Tag: Global Children

Smiling in the face of life: How parents and teachers can help children grow up happy

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In a world full of complexities, it is important to teach positive life skills in the early years. One way teachers and parents could enhance positivity in children is to engage them in simple and fun activities.

Teachers and parents could:

  • Help children to verbalise their feelings and to find solutions to daily problems.
  • Give children projects to work out in groups and have them come up with ideas together.
  • Assign individual activities to the children who work better alone.
  • Ask children to share funny events or stories and record the stories for future reading.
  • Acknowledge situations where children might feel helpless and provide preventive actions in advance. For example, transitions from home to child care or from child care to school can be alleviated by having parents discuss what is going to happen, visit the place, and give the child time to ease into the new environment. The same applies to field trips where locations are unknown to children.
  • Initiate the use of short sentences around happiness and smiles where all children can participate and remember the sentences for later use. One such activity is to start by saying:

Take life with a smile.
Take the day with a smile.
Take breakfast with a smile.
Then ask children to continue adding sentences about school or home activities. They could add:
Take food with a smile.
Take play with a smile.
Take puzzles with a smile.
Take story reading with a smile …

and so on until children remember most activities they engage in. Children can be asked to make their own song, story, or drawing around smiling.

  • Write reminders such as: The more we smile … The more life will smile back…

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How can schools stop bullying and what could children do?

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Bullies target a person with the intent of harming physically, emotionally, or socially. Bullying is rarely innocent and happens for a variety of reasons. The presence of the bullied person is not welcome and he/she must pay for being different and is made to feel that he/she will not belong easily if at all.

Bully Stoppers is an online resource that includes learning modules and advice sheets to help students, parents, teachers, and principles address and prevent bullying. The following is drawn from that reference.

Children who are bullied could do any of the following:

  • Tell someone they trust and write down the actions with dates and times.
  • Ask for help: Targeted children need to ask for advice on how to address the issue.
  • Confront the bully(ies) confidently if it is safe to do so alone or ask a friend to accompany them.
  • Think of the people who love and support them and draw strength from this.
  • Accept that we should not please people at the expense of what we like, who we are, or what is better for us.
  • Avoid being intimidated by the bullies by ignoring them.
  • Not internalise the negative outcomes intended by the bullies and understand that it is not their fault that they are targeted.
  • Avoid retaliating from the bully(ies) as this tactic rarely works.
  • Engage in activities in and outside school that help develop fulfilment and positive self-worth.
  • Befriend children who are supportive.

Unfortunately, the topic is rarely resolved on its own. Schools have an important role to play in building healthy social networks on the school grounds so children grow up to become successful members of their societies and the world. Teachers and principals need to be part of the solution by establishing anti-bullying programs in schools. Empowering each child is the first step.

Reference:

State Government of Victoria. Department of Education and Training. (2019). I’m being bullied. Retrieved from  https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/students/health/Pages/studentbullied.aspx

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Engaging children in successful problem solving skills

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To be successful in a global world, children will need to be effective problem solvers.

Parents and educators can help children develop problem solving skills by:

  • Asking children for their opinion on issues that affect them.
  • Encouraging turn taking.
  • Engaging children in individual reflections and group discussions.
  • Giving children time to respond and listening to what they have to say.
  • Discussing proposed actions and reaching a solution.
  • Trying out the solution and monitoring its success in solving the issue at hand.
  • Making the process of problem solving part of everyday communication.

A respect for what children can offer at all stages of their lives is the first step toward children’s success in life in a global world.

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Early childhood education and environmental education on climate change

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Climate changes increases heat and the frequency of fires, floods, storms, pollution, diseases, … It also make farming and growing food unpredictable. Most important, water can become scarce. Children growing up with those challenges could be part of the solution or the problem.

A report by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2015, proposed a climate agenda for children that would focus on:

  • Children’s needs for wellbeing,
  • Provision of strong education for children that would strengthen their resilience and problem solving capabilities,
  • Embedding environmental education and sustainability in the curriculum, and
  • Protection of children who are impacted by climate change.

References:

The Climate Reality Project. (2019, January 12). How is climate change affecting Australia? Retrieved from https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/how-climate-change-affecting-australia

United Nations Children’s Fund. Division of Data, Research and Policy. (2015, November). Unless we act now: The impact of climate change on children. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Unless_we_act_now_The_impact_of_climate_change_on_children.pdf

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Nature vs. Nurture

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question marks imageWhich is more important in shaping who we are: genetics (nature) or the environment (nurture)?

To make the long story short, nature gives up the potential that we could reach. That potential has not been measured accurately with the current tests.

The environment can present barriers or incentives for us to reach our potential. How far we can go in a global world remains open to speculations. Why? Because we are the only ones who could decide how far we could go once put in different situations. A positive outlook and a friendly environment are enough to help unleash our potential.

For more information, check this resource by Bright Hub.

How to make caring routines for infants and toddlers prime times?

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Parents and teachers engage in caring routines with infants and toddlers on a daily basis. Examples are feeding, washing, dressing, and diapering.

It is important for the child to gain independence by developing acceptance of who they are and what they need. Some suggestions to ease the implementation of the caring routines are:

  • Be patient with the child as much as time permits.
  • Talk to the child by letting him/her know what is going to happen and how.
  • Propose options when the infant or toddler could contribute instead of doing everything for them. Have them take control of their bodies.
  • Accept the bodily wastes of infants and toddlers and remain positive when changing a child. Explain to them what you are doing so they could transition to taking control of their urges in due time with acceptance.
  • Respect children by not engaging in feeding or diapering while ignoring them. Feeding is the starting point of social communication with the child while taking meals as a family.
  • Acknowledge that you might have feelings and cultural beliefs about how children should be raised and be willing to review them if they impact negatively on the child.

To read more, refer to:

Greenman, J., Stonehouse, A., & Schweikert, G. (2008). Prime times: A handbook for excellence in infant and toddler programs (2nd ed.). St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

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Challenging barriers to inclusion in early childhood education

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Educators who want to implement inclusion practices in early childhood education are challenged by three main types of barriers: personal, attitudinal, and organisational.

Personal barriers revolve around the educators’ feelings of discomfort in interacting with diverse children. Teaching strategies could be inappropriate due to missing background knowledge. In addition, educators feel threatened by the demands of differentiated teaching and the additional time involved.

Educators holding attitudinal barriers feel that inclusion will negatively affect children without disabilities. They perceive children with disabilities or children from different races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds as a burden. This is often based on preconceived ideas about US and THEM with negative connotations associated with the OTHER.

Organisational barriers include lack of funding, resources, competent professionals, or commitment dedicated to inclusive practices.

Play is a developmentally appropriate medium to practise inclusion. It is a medium where all children can contribute when the activities are planned adequately.

Educators are advised to team up with families and other professionals in order to develop proficiency in practising inclusive education.

ALL children can succeed in a global world. To do so, they need to be given opportunities to build success starting in early childhood.

Reference:

National PSC Alliance. (n.d.). Inclusion fact sheet: Understanding inclusion. Retrieved from https://www.ecrh.edu.au/docs/default-source/resources/ipsp/understanding-inclusion.pdf?sfvrsn=6

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Children’s books on additional needs

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pexels-photo-220320

Children’s books have the power to take us into other worlds and to immerse us in other people’s lives.

It is important that children are exposed to stories about children with different strengths and needs.

Some books that involve children with special needs could be found under the following links:

An Animated Story of a boy who hates his disabled dog

Susan Laughs: uses a wheel chair

Disability in Picture Books | Fashioneyesta

Lucy’s picture (by Nicola Moon): Lucy made a book with tactile illustrations for grandpa.

Moses goes to a concert: group of children who are deaf go to an orchestra. Using sign language (7:55).

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Digital technologies and children: Guidelines for use

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Children from all over the world are using digital technologies. Early Childhood Australia issued a statement regarding the use of digital technologies by young children. The main points included the need for parents and educators to:

  • Engage children in digital technologies as a group activity with peers. The use of digital technology should not be an isolating experience.
  • Encourage children to take breaks, to practice active physical activity, and to rest the eyes.
  • Provide sleeping routines that do not include digital activities.
  • Help children develop a sense of online safety and an understanding of what could be shared in an online environment.
  • Guide children on how to seek assistance if they receive invitations from unknown people.
  • Select games, applications, and content that are age and developmentally appropriate.
  • Discuss with children the nature of their online activities and stay up-to-date with how to protect them.

For more information, check the Statement on young children and digital technologies.

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Bilingualism

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pexels-photo-247644Bilingual children speak two languages. This can be at home with each parent being a native speaker of a language or can be part of a child’s education. Children develop the skill of code switching according to the situation. To do so successfully, children need to be aware of the difference between the two languages and where words belong.

When children are learning the two languages simultaneously, they should be hearing the two languages frequently. Adults can help by pointing out to the child that there are different words that say the same thing. Children might mix words from two languages in everyday communication. In many cultures, this is an accepted practice and sometimes is a show-off practice.

When children are introduced to the second language later, they have already developed competency in the first language. Children will observe and listen to what the others are saying and participate in classroom activities. They might not initiate conversations and would respond using words and short expressions.

In learning any skill, children who are shamed when making mistakes or discouraged to bring their heritage in a classroom will not be confident in experimenting with languages and will feel excluded. Learning languages enriches lives and should be encouraged in a global world.

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