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Parenting
Parenting in the early years is a journey of guidance, patience, and connection, where everyday moments become opportunities for growth and learning. By creating a supportive and nurturing environment, parents can help children develop confidence, independence, and strong communication skills. Simple practices such as playing together, encouraging curiosity, setting consistent routines, and modeling positive behavior all contribute to a child’s emotional and social development. Thoughtful parent
As Parents We Would Like Our Children To Value Themselves
Written by Julia Gorham Doing and thinking for young children will contribute to lowered self esteem and undermine their self-confidence. You will create opportunities for your child to develop a lot of self-doubt by sending messages showing that you do not think that they can do things correctly, or that they should not try because you beloved it is too difficult for them. Do not ignore the pleas of the young child “I can do it by myself”. Children with high self esteem are
Mar 20, 20191 min read
A Child Develops A Sense Of Independence With The Montessori Dressing Frames
The Montessori dressing frames are an important part of the care of the self Practical Life Exercises in our classroom. Each frame isolates one skill of dressing and offers the child the opportunity to perfect this skill by repeating the motion over and over, thus helping her to become independent in dressing him/her self. Being able to dress and undress oneself is one of the major steps to a child’s sense of ndependence. To help children learn how to dress and undress themse
Feb 17, 20191 min read
Young children and grief
Adults and children process grief very differently. Here are some tips from personal experience about what is helpful with a preschool child dealing with grief. Be Honest. I was very open with Nicky about how things were going in hospital. As every doctor meeting arrived with worse and worse news, there wasn’t really a way to sugar coat it. I remember actually saying something along the lines of “when all these hospital visits stop”, and him asking when that was going to be
Feb 13, 20194 min read
The Art Of Effective Listening
Written by JULIA GORHAM The art of communications is based upon mutual respect and this means that both parent and child allow one another to express their beliefs and feelings honestly, without fear of rejection, even though you may not agree with your child. Effective listening involves assisting children to get in touch with his feeling and entails focusing your attention on your child, attempting to understand what your child is feeling and giving your child feedback to m
Feb 10, 20192 min read
Tips For Pre-schoolers To Develop A Love Of Lifelong Love Of Reading
The early years are critical in developing a lifelong love of reading. It is never too early to begin reading to your child. Read together every day. Make this a warm and loving time when the two of you can cuddle close. Give everything a name. Build your child’s vocabulary by talking about interesting words and objects. Say how much your enjoy reading. Talk about how you look forward to story time with them. Read with fun in your voice. Read to your child with humour and us
Aug 26, 20181 min read
How Parents Can Accelerate Their Child’s Cognitive Ability
Written by Julia Gorham In preschool years the effect of a child’s home environment and parent’s behaviour is vital. It is in this age period that parents will have the greatest effect on their child’s cognitive development. In middle childhood, instruction and experience at school are likely to contribute more than parents to children’s intellectual progress. Parents are children’s first teachers, and so they have the enormous responsibility for making their home stimulating
Aug 26, 20181 min read
The Importance of Good Manners For Young Children
By Julia Gorham Good Manners are essential for every child’s self confidence and success in life.Manners and etiquette for children is ranked as the most important quality to nurture in the family home. In the family home – this is where it starts, where the ‘manners seed’ is planted and nurtured. This is where your children learn not only good manners, but also core values and ethics. This is the haven where your children learn to be considerate, tolerant and respectful. T
Jun 21, 20181 min read
Giving your child the best tools in life
By Julia Gorham “Help me do it by myself” Dr Maria Montessori The Montessori method of teaching equips children with a strong sense of independence and confidence, by allowing them to do things on their own. Children are curious by nature and enjoy trying what they can achieve. The importance of confidence Confident children grow into resilient adults. People who possess confidence don’t dwell on failures. Instead, they acknowledge difficult situations, learn from any mista
Jun 2, 20184 min read
Family Matters
Written by Julia Gorham Family is the important gift given to us. Many people can help you, but your family understands you best. Family is an important word, it means to feel secure, to have someone who you can count on, whom you can share your problems with. But it is also means to have respect for each other and reasonability. What family means to me is love and someone that will always be there for your through the good times and the bad. It is about encouragement, unders
Apr 23, 20182 min read
Pearls Of Wisdom For Parents
By Julia Gorham Raising young children is one of the toughest most important jobs, yet the most rewarding and fulling role we play in our children’s lives. As a parent, your first priority is to give your child the best start in life from a young age and this starts with their emotional development. Here are a few handy tips for parents to enhance their young child’s emotional development. Teach your child to love and feel loved. Touch – hugs, pats, gentle squeezes, holding ,
Mar 18, 20181 min read
Your Child’s Emotional and Social Development
By Julia Gorham The Emotional Development of a child is fragile and an intricate process. It is important to note that a child’s emotional development is equally important as his intellectual intelligence. If your child does not feel emotionally secure, it is unlikely that he will reach his full potential! How can I enhance my child’s my child’s Emotional development? Encourage independence. Don’t do for your child that he can do for himself, however tempting it may be. For
Feb 27, 20182 min read
Movement and a Child’s Brain Development
By Julia Gorham No one can emphasize enough the importance of brain development in early childhood education. Today’s developing technology and research have allowed us to learn more about the brain, how it works, and the critical periods for its development. We now know that through research an enriched learning environment actually increases brain size (Diamond and Hopson, 1998). There is a new growing interest in developmental neuropsychology, or research in brain develop
Feb 27, 20183 min read
Get Your Child To Sleep!
