them, the toy is probably a good purchase.

  • Is the toy safe for my child’s age? 
  • Will my child be interested enough to play with it over and over again? For several minutes or even an hour at a time? 
  • Is it constructed well? Will it hold up to lots of use? 
  • Does the power and the imagination to operate the toy come from my child? 
  • Will my child feel successful when using the toy? Does it challenge my child’s abilities just enough? 
  • Can the toy grow with my child? Will it still be appealing in a year? For several years? 
  • Can my child use the toy in different ways? Can it be used creatively? 
  • Will it help my child learn about other people, nature, or how things work? 

A complete brochure (Toys, Tools for Learning) is available from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Web site: http://www.naeyc.org/store/node/198

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Posted in Early Childhood, Family, Parenting