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5 Ways You Can Help Your Child Thrive at Childcare

January 11, 2022 by admin

When your child starts attending a childcare centre, they are taking an exciting next step in their learning journey, and you can help them along the way.

As a parent, there are many things you can do to help your child succeed in a childcare environment, making the most of learning opportunities and engaging meaningfully with curriculum programs. You can support your child to learn, play, discover, and grow.

Here are 5 ways you can help your child thrive at childcare!

1. Be prepared

Good preparation is the key to a successful childcare journey!

Being prepared for childcare can help you to avoid common challenges, staying calm and collected at drop-off time. The night before your child attend childcare, make sure you’ve organised everything they need (lunch, clothes, a backpack). This will save you a last-minute rush in the morning!

Before your child starts at childcare, prepare them for changes in routine and the new challenges they might face at their centre. Focus on the positives as much as possible, and slowly introduce your child to centre routines.

2. Stay consistent

Staying consistent with childcare routines and expectations can make life much easier for your child.

Find out what routines and schedules are in place at your child’s early learning centre, and consider implementing some of these at home. You might adjust nap times or meal times to align more closely with centre timetables.

Maintaining consistency between home and childcare can help your child to feel secure in their environments. They’ll know what to expect each day, and they’ll be able to face new challenges with confidence.

3. Communicate with educators

Your child’s educators will be an important part of their learning journey, so it’s important that you communicate with them regularly.

Each day at centre drop-off and pick-up times, speak to your child’s educators about their interests and learning needs. Ask how your child is doing at childcare and if there are any concerns you should be aware of.

Communicating with educators can help you develop a clearer sense of your child’s strengths and weaknesses, providing you with the knowledge you need to help your child succeed.

4. Make quality time

When you child begins attending a childcare centre, they may have less time at home with you, so it’s important that you continue to spend quality time with them outside of centre hours.

Take time to talk to your child, asking them questions about their friends, their educators, and the things that they are learning. Spend time with your child, and listen to them when they communicate with you.

Quality time is an important part of ensuring that your child continues to feel secure both at home and at childcare. This will make it much easier for your child to learn and thrive.

5. Build on learning

Learning doesn’t have to stop at childcare. You can help your child build on their skills and knowledge at home!

Find out what skills your child is working on at childcare. Are they learning about the environment? Are they practising sports, music, or communication skills? Whenever possible, introduce these concepts to games and activities at home too.

By building on your child’s learning at home, you can help them learn concepts more quickly, and you can provide them with the support they need to develop new skills and achieve their full potential.

Still searching for the right childcare centre for your child? Visit MyXplor to find childcare centres near you! For example, a parents based in Rowville might visit the MyXplor Rowville Childcare listing to find local centres.

Getting Fit With Your Kids

November 10, 2017 by admin

Staying in shape is so important to a healthy life, and yet sometimes – more times than we’d like to admit – working out and exercising takes second priority. Everyone works so hard, hours are long, and downtime is precious. That’s why, when we want to spend time with our families, we don’t want to forsake them for the gym. What if you could do both, though? What if you could get fit and healthy and spend time with the kids? What if the kids benefitted too? Now wouldn’t that be awesome? Well, here are some ideas on how to do exactly that.

Get Outdoors

Getting fit and healthy doesn’t necessarily mean lifting weights or going for a run. You can take it pretty easy and still get some goodness into you. Going for a walk when you would have normally taken the car is a great start. Children spend a lot of time strapped into car seats, chugging along the road. Try something different and go exploring in your local neighborhood, or head out to the park and run around.

Join A Kid-Friendly Gym

If you do want to join a gym, do your research before picking the one that’s closest, or has the best deals. They might not be the best ones in the long term. There are gyms that are family friendly, and these are the ones you want to look out for. These gyms will have family days, with activities for everyone, or they might have kids’ classes which they can enjoy while you work out – afterwards, you can meet up for a healthy meal, and a debrief on how your various classes went! This is perfect for having a little bit of ‘me time’, which is something we all sometimes need. If you want complete solitude at the gym, don’t forget to find the best wireless headphones for working out so you can really enjoy it.

