Author: fuelingbrains_AdMEEn

Not really. Yes, it might take a few days for the toddler to get used to the daycare, but once she’s used to it, there are many benefits to be enjoyed. We are here for you if you’re looking for a daycare near you in Calgary. Research shows that daycare has long-term economic, social, and academic benefits to a child.

Furthermore, daycare attendance doesn’t hinder the parent-child relationship. On the contrary, it strengthens it since a kid can follow instructions better when she gets guidance from experts. In this blog, we will discuss daycare’s benefits in detail. Hopefully, the information will help you make the best decision for your kid.

Taking Your Kid to a Daycare Promotes Growth

A daycare is practically a school. It is the first time a kid experiences a structured environment. In this environment, the kid learns how to listen and act accordingly. Furthermore, all kids will be following a particular program designed to help a toddler grow in the best ways.

The teachers know how to encourage kids to take food, and they know just the right amount for them. Furthermore, your kid will feel more motivated to eat when she sees other kids eating. She will also learn how to do it herself without making a mess on the floor or herself. All these are parts of a child’s growth and vital lessons for later life.

Promotes Language

A toddler is still learning how to speak, and there is no better way of helping her than letting her communicate with kids her age. The daycare provides a language-rich environment, and the teachers teach them the right vocabularies to use as their understanding gets better. Toddlers have a lot of questions, and there is no one best suited to answer them than a kids teacher. The teacher will provide the child with short and logical explanations that they can comprehend.

Promotes Motor Skills

Daycares involve a lot of games that will help promote your kid’s motor skills. It is much better than having your kid sit around the house listening to the nanny’s stories. And even if the nanny will play with the toddler, it won’t be as fun as playing with kids her age. Our daycare has games that will make your kid climb, run, and have fun while developing her motor skills.

Kids Learn Responsibility and Compassion

In daycares, children learn how to take care of themselves and their peers. Teachers provide them with minor tasks that will help them learn different traits such as responsibility and compassion. For example, a teacher may ask your kid to serve herself and her peers a drink. Maybe she will make a mess on the first try, but she will only get better with time.

The teacher will also instill responsible behaviors such as washing hands before eating, saying sorry when she’s in the wrong, and sharing. For example, your kid may have to share toys with a kid who doesn’t have one.

Makes It Easy for a Child to Adapt to School Life

In the long run, your kid will have to attend school. Well, children who go through daycare find it quite easy to adapt to school life when the time comes. The faster your child adapts to school life, the better she’s likely to perform. Furthermore, your kid will gain a few things from the daycare that might actually be taught in kindergarten, giving her an upper hand over kids who never went through daycare.

Things to Know Before Taking Your Toddler to a Daycare

Here are a few things you should keep in mind before taking your kid to daycare.

• Everything will be fine. We know you love your kid, and you want what is best for her. Well, we can assure you that she will be in good hands in a quality daycare.
• A child getting sick in daycare is a normