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Whole Child Development

Spare the Rod: What Spanking Teaches Children

by Filed Under: Child Development & DAP, Positive Guidance and Social Skills, Uncategorized 30 Comments

I heard a comedian the other day, who really made a good point.  He said essentially this:  “My friends are always questioning my choice not to spank my kids.  They’ll often say, “Never?  You’ll never spank you kids?  There’s no situation where you think you might need to spank your kids?”  When I say I’ll never hit my wife, nobody says, “Never?  You’ll never hit your wife?  There’s no situation where you think you might need to hit your wife?”  This logic got a good laugh from the crowd, and I think it was spot-on.

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What's On Your Back to School List?

by Filed Under: Child Development & DAP, Unit Themes Leave a Comment

It’s hard to believe, but another school year is on its way!  Whether you’re teaching a class or your own little ones, as you sit down to map out your year, what are some of the topics and themes you look forward to exploring?  I’d love to hear about your ideas, and would appreciate the opportunity to bring more activities here that you could use! 

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What’s On Your Back to School List?

by Filed Under: Child Development & DAP, Unit Themes Leave a Comment

It’s hard to believe, but another school year is on its way!  Whether you’re teaching a class or your own little ones, as you sit down to map out your year, what are some of the topics and themes you look forward to exploring?  I’d love to hear about your ideas, and would appreciate the opportunity to bring more activities here that you could use! 

[Read more…]

Magic Words for Guiding Behavior: "Let's Pretend"

by Filed Under: Building Readers, Child Development & DAP, Create, Positive Guidance and Social Skills Leave a Comment

In Vivian Gussin Paley’s book, A Child’s Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play, she mentions the opportunity to use fantasy play as a tool for classroom management or child guidance.    I found this interesting, and it caused me to think about that premise, the ways I have used it in the past, and the ways I could use it to smooth out difficult situations.

As she states, “Conversations with children may arise out a ‘last straw’ annoyance, in other words, or from a sense of dramatic flow.  They can come from concerns over decorum or from respect for our imaginations.  Both approaches will manage a classroom, but one seems punitive and the other brings good social discourse, communal responsibility, and may have literary merit.” (pg. 74)

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Magic Words for Guiding Behavior: “Let’s Pretend”

by Filed Under: Building Readers, Child Development & DAP, Create, Positive Guidance and Social Skills Leave a Comment

In Vivian Gussin Paley’s book, A Child’s Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play, she mentions the opportunity to use fantasy play as a tool for classroom management or child guidance.    I found this interesting, and it caused me to think about that premise, the ways I have used it in the past, and the ways I could use it to smooth out difficult situations.

As she states, “Conversations with children may arise out a ‘last straw’ annoyance, in other words, or from a sense of dramatic flow.  They can come from concerns over decorum or from respect for our imaginations.  Both approaches will manage a classroom, but one seems punitive and the other brings good social discourse, communal responsibility, and may have literary merit.” (pg. 74)

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Why Our Children Need Nature

by Filed Under: Child Development & DAP, Get Outside, Learning through Play and Experience 10 Comments

Winter’s grip has been firm this year.  Just this week we were pelted with a heavy, wet snow – enough to snap a few soft spring branches from our trees.  By day’s end, however, spring is back, the snow has melted, and the sun is out again.  Where are my boys as winter turns to spring again?  Huddled around an electronic game, watching a pixellated display of a virtual reality while a beautiful afternoon threatens to pass them by. 

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Time-Out! Coaching Preschoolers to Social Success

by Filed Under: Child Development & DAP, Positive Guidance and Social Skills 15 Comments

I know it’s unbecoming to be a braggart, but there is one thing, about which I must boast.  I won the March Madness bracket competition in my husband’s family this year.  Now, I’m no bracketologist.  I tend to make my picks based on which state the team is from, or who has the cooler sounding name, and I like to pick the underdog as much as reason will allow.  I missed a lot of picks in my bracket, but the one pick that put me over was when I chose Duke.  That pick I made based on the fact that I knew who their coach was.

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A Mother’s Day Confession

by Filed Under: Celebrate!, Child Development & DAP, Positive Guidance and Social Skills, Uncategorized 22 Comments

My mom has always said that she hated Mother’s Day.  Especially as a young mom.  She says that every Mother’s Day, she would go to church and hear people speak about how wonderful, selfless, patient, and kind mothers are.  How sacred their role is and how God-like they are.  This was all intended to honor mothers and elevate the role of motherhood.  What my mother came away with, however, was a gut full of guilt.  She never felt she measured up to that idyllic “Mother’s Day Mom”.

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A Mother’s Day Confession

by Filed Under: Celebrate!, Child Development & DAP, Positive Guidance and Social Skills, Uncategorized 11 Comments

My mom has always said that she hated Mother’s Day.  Especially as a young mom.  She says that every Mother’s Day, she would go to church and hear people speak about how wonderful, selfless, patient, and kind mothers are.  How sacred their role is and how God-like they are.  This was all intended to honor mothers and elevate the role of motherhood.  What my mother came away with, however, was a gut full of guilt.  She never felt she measured up to that idyllic “Mother’s Day Mom”.

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