November Newsletter
November . . .
. . .A time of rich autumn colors
. . .A time of harvest and plenty
. . .A time of busy activity
. . .A time of feasting and festivity
This month our Munchkins will spend time learning about food: the food pyramid,
where food comes from and the grocery store. Children will learn the difference
between healthy food and junk food. We will talk about our favorite foods to eat
and our not so favorite foods to eat. Our discussions will also focus on the season
of Thanksgiving, the turkey, the pilgrims and the Indians. We will read stories and
learn new songs and fingerplays, all leading up to our Thanksgiving celebration.
Dates to know in November
November 6th – Election Day
November 12th – Veteran’s Day
November 21st – Thanksgiving Feast
November 22nd – Thanksgiving Day – Center Closed
November 23rd – Center Hours to be determined
We are still collecting testimonials to place on our website. If you would like to
write one, you can handwrite it or email it to [email protected].
6 Things Kids Really Need
Get the essential components to raising happy, healthy children
Woman's Day April 17 2010
Should you let your child play unsupervised? Allow her to walk to school alone? In
this age of information overload, parenting advice is everywhere. Go online and
you’ll find a tidal wave of tips aimed at helping you raise your kids. But what is it
that they really need?
Above all else, children need common sense from their parents. Childhood has
become “a pressure-packed pre-adulthood,” says Edward M. Hallowell, PhD, author
of The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness: Five Steps to Help Kids Create and
Sustain Lifelong Joy. “Kids are trying to make a partner in the first grade.” It’s not
that their parents don’t love them; they’ve just confused raising children with
turning out perfect products. Instead, he says, parents should focus on making
their children feel connected to their family and their community, and success (and
everything else) will follow.
1. “I Love You”s Of course you love your kids. But do you remember to tell them?
“I never knew a kid whose parents told him too many times that they loved him,”
says Laurence Steinberg, MD, a psychology professor. And it’s more than just the
words: It’s consistently showing them interest, affection and concern. That’s why
Odette D’Aniello of Tacoma, Washington, makes sure every morning to offer her
young children “special love.”
“I sit down and I cradle each one, wrap him or her with a warm blanket and softly
scratch their back while chatting about random stuff, and telling them how lucky I
am to have them,” she says. But for many parents—especially as kids get older,
busier and less communicative—telling them how you feel can be more easily
expressed through actions.
Louise Morgenstern of Santa Monica, California, shows her three teens love by
getting to know their friends. She even keeps a gallon of mint chocolate chip ice
cream in the freezer—for her son’s best friend. “It’s his favorite flavor, and he
comes into the house, goes right to the freezer and scoops himself a bowl,” she
says. “With teenagers, it’s not about telling them you love them but showing them
you know what they care about. At that age, it’s their friends.”
2. Structure and Limits Have you ever been in a restaurant where the child at
the next table is simply out of control, throwing things or refusing to stay seated?
You watch as the indifferent parents ignore her behavior and you wonder, What’s
going on? “American parents err on the side of leniency compared with parents
from most other parts of the world,” says Dr. Steinberg. “In the last generation or
two, there has been a blurring of boundaries between U.S. parents and their
children, and it makes parents more reluctant to impose their authority.
“Parents too often fear that their children will be angry with them if they
try to discipline them.” But the anger is only temporary, and besides, it’s the
parents’ job to teach their child, not befriend him. “The rules you make when your
child is young ultimately become the ones he or she will live by,” says Dr. Steinberg.
Boundaries actually make kids more confident, says Lenore Skenazy, author
of Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts
with Worry). “That’s what gives kids the reassurance to try things. Say you’re at
the beach, and you tell your child she can only go so far into the water. If she
knows going this far is OK, then she can frolic with abandon in that area without
wondering, ‘Are there sharks here?’” Think of discipline as the strength of
parenting: You can show your kids where the “sharks” are and where they’re not.
3. Conversation On their way to registration for her daughter’s ninth year of
piano lessons, Maureen Anderson of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, asked Katie, 14, a
simple question: “What do you like about taking piano?”
“Being able to say I haven’t quit,” Katie said.
“What don’t you like about it?” her surprised mom then asked.
“Practicing. Lessons. And the recitals.” Basically everything. When they got to the
music school, instead of registering for more lessons, Katie unregistered for piano.
