Knowing if Your Child Is Ready for Preschool (tactile learners)
No commentsBy Millard Franco
Many parents enroll their children in preschool programs without considering whether or not their child is really ready for preschool. Many parents are eager to give their child a head start in the race to educational success so children are starting preschool at younger ages. However, enrolling your child too early in preschool can cause long-term problems with your child’s education rather than giving the head start you intended.
How can you judge whether or not your child is ready for preschool? Take a look at three key areas: physical development, social development, and emotional development.
You should also look at the program itself. For example, some programs are specifically geared to a young age group and are less about formal education and more about play and social experience. Some programs have very limited time periods (only a few hours a week) and are intended to introduce young children very gently to the educational experience. However, the standard preschool program is generally geared toward children ages 3 and 4 in preparation for kindergarten. Just because your child falls within the correct age group does not mean your child is ready for preschool. Forcing a child who is not ready physically, socially, or emotionally into a formal school setting could set the child up for failure, which could then result in a life-long problem with school.
Physically your child should be able to attend to most personal hygiene issues independently or under supervision. This means the child should be potty trained as well as able to clean up afterward (including unfastening and fastening clothing). Your child should also be able to feed herself with little or no supervision.
The child should also be able to focus on a task, such as coloring, as well as listen attentively, to a story or conversation, for longer than a few minutes.
Another important physical development issue is whether or not your child is able to maintain the school schedule. Will the snack and meal breaks meet your child’s nutritional needs? Will he be able to stay awake until it is time to leave or take a nap?
Preschool is often a time and place when children learn a great deal about friendship and social interactions, but if a child isn’t ready for this level of social activity it can be tough on the child, class, and family. Children should have some experience playing with their peers, learning to share and take turns, and working out their differences before attending preschool. Children should also have some experience taking direction from adults who are not their primary caregivers. For example, a child who has only been in the care of a select few relatives may have difficulty adjusting to the care of a strange new adult.
Emotional development is another key consideration when determining if a child is ready for preschool. Is your child ready for the separation from home and parent or previous day care provider? How does your child adjust to new places and people?
If you think your child is not ready in one or more of these important areas then you should put off starting preschool. It may be that in a few months time your child will have leaped past those hurdles and be ready to start. You can also work with your child on the areas you feel need work, such as personal care or social interaction. Many programs also allow you to ease your child into the program with only a few hours a week gradually stepping up to full participation.
Remember, young children grow and develop at a tremendous pace so simply giving your child some time to grow into a program is much better than forcing the issue. In later years your child won’t feel the impact of those “missed” months on their education but a positive preschool experience will have a lasting effect on self esteem and learning.
Starting your child’s preschool experience when they are ready, willing, and able is the best way to set your child on the road to educational success.
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How to Travel with a Baby
By Irvin Mcclain
It may sound daunting, but travelling with baby does not have to be a nightmare! A little preparation and forward planning is all you need for a successful trip with your tiny traveller.
There are certain supplies that are essential for any trip with your baby. The most important, of course, is enough food and milk for the journey. Always pack more than you think you’ll need and include plenty of finger foods if your baby is old enough — these are great for helping to keep him occupied! If you are breastfeeding and need to express milk, you can store it in a cooler, with ice, for up to 24 hours. You can also store bottles of pre-made formula in the same way — alternatively, you can add pre-measured powdered formula to the bottles, then top it up with cooled, boiled water as required.
Another option is to bring “ready to drink” cartons of formula. Whilst ideal for the journey itself, be aware that you may not be allowed to take these cartons with you into certain countries. Sealed containers of formula do not normally present a problem.
Solid foods can be packed into a cooler, although a better idea is to bring foods with you that you can easily prepare during the journey. Avocado pears and bananas are good examples, as they can be simply peeled, mashed and served to your baby at room temperature.
Always bring your own feeding bowls and utensils when travelling with baby - many eating establishments do not have cutlery appropriate for an infant’s use. A travel high chair is incredibly useful, too — and means that you can comfortably feed your baby wherever you go. Disposable bibs, or a wipe-clean plastic bib, can be very convenient when travelling and they certainly cut down on the laundry!
If you ask for food or milk to be warmed for you, be VERY careful to check the temperature on its return. Busy waiters or cabin crew may overheat the food and you will need to wait for it to cool down. With this in mind, ask for any food or milk to be warmed well before you’re actually going to need it!
Many parents worry about how to sterilise feeding equipment when travelling with baby. There are many products available to assist with this, from microwave steriliser bags to disposable bottle liners. Most stores dealing with infant feeding equipment will offer a range of travelling accessories such as these.
Other essential items for your trip will include nappies/diapers and scented diaper bags. If you’re heading to a warm destination, adequate sun protection is a must! Also, consider bringing a small nightlight - if you’re breastfeeding, it can be very useful in a dark, unfamiliar hotel room.
To help your baby cope with the trip and to reassure him in new surroundings, be sure to bring his favourite blanket. This can also serve as a handy “curtain” to shield an aeroplane sky cot/bassinet from the light, or for naps in his stroller when out and about.
Dress your baby in light layers when travelling — not only does this make it easier to cope with fluctuating temperatures, but if your baby spills his food, for example, you can easily remove the top layer of clothing. Bring a change of clothes for yourself, too — baby’s mess tends to have a habit of transferring itself to his parents!
Enjoy your trip!
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Beating the Summer Heat
By Millard Franco
Summer is a great time for children. School is out for most of them and it’s time to play. Running, climbing, building sand castles, swimming…
Sweating, sunburns, complaining.
It isn’t necessarily all that easy to keep the kids busy all summer long, especially on particularly hot days, the days when the kids come into the house five minutes after you send them out, complaining “it’s too hot outside!” What can you do to keep them busy, short of turning the AC on full blast, driving up your electrical bill and letting them watch television or play video games all day? Plenty!
First of all, have some cheap, cool treats on hand. Otter Pops or homemade popsicles don’t cost much, and you just have to enforce the rule that they are eaten outside to limit the mess. These may only keep the kids out for a short time or they might find something fun to do outside anyhow.
Try getting the kids outside to play in the earlier and later parts of the day, when it’s cooler outside. Then you won’t feel so bad if they’re watching television in the hottest part of the day. Try to keep television watching/video game playing under two hours a day total.
Have fun things ready for them to do indoors. Board games work very well, depending on the ages of your kids. My daughter loves doing “projects,” that is, arts and crafts. She has a box of supplies she can use, or we look at our copy of Little Kid Crafts for All Seasons to get ideas.
Many parents choose to enroll their kids in activities for the summer. This is good if not taken to extremes - kids need time to just be kids. My daughter is taking swimming lessons for two different sessions this summer, as well as a one day a week drama class. The drama class suits her style (it starts next week), so I expect she will enjoy it, yet it won’t take much out of her summer fun. The swimming lessons are a necessity since she has regular access to a pool at her grandparents’ house.
Of course, just because the kids are complaining that it’s too hot outside doesn’t mean you have to give in and let them play inside. If you have a yard, get those kids into swimsuits and sunscreen (if they aren’t wearing it already) and turn on those sprinklers. You know you loved running through the sprinkler as a kid. You don’t even need to buy the ones designed for kids to play with, jut make sure yours is fairly kid friendly - low to the ground, no sharp edges and so forth.
Ride bicycles, go hiking, get some of their friends to come over to play one sort of tag or another, all the stuff you enjoyed as a kid. In many cases it isn’t that it’s too hot to play outside, it’s that your kids are bored.
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Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 7:00 pm and is filed under education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
