Request for Topics

Dear Smart Start Blog Readers & Followers,

To help us continually report on topics that benefit you we’re “calling for all topics”.  Let us know what you would like to learn more about – keep within the topic of preschool age children and raising them. 

We’re here to provide our professional expertise and knowledge from what we’ve experience along with other colleagues and professionals.

Thanks again and I look forward to receiving your readership topic requests.

-Natasha Clark

Valentine’s Day at The Smart Start Preschool & Learning Center

Every February we celebrate Valentine's Day by giving flowers, candy and cards to those we love. We do this in honor of Saint Valentine. You may be wondering, "Who is St. Valentine"? Time to brush up on your Valentine's history!  There are many legends about “Valentine” some say he secretly married young men soldiers and women when the emperor of the time outlawed marriage.  Another legend claims Valentine was an imprisoned man who fell in love with his jailor's daughter. Before he was put to death he sent the first 'valentine' himself when he wrote her a letter and signed it 'Your Valentine', words still used on cards today.

We celebrate Valentine’s Day by giving cards and small tokens (gifts) to show those how much we love them.    At The Smart Start Preschool Valentine’s Day is a day we celebrate with a lot of fun which ultimately teaches our children about love, giving and caring.

On Valentine’s Day the children make Valentine mailboxes which are tissue boxes decorated by them, it’s personalized and allows them to use their creativity.  All the children share valentines with each other, showing how much we like one another, by placing a valentine in one another’s mailbox. 

Today, February 14^th we had a party, thanks to everyone who brought in tasty treats.  We read books with a Valentine theme and played Valentine Bingo.

Teaching the children about Valentine’s Day and the meaning behind it (love) is important to help them understanding the holiday and also helps us explain emotion/feelings.  Last week we blogged about behavior and how children at this age (3-5) don’t know how to identify with their emotions/feelings.  We also expressed that when you love somebody it makes you feel happy and makes you smile. 

We talked about how we love our parents, siblings and friends and the things we can do to show how much we care.  These “things” are acts of goodness.  Throughout the week we incorporate the Valentines theme as much as possible into everything we do: Sing songs about Valentines and even do Valentine math activities. One math game works with numbers: There is a set of 10 “broken” hearts and on each side there is a number and the other side has dots. The children are supposed to match the broken hearts (match the written numeral with the right amount of dots). This reinforces number concepts.

Natasha’s Tip: 

ü  Incorporate a Valentine themed book into their story (if you read them a bedtime or other-time story), make heart shaped cookies and or ask them to tell you a Valentine story that they have made up. 

ü  Ask them what they learned in school about Valentine’s Day and what it means to them.

ü  Give your children a Valentine to show them how much you love them.  You didn’t need me to tell you that!  Happy Valentine’s Day.  

Behavior in Preschool Age Children –Why They Act a Certain Way and How to Handle It

In this blog I’m sharing my experiences and professional knowledge why preschool children behave the way they do and some suggestions to handing the situation if it’s a bad behavior problem.

Every parent, guardian and teacher experiences children’s behavior, the good, the bad and the ugly.  At times we ask ourselves:  Why does my preschooler act so grown up, then minutes later act like a baby?   Children in this age group (3-5 yrs old) are constantly growing (minds and behavior), which includes gaining their independence and showing you (parent, teacher, guardian) they know and understand what’s going on around them.  They are also learning how to control their emotions, which is one of the key reasons why they act like a baby when certain situations arise.   A situation could be asking them to do something they don’t want, if they are afraid of something, etc.   

Reason: As an adult if we’re in a situation which is uncomfortable, we will express our reasons and handle our emotions collectively (usually).  Preschoolers have not mastered this and they don’t understand why (completely) they’re feeling the way they do.  It takes children a long time to control their emotions, plus whatever personal experiences they have at home are part of their behavior development.  

Suggestions: In a situation where you see your child misbehaving and after three warnings to stop misbehaving, I suggest using the time-out chair – if of course it warrants the time-out chair.  If they are afraid of something and reacting out fear, the time-out chair isn’t the answer.  Soothing would help.   The time-out chair is a very good tool if used correctly.  The purpose of a time-out chair is to teach your children and help them understand why they are in time-out.  It’s suggested that parents/guardians/ caregivers remain calm when putting them in their chair (or special time-out spot) and explain why he/she is sitting in the time-out chair.  Besides explaining I also suggest asking them why they’re there.  If they can’t answer you, repeat yourself.  It may take 3-4 times of repeating yourself before they understand.  When they answer you correctly they should understand why they’re in the time-out chair.  As adults it’s our job to ensure they understand why they are sitting there, the goal is to help them learn not to repeat their misbehavior.

Don’t: Put your screaming child in time-out and continually tell him/her to stop screaming otherwise he’ll stay in time-out longer, then a after a few minutes pass, remove the screaming child from time-out.  In this situation the child learned nothing and it’s a waste of a parent’s breath.

Ages 3-4 are the most crucial time in children’s lives, whatever happens at this age, good or bad, begins to shape them. 

Tantrums in Public Places:  A parent asked me how they could better handle their child while throwing tantrums in public places.   I told this parent if their child is having a complete meltdown in public I would recommend removing him/her from the situation, and stay calm.  I would also recommend against bribing them.   Preschoolers are pretty smart and If you bribe them, they will always think they will get something every time they have a tantrum.  Every time you deal with a tantrum parents need to treat every tantrum the same way.  Consistency is important to setting ground rules.

Defiance: In school and life we have to follow directions, at times we aren’t in the mood to follow directions.  In preschool we’re teaching our children how to follow directions and why it’s important and ask our parents to do the same at home.   Example: If you’re sitting with your child teaching him/her how to write and you ask him to take out a pencil from his pencil box and he takes out a scissor and you ask a  few more times to take out a pencil, the child is clearly not paying attention and following directions.

Suggestion:  In this situation I would suggest taking his pencil box away and not giving it back until he understands why he needs his pencil.

Natasha’s Tips: 

ü  You have to show them who is in control and that tantrum, defiance or other ill behavior will not get them anywhere.  Even as hard as it is I suggest you ignore their behavior.

ü  Don’t bribe them

ü  Try to remain calm

ü  If you think their behavior is completely a off the rector scale, I suggest speaking with a medical professional