“I learned what Katie thought by asking a couple of questions and listening to the
answers,” Maureen says.
Take the time to really “hear” your kids, because that will make them more likely to
talk to you regularly. “A lot of parents rush to solve things for their children,” says
Casey Decola, MSW, a counselor with the Rye Youth Council in Rye, New York.
“Especially with teenagers, we tend to panic. We say, ‘You know what you should
do?’ and then we tell them, instead of listening and allowing them to fully get out
what they’re trying to say without judging it.”
Instead of offering advice, ask questions that can help them come to
conclusions on their own. “Make eye contact. Sit with your kids and give them the
respect of listening in a way they deserve,” Decola says.
But how do you get your child to talk? “It’s normal for adolescents to want more
privacy than they did as children,” says Dr. Steinberg. “But if parents engage their
teens in genuine, interested (and interesting) conversation, the kids will talk. The
problem is, too many parents ask perfunctory questions like ‘How was school
today?’ or equate talking with lecturing.” And keep in mind that to get the dialogue
going at all, you first need to be around. So schedule a regular walk or board game
to give you uninterrupted time together.
4. Something Shared Have you had a moment today where you really connected
with your child? Did you share a joke, a hug or a game of catch? It’s easy to go
through the day telling your child what to do and never fully engaging with each
other. When kids feel connected to you, they learn that they’re connected to
people outside the family, and that the way they act has an effect on others.
“Feeling like you have a place in the world and people who support you leads to
happiness in adulthood,” Dr. Hallowell says.
Connectedness should happen naturally in everyday life. “A family dinner, car trip
or regular activity can be a shared joy that leaves you feeling close,” he says. “A lot
of parents approach parenting as drudgery, a job that’s a lot of work. What
parents and kids need to feel connected to one another is to have fun. Sometimes
that can mean doing nothing, but doing it comfortably together.”
So plan family activities, shared challenges, even regular dinners to reclaim a sense
of fun and joy. Research has shown that children brought up this way are more
socially skilled, have a better self-image and think of home as their haven when
things go wrong.
5. Playtime “The loss of free, undirected play is the biggest loss in modern
childhood,” declares Michael Thompson, PhD, author of The Pressured Child:
Freeing Our Kids from Performance Overdrive and Helping Them Find Success in
School and Life. “Kids need time away from their parents to just play.” And it’s not
just because kids enjoy play—it actually helps their brains develop properly.
Play is the driving force of childhood, says Stuart Brown, MD, author of Play:
How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. That’s
because it helps kids discover their talents and their resourcefulness, and hones
their abilities to problem solve and get along with others. Play exercises their
imagination and stretches their creativity, while allowing them to try and fail at
things in private without judgment. All of this helps them do better in school, says
Dr. Brown, because kids who play have nimble minds and can look at things from
different sides.
The next time you’re thinking of signing up kids for an activity, first think
about whether or not they’ve got enough time each week to just hang out and let
their imagination guide them.
6. Independence When New York City mom Lenore Skenazy wrote in The New
York Sun about letting her 9-year-old son take a subway home by himself, she was
vilified in the press and blogosphere as “America’s worst mom.” She has since
become an advocate of giving kids more independence and writes about it in her
book and blog, FreeRangeKids.com. “The way many people parent today does not
prepare kids for adulthood,” Skenazy says. “We wait for them, cheer for their
every move, take them to soccer, dance and every other lesson—and we take away
their chance to do things on their own.” Her decision to let her son ride the subway
came only after years of navigating the subway together and they both felt
confident that he could find his way.
Doing things independently is very important for a child, says Dr. Steinberg,
because children feel confident when they feel competent. So letting him go to the
store by himself or walk to town tells him you believe in him. The same confidence
emerges when a child completes his own science fair or other school project. Of
course, help him collect the materials and ask him questions that will guide him to
its completion, but let it be his. So what if it doesn’t look as put-together as the
other parent influenced designs? Your child will feel satisfied knowing that he has
produced something on his own.
