While a positive parenting solution won’t work overnight, it might be helpful in beginning the process of improving your child’s behavior.

As parents, there are times that we become overwhelmed with everything on our plates. In these times, the attitudes of our children may pose the threat of increasing our stress levels even more.

Here are 7 positive parenting solutions to get you started.

HAVE ONE-ON-ONE TIME WITH YOUR KIDS ON A DAILY BASIS

One of the best things that you can do as a responsible parent is to work with your child on their behavior. Spending time with your child individually each day can do wonders. When you set aside time to give your child your undivided attention, it allows for an emotional connection that is vital to their well-being. Many kids who do not receive adequate attention seek attention instead in negative ways.

One of the best positive parenting solution is aiming for at least 10-15 minutes of alone time with each child per day and you’re sure to notice improvements.

FOLLOW A PROPER SLEEP ROUTINE EVERY DAY

A proper sleep routine is at the top of our list of positive parenting solutions. When you feel exhausted and cranky from a lack of sleep, you become irritable and may begin to get headaches. The next thing you know, you are completely drained and are unable to function properly. Well, this also applies to kids. When children do not receive an adequate amount of sleep, their bodies do not function at their best and they are likely to become both unruly and irritated. Remember that a well-rested kid is a well-behaved kid and as a result of sleeping well, they are likely to perform better in school.

CREATE ROUTINES AND FOLLOW THEM

Creating simple routines and sticking to them is a good way to encourage kids to behave in a positive manner.. With using a routine, kids are motivated to follow the set tasks and they feel good once they’ve accomplished a thing or two from the checklist that you’ve created. When children are inclined to focus on a routine, their minds are functioning better as they excel in performing the tasks. An easy way to create a routine is to begin by having your kids complete simple tasks on a daily basis.

ALLOW YOUR KIDS TO BE PROBLEM SOLVERS

When parents meddle in a kids’ fight, more often than not, it results in there being a clear loser and a clear winner. This technique will not end the fight but may actually worsen it and inadvertently spark sibling rivalry. Thus, it is important to allow children the space to solve problems on their own. A positive parenting solution includes offering tips, but never choosing sides. Allow your children to resolve conflicts at their own pace so that they can get accustomed to doing so whenever they experience discord.

ESTABLISH FAMILY RULES AS A FAMILY

Most kids despise being given chores and following rules. Instead of being a dictator, allow your children to take part in creating the family rules. Set aside a time where you can discuss what needs to be done at home and get them to include their input on what rules they think are important and what household chores they would personally like to do. This way, the house rules are a team effort and your children will be willing to follow such rules, especially since they are somewhat in-charge of them.

IF YOU CAN, AVOID SAYING “NO”

Saying “NO” almost all of the time will likely irritate your kids. Whenever children receive the answer “NO”, , it leads to resentment and that’s the last thing that you want to happen when working on improving your child’s behavior. Instead of saying “NO”, try to find opportunities to say “YES” whenever possible. You can try a variety of answers that may offer a different alternative to your child’s ask instead!

SET A GOOD EXAMPLE

The golden rule of a positive parenting solution is still setting a good example. When you set a good example and have the right attitude, your kids will automatically follow suit.

A child’s misbehavior is often caused by the many factors surrounding them. In order to correct these behaviors, you must first find the cause(s) and then implement appropriate strategies to help. It all boils down to responsible parenting.

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Finding new ways to engage your preschooler at home is ever ongoing. Playing the same games over and over can become boring for your little one. What about allowing them to create and design on their own in what is called a “Maker Space”. A Makers Space gives kids an opportunity to create and design with their own imagination using simple materials. These are sometimes found in libraries and children museums, but they are really so easy to create in your home.

Maybe you have a craft basket or drawer at home where you have art supplies for your child. This is a great extension of that type of creativity. A Maker Space contains materials that allow your child to build and design what ever they can imagine. Giving your preschooler some basic materials and letting them freely build will keep them engaged and busy for a good amount of time. For a younger kiddo, simply giving them tape, kid safety scissors, and random materials that you could recycle is enough to get them busy creating.

I gave my preschooler tape, scissors, some aluminum foil, markers, and some random recyclables. He went to town! I told him to build something, whatever he could think up. He was so excited to do so and really took his time to think and deign up a creation. I did not give him any instructions or guidance. I just let him explore with different materials and create on his own. During his building he would ask me questions about what he was doing and talk out loud to himself when he was going from step-to-step. It was fun to see him trying to fix things that were not holding and try different options. This is such a good activity for preschoolers to experience problem solving and expand their fine motor skills.

As your preschooler gets older and if they become really interested in this type of activity, you could expand it by making challenges. For instance, find a small Lego man and give your preschooler a goal. This will really challenge their creativity. You could try to have your kiddo create a boat that floats for their Lego man, a plane that flies, or a house that they could fit inside. The activities are endless! Adding in different tools to your Maker Space is something that we will be doing as well. Each time we pull out our Maker Space box, I will add a new material in (Q-tips, glue sticks, wooden popsicles, broken toy parts, paper clips). The list here is endless too. Adding in random household items is so easy to do in order to expand the tools in your child’s Maker Space items.

It is also important to designate a space for the project to be stored. Most of the time my preschooler likes to continue to build upon his design. Along with the basket of tools we have set aside for the Maker Space, we have a designated shelf for his project to be stored. I would hate for something to get accidentally tossed or broken, so I eliminated that with having a shelf that he knows where his creation can be stored and we can keep it safe.

Adding in a Maker Space type of box/area in your home is such an easy way to culture creativity for your child. It expands on just the paper and crayons type of art activities that we already do at home. Fun conversations and enjoyment had by your preschooler will get you all excited to have a Maker Space in your home where your kiddo can produce creativity, design fun projects, and grow their imagination.

Ms. Whitney
Lead Prekindergarten Teacher
Curriculum Coordinator

Stereotypes of expectations between girls and boys in the academic world have been around for eons. Just saying the title opens many feelings and opinions. Have you ever heard that girls don’t need to do math, boys don’t need to sit and read? How does society’s viewpoints affect our children?

Math based careers such as engineering and scientist are generally looked at as careers for boys. The myth: boys are better at math than girls. In the July 25 issue of Science (Vol. 321, No. 5888), Janet Hyde, PhD, a psychology and women’s studies professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her colleagues, dismissed the perceived gender gap in math performance by analyzing math test scores from 7 million students, grades two through 11. The team collected standardized math assessments from 10 states and analyzed the scores for male and female students. They found no difference in average performance. If those are the facts, then why do we see boys dominating these fields over girls?

The answer is simply due to the antiquated views of society. Girls aren’t told that they can do it. They aren’t encouraged to work at it. If math starts getting difficult, they are given the excuse: well you are a girl it’s okay to give up. Girls aren’t pushed to keep trying. The result is girls telling themselves that math isn’t for them because of their gender. They quit because they want to fit in to what society tells them is normal. Buck the system ladies, study math!

Growing up I was always the reader while my brother avoided books like the plague. It seemed normal. Boys are supposed to be active while girls are quiet and studious. Girls generally start out being more interested in books than boys. But instead of encouraging the boys to keep trying it is dismissed and pushed aside. The result: is by twelfth grade, more than twice as many girls as boys (5% versus 2%) scored as “advanced” in reading on the 2015 NAEP.

Again, the answer is simply due to the antiquated views of society. Boys are led to believe that they should be outside playing in the mud with cars over chilling out and reading a book. Because learning to read and enjoying reading doesn’t begin with the same enthusiasm with boys doesn’t mean it should be to the side. Some of the most interesting men in the world read books. So, gentlemen, pick up a book!

As I investigated this subject, I find that the way society views the skills girls and boys should and shouldn’t have undermines their confidence in those subjects. When these skills start to be challenging, we are told to let them go. Excuses are made. The ability of children should never be underestimated or determined by their gender. They need to be encouraged and guided on how to work through any frustration when learning a new skill or developing old ones. They can do anything if they are allowed to believe that they can!

