The Wisdom of Play

A wonderful new resource from www.communityplaythings.com is available for free and you can request it from the web-site. It's called "The Wisdom of Play: Why children at play are their own best teachers". You need to get a copy and share it with everyone who cares for and about young children. The introduction and history are written by David Elkind,one of my all time favorite child development experts. Also check out www.justaskbaby.com , Dr. Elkind's weekly blog. Other articles in "The Wisdom of Play" include "Imagination" , "Nature" and "Opened and Creative Play". For those who attended the SWIAEYC Winter Blahs workshop on Saturday this will be a great way to extend and share your learning! Log on an request your copy right now!
Then go find a kid and go PLAY!

Food Serendipity

I love it when this happens. After the last posting on feeding young children two great pieces
on the same subject appeared in my in-box. Here are links to them both.

http://insteadoftv.com/dinnervideo.html - the importance of eating dinner together. It's connected to a menu planning service called Dinner without Whine. I use one of these periodically to jazz up my menu planning and get new recipes and ideas for dinner when I get tired of the same old thing. The one I use is called "Saving Dinner". www.savingdinner.com

The other link if for an article by Docia Zavitkovsky, a Champion of Children, who passed away recently. https://secure.ccie.com/resources/view_article.php?article_id=5012196

You can see 102 articles by Docia at https://secure.ccie.com/catalog/search.php?max_rows=10&position=1&search=zavitkovsky You will be sure to find some inspiration to carry on with your important child care work among them. Enjoy!

Healthy Eating for Infants and Toddlers

I think the way we present new foods to Infants & Toddlers is very important in the development of life long eating habits. Food should never be used as a reward for good behavior or as a way to soothe emotional or physical hurts. Withholding food as punishment also gives food on an emotional connotation that may lead to bad eating habits later in life. The older a child is before they know about the existence of fast foods and sweets the better chance they have of not being hooked on these high calorie but nutrient barren foods. Teaching kids that food is only needed for energy to grow and stay healthy would go a long way toward keeping food in the proper perspective in life. A young child's diet should be lots of fruits and vegetables. "Feed Me I'm Yours" by Vicky Lansky is a great book for parents and caregivers to learn about the proper feeding of young children. I highly recommend it. Some other observations:

1. Kids go through cycles where they eat very little and then eat everything in sight. Pay attention to these cycles and let the child's appetite rule the amount of food they eat. Don't force them to eat when they are not hungry and don't worry about it if they skip a meal or two. They'll eat when they're hungry.

2. Avoid fruit juice....it's highly processed, has concentrated sugar and usually the processor adds more and most of the nutrients and all of the fiber has been removed. Better to drink water.

3. Follow the child's lead for introducing meats. Most toddlers and many preschoolers don't want or need meat.

4. Offering young children a wide variety of fresh, healthy food is the best way to insure that they get the nutrition they need. Avoid everything that is highly processed.

If you want to improve your own health and your relationship with food, read "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Furhman.

A question to ponder: How can we decrease the emphasis on food for holidays, celebrations and other social occasions?

Instead of TV

Maybe one of your New Year's Resolutions is to cut down on the amount of TV you and your kids watch. Here are some ideas from "Instead of TV" for using all those extra boxes we have around from the Holidays. Enjoy!

Diana says that her kids enjoyed playing with cardboard boxes.Have you ever seen a kid pitch a new toy aside to play with the box?I know I have!
She says: "We played in the living room in large cardboard boxesfor hours -- making them into "houses", covering them with blanketsetc. and taking toys in there to play."
My friend Esme, author of How To Get Your Child To Love Reading,recommends using a large cardboard box to make a special TimeMachine to encourage reading.
Esme's book is a treasure chest of info for parents who want to raiselifelong readers. I loved reading it!
You can get her book here:http://www.insteadoftv.com/lovereading.html
Or, get just the instructions to the Time Machine:http://www.insteadoftv.com/flight.html
Oh and I foun a nifty cardboard firehouse that you can buy fromAmazon.com for only $20! Check out: www.insteadoftv.com/playhouse.html

Infants & Toddlers

I've been facilitating the currently running PITC series of classes and have been reminded how much I loved Stanely Greenspan's work and his book "First Feelings" when my kids were babies. I'm even more thankful now that I read it then because of the recent data showing how critical emotional development in infancy is to the long term success of the individual -- -more important than anything else kids learn in the first 3 years of life! From my first hand experience I'd have to say that it is true.

The book is available from Amazon for under $5 and although the copyright is 1985, infants are still arriving in Version 1.0 no add ons or technological advancements. (Perfection can't be improved!) Our world is not the same as in 1985 but how infant's perceive and interact has not changed one bit (thank goodness!). Establishing a strong emotional foundation will serve the children well in coping with the world as it is today and however it will be in the future.

http://www.amazon.com/First-Feelings-Milestones-Emotional-Development/dp/0140119884/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

You won't be sorry if you add this to your professional or parenting library.

Turn off the TV

I've been doing some research on the effects of TV watching on the brain development of infants and toddlers. It reminded me about the national "Turn off the TV" . Here are the dates for 2010 --mark your calendars ---or choose any week you want...anytime is the good time to turn off the TV as far as your brain is concerned. When I talk about turning off the TV , I'm talking about the DVD player too. A flickering image is a flickering image as far as your brain is concerned. Here are some resources for helping you get away from the steady TV diet that you're feeding your brain.

Here are the dates for upcoming National TV/Screen Turnoff Weeks:
April 19-25, 2010September 19-25, 2010
Unplug TV Websites
American Academy of Pediatrics
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood
Instead of TV
Center for Screen-Time Awareness
Don't Buy It - Get Media Smart (For Kids & Teens)
Kid Source
Kill Your Televsion
LimiTV
Playing for Keeps
PBS Parents: Children & Media
The TV Project
Trash Your TV
TRUCE (Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Children's Entertainment)
TV Smarter
White Dot
TV Smarter Blog
Trash Your TV Blog
White Dot Forum
Alliance for Childhood
Parents Television Council
TVFreeLiving.com
TV StinksTags: Everything Else!, TV Turn-Off Week

Coming soon to Parks & Playgrounds near you!

October 19-23: Take It Outside Week. To increase outdoor play while celebrating the environment, preschools and daycare centers are invited to join Head Start centers across the country in participating in the Inaugural Take It Outside! Week. Presented by Head Start Body Start National Center for Physical Development and Outdoor Play (HSBS), the national initiative is sponsored by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) and the American Association for Physical Activity and Recreation (AAPAR). Its purpose is to get children outside, connect with the natural world, and increase physical activity. HSBS will provide programs with everything they need to celebrate Take It Outside! Week including activity ideas, tips for facilitating play, and suggestions for enhancing the environment. From Books That Move You to 15 Simple Ways to Get Moving, the activities are designed to increase physical activity for young children and promote family involvement. Head Start Centers serve over 900,000 children and their families. For a wonderful array of free resources about Take It Outside! Week, visit Head Start Body Start.