An Early Childhood Journey

Cultural Inclusion

Acknowledgement of Country by Cecelia Wright from Cultural Inclusions.

On this episode of the Adeona Family Podcast: An Early Childhood Journey, we’re joined by Cecelia Wright from Cultural Inclusions.

We discuss why it is important to prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in our day-to-day lives and how families can incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in a meaningful way at home.

It can be difficult to know how and where to start, which is why we wanted to include some useful insights and tips to get you started. For example:

• Using language can help as a starting point.
• Floral Fridays to help celebrate Torres Strait Islander culture.
• Cecelia’s resource to help families

The most important thing is consistency. Consistency between Early childhood Education settings and home allows for a deeper and more authentic learning experience.

We also discuss Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge on sustainability and how we can use it to make a better environment and create a greater understanding of the land.

 

Resources Mentioned

• Traditional Torres Strait Islander Experiences
• Cultural Inclusions

 

Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.

 

Our Early Childhood Education Centres

Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay

Reframing Behaviour

Prosocial behaviour in the form of sharing, helping, and cooperating is the hallmark of social competence throughout childhood. Teaching pro-social behaviour is achieved through responsive care and consistent boundaries.

We’re born with a genetic disposition toward certain things, then it’s the nurture that people provide that switches on parts of our personalities. This is why it’s so important for parents and caregivers to remember that the response they give children from their own behaviour will switch on and off certain behaviours in the child.

 

What’s The Difference Between Discipline and Punishment

Discipline: to guide, to teach. When a child is displaying behaviour that we deem to be anti-social, that’s our opportunity to help that child regulate themselves and use that moment to teach.

Punishment: time outs, smacking etc – no real information is being given to the child other than ‘you can’t do this, otherwise it will result in some form of fear-based punishment’.

Teaching pro-social behaviour is achieved through responsive care and consistent boundaries.

 

Using Language to Promote Social Behaviour

When we want to promote social behaviour, using certain language, such as saying what is allowed as opposed to what isn’t allowed, communicates the type of behaviour we want to encourage. For example, instead of “don’t put your feet on the table”, we want to say “can you put your feet on the floor, please.”

However, when it comes to biting or anti-social behaviour along those lines, it is okay to stop the child and say “I can’t let you do that.”

It’s important to remember to always approach the situation calmly. We want to be responsive, not reactive. Children need to feel safe, seen and soothed before we can continue with the teaching moment.

 

Resources Mentioned

• Dr Daniel Sigel: Hand Model of the Brain
• Janet Lansbury – “No Bad Kids”
• Dr Tina’s Books:
  1. No-Drama Discipline
  2. The Yes Brain
  3. The Whole-Brain Child

 

Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.

 

Our Early Childhood Education Centres

Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay

What Happens In The Kindergarten Program?

At the kindergarten age, children have really begun to develop who they are as a person with strong identities. At this stage, they start to fill their knowledge with the rest of the world, which leads them to look externally to themselves.

Our goal in kindergarten is to encourage and support that excitement and curiosity of the external world. Likewise, in this age group, their social understanding begins to develop much more significantly, they look at their peers, and we begin to see democracy come into their play and life – understandings of fairness, respect for others and sharing of space. Our curriculum is based on that understanding.

The difference between the role of prep and kindergarten:

• Prep: The teacher’s role in prep is to teach children how to write their name, recognise numbers and recognise colours – that’s what school is for.
• Whereas in kindergarten, the focus is on building learning dispositions and social competence. These are fundamental aspects of a child’s development and vital to their success in school. 

5 Key Learning Areas

1. Identity: building a sense of security, trust and identity
2. Connectedness: building positive relationships and showing respect for diversity & environments
3. Wellbeing: a sense of autonomy, exploring ways to be healthy and safe and exploring ways to promote physical wellbeing
4. Active Learning: building positive dispositions toward learning, showing curiosity and enthusiasm, problem-solving, investigating, reflecting on learning and being creative
5. Communication: exploring and expanding language. Signing, listening and responding.