Another selling point can be whether the gym has a swimming pool – not only can this provide swimming lessons for younging children, but it’s also a great way to keep the whole family in check without it seeming like exercise!

Sports Night

For super busy moms and dads, organising a weekly sports night could be the answer to getting fit and spending time with your kids at the same time. It could be anything; you could even pick a new sport each week if that’s what you’re into. For the more competitive families you can tally up the scores and the monthly winner can get a prize. For those who prefer the taking part to the results, just go ahead and have fun. Swimming, tennis, soccer, baseball… there are dozens of sports to choose from, and all of them will make you feel healthier.

Around The House

You don’t even have to leave the house to get fit. Does the yard need tidying? Spend an hour out there with the kids and get it looking good. Working hard sweeping leaves or picking weeds is still exercise, even if it’s not a sport or a gym class. Washing cars, cleaning windows, walking the dog (okay, that one requires leaving the house, but you get the idea), anything and everything that means moving about is good. There will be a huge sense of achievement when the jobs are done, at which point you can reward yourself – and the kids – with a movie, a video game, or whatever else makes you all happy.

Helping Your Child Get Used To Being At A Child Care Centre

September 8, 2017 by admin

If your child has just started at child care, remember that things can go wrong on the first day, and your child will likely protest when it’s time to say goodbye. Many kids experience nervousness and anxiety when starting child care for the first time, but there is quite a bit you can do to make the transition as easy as possible for both you and your little one.

Helping Your Child Adjust to Child Care

You can begin preparing your child by talking to him or her in advance, telling then where they will be going and what they will be doing during the day. You could also take your child to visit the day care centre a few times before you have to leave them for the first day. Show your child where he or she will be going and answer any questions that have as openly and honestly as you can to reassure them that everything will be okay.

On the first day, try to arrive around 15 minutes beforehand to help your child settle into some sort of activity before you have to get to work. This way, they’re less likely to protest your leaving if they’re already having fun.

If your child is bound to be anxious, send a familiar object like a favourite blanket or stuffed animal to help him or her adjust to the situation. Child care centres in Sydney or in your local area are always happy to accommodate these kinds of things.

Here are a few more tips to make your child feel at ease:

Try to make enough time so that you won’t be rushing to sing in and get your child settled with an activity.
Be sure to take note of your own body language when you say goodbye to your child. If you feel uncertain, you could be showing your own anxiety to him or her.
Try to resist the temptation to just sneak out the door when your little one is not looking – it could well create problems for you both. If your child fears that you are going to disappear each time you drop them at school, they may be unwilling to let you out of their sight.
If you think your child is going to react very strongly on day one, see if your partner or a friend could drop them off.
Ask the teacher if they can provide insight about any problems. For example, your little one may not like other children or is just having a hard time settling down for a nap.
Do your best to stick to a routine and avoid making any changes while your child gets used to the new arrangement.
Accept that it’s time for your little one to adjust to his or her new school routine and that some children may take longer than others.
Try to be alert to any underlying problems. If your little one has yet to settle into the new arrangement, it may be time to talk to the teacher. It could be something as simple as a personality clash and your child may do better in another classroom.

Remember those tips and your child will be able to adjust in the child care centre easily.

You Should Know More About Autism

May 14, 2017 by admin

Source

Autism is one of the fastest growing and prevalent child developmental disabilities in the US today. It affects 1 in 68 children and 1 in 42 boys. The prevalence of the disease has launched several amazing charities including Autism Speaks and California based Special Needs Network, and Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center of Phoenix that are supported by amazing donors like Lloyd Claycomb who are dedicated to informing parents and assisting with information that can get them vital services for their autistic children. Here is some information about Autism that you will find helpful in understanding the disorder.

What is Autism?

