14 DAYS OF TIPS FOR DEMONSTRATING LOVE TO YOUR CHILD

DAY 4: BE AFFECTIONATE WITH YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER – Teach your children about love by expressing love for your significant other in front of them. Children who have healthy models of affection around them are likely to recreate in their adulthood what they witnessed as children. When your significant other and you argue or fight in front of the children, be sure and let the kids see the two of you makeup.

Get all 14 tips as they get published at http://www.facebook.com/cooperativekidz

Dr. Miller on Showing our Love for Children

February is the month of love. In this month we often find ourselves helping kids make paper hearts and talking about dental health. February is a great month for talking with children and demonstrating how to show we care for one another.

The National Association for Family Child Care requires that an accredited provider demonstrate that she “cares about, respects, and is committed to helping each child develop to his or her full potential,” and “shows affection to each child in some way.”

Why is this important? We can find answers from the NAFCC Accreditation Standards Resource Manual (2006):

·         Learning is more likely to occur when children feel cared about and appreciated by the adults caring for and teaching them.

·         Children’s experiences with adults affect how they view themselves and how they will interact with others.

·         When adults are respectful toward the children they are teaching, they teach children how to be respectful to others.

·         Acts of affection can reassure and comfort children and help them relax.

·         Affection helps build a positive relationship between [teacher] and child and sets the tone for all of their interactions.

·         In displaying affections, [teachers] model behaviors that will help children learn how to interact positively with other children and adults.

Expressing "LOVE" to children: through eye contact + modeling

How can you ensure children feel cared about and respected and be committed to helping them achieve their full potential? There are many ways to show affection to children. Warmth and affection toward children can be expressed throughout the day as [teachers] protect, guide, care for, communicate and play with children.

Expressing "LOVE" to children: speak to them directly

·         Pay attention to individual children. Take time to talk to them, listen to them, and show interest in what they are doing. Try not to seem hurried or tense so you can focus just on them. Smile at them.

·         Use a warm, soothing voice. (NOTE: New research about boys’ brain development shows that women’s voices can actually cause pain to boys. Look for those signs and modulate your tone to accommodate individual needs.)

·         Express your affection through physical contact. Always use a gentle touch. Take your cues from the child; some children like physical contact and others don’t. Be sure any physical contact is “good” touch and does not border on sexual contact.

·         Respond to children with patience and understanding. Give children a chance to make amends by cleaning up the mess they have made or righting the wrong they have committed.

·         Let children know they are appreciated. Take time to recognize small acts of kindness children exhibit or the little tasks they perform to make your day, and the day of the other children, more enjoyable.

·         Be specific with praise. Tie it back to the behavior you are praising. For example, “ Thank you for getting the crayons down for Jack. It was so nice of you to notice he was having trouble reaching them, and you really helped him out.”

Expressing "LOVE" to children: give attention to their activity

In February amongst the Valentine making and celebrating and visits from dental specialist, etc., think about how you show affection to the children in your program.

Do you show EACH child in your program you care about him/her?

Do you treat EACH child with respect?

Are you committed to helping EACH child develop to his/her full potential?

Examine your feelings for each of the children in your program. Be sure you have affection for each child and show him/her you care during your interactions. If you find there are one or more children about whom you don’t feel affection (and this is NORMAL!), look for ways to resolve your negative feelings for the child.

Review the way you relate to each child in your program, especially during guidance situations. Be sure your interactions with each child are characterized by respect.

Think about the activities you provide for children and you relate to them. Decide if the activities and interactions you offer the children are helping them develop their abilities. If not, adjust what you offer and how you interact with the children.

Expressing "LOVE" to children: provide activity

To learn 60 Ways to Show Kids You Care, visit the website of Counseling Corner, Inc., at http://counselingcorner.net/parents/care.html.

-- Dr. Ellaine B. Miller

Information in this blog was excerpted from the NAFCC Accreditation Standards Resource Manual – Relationship Standards for NAFCC Accreditation. Principle Author – Beverly Schmalzried.

