Thought for Today

Selecting an Early Childhood Centre Part 1

Selecting an early childhood centre for your little one(s) can be quite a daunting task; here are a few tips to help with your selection.

Before your visit

Identify your priorities

Selecting a centre is about finding a centre that best fits the needs of your child(ren) and family, as well as your lifestyle.  Do you want a centre that is close to your home/workplace or has extended hours or perhaps serves lunch?  Record your priorities in a list, this   list will be a useful resource during your call and visit.

Set your budget

Prices vary among early childhood centres, setting budget helps parents narrow their search and focus their energy on a few centres.

Call to arrange a visit

During your initial call this would be a good time to discuss some of the items on your priorities list, such as hours of operations.

Play

Thank you for sharing such wonderful quotes Exploration Early Learning

Celebrating the Week of the Young Child

The Cayman Islands Early Childhood Association has organised the series of activities for the Week of the Young Child as detailed in the flyer above. These wonderful events have been organised for young children and their familes by the Association and they are looking forward to seeing you and your child in attendance. For more information please go to their website.

The clingy child

This morning a parent asked us what she could do about her child who was very clingy, crying and making a fuss when she tried to leave him. This is a very big concern for parents and often one that they don't share with others because they feel like they have done something to cause this behaviour. We were able to make some suggestions and will follow up on how these are working for mum and son.

The key is that this behaviour is common. Most children have periods where they are anxious about their parents leaving them or even being out of sight for a short while. The times your child becomes clingy can link with a developmental stage; times of change and transition; and surprisingly, with a child's push for independence. There is much written about children's attachments, there are theories on how and why children form attachments. The quote below comes from an excellent article from Janet Lansbury. Enjoy the full article on Janet's website and while you are there, explore any other topics of interest. 

It’s good to feel needed, but when we become parents, we realize we never knew “needy”.  As Magda Gerber aptly noted, parenting brings with it a “feeling of un-freeness”, whether we’re in the presence of our children or not.

Toward the end of the first year of life (when children become more aware of the separation between themselves and their parents) and periodically throughout the early years, we primary caregivers often become the sole object of our child’s desire. Clingy periods tend to coincide with children taking developmental steps toward independence (like learning to walk).  Sometimes they occur when children face new situations or transitions (for example, mom’s expecting). As understandable as this is, it’s still intensely stifling, frustrating and guilt-inducing when our lovable ball-and-chain can’t let us out of her sight for even a second.

Thought for today

Movement

Children are made to wiggle, jiggle, run, jump, flip, flop, fidget, roll, spring, slide, pounce, hop, jump, skip, balance, sneak, and slither. This movement wires brains. Our big human brains evolved as our species spread out and explored the world. Expecting children to sit still is not only a losing battle, but a losing battle that impacts brain development. Encourage movement every chance you get.

Thanks to Exploration Early Learning, LLC for this post.