By Julia Gorham Is your child frequently whining, hyperactive, irritable, angry, aggressive, crying, oppositional, distracted, defiant, or impulsive? If any of these characteristics are common in your child, it may be time to consider if the amount of sleep your child is getting is impacting his/her emotional and behavioral functioning. The quality and quantity of children’s sleep impacts their brain development as well as their emotional and behavioral functioning. In orde
Feb 27, 20183 min read
Developing Oral Language in Your Child
By Julia Gorham Oral Language is the child’s first, most important, and most frequently used structured medium of communication It is the primary means through which each individual child will be enabled to structure, to evaluate, to describe and to control his/her experience. In addition, and most significantly, oral language is the primary mediator of culture, the way in which children locate themselves in the world, and define themselves with it and within it” At its most
Feb 12, 201811 min read
Language Development Guide for Young Children
By Julia Gorham Language development is absolutely essential for the normal and complete development of every human being. Although language development is complex, children learn to speak their home language with ease in only 4 years of age. Language development is learned through social interaction and many of the first words are used for interaction with others. Vygotsky regards language as the foundation of acquiring intellectual skills, as the child needs a form of langu
Feb 10, 20181 min read
Preparing Your Child for Changes
Children need to be prepared with changes ahead to make them feel secure. Children thrive on routine and on knowing what is happening next. During times of change, a little extra attention will go a long way in helping children deal with stress. Plan an hour or a half hour each week where your child has your undivided attention. It is important to use play time to help a child’s development. Let your child pick the activity or follow you child’s lead. Prepare your child well
Nov 5, 20171 min read
The One Eyed Babysitter
Young children today are plugged into technology at a young age like devices of TV’s , tablets, phones, sometimes well before they can even ride a bicycle Research proves that watching T.V. may damage children’s brain development leading to increased anti-social behaviour. There is also a correlation between the amount of TV children watch and the degree of educational damage they suffer according to Dr Sigman. Significant long-term damage occurs even at so-called modest le
Nov 5, 20172 min read
Singing with Your Toddler
By Julia Gorham Assist your toddler to learn new songs by adding motions to accompany your toddler’s favourite, simple songs. Use short, familiar melodies and keep it rhythmic to hold your child’s attention – making it easier for them learn! Foster body awareness by selecting songs that involve body parts such as “Hokey, Pokey”, “Head, shoulders, knees and toes”, “This is the way we brush our teeth ….. early in the morning”. Choose songs that have repeated words, phrases and
Oct 4, 20172 min read
How to instill values in your children
By Julia Gorham Respect, kindness, honesty, courage, perseverance, self-discipline, compassion, generosity and dependability are the key ingredients for instilling good values in your children. You need to spend time with your children and make the time that you have with them really count. Talk to them about what’s right and wrong, and what constitutes good behaviour and what doesn’t. Have these kinds of conversations with your children on a regular basis so that the topic
Sep 25, 20172 min read
The value of playing games with your children
Playing games with your children is always great fun, but the important reason is that it involves your child’s participation with family, building lasting and memorable relationships. All children are eager to participate in games which attract their attention; they will learn to wait their turns, count, match and learn the rules of the game. Games also encourage problem solving and memory skills. Games are excellent for assisting children to develop intellectually and devel
Sep 12, 20171 min read
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