A lot of early childhood services say they have play-based programs or a play-based curriculum, whereas what they’re really offering is structured activities presented in a fun way. So in order for play-based learning to be achieved properly, play has to meet 5 criteria.

5 Criteria of Play

1. Self-chosen and self-directed
2. An activity in which the means are more valued than the ends (the process is more important than the result)
3. Play has a structure or rules that are not dictated by physical necessity but emanate from the minds of the players
4. Play is imaginative, non-literal and mentally removed in some way from real or serious life
5. Play involves an active and alert, but non-stressed, frame of mind

School readiness for us is about the child being confident in themselves, with the ability to make friends and social connections, ready to take on that next step. We don’t expect them to have some amazing academic skills, but an eagerness to learn. 

 

Resources Mentioned

• Queensland Kindergarten Learning Guideline
• “Free to Learn” by Dr Peter Gray
• “You, Your Child and School: Navigating Your Way to the Best Education” By Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica

 

Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.

 

Our Early Childhood Education Centres

Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay

Everything You Need To Know About Toilet Learning

When is the right time to start toilet learning? What are the main things you should be looking out for? What signs might your child be giving to let you know they’re ready? And how should we deal with accidents or setbacks? 

There are 3 main things we should look out for before we consider beginning the toilet learning process:

1. Bladder capacity and muscle control
2. Cognitively children need to know when they need to go and what they need to do when they get to the bathroom
3. Emotionally children need to be ready to let go of nappies

If they’re able to have dry nappies for 2-3 hours at a time or wake up from a nap with a dry nappy – it shows they have some level of control or the bladder capacity to be able to hold for a prolonged period of time.

Likewise, your child showing an increased awareness of bodily functions might be communicating that they’re ready to begin toilet learning—they might say to you that they’re weeing or tell you when they have finished going to the toilet. 

Another key way of identifying that your child might be ready to begin toilet learning is a dislike of the sensation of staying in wet or soiled clothing or nappies. They might also express a desire to sit on the potty or to wear underwear, which they might not be ready for, but there’s no harm in letting them explore that.

As parents, we are keen to get them to move onto the next step and out of nappies, but we need to be patient and wait for them to indicate their desire and willingness to participate in the process. 

 

Resources Mentioned

• 3 Reasons Kids Don’t need Toilet Training and What to Do Instead by Janet Lansbury
• Regarding Baby – Toilet Learning Made Easy by Lisa Sunbury
• It’s No Accident: Breakthrough Solutions to Your Child’s Wetting, Constipation, UTIs, and Other Potty Problems

 

Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.

 

Our Early Childhood Education Centres

Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay

Understanding Your Child's Emotions & How To Deal With Them

On this episode of the Adeona podcast, we wrap up our 3 part series on emotional health by shining a light on the emotions of children and how we can employ proven strategies and techniques to manage them.

The way we deal and cope with big emotions is often hardwired into us from an early age.

In moments of stress, we become more reactive and we resort to what’s been hardwired in our brain, which is often how we were parented. These moments of stress make us unable to access our up-stairs brain, which is responsible for intricate mental processing like planning, decision-making, self-awareness and empathy.

How we as parents, carers and educators respond to an incident is how children learn. Children see how we respond, which sends them information about whether they are good or bad, and they copy it. That message gets internalised and then they repeat those messages to their friends on the playground.

Likewise, being in a heightened emotional state will, in turn, heighten the emotional state and response of the child as they are unable to find that calm place they need to regulate themselves.

Empathy in the early stages of emotional dysregulation, as well as getting down on the child’s level, helps them to calm down. Even when the child has exhibited behaviour in response to a strong emotion that you do not approve of, starting by letting the child know that you can see they’re upset, acknowledging their feelings, acknowledging what’s going on, and letting them know that you understand and connect with them.

However, small amounts of stress help children build the resilience parts of their brain.

For example, some centres pride themselves on distracting children from the heightened emotional states associated with the drop-off period. Whereas at Adeona, we acknowledge the child’s feelings, we practise empathy and connect with the child to let them know that we understand this is a difficult period and that we’re here for them as long as they need us. Using whole language with children is important as children can understand much more than we give them credit for.