Blog entry by Dr. Ellaine B. Miller, PhD. Family Child Care Partnerships at Auburn University. www.humsci.auburn.edu/fccp

Two Valentine's Crafts to Try Out

Hello!

I am so pleased and honoured to be part of this fabulous Pre K + K network of bloggers and part of this wonderful website producing such a fabulous range of invaluable resources! My name is Maggy and I blog over at Red Ted Art, where I regularly get crafty with my 4 and 2 year old children. You will find weekly Kids Crafts, as well as more adult focussed tutorials, as I hope to get all age groups more interested in crafts and creativity. Everyone can, in my book! My kids crafts usually combine a story plus craft approach. We love reading in our house and this gives us the chance to explore stories in a different way! So here is a book and 2 crafts for you. As Valentine's Day is only around the corner, I thought it would be a great theme for my first post!

The Book 

 

Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink, by Diane deGroat. Mmmmh, ok, so why did I choose this book? Two reasons, 1) is that Valentine's can be incredibly pink and mushy and 2) because I have a little boy at home and he is rapidly become selective about the type of story that appeals to him. The pink fluffy ones are interesting once (to see if anything good will happen) but he quickly can loose interest. So this one is a nice compromise... The children have been told to write Valentine's cards to each other. However Gilbert is less than keen to write a card to two of his classmates that have been mean to him in the past. So writes them some silly verses and and signs them in the other children's name. He is discovered. He ends up doing the right thing, writing nice cards to the children, who also apologise for having been mean in the first place. Everyone is happy again. My son LOVES the silly (if sometimes not nice) rhymes and that keeps his attention. I think it is great that there is a "moral to the story" and that all ends well. We also love the illustrations, perfect for the preschool readers!

The Craft 
 Today I have a project for you that "evolved". It started off with my 2 year old, getting hold of the paints and saying "Mummy paint face".  Me: "No darling, they are not for your face". She: "Mummy paint feet". Me: "Ok, we can do that tomorrow". Next day (6am) She: "Mummy paint feet now". Me: "?????".

So... once I eventually got up, we painted some feet.

And then some hands... 

   

We painted lots of feet and lots of hands and had paint everywhere. Lots of fun. Then we made some "hand and fingerprint bouquets" (the left one is the 2year old's and the right one the 4 year old's). I think they look a little but like flowering cactuses, but they reminded me of some cards I had made many moons ago for Valentine's. So I decided to make them again. 

Materials: Old Christmas Cards, a heart shaped hole punch (but I made a sample card by cutting the hearts out by hand - I hate it when you need"specialist" equipment to make something), cardstock and glue

I think you could also make these out of old magazines, "old" children's artwork or even heart shaped stickers. You could also make these MUCH larger and make a huge collage - especially if the children are cutting out the hearts themselves. 

    

 1. Cut out/ hole punch lots of hearts. My son ADORES hole punching! Cards can be a little tough, but he loves magazines with their thinner pages... If you are cutting out the hearts yourself, you can incorporate the patterns of the cards you are recycling.

2. Stick onto the card. I always make a "sample" first if I "want him to do something specific"... he likes to copy, as much as he likes "free crafting". I found it helpful to add the glue to the page for my son already. He is going through a stage of not liking getting glue on his fingers. This meant he could just stick on the hearts and that the hearts would roughly stay within a "bouquet shape" - but to be honest, this is a free for all bit and the more hearts the merrier!

3. Draw some stems

   

 4. Add a paper bow. You can draw this too with a big marker pen.  Done! My son loved the card so much, he wants to send it to himself. I hope you liked this little Valentine's craft and that you do have a go and get crafty soon! If you need more Valentines Craft inspiration, do come and visit Red Ted Art - you will find our own Valentine's crafts, as well as great round up of Valentine's crafts from around the web!

See you again soon!

Maggy