Children Care Was Here

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, an estimated 13 million children younger than six spend some, or all of their day, being cared for by someone other than their parents. This figure includes babies and toddlers. Ellen Peisner-Feinberg of the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, “estimates that more than half of the 3-to-5 year-old children in the United States attend child-care centers prior to kindergarten.”
With these numbers in mind, quality child-care is an important issue in our country. For many parents, finding child-care for infant through school-age children is a fact of live. A trustworthy and dependable child-care situation makes it possible for parents to support their families financially. Parents need to take time and check to see if they are using a high quality child-care program.
Quality child-care is particularly critical for the well being of children and youth. Child- care research has shown that compared to low quality situations, high quality care can impact young children’s intellectual, language, and social skills and behavior. In a recent study published in Child Development, better classroom materials and practices in the day care setting were associated with more advanced development of children’s language and academic skills. The benefits of high quality care were even stronger and longer lasting for children at greater risk for having difficulty in school than the average. This was particularly true in case of better math skills and fewer problem behaviors.
Factors which contribute to high quality child-care are:

• Low child-teacher ratio increases the likelihood of one-to-one attention.
• Safe and healthy environment
• Caregivers who are nurturing and knowledgeable about children’s development
• Caregivers have a consistent and stable presence in the child’s life.

Staff training and educational background are among the most critical elements in improving children’s experiences in child-care. Providers who receive higher quality training and more specialized training are more likely to be found in high quality care environments. Job satisfaction and commitment are two factors that contribute to the stability of care. Turnover rates in child-care providers are high. This is due to the stressful conditions of providing child-care with long hours, low pay, and few or no benefits.
Many people think that providing child-care comes naturally, but teaching and caring for children in groups takes special skills. The best child-care providers have education and training about children. Licensed caregivers in Missouri are required to have 12 hours of child-care training every year. Caregivers learn how to plan the day, provide nutritious foods and fun activities that children will like.
To check to see if you child-care setting is of high quality, contact your local extension office and ask for guidesheet, GH6233 Finding and Selecting Good Child Care: A Guide for Parents Returning to Work. Choosing the right child-care program for your family is an important decision. Finding quality child-care helps your children to grow and gives you, the parent, the peace of mind to do your work.

Self-Esteem is a word often used in connection with good mental health, but rarely is it explained how we get poor self-esteem and how we cultivate good self-esteem. Good self-esteem means to hold oneself in high esteem, feeling worthy of a good life and good treatment by others. Good self-esteem helps protect children from the traps they are exposed to growing up in our modern society.

How to Build Self-Esteem

• Accept your child as a separate human being with emotions that are important. Allow them to have their own feelings and express them. Listen to their feelings as much as what they say and paraphrase it back to them. Being an empathetic parent develops an empathetic child who will then grow into being an empathetic adult that is sensitive to others and is capable of good relationships.
• Praise your child for what they do well. Sometimes parents refrain from praise because they fear their child will get a big ego. That is not the case, children are anxious to learn what to do right and by your praise you give them guidance and approval. Respond to their successes with small celebrations and comfort and encourage them when they fail.
• Tell your children you love them just the way they are and hug them often. Remember children hear your tone of voice more than your words, so speak to them with respect and loving kindness.
• Children learn from the examples in their life, telling them what to do is not nearly as effective as being a good example and a positive role model. Children learn respect by observation, show them and others respect and they will follow your example.
• Start your child learning developmentally appropriate decision making skills, start with letting them pick between a few choices of which toy they will take in the car with them, and then as they get older choices about what to wear, on a cold day allow them to pick between two warm outfits and as they get older widen the choices so that they will be able to pick out their own outfits. As they mature more complex decisions will lead to more in depth decision making conversations that include the possible choices and the consequences, costs, advantages and disadvantages of each choice. In the process allow them to make mistakes that are harmless so that they can learn from mistakes also.
• When disciplining them differentiate the behavior from the child. Do not label the child with name calling, but you might say, “I didn’t like it when you ______” rather than “You are really stupid.”
• Talk with them about their day, listen and ask questions with interest. Have them read to you and show you their school work.
• Get your children involved in healthy activities like sports, music and dance. Attend their activities.
• Don’t lean on your children emotionally and have them take care of you. Allow them to lean on you for support.
• Let them know what is expected of them in social situations but don’t make them act like little adults in every situation.