Let’s change the world little ones!

-Ms. Dotty
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
NAEYC- Coordinator

Say you find yourself at another family get together.

The talk starts of which cousin knows what and how this cousin is advanced, and ultimately the conversation turns into a comparison game. Letter and number identification, who’s peeing in the potty, gah it just turns overwhelming really fast!

Of course, you’re proud of your nieces and nephews but you can’t help but think about your own kids. For me, I know I’m the oddball of my group. While I do recognize the importance of academics, I choose to focus on or boast about their problem-solving skills and when they self-soothe on their own. Again, not taking away the importance of academics overall, just shedding some light on other areas your children could be excelling at which are extremely important to your child’s early childhood education.

Social Emotional Learning happens in everyday instances from the moment a child wakes up, to when they lay their head down. (Which let’s be real is typically about an hour after you start the bed time process…)

Let’s start with explaining exactly what social emotional learning is.  SEL refers to the process of developing and using social and emotional skills. Kids aren’t born knowing how to manage their emotions and get along with others.

1. The first reason I focus on social emotional milestones is a kind child is more important to me then a genius. I want my child to welcome others and befriend all. I believe when we focus on teaching our children to be kind, the academics and respect will follow in line at the right time. When a child is kind it radiates off them and allows others to feel welcomed. It welcomes diversity with your child and builds confidence with in them. “When you are kind to others, it not only changes you, it changes the world.”-Harold Kushner
2. Social-emotional learning helps kids work on things like coping with feelings and setting goals. When a child is welcomed to embrace their feelings, they become confident within themselves. Even bigger than a child embracing their feelings is knowing how to deal with feelings. Self-soothing and coping skills allows a child to problem solve and work out socially acceptable ways to deal with how they are feeling. Social-emotional learning boost confidence and encourages a child to set goals and dream big.
3. It also helps kids develop interpersonal skills and conflict resolution. Social-emotional learning can help reduce bullying and disciplinary complications. We want our children to be independent and be able to work out problems and work well with others. Children have to be introduced to the concept of problem solving and teamwork just like they have to be introduced to academics.

So the next time you’re at a family dinner and the comparison conversation starts, just keep these important life skills in the back of your mind! Every child matter and academically learns at their own pace.

Thanks for reading,

Ms. Michaela
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Social-Emotional Coordinator

Grandparents are a wonderful resource to children’s happiness. They fill shoes that us parents just never will be able to. So, we celebrate a day dedicated just to grandparents, and that day is September 8th. It just so happens that Teddy Bear Day is the following day September 9th. Celebrating these two days together can make for a really fun day!

Prepare some special goodies to give to your special grandparents for their special day. You and the kids can bake up some of their favorite treats, make them handmade cards, and find books specifically for grandparents to write a cute note on the inside covers. A few of my favorites are: The Little Critter series “Just me and my Grandma” and “Just Grandpa and me”. Think of grandparent’s day as the same we think of Mother’s or Father’s Day. Just make it fun and special day for your kids to connect with their grandparents.

Put together a fun grandparent and kids’ day. They will love that you put the thought into creating a kid date for them. Even offer to be the chauffeur for the day. Make reservations for lunch at a place everyone will enjoy. After lunch go to Build- A- Bear Workshop to make teddy bears together. What a cute and memorable activity for grandparents to share with their grandchildren. Next, hit your favorite book shop for a new book to go with your new stuffed animals! The grandparents and kids can pick out a book to share together later in the day. When everyone is exhausted from this adventure take everyone home for a nap. They can snuggle up with their new teddy bears and read their new books together. Parents can maybe get a little work of their own done now, or even join in the nap taking.

Being able to watch the bond grow between your children and your parents will be such a wonderful thing to watch. Celebrate the official and unofficial days of grandparents. They are the best!

Ms. Brooke
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher
Curriculum Coordinator
Literacy Coordinator