How do we make sure that our pre-schools and day-care centres are all equipped to re-start? Apart from the mandatory sanitising and safety procedures, what else should be part of the preparation process? What should be the focus to ensure healthy child development? These are few among the many questions that pop into our mind. Below are few check points to prepare for re-opening.

1. Infrastructure and Operations

Daily hygiene and health practices (cleaning and use of disinfectants) and safety measures in preparation and administration of meals (maintaining safe distance and NO sharing of food and utensils) should be non-negotiable. Protocol of managing a sick child or staff member and minimizing contamination risks are to be strictly followed.

2. Staff Training and Support

Staff who work with children must go through small counselling sessions which should talk about children’s mental health and psychosocial impact of pandemic on children. Additionally, adults and teachers must be aware of age-related behavioural and cognitive developments in children and ways to provide support. They should also know when to seek professional guidance.

3. Slow and Safe Environment

Most children will be unsettled and behaviour challenges should be expected. Adults should be trained to identify socio-emotional needs of children and ways to meet them. Fewer number of lessons can be planned at the beginning. Taking it slow would allow children to settle down comfortably. Children should feel safe in the space – mistakes should be accepted. Adults should be facilitators; in other words, their authority must not inhibit children from expressing themselves.

4. Grace and Courtesy

One of the foremost lessons in Montessori pedagogy is offering grace and treating others with courtesy. Social behaviour is not taught through one-way lessons but is incorporated in everyday routine. Simple activities should be planned to model grace and polite behaviour. For example, when a child arrives in the morning, the adult in-charge gets down to the child’s level, makes an eye-contact and greets the child with a smile.

5. Community and Inter-dependence

More opportunities must be given for group activities and enjoyment. Expectations can be modified in the classroom – playing games and singing songs can be part of daily sessions. Group discussions can be used to promote children to speak and participate in the class. For example, during circle time, a topic can be initiated where the adult and children all get a turn to share their experiences one by one.

6. Parent Platform

Parents should be informed about the measures in place and asked to cooperate by reporting any cases of infection in the family. A checklist of “staying at home if unwell” should be shared with parents using various ways (posters, apps, emails and texts). A strong communication platform should be in place to engage with parents regularly. Parents should be encouraged to share their needs and anxieties.

7. Educator Happiness

The changes and additional requirements can be overwhelming for teachers and adults in the system. If primary support providers are tired and weary, it will have a negative impact on children. Every child-care centre should have an ongoing mechanism of providing support for mental well-being of teachers and staff members. A teacher nourishes the soul of a child for a lifetime; it is crucial we take care of happiness of adults and teachers who touch lives of children every day.

“Though there will be challenges, young children are highly resilient and adaptive; and with clear and consistent instructions and a nurturing environment, will be able to adjust and thrive in the new schooling environment.” – UNICEF

The post Preparedness of pre-schools and day-care centres in reopening the centres appeared first on Best Preschool and Daycare | Creche, Nursery schools in Kolkata.

“It takes a village to raise a child.”

Our neighbours and community are our first support groups. We are fortunate if we have the convenience of sending our children to the nearby park or society play area. As the best pre-schools in Kolkata and day-cares in Salt Lake are awaiting with open arms, parents can take some minor preparations which will help children settle down well in the new environment.

1. Prepare yourself – Most of the changes are difficult for parents because we are not prepared. It is common to be anxious about our children, especially when they are going to step out of their home. Think about any change in our work life – it is always difficult to move out of our comfort zone and usual routine. Here it is our responsibility to remind ourselves that we are choosing the change for benefit of our child. When parents and family members are ready for the change, it often leads to an easy transition.
2. Prepare them – Yes, children require preparation like adults. Talk about the pre-school/day-care that you have chosen for them. How it is going to be an opportunity to meet new people and make friends. Telling them stories is one way of preparing them emotionally. Talk positively about this new upcoming change in the child’s life. One can schedule a visit to the school and meet teachers and members at the centre before the actual start-date.
3. Practice self-care at home – One of the very early practical demonstration a child gets from adults is washing hands. Let your child watch you a few times when you wash hands with soap and let him observe closely the movements of your palm and fingers. We can sing a song or a rhyme along. This helps in two ways, firstly child is drawn towards music and action, and secondly it acts as a timer for the entire process. Hence, we don’t have to tell each time how long he has to keep scrubbing. Children are capable of getting dressing on their own much earlier than most of us assume. The only key is to give them sufficient time and opportunity to practice. As adults, we often want to help the child with self-care practices due to lack of time. Well-meaning adults often do not realise that children want to be successful in doing things on their own. All we have to give them is patience. Another small yet important skill is learning to wipe nose and throwing the tissue in the bin. Children are happy and comfortable in taking care of their needs independently.