The One Thing Kids Don't Need: More Stuff
“Today’s kids have too many toys,” says Dr. Thompson. This teaches kids to always
look for “the next new thing” instead of enjoying what they have. “If they’re
always looking to material things to entertain themselves, they’ll soon get bored,”
he says. It’s easy to substitute toys for affection and attention because “it takes
only a little time to buy your child a toy, but much more time to spend an afternoon
together doing something fun,” says Dr. Steinberg. “But ultimately, it’s time spent
together that will lead to happier kids.”
Try These “Stuff-Free” Gifts:
1) A couple of hours watching family videos and looking at his or her baby pictures.
2) A day where your child chooses the activity (based on a budget you set).
3) An afternoon of baking, biking or building together.
5) A day off where you promise not to nag about homework, housework or any
other “musts.”
6) A sports day: Head outside with bats, balls or other favorite equipment.
The Teddy Bears miss CJ who moved up to the Bumble Bees in the beginning of the
month, but wish him the best of luck. Salvatore has learned to buckle and likes to
buckle all the straps in our books, high chairs and infant rockers. He can also
identify many objects in our picture books such as truck, duck, shoes, balloon, apple
and banana just to name a few. Matteo enjoys greeting his friends and their
parents everyday. He says “morning” to everyone when they arrive and “bye” as our
parents rush off to work. In the evening he says “bye” and blows kisses to
everyone as they leave our room. Matteo is also very affectionate and likes to give
his friends and teachers hugs while playing in the playpen. Laila loves to “talk” on
our Elmo cell phone and babble to her friends. She is also very observant and likes
to watch the older children playing on the playground. Elijah is very active and in
constant motion. He loves to walk up the stairs and run down the incline in our
playpen. Elijah also likes to play ball. He throws the ball and practices catching
them when we throw the balls back to him. Kaliahna has adjusted nicely to our
class. She is very compassionate and caring little girl who tries to comfort her
friends when they are upset by rubbing their backs. Kaliahna is also our little
dancer and she likes to rock from side to side and hop up and down when we play
any type of music. Nikolas has been busy learning animal sounds. He knows how to
say the sounds for dug, monkey, duck, and elephant. Nikolas also enjoys playing with
blocks and is proud that he can stack 4 blocks all by himself. At the beginning of
the month, we welcomed fourteen month old Gianna to our class. She is a sociable
little girl and we look forward to getting to know her. Our Teddy Bears had a
wonderful time at our Halloween parade and looked adorable in their costumes!
The Little Bees had fun in the month of October. The theme for the month was
the 5 senses and Halloween. We learned so much about our five senses and how we
can use them. We made collages to feel the differences between smooth and rough
and a shiny collage too. We learned to identify the letters C and D. We made cats
and cinnamon smelling donuts. We decorated the classroom for Halloween with
candy corn, bats, caramel apples and funny jack o’ lanterns. The Little Bees
welcomed CJ from the Teddy Bears. He is having a lot of fun in his new classroom.
October was an awesome month for the Big Bees. We had so much fun learning
about different textures, smells and tastes. Halloween was also a big topic of the
month. In art, we used materials that were soft, rough, bumpy and sticky. For
sensory, we played with shaving cream, playdough, cotton balls, water, etc. We had
so much fun making Halloween ghosts with our footprints, handprint spiders, water
colored haunted houses. We really loved our Halloween party and parade. The Big
Bees also had fun learning about Fall and the changes in weather and the plants.
We loved collecting leaves, making leaf rubbings, and using our handprints to make
a Fall tree. Our class learned the letters C and D this month and the numbers 3 and
4. Kyle was so excited to turn 3 and loved sharing his special treat with his friends.
November is going to be just as exciting.
In the month of October, the Dinosaurs learned about Halloween and their five
senses. They enjoyed tasting different kinds of foods such as pumpkin pudding and
corn muffins. They made a texture collage out of materials they could feel. The
Dinosaurs drew a picture of what they saw in the classroom, things they hear, what
kinds of things they taste, what we feel and things we can smell. We made
instruments and played them in the classroom so they could hear what is inside.
Some Halloween projects the Dinosaurs made were witch hats, candy corn and
spiders. The Dinosaurs enjoyed carving pumpkins and counting the seeds. The
letters of the month were E, F, G and H. Some of the books we read this month
were “Who’s There on Halloween”,” Where Is My Broom?”, “Halloween Night”, and
“Ten Little Mummies”. The Dinosaurs welcomed Genesis back to our class.