It’s about connecting and then engaging the upper brain. 

 

Strategies

• Talking out how you’re dealing with whatever emotional state you are in communicates healthy and positive ways for children to regulate their emotions as well.
• Being authentic: acknowledge when you could’ve done things better.
• Sportscasting: being present, being emotionally available and stating the facts of what’s happened. This is a powerful tool when you might not understand why your child is upset.
• Being present or filling a child’s cup. Giving them lots of love and attention in those care moments so that when disappointment or strong emotions come their way, their cup is full and they’re better able to handle those situations.
• Acknowledging feelings and accepting them as genuine even if we don’t understand them or agree with them. We need to acknowledge that what they’re feeling is real. This is vital to helping your child feel validated and develop healthy emotions.

 

Resources Mentioned

• Brene Brown’s Explanation of Empathy
• Janet Lansbury
  • Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/janetlansbury/
  • Podcast – https://www.janetlansbury.com/podcast-audio/
  • Blog – https://www.janetlansbury.com/articles/
• The RIE bookstore

 

Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.

 

Our Early Childhood Education Centres

Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay

Understanding Childhood Brain Development

On this episode of the Adeona podcast, we’re delving deeper into the mechanics of emotional learning – the physical and biochemical development that supports, and is crucial to, emotional development. What’s actually happening in the brain, how much does it develop in the early years and why is it important to understand.

Through understanding how the brain works and how the different parts of our brains are wired and connected, particularly in our child’s first 1000 days, we can better help our children form important and vital foundations of the brain that promotes good brain integration, which is vital in becoming functional adults later in life.

The synapses in the brain, which are the connecting wires to your brain cells, become thicker with repetition. These early connections can be wired positively for resilience, emotional health, emotional regulation and love, or wired negatively, which can make those connections significantly more difficult to break or alter.

A child’s brain is use-dependent. The brain organises and shapes in response to the environment that it’s in or exposed to. Likewise, a child’s emotional needs being met can physically impact the size of the brain when they are forming vital synapses.

 

The Central Nervous System

The function of the brain is associated with the central nervous system, which plays a significant role in child development.

By allowing children as much freedom of movement as possible, simple things like the sensory input they receive from the floor can give them information that informs their body how to move. This helps with brain integration, particularly the left-right connections, which informs coordination and balance.

Research also shows that, up until the age of 9 and older, engaging in physical activity before studying or having to sit down in a learning environment, by spinning for 30 seconds, can help increase attention span and their ability to engage with the group. 

 

Resources Mentioned

• Dr. Dan Siegel explaining the hand model of the brain
• No-Drama Discipline (Book)
• The Yes Brain (Book)
• The Whole-Brain Child (Book)
• Podcast with Dr. Tina

 

Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.

 

Our Early Childhood Education Centres

Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay

The Importance of Promoting Positive Self-Talk for Children

What is emotional learning, emotional knowledge or social-emotional learning? What does it mean in the early childhood education practice and how does it relate to the life of the parent?

It’s easy to see and understand the physical development of children over time, but often times it can be difficult to see or understand the emotional development of our children.

When we think of emotional learning or emotional regulation, we often think of the extremes; our 2-year old having a melt-down in the shopping centre and how we deal with that moment (and teach our child not to do that), but it’s so much bigger and more important than that.

Emotional learning and positive emotional health is about the ability to promote positive self-talk so we can overcome things, as well as learning to manage emotions in a healthy and socially appropriate way. It’s about learning resilience; bad things will happen but we will get through it.

It’s important for children to practise their emotions over the little things now, like not getting the cup they wanted, so they can handle the big emotions later in life. Likewise, once children understand their own emotions, they’re better able to recognise emotions in others and empathise.

90% of the brain is developed by the time children are 4. Emotional regulation is vitally important as it continues to affect us throughout our entire lives. Promoting positive self-talk in children in the early years can shape their long-term emotional health.

 

Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.

 

Our Early Childhood Education Centres

Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay