Dates of Closures in  2010:

July 5 through 9  -  September 6  -

October 11  -  November 11,  25 & 26

  December 24

 Special Events

Infant 2 - June 16th  from 3:30 to 4:30

Mothers & Fathers Party

 Toddler 2 - June 18th  from  3:30 - 4:30

 Pre 1 - June 29th @ 3:30 - Tool Box Picnic

 Toddler 1 - July 1st from  3 - 4

  A Message from the Director

 Conferences continue in each of the classrooms. Check the parent board in your child’s classroom if it is one of those that hasn’t been scheduled yet.  In order to cover the conferences, we need to make sure that the class has an extra teacher so that we are in ratio.  It’s just the logistics of covering, so we are nearing the last classrooms to be scheduled!  If you have already met with your child’s teacher, we hope you felt it was worth your time to focus on your child without the activity of the classroom going on around you!

 When we close the entire week of July 5 to 9, we are not scheduled for anything except minor repairs and deep cleaning.  No major construction is in the forecast and we are very happy about that! The 2009 project was enough to last all of us for many years to come! We can all agree that having indoor plumbing was an invention that we can truly appreciate! As the week of closure approaches the teachers will be asking you to take your child’s personal belongings home for that week.  We never know who is really in the building when we are not here, and sometimes diapers, clothing or blankets disappear.  It might be inconvenient to have to bring the belongings back on the Monday following a long vacation, but at least we know the items are safe! It’s also an opportunity to check the extra clothing to be sure it still fits!

 Early Childhood Education Classes

Congratulations to the teachers who have completed another semester of class work! Nikki, Lisa, Michelle, Iwona and Jessie have completed a total of 15 credits in early childhood education. We appreciate their dedication to the profession in general and to Clever Kids in particular!

 Saying Good-Bye

 Over the next couple of months we will be saying  goodbyes to our five year old children as they enter Kindergarten. No matter if they go to public, private or parochial school, the anxiety of the change is there. To help them with the transition, drive by the new school several times so they get familiar with the surroundings. Use your local library to find the books about the first day of school and read it with your child a few times before the big day. Here are a few examples:

 * First Day of School by Martha Atwater

* Stuart Goes to School by Sara Pennypacker

* Franklin’s First day at School

             by Paulette Bourgeois

* First Day Jitters by Julie Dannerberg

* The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

Survey Results

 We are currently in the process of tallying the parent surveys that have been returned.  Thirty-nine parents took the time to give us feedback. One of the first items we can take an immediate look at is the response about the newsletter.  But, we’d like your help for some clarification.  We know from the circled responses that more parents rate the newsletter a “4″ or “5″  but only two wrote comments to let us know what aspects about the newsletter are liked.  Those who rated the newsletter a “2″ or “3″  made no comment at all.  So, we would like to get concrete suggestions about what you want from the newsletter.  There are comment papers and a return box on the front counters. Please help us create a newsletter that gives the information you want to read.  Do you want us to list the birthdays and transitions throughout the center, or is that not important to you? Do you want the parent parties listed, or do you want to find them on the parent boards in the classroom?  Do you enjoy reading the overview of the activities that have been offered throughout the center? Create a list of the reasons you take a newsletter and what you are hoping to find in it.  Perhaps this will give us some guidance in creating a newsletter that  continues to be valuable to you. We will read your responses and look at what we should keep the same and if there are some things we should change.  Thank you for your input.

  The section asking for suggestions to improve the center and program included offering a more substantial snack in the afternoons.  We have begun to look at how to add two items instead of one so that children have a choice; we offer several items at lunch so that children can eat more green beans, for instance, if they don’t like the main entrée!  There were a few more requests for a “parent’s night out” which has been given before, but the security issues for after hours are still a question.  We’ll look into it one more time and see if it is at all possible.

 As we digest more of  the surveys, we’ll incorporate your responses into our planning and see if they are viable suggestions.  Again, thanks for giving us your opinions for those of you who responded.

A Message from the Director

Dear Parents,

Summertime is upon us and we are so grateful that your family is part of our CKLC family.  We have some wonderful activities planned for this month that we know the kids will really enjoy.  The teachers hope that you will be able to attend the parent-child activity this month; it means so much to the kids when you can share time with them at school.

On Tuesday, June 8th, we will feature Sports Day.  The teachers have plans for some great outdoor activities including obstacle courses, relay races, baseball, and jump roping contest.  Your children are invited to wear sports related outfits for the day of outdoor fun.

On Tuesday, June 22nd, we will celebrate the official start of summer with a Beach Party.  Please feel free to bring beach related clothing and items for your child to share.  Our beach party will happen inside and outside and will include beach themed dramatic play, activities, food and music.  As always, you are invited to stop by to join in the fun.

Don’t forget that each Wednesday beginning on June 2nd is Splash Day.  We will feature fun water activities.  You are invited to bring swimming suits or water clothing for your children.  The teachers will assist each child in changing in and out of their water clothing.  We also ask that you bring sunscreen, water shoes and towels for your child. Don’t forget to also bring at least 1 extra set of clothes each day.

Finally, thanks so much to those of you that took the time to complete our parent surveys.  Our goal is to provide a superior program and loving care for your children and your feedback and support is truly appreciated.

Have a wonderful month.

Best Wishes,  Debbie Freitas

Parent Activities:

Infants                         June 17th @ 3:30

Toddler’s                    June 16th @9:00

Two’s                          June 23rd @3:30

Preschool 1                 June 17th @3:30

Preschool 2                June 30th @9:00

Preschool 3                 June 24th @3:30

June Birthdays

Ella D.                                     June 3rd

Payton H.                                June 5th

Hannah T.                               June 6th

Omar S.                                  June 7th

Randy C.                                 June 11th

Jasmine J.                               June 13th

Ambree G.                              June 16th

Ms. Angie                                June 18th

Izzabelle O.                             June 30th

In Classrooms Around The Center . . .

Infants

In May, our infants enjoyed strengthening their motor skills by playing reaching and crawling games.  Some awesome milestones were achieved in May!  Ambree  can walk now!  Jackson and Jaylee can roll all around.  Adam can crawl forward!  Gabriel pulls himself up to stand and Arabella tries to lift herself up in the bouncy chair.

Our parent activity in June will be a Nature Ride.  We will ride in the buggy’s around the outside of the building.  We will use our senses to see, hear, and smell the flowers, trees, birds and bugs.  We hope you can join us for our Nature Ride.

Toddlers

In May, we enjoyed an unplanned activity.  As the roof on the main building was being worked on, we enjoyed watching all of the big trucks come and go.  There were lots of things going up and down on the boom truck including a four wheeler, small machines and lots of wood.  The Friday before Memorial day, there were no trucks and some of the toddlers asked, “Where are the trucks?”  It’s is amazing how much the toddlers know about and watch in their world!

Summer is a great time to reconnect with  nature and the great outdoors.  Our toddlers will be taking more walks and looking out for bugs.  Our favorite activity in the summer is the water activities, especially Splash Wednesday’s.  We will be making berry smoothies as a nice cool treat in June.  These summer activities are a bit messier, so please make sure you bring extra clothes for your little ones.  We hope you can join us for our parent activity on June 16th at 9am.  We will be making paper plate aquariums…blue paint will be involved.

Two’s

In May, our class really enjoyed observing, touching and holding worms.  We did this when we talked about creepy-crawly creatures.  It was great to watch and feel how these creepy-crawly creatures moved and how they were able to dig with their bodies, burying themselves in the soil.  It was a great activity to help develop our science literacy skill of observation.

We are so excited to start out summer themed activities and they will be so much fun.  During the month of June, we will talk about wet and wild and have the opportunity to practice our dramatic play skills and our social skills by captaining our classroom raft.  The children will have the chance to paddle with oars, wear life jackets and pretend to be in the open water.    We hope you can join us for our Parent Activity on June 23rd @3:30 when we will be making snow cones in our favorite flavor.

Preschool 1

Last month we talked about things that go.  We painted with cars and made car tracks for our class bulletin board.   It was great to hear the kids make comments about how the paint colors were changing to make new colors.  They were able to see cause and effect in action.  Now, every time we paint, the kids are quick to mix colors together to see what happens.

We are excited to start our Splash days this Wednesday, weather permitting.  We have lots of fun activities planned for the month using water.  We will be making a sensory project every week like an ocean in a bottle, sensory fish, and a forest.    We have so many different painting projects planned with a variety of tools.  We are also excited to pretend we are going to beach where will swim and play in the sand.  We’ll talk about all the different animals we’ll see there.  We hope you’ll be able to join us for our parent activity on June 17th at 3:30 when we will make a kite and fly it outside

Preschool 2

In May we had a week of fantastic fun.  We read the story Where The Wild Things Are and then created our own wild forest.  We painted a blue ocean and pretended we were sailing over the ocean to the forest.  We made trees by painting long paper rolls brown.  We painted and twisted brown paper for branches and did green handprint leaves.  On Friday, we let the children dress up as wild animals with painted faces.  We all danced to the Lion King music and had a wild rumpus, just like the characters in the book. It was great fun!

In June, we have some great activities planned.  We will be having a teddy bear picnic when the children bring their favorite teddy bear to school.  We will eat lunch outside on blankets with our bears.  We will also be pretending we are at the beach.  We’ll build sandcastles and run through the sprinklers.  We can’t wait to make ice cream with a cranking ice cream maker and makes some smore’s when we pretend we are camping.  We are also going to learn to play volleyball and will ask Ms. Mallory’s class to join us for a game.  Don’t forget about our Splash Wednesdays-we hope you can come to the one on June 30th when we’ll have some extra special activities for our parents too.

Preschool 3

All of the kids had a blast in May learning about things that move.  They most enjoyed seeing and hearing the “real” race car.  They are still talking about seeing it and watching their teacher (me) go for a ride in it.  They also enjoyed painting a big box to make a race car and then playing race track outside.  Even though we were only able to make one car, the children did a wonderful job of taking turns and sharing.

In June we will be focusing on “wet and wild” fun.  This includes everything from what water does for us to what we can do with water.  We will talk about some of the wild sports that people do in and on the water.  Then we’ll move on to the wild animals of the Arctic and Jungle.  We will do some really fun science experiments and will learn when we can do with water like freezing it and eating it and blowing bubbles in it.  Most of all we can’t wait for Splash Wednesday’s.  We hope our parents will be able to join us  on June 24th at 3:30 for our parent activity when we will make Science Bottles.  Please bring in at least 1 empty 20 oz bottle for our parent activity.

A Message from the Director

Dear Parents,

As we begin to see signs that our warmer Utah weather is approaching, the children are beginning to spend more time outside.  Our teachers are busy planning fun and educational outdoor activities for the kids.  As you are setting up your plans for the summer, please let your child’s teacher know whether or not they will be at CKLC this summer.

Our summer program will officially begin on June 2nd.  Each Wednesday, the kids will enjoy Splash Day featuring fun water activities.  You are invited to bring swimming suits or water clothing for your children.  The teachers will assist each child in changing in and out of their water clothing.  We also ask that you bring water shoes and towels for your child.

It is important that your child be properly protected for outside play.  For this reason we ask that no sandals or flip flops be worn to school.  The risk of an injury is much greater when wearing an open toed shoe.  In addition, we ask that you bring sunscreen and a hat for your child. Don’t forget to also bring at least 1 extra set of clothes each day.

We have a very exciting event planned for Friday, May 7th.  Local Race Car Driver, Matt Funk, will be bringing his car for the kids to look inside and sit in.  They will have a chance to hear the car running and get their picture taken.  Parents are invited to join us for this event which will run from 10 to 11 a.m. 

Our most important events for May will be Parent Teacher Conferences.  Conference sign-up sheets will be posted in each classroom starting next week.  I hope that each of you will take advantage of this opportunity to partner with your child’s teacher and allow us to share our assessment of your child’s progress in school.

Best Wishes,  Debbie Freitas

Infant Parent Activity

Thursday, May 13th @9:30

Toddler Parent Activity

Friday, May 21st @2:30

Parent Teacher Conferences

Preschool 1 & Preschool 3

May17th-May 21st

Two’s & Preschool 2

May 24th-May 28th

Center Closed May 31st                 

          In Observance of Memorial Day

May Birthdays

Corbin T.                                May 2nd

Ms. Alyssa                             May 8th

Ryan T.                                   May 11th

Christopher K.                                   May 13th

Konner W.                              May 22nd

In Classrooms Around The Center . . .

Infants

Our infants are growing my leaps and bounds, and achieved some significant milestones  in April.  Kylee and Larenz are crawling; Adam is sitting independently, and Ambree can stand and take 2-3 steps.  Our younger babies, Jaylee, Arabella and Jackson are developing their arm, leg and neck muscles during tummy time.  For our May Parent Activity, on May 13th at 9:30 a.m., our  mobile babies will play crawling games-we will set up object for them to crawl over, under and around.  Our non-mobile babies will play reaching games-a wonderful opportunity for them to strengthen their muscles and help them to grow.

Toddlers

In the Toddler classroom, the children love water.  In May, we will be filling and dumping water by transferring water from one container to another.  This activity builds cognitive development, motor skill development and special awareness (which is a pre-math skill).  The toddler enjoy any filling and dumping activity, so we will be scooping plastic eggs and blocks into a bucket, dumping them out, and then doing it again, and again, and again!   As you know, our toddlers also love singing songs.  Look for them to be singing “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” in May.  Music enhances the children’s vocabulary and the actions we do while signing builds motor skills and teaches sequencing (also a pre-math skill).  We hope our parents will join us on May 21st at 2:30 when we will be having a fabulous Bubble Party.

Two’s

Through teacher observations and assessments, Ms.  Amanda and  Ms. Michelle have found that the children have a great interest in cars, trains and bugs.  These interests work out great with May’s monthly theme of “How Things Move”.  One week we will learn all about cars.  We will create cars to drive in the dramatic  play area, and with 14 children sharing 3 cars, the kids will be developing their sharing and taking turns social skills.  We will also have a chance to see a real race car.  Also in May, we will have a weekly theme entitled “creepy, crawly things.  In this week, we will practice our cognitive skills of observation and critical thinking when Ms. Amanda and Ms. Michelle bring creepy, crawly creatures to class such as worms, crickets and fish.  This will give us the opportunity to observe how these creatures move and the sounds they make.  We’ll also feed the fish and release the crickets back into the wild (outside) at the end of the week.  These activities will also help us to develop our critical thinking and language skills when we discuss our observations.  It will be an awesome month.  We are going to learn so much and have tons of fun.

Preschool 1

In May, in PS1, we will be working hard on recognizing our shapes and the letters in our name.  We will be making a class Alphabet Train.  We will glue letters to each train car, and put them together to spell our names.  Then we’ll cut out pictures from magazines that represent the letters on our trains.  In this activity, we will be working on our fine motor skills and our eye-hand coordination.  We’ll also build our cognitive abilities as we understand that letters put together create our names.  We will also be making a shape book by using working on similar skill building to help us identify the shapes we see around us.  We are very excited about the race car that will be at our school on May 7th and hope our parents will be able to come to see it.  We also are excited for our parents to come to Parent Teacher Conferences the week of May 17th.

Preschool 2

In our class this month, we will be creating a race car by using our imaginations and hand-eye coordination.  We will paint and decorate the cars and the wheels in any way we choose to make our cars unique.  We will race our completed cars and measure how far each car has traveled.  We will be building our fine motor skills while creating our cars, our language skills as we discuss our creations and the outcome of our races, and our cognitive skills when we learn about measuring distance.  We are also excited about the visit from race car driver, Matt Funk, and hope that our parents will be able to come see the race car too.  Last month we started our reading program with Willy the Bookworm.  As the children have been reading books, we’ve added to Willy’s length and he is now 9 fee 2 inches long!  The children have decided to keep our Willy project going to see if we can make him grow all the way over to the door of our classroom.  You can help us grow Willy by taking time at home to read with your child.  This helps them to build their vocabulary, listening and comprehension skills, along with learning the different sounds of the alphabet.  We look forward to seeing all of our parents at Parent-Teacher Conferences the week of May 24th. 

Preschool 3

The children in Preschool 3 love to pretend that they are race car drivers inside and outside the classroom.  All of the kids are already talking about our very exciting special guest coming on May 7th.  Race Car driver Matt Funk will bring this car for us to see and sit in.  In keeping with May’s Things That Go theme, one of our activities this month will be “the race track”.  This activity is a lot like red light, green light, but instead of just stopping and going, we will be going, stopping, going fast, and going slow.  While enjoying this game, the children will gain mastery of cooperation and compromise social skills and have the opportunity to practice their safe play skills as well.  They will also expand their language skills when we discuss the rules and results of our game.  Last month, we started family style serving of meals in our classroom at lunch and snack time.  This will continue in May.  The kids are enjoying serving themselves and pouring their own milk.  This is helping the children to build their social skills as they interact with each other and work together to pass food around the table.  They are building their communication skills while talking about their needs, likes and dislikes.  I am looking forward to meeting with each of you during the week of May 17th for Parent Teacher Conferences.

 May 31  -  July 5 through 9  -  September 6  -

October 11  -  November 11,  25 & 26

  December 24

 Happy Birthday

 Ms. Heather - Preschool East - May 3rd

Malia - Infant 2 - May 8th

Caden - Preschool East - May 9th

Amelia - Preschool 1 - May 13th

Tucker - Toddler 1 - May 14th

Ms. Ava - Infants - May 15th

Kaia - Preschool West - May 16th

Madelyn - Preschool 1 - May 18th

Cecelia - Infant 1 - May 21st

Gwyneth - Preschool 1 - May 24th

Isabella U - Toddler 1 - May 31st

 A Message from the Director

  Our thanks goes to several of our moms who organized and supervised an Earth Day activity with the preschool wing!  The weather did not cooperate with us at all for the children to walk to the event in Building 41, so the event came to us!  That was perfect because then everyone got to participate.  Along the lines of recycling, the children in the center painted paper towel and toilet paper tubes ahead of time.  The moms (Cheryl, Ann Marie, Jana and Brenda) cut the tubes and punched a hole in them so that the children could string the pieces together.  It turned into a beautiful flower when all was completed.  The children can probably tell you all about it.  Some even made two flowers because they enjoyed the activity! Thanks again to our mom volunteers from GSA!

 Our reduce, reuse and recycle theme continues with my next request!  If you have towels or washcloths that you no longer use at home, we can certainly use them here for mopping up spills and cleaning tables! So, if you want to create space in your linen closet we will take all donations! We can also use your leftover yarn and fabric scraps, streamers from your last party and buttons from the shirt you are going to throw away.  Keep us in mind for those Labels for Education points from Campbell Soups, too.

By mid-May, sign up sheets for parent-teacher conferences will appear on the parent boards in each of the classrooms.  Please check the times to schedule a chance to speak with your child’s teacher-uninterrupted by children!

 IN CLASSROOMS AROUND THE CENTER . . .

 In celebration of the Week of the Young Child, we began with a little breakfast treat for all our parents. Each bag was personalized with art work from the children in the center. With this little treat we wanted to thank you, all our parents, for choosing us at Clever Kids Learning Center to care for, nurture and awaken the love of learning in your children.

 As the week progressed, each classroom from infant to preschool had some sort of activity. Teachers, children and parents joined together in celebrations. Many parents came to participate in activities with the children. From water play, painting, cooking and blowing bubbles to a special picnic with bears and reading stories, parents learned what is offered daily in our program and what children learn as they play. Many parents commented on the art work, posters and photographs displayed in the center. Those items helped them understand the complexity of learning and the way children learn through hands on activities.

The highlight of the celebration was the performance of the story teller and the Limberjacks. Kate told us the story of “How Anasi the Spider Received the Stories from the Sun God.” Her voice, the story and the props she used captivated the young and old audiences. The second part of the performance, the Limberjacks, fascinated not only the children but also the parents! Limberjacks are wooden rod puppets that dance on a paddle. In this country, Limberjacks originated in the Appalachian Mountains and usually perform with Blue Grass music. Kate’s Limberjacks like to dance to Swing, Disco and Rock tunes! At the end of the performance Morhea’s dad, Todd, and Miss Jessie made the puppets dance. One of our former students, Jack, also showed us how it was done.  We were all amused at their renditions of making the Limberjacks dance!

 Trike - A - Thon Scheduled for Friday, May 7, 2010

This is an event the preschoolers really anticipate each and every year!  It might only be because the preschool children get to bring their trikes and bikes to school, but we throw a little learning about the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and bicycle safety in there, too!  If your child is in the Preschool North, East or West classrooms, you are encouraged to bring the trike or bike he or she rides when at your home.  Everyone is allowed to participate from those classrooms whether they have sponsors to collect money for St. Jude or not. We don’t want anyone to feel excluded.  If you do bring a bike, please be sure that the tires are inflated and the training wheels touch the ground and are balanced! All trikes and bikes should be clearly labeled with a first and last name.  Each year there is at least one mix up with a princess bike or a spiderman bike! The same with the helmets.  If your child does not really ride a bike at home, it might be best if he or she uses the trikes they use every day here at the center. If the weather does not cooperate with us on Friday, May 7 we will hold the event on Monday, May 10.

The Trike-A-Thon has been one of our community service events for the past four years.  Like everything else we do, we think that exposing children to “helping others” is a valuable life lesson. The Trike-A-Thon is a fun program that introduces children to proper trike and riding-toy safety habits.  Each year thousands of preschoolers help to raise money for the patients of St. Jude. Since its beginning in 1962, St. Jude has developed protocols that have helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent to 80 percent today. In 1962, the survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer, was four percent. Today, the survival rate for this once deadly disease is 94 percent, thanks to research and treatment protocols developed at St. Jude.  Your participation in the Trike-A-Thon makes it possible to treat all patients regardless of a family’s ability to pay. St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatments that are not covered by insurance. No patient is ever denied treatment because of the family’s inability to pay.

Because of the donations through the Trike-A-Thon here at Clever Kids, we have contributed $8818 to St. Jude over the last four years.  We are positive we will reach the $10,000 mark by adding this year’s contributions.  The sponsor envelopes are near the sign-in computer in the main entrance.  Donations can be a flat rate or can be collected as a certain dollar amount per lap completed by your child.  All checks should be made to St. Jude.  The necessary information is listed on the collection envelope. Please note that there is also a permission slip that should be turned in to your child’s teacher before the Trike-A-Thon begins.

During the week prior to the Trike-A-Thon, the teachers will be going over some safety habits with stories and worksheets being added in to their regular curriculum.  The final collection of your donations should be turned in to the main office by Friday, May 14^th. We will send in all the necessary forms to St. Jude and all prizes will be sent to us and distributed several weeks after the event. Thank you for considering this event as one of your charitable contributions this year.

Communication Skills

 The capacity to communicate is the ability and desire to connect with others by exchanging ideas and feelings, both verbally and non-verbally.  Most children learn to communicate to get a need met or to establish and maintain interaction with a loved adult.

 Following are some ideas for supporting the development of communication skills in your baby or toddler:

 *          Respond to your baby’s gestures, looks and sounds.  When he puts his arms out to you, pick him up, kiss him and use simple words. “You want up.” When he coos, coo back. When he gazes at you, make eye contact and talk with him. These immediate and attuned responses tell your baby that his communications are important and effective. This will encourage him to continue to develop these skills.

 *          Talk with and listen to your child. When you talk with her, give her time to respond. Make eye contact on her level. This will communicate your desire to hear what she has to say.  Ask open-ended questions:  “What do you think about today’s rainy weather?”  “Where do you think the rain goes?”

*          Help children build on their language skills.  “So you are pretending to be a hungry caterpillar who wants to eat some food?  What kind of food?  Let’s name all the things you want to eat.”

*          Teach your child about non-verbal communication.  “Luis, do you see how Andi is holding her hands up to cover her face?  She doesn’t like it when you throw the ball so hard.  I know you can throw it softer so she will want to keep playing catch with you.”

 *          Respect and recognize your child’s feelings. Children are far more likely to share their ideas and feelings if they know they won’t be judged, teased, or criticized. You can empathize with a child’s experience, yet disagree with his behavior. For example, “I know you’re scared to sleep alone, but you need to stay in bed. Would you like some quiet music on?”

 *          Help your child develop a “feelings” vocabulary. Provide the words for her experience. “You’re sad because Daddy left for his trip.” Keep in mind that feelings are not good or bad, they just are.

 *          Read together. Cuddle together for quiet times with a book. Encourage your older baby to turn the pages and to point to what she sees. Ask your older toddler how the characters might be feeling and wonder together what will happen next. Let your child choose the books.

*          Narrate what you do as you go through your daily routines.  This helps your child connect words with objects and actions. “I’m washing the dishes. I’m squeezing the yellow dish soap into the warm water.” Talk about what you’re doing as you care for your child.

*          Encourage pretend play. Children often express themselves more freely when they’re pretending. It may feel safer to talk about how Teddy Bear is afraid of the dark, than how the child is afraid of the dark. Pretend play is also a chance to take on different roles and to act out what different people might say, think or do.  This develops language as well as social skills like empathy.

 *          Make your requests clear, simple, and appropriate for your child’s age and ability. For a one-year-old, you can give one step directions like, “Go get the ball.” For an 18-month-old, you can give two-step commands like, “Please go to your room and get your shoes.” Be sure you have your child’s attention first, by calling his name or gently touching him and looking directly at him at his eye level.

 *          Be a good role model. Your child is watching you very carefully. If you talk to others with kindness and respect, he will likely follow your lead and take on your manner and tone as he becomes more verbal. And, when you expect this kind of respectful communication from others, you are modeling how he should expect to be treated by others as well.

Coming Soon

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.

What You Can Do to Nurture Early Self-Control:

·                      Help babies learn to soothe themselves. Babies have different ways of calming down. Some need lots of physical contact, such as rocking or hugging, while others like being swaddled or put down for a minute to get a break from interaction. Some babies are soothed by your singing while others need to suck to calm themselves. By trying different things to help babies calm down you help them learn to soothe themselves. You also teach them that they can rely on you, which makes them feel safe and secure.

• Find ways to keep yourself calm. Hearing babies cry can be very stressful and frustrating. It can make you feel worried or even powerless when you want to help a baby feel better but nothing is working. When you feel this way, it’s best to put the baby down somewhere safe (like a crib) and take a few moments to calm down. When you are feeling calm, the baby is more likely to feel calm too.
• Teach babies what they can do, not just what they can’t. If a 10-month-old is throwing a toy car in the house, gently take it from his hand and give him a soft ball instead and show him a place where he can throw it. Over time, experiences like these help him learn right from wrong. And remember, at 10 months, babies are not able to remember rules so you will probably have to keep doing a lot of distracting and redirecting in the months to come.
• Comfort babies. Sometimes caregivers are concerned about spoiling a baby-doing more for her than she needs. If a baby is crying, it is often because she needs you to help her calm down because she is having a hard time coping. Babies need your love and comfort. This helps them grow up to be secure and confident children.

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 loving adults and peers.

Young Toddlers and Self-Control
Toddlers express their strong feelings loud and clear. “No!” becomes a favorite word. Toddlers can also become frustrated easily because there are still many things that they want to do but cannot. Here is an example of how toddlers learn self-control:

A 15-month-old tosses his toy truck across the room. He starts to laugh at the big crash it makes. When his caregiver calls his name in a not-happy voice, he turns with a surprised look on his face. “No throwing trucks,” she tells him, and hands him the truck. “You can push the truck or roll it.” He throws it again and looks at his caregiver to see what will happen. “The rule is no throwing trucks. I am going to put this truck away for a little while. Why don’t you try throwing this soft ball instead?” He cries for a little while but, when he sees he is not getting the truck back, he happily starts throwing the ball.

Young toddlers still lack self-control and don’t have the memory to remember rules and limits. You help them develop self-control by patiently repeating rules and gently distracting them with another activity.

What You Can Do:
• Stop the behavior. For example, firmly take the child’s hand and tell her in a serious voice: No hitting. Hitting hurts.
• Help the child calm down. When a child breaks down, he is telling you he cannot cope. When you comfort him, you help him learn how to eventually soothe himself. Keep in mind that some children need space to calm down. Creating a safe place where children can take a break-where there are soothing objects like stuffed animals, pillows, books-can be very helpful.
• Label the child’s feelings. This makes her feel understood and helps her calm down. You are so angry that Paolo took your toy. It’s okay to feel angry. But you cannot hit. Hitting hurts.
• Offer appropriate ways to express feelings, such as using her words if she is verbal, or other strategies such as drawing a picture about her feelings or hitting a pillow, if this is acceptable to you and her parent(s).
• Help the child solve the problem. For example, go over to Paolo together and ask for the toy back. Use a timer to help the children take turns.

What You Can Do to Help Young Toddlers Begin to Cope With Limits
Provide guidance and intervention that is appropriate for you toddler’s age and stage.
1. Stop the behavior. For example, firmly (but not angrily) take your child’s hand and tell her in a serious (but not angry) voice: No hitting. Hitting hurts.
2. Label your child’s feeling. This makes her feel understood and helps her calm down. You are so angry that Paolo took your toy. It’s okay to feel angry. But you cannot hit. Hitting hurts.
3. Offer an appropriate way to express feelings. Show her what she can do to express her angry feelings, like jumping up and down or stomp

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.

* The vehicle can be set in motion by unattended children.

* Power control activation by curious children that can lead to strangulation and other loss of life and limb.

In 1999, 27 children died of hyperthermia (heat stroke) because their parents left them locked inside the passenger compartment of a vehicle.

* Never leave children alone or unsupervised - not even for a minute.

* Never leave car keys where children can find them.

* Always lock cars so children cannot get into a car unsupervised. Unlocked cars pose serious risks to children who are naturally curious and often lack fear. Keep the doors and trunk of cars locked when parked in the garage, driveway, or near home. Parked cars can be deathtraps for kids.

* Crawl around in your family vehicle and look at everything from a child’s perspective. Where are there potential problems? Do the automatic power windows controls “pull” to go up rather than being “pushed”? Does your vehicle have transmission or brake interlocks?

* Teach children about the dangers of a car. A car is NOT a toy. In fact it can be as dangerous as a loaded gun, but weighs over two ton.

* Arm children with facts. They must understand that a vehicle is used for transporting people from place to place; it is NOT a playground.

* Car trunks become a tempting, secret place to hide, and a quick and easy place for abductors to make children disappear.

* Practice escape techniques so that if children are trapped in a car trunk, they know how to get out by yanking the tail light wires, kicking out the brake light fixture and signaling for help by waving or banging on the trunk and screaming.

* If a car has a trunk release in the trunk’s interior, make sure the children know how to use it and have them practice.

* Never leave rear seat folds open. This should prevent children from climbing into unlocked cars and finding their way into a trunk from the inside.

* Install an inside trunk release.