Clever Kids Learning Center, Utah, Colorado

In any preschool classroom, you are likely to see children who are engaged for long periods of time and children whose attention flits from activity to activity. Just as commmon are children who work on a puzzle or art project until it’s complete, no matter what it takes, and children who give up after a few minutes. Being able to finish tasks benefits young chilren because it allows them to experience success. When children feel successful, they typically want to learn m,ore and make progress. What we now know is that these qualities also serve children well in later life.

According to a study released last summer, attention span persistence is the number one predictor of college complation. Attention span persistence is the ability to  pay attention and focus on a task. (For example, a preschooler who can follow recipe cards about making muffins is applying atention span persistence. She follows directions, concentrates on what has to be done, filters out distractions, and completes all required steps.) Children who demonstrated high attention span persistence at age 4 had a 50 percent greater chance of completing college by age 25 than did their counterparts with low attention span persistence.

Dr. Megan McClelland, lead researcher, summarized the study results in an interview: “We are increasingly aware that the first few years of a child’s life can have a profound effect on his or her later success. In our recent study… we found that children who were rated higher by their parents on attention and persistence at age 4 had nearly 50 percent greater odds of getting a bachelor’s degree by age 25…Surprisimg;y, children’s math or reading scores…did not signifivcalntly predict whether or not they completed college. This is compelling evidence that social and behavioral skills such as paying attention, following directions and completing a task, may be even more cruicial to attaining a degree than academic skills.” (Cornelious 2012)

This is an excerpt from NAEYC.org/TYC

Ready for Kindergarten?

Five teachers tell you what preschoolers really need for next year.

By Ellen H. Parlapiano, Scholastic Parent Child Magazine

If your child’s preschool years are coming to an end, your thoughts are probably turning toward kindergarten. But is your child ready to move on to the “big” school? What skills do kindergarten teachers expect their new students to have? To help answer those questions (and ease your mind), we’ve asked highly regarded kindergarten teachers from around the country to share their insights on helping your child gain the right mix of kindergarten-readiness skills.

The skill sets they are looking for might surprise you. Because of the national focus on improving education and meeting standards, you might think that it’s most important for children to enter kindergarten knowing their ABCs, numbers, shapes, and colors so they can keep up with the curriculum. While teachers would love children to come in with some letter and number recognition, they don’t want you to drill your kids on academic skills. There are equally — if not more — important readiness skills that set the stage for your child’s learning. Raising an eager learner is the goal, and it can be achieved easily through play and day-to-day activities.

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Discipline and Limit-Setting: Birth to 12 Months

 In order to follow rules and understand limits, children need to develop self-control. Self-control is the ability to cope with strong feelings and stop one’s self from doing something that is not allowed. Developing self-control begins at birth and continues throughout childhood. Young children learn self-control through interactions with peers, parents and other loving adults.

Babies and Self-Control

Babies are not born with self-control. However, they begin developing self-soothing skills-the beginning of self-control-in their first months. For example, many babies learn how to soothe themselves by sucking on a pacifier or finger. This helps them cope with waiting while a loved one gets ready to feed them. Babies are also learning that they can’t always have everything they want:

A 9-month-old grabs the television remote. He is happily pushing buttons when his caregiver gently removes it from his hand and puts it on a bookshelf. She says: “The remote control is not a toy, sweetie. But how about this instead?” She gives him a toy with buttons to push and doors to open. This baby is learning about self-control because he has to accept a substitute toy-although his caregiver made sure he could still explore with his hands.

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20 Ways to Encourage Childrens Resourcefulness and Creativity

Kids N Cars: Never Leave Your Children Unattended in Your Vehicle, NOT even for a minute!

Kids ‘N Cars^TM is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to pursue a greater level of public safety by informing people about the dangers of leaving children unattended in or around vehicles. People leave children unattended in vehicles more often than is widely publicized, and the results are often deadly. Kids ‘N Cars’^TM database, the only one of its kind, includes more than one thousand cases where children were left unattended in or around vehicles.

Below are just a few examples of what has happened to children who were left unattended in an automobile:

* Heat stroke that led to permanent brain damage and death.

* Climbed out of a car seat and shifted the car into gear.

* Carjacking – the car and the children. (more…)