4. Practice names for feelings – If you have attended any parental session on Socio-emotional learning, you are aware about the concept of naming emotions. It is a wise idea to use correct name for emotions in our daily conversations with children. Equally important is to recognize and accept every emotion. If children are able to identify how they feel, it is more likely that they will also learn how to manage the emotion. However, do not tell them how they will feel once the change happens. Give them the opportunity to tell you later instead of predicting it for them. Emotions like anger and jealousy must be treated normally and any punitive action should be avoided. It is also important to offer them choices to help them deal with the situation.

“I know you’re upset that you friend left. Do you want to play some more with me?”

“It looks like you’re happy to receive the gift. Would you like to thank Aunty?”

Knowing the vocabulary for different feelings and emotions will help children to communicate with you in a better way. They will be able to respond to you when you have a conversation with you at the end of the day. Remember to have family conversations during meal times. Share about your day and also ask them about their day. Sometimes they will just show you using expressions and gestures about how they feel. Be there to give big hugs as often as possible.

Children will be at different points in their learning journey. Parents, adults and teachers must allow children continue from where they are and not enforce any fixed learning outcomes. Talk to the teachers in the pre-school/day-care and discuss issues that bother you as a parent. Communicate when you are worried. Parents and teachers often can find a solution together.

Do not look for children to deliver what we expect; give them what they need from us.

The post Role of parents in preparing the children in going back to pre-schools and day-cares appeared first on Best Preschool and Daycare | Creche, Nursery schools in Kolkata.

The brain is composed of neurons or nerve cells which send and receive information. At birth, more than 100 billion neurons are already formed but not fully developed. These neurons will fully develop only when the brain starts forming connections. More the connections, better will be the child’s life experiences. ‘Smiling, Crawling, Walking, Talking, all the major sensory, motor and cognitive milestones of infancy and toddlerhood, are made possible by rapid development of the brain. ‘Remember the first time your child started walking?’. I’m sure you all can recall the series of milestones which helped him/her do so. Hence, its important to provide enough opportunities for movement right from an early stage in life for the child’s overall development.

Have you ever wondered why Movement is so Important during Early Childhood?

Research has found that movement in children can help increase memory, perception, language, attention, emotion and decision making.

Here are some Skills that movement develop: –

1. Improves Sensory Capacities: The developing brain of a child makes good sense of what they see, touch, hear, smell and taste. Early sensory experiences allow infants to learn from their environment, so that they can navigate it. For e.g. if you allow your child to play in the garden, he/she will not only run or walk around, but also touch, smell and see things that are new to their learning and vision.
2. Promotes Physical Growth: Children need to move to activate the brain. Making use of motor skills daily through walking, running, jumping, crawling, climbing etc. can help the child develop normally during the early years.
3. Helps attain Sensitive Periods: During the early years of life, i.e., (0-6) years, children pass through several sensitive periods like language, movement, small objects, order, social behaviour etc. These ‘windows of opportunity’ can be attained only if the child is exposed to the right environment at the right time. Attaining these sensitive periods will require the adult, parent or teacher to constantly provide opportunities and experience to help the child move, explore and learn independently.
4. Promotes learning through Trail & Error: This can be best learnt through didactic materials designed by Dr. Maria Montessori, which are self-corrective in nature. Maria Montessori always emphasized on maintaining ‘order’ in the environment. This will actually involve a lot of ‘movement’ as the child needs to ‘walk’ to each corner of the classroom to find the materials, work on them and again place them back in correct order.
5. Promotes Intellectual Growth: Through physical activity, children come in contact with external reality. It is through these contacts they eventually acquire even abstract ideas. For e.g., birds can walk as well as fly, running can make you fall and run again.
6. Improves Imagination & Thinking: The time when children freely explore without any adult intervention, they internalize their though process, try to imagine and understand the complex realities of life. ‘Hands on learning’ is what they carve for.

“Watching a child makes it obvious that the development of his mind comes through his Movements” – Maria Montessori

Here are some Tips to promote movement among Preschooler’s:

1. Playing pee-ka-boo, with infants and toddlers.
2. Giving different items on a tray e.g., spoon, ring, rattles etc. so that they can grasp, especially infants.
3. Playing with bobo dolls, pop up toys, puzzles, xylophone.
4. Going for walks in the garden or street.
5. Giving enough time for free play, pretend play.
6. Parents, caregivers and teachers can do action songs regularly with the children. “Heads and Shoulders Knees & Toes, Running Running, Hockey Pokey”.
7. Keep toy cars, slides, sea-saw if possible.
8. Promote the concept of “maintaining work cycle from day one of pre-schooling.
9. Involve them in extra-curricular activities like dance, yoga, sports.
10. Promote music and movement as much a possible in the daily routine.

It is therefore necessary to help your child move, it will not only help them in their development, but also keep them fit and healthy. The next time you see your child walking aimlessly, DO NOT STOP! Rather act as a guide and let him/ her explore.

The post The Essence of Movement… appeared first on Best Preschool and Daycare | Creche, Nursery schools in Kolkata.