Fabulous article in the Atlantic introducing even more reasons to connect with your baby instead of being distracted by all of our gadgets.
Put down your phones, stare into your baby’s eyes, sing a song, tell a story, explain what you are doing….be present in the moment and lay the foundation for your relationship and baby’s development (think future language, friendships, empathy, reading, writing…). Show your baby that he or she is the most important thing in the world!
This seems to be the first study to research the effect of babies early exposure to domestic violence and how it develops in their social behaviors later in childhood.
I especially appreciate the quote from Megan Homes, “People may think children that young are passive and unaware, but they pay attention to what’s happening around them.”
Your baby is watching your every move and taking notes. Modeling those behaviors they see you doing and mimicking the words they hear you say (sometimes the inappropriate ones). Have you ever looked at your child and seen a reflection of yourself?
“Peer group pressure begins in elementary schools, as early as age nine.” says University of Maryland developmental psychologist Melanie Killen.
If I could, I’d hop a plane and take all the little ones I know to this program in Ireland. What a name, Little Moo Moos!
Life On The Farm
A PLAYSCHOOL in a unique setting on a working dairy farm in St Margaret’s has won an award for the quality of the service it provides to its pre-schoolers.
Little Moo Moos Playschool is set on a working dairy farm. Catherine Dwyer and her husband, farmer Rory, are behind the venture and have an ongoing commitment to incorporate different aspects of farm life into the learning experiences of the children at the playschool.
Catherine told the Fingal Independent: ‘The school’s natural environment provides a rich source of learning, around which a carefully considered play-based emergent and Montessori curriculum, underpinned by Aistear has been developed.
‘Children spend more than 75% of their time outdoors feeding animals, visiting the farm, planting vegetables, going down the fields on adventures and playing.’
Explaining the philosophy of Little Moo Moos, Catherine said: ‘The child is at the centre of the learning process, where their individual needs and interests are nurtured to grow and blossom.
‘Because Little Moo Moos is concerned with the provision of the highest quality service, we are delighted to be recipients of ‘The Siolta Quality Award.’
She explained: ‘Since completing the Siolta programme, our service sees ‘quality’ as an ongoing process where we are constantly thinking and reflecting on how to improve on our provision.
‘To us, quality means putting the children first where their rights, needs and interests are of paramount consideration.’
On receiving the award, the playschool was quick to thank the most important players in all of this, the children themselves and a letter went out to parents saying: ‘Without your children, we wouldn’t have achieved our highest award to date.’
The Siolta Quality Assurance Programme (QAP) is the national quality Framework for early childhood care and education.
This programme was developed by the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education of behalf of the Department of Education & Skills, following consultation with more than fifty diverse organisations representing childcare workers, teachers, parents, policy workers, researchers to name but a few.
The award recognizes the high level of quality and practice maintained in Little Moo Moos Playschool.
Here is the article link: http://www.independent.ie/regionals/fingalindependent/lifestyle/life-on-the-farm-29264612.html
I, like the author of this blog post, have many issues with the focus placed on treating childhood mental health when there is so much that we could be doing to prevent these disorders if we only prioritize families.
The research is quite clear that 0 to 3 years of age are our formative years, the foundation for our entire life. We have to start treating early childhood development with the respect and honor it deserves. We have to educate, nurture and support families during pregnancy and as their children grow, taking responsibility as a society to look out for children and lend a helping hand when able. We have to demand employers give parents longer parental leave (with pay and job security) to bond with their babies, give parents ‘permission’ to put their children before their careers and flexibility in the work place. We need employers all the way up to the President to understand that our family comes first!
I feel this is our responsibility to our children and future generations.
Posted by Claudia M Gold May 16, 2013 10:04 PM
Change is in the air for children’s mental health care. The latest CDC (Center for Disease Control) special supplement to the MMWR (morbidity and mortality weekly report) is titled Mental Health Surveilance Among Children-United States 2005-2011. The report overview states:
Approximately $247 billion is spent each year on children’s mental health. The mental health of children is critical to their overall health as children and as they grow into adults.
The report summary concludes:
More comprehensive surveillance is needed to develop a public health approach that will both help prevent mental disorders and promote mental health among children.
A huge part of this evidence comes from the CDC itself, with the ACES study, showing long-term negative impact on both physical and emotional health of a range of adverse childhood experiences. An abundance of research coming from the discipline of infant mental health provides a more nuanced view of this issue.