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder, is a lifelong developmental disability that is characterized by an individual having challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences.

The term spectrum is related to the wide variation in challenges and strengths defined by people who have autism. There is not one autism but many types, caused by different combinations of genetic and environmental influences. There are four main sub-types of autism recognized within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Autistic Disorder, also known as autism, childhood autism, early infantile autism, Kanner’s syndrome or infantile psychosis.
Asperger Syndrome, also known as Asperger’s disorder or simply Asperger’s.
Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, also known as CDD, dementia infantalis, disintegrative psychosis or Heller’s syndrome.
Pervasive Developmental Disorder (Not Otherwise Specified), also known as PDD (NOS) or atypical autism.

Individuals on the autism spectrum may vary enormously from each other but they all share the two core features of autism:

Persistent difficulties with social communication and social interaction. This will manifest itself as the individual have difficulty beginning or carrying on a conversation. They may not understand or be able to follow social rules such as how far to stand from someone when communicating or moderating the level of their voice. They may also find it difficult to make and keep friends.
Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. Autistic people often develop an overwhelming interest in something. They may also create and follow inflexible routines or rituals, make repetitive body movements. They can also be hypersensitive to certain sounds.

It is commonly acknowledged that autistic people see, hear and feel the world differently than typical people. Often people feel being autistic is a fundamental aspect of their identity.

Autism has an onset during the earliest ages of childhood with its most-obvious signs usually appearing between the ages of 2 and 3. And manifests itself as developmental delays in the child. Although its exact onset time is vague, what is not is that the earlier the intervention, the better the outcomes for the autistic person.

If you suspect that your child or a child you know has autism spectrum disorder, you should contact a doctor or clinic in your area and have the child tested. It is important to go to a facility that understands the disorder so you can get the right testing and information about what should be done if the child is diagnosed with autism. Stay calm and know that there is support for you and your family.

All You Need to Know about Making Your Child Look Cool and Funky

February 24, 2017 by admin

It seems like only yesterday where, if you wanted your child to look a bit different, you had to make the clothes yourself. And even then, you were probably quite limited to funky shirt for boys, or a frilly dress with a belt and bow for girls. Today, however, there are so many kids clothing brands available, and at such friendly prices, that you can literally allow your child to dress however they please.

Some say this is a negative development. One where people lose the skill of being able to make things themselves. But on the other hand, being able to pick from such an array of choices, and making your child look cool and funky, yet different from everybody else, could be considered a skill in its own right. Best of all, thanks to the popularity of kids designer clothes, they are now functional and comfortable as well.

How to Buy Clothes for Your Child

You have the option of going all out and buying something from the Ralph Lauren kids line of clothing. Doing so, however, will leave a burning hole in your pocket. It will generally also mean that your child will only be able to wear those clothes on very special occasions, and they will be able to sit still whenever they do. Realistically, this means your child will be able to wear their outfit no more than twice, before they will have outgrown them.

Instead, try to look for some of the more popular, and affordable, kids clothing brands. Those clothes are designed to be practical and functional, as well as being made of high quality, durable materials. In other words, your child will be able to look amazing and unique, while still being able to just be a child, play around, and have fun. Plus, because these items are so much more affordable, you will be able to buy multiple outfits that you can mix and match, so your child can look good every day.

When you do start shopping for your child’s new clothes, make sure that they are involved in the process as much as possible. You have to allow your child to develop their own individual personality, with a little bit of guidance from yourself. Because cool kids t-shirts and clothing are now available largely online, you don’t even have to drag your children out for the dreaded shopping trip anymore either. Instead of having to worry all the time about your child’s sticky fingers getting on the clothing racks, losing them in the mall, and worrying about your husband eating too much fast food and drinking too much beer as they wait for you, you can make a fun activity at home from it. Simply sit behind the computer together and decide on what types of things they would like. Once they arrive, you can try them on together and send back anything that isn’t as nice as you both would have hoped.