Self Respect

Self esteem results from self respect and respect from others. Self respect includes competence, confidence, mastery, achievement, independence and freedom. Respect from others includes recognition, acceptance, status, and appreciation. Healthy self-esteem is a realistic appraisal of one’s capacities and begins with deserved respect from others.

When these needs are not met, a child grows up feeling discouraged, weak and inferior. He or she is then vulnerable to finding other ways of being accepted outside of the family and is then susceptible to looking for acceptance from other groups like gangs and is vulnerable to peer pressure and acquiring feelings of acceptance through sex, drugs and alcohol.

Positive self-esteem means having confidence, a child knows who they are in the world and does not have to fit in to be accepted. Encourage them toward college and career. When children feel confident and capable growing up and hold a vision of a satisfying future they are less likely to get into trouble that could prevent them from reaching their goals in life.

It is a very common sight to see kids playing on their video games, computer games or PlayStation in their spare time. The other lot may spend their free time watching television or reading comics. The only thing common in these kids is that they spend all their spare time indoors, and totally abstain from any physical activity that is to be undertaken daily. The concept of playing on playgrounds or climbing trees is nearly extinct today. However, not many people are aware of the importance of outdoor play for children, and the consequences of lack of physical activity. Here you will find more on the importance of outdoor play for young children.

Benefits of Outdoor Games for Young Children

One of the most important benefit or use of outdoor play is improving physical fitness. Children, who do not undertake any physical activity, have lesser stamina and fitness. They become lethargic and also highly prone to injury. On the contrary, kids who have a regular outdoor games have more stamina, energy and also flexibility. This is because outdoor games and sports increase endurance. Outdoor games also help in improving muscular and bone health. Similarly, outdoor games and activities are biggest stress busters for kids as well as adults.

Secondly, when talking of fitness, we also find that children who spend a considerable amount of time on the playground every day are fit and maintain a proper weight. Childhood obesity is a burning issue in developed nations today. The only way of treating and preventing childhood obesity is having a good outdoor game every day. Any outdoor game, or even simple activities like running or jogging can burn large number of calories, resulting in weight loss. Therefore, the calories consumed by kids during the entire day get burned due to outdoor games, and hence, the child does not gain excess weight.

One of the major aspect of outdoor activities for children, that is often ignored by people, is that outdoor play also contributes in learning. It should be noted that toddlers and children learn more from their experiences and senses than from books. For e.g., if a kid actually sees the kiwi bird, he will understand the concept more clearly than reading about it. Therefore, when noting the importance of outdoor play for children, it should be remembered then when children spend time outdoors, they see, observe and experience things which enhance their knowledge and also perceptual abilities. Children also learn to appreciate nature and may also inculcate aesthetic sense at an early age.

When a child plays outdoors, he usually does so in a group. Therefore, it greatly helps in social development and enhancing social skills. Children make new friends when playing outdoors, learn how to interact with each other, learn skills of negotiation and also learn how to adjust to surroundings and people. Children cultivate values like communication, adjustment, understanding, sharing, etc. when they play outdoors. Mixing with others also helps in boosting confidence. If you have observed children playing in the open, you will find that they run, shout, jump, laugh, etc. Therefore, another importance of outdoor play for children is that it helps in developing a sense of freedom and independence in children.

You can go through the link on outdoor games for children to play to know about some of the best games for kids. Lastly, as a helpful tip, parents themselves should set an example by undertaking a physical activity every day, or subscribing to a sports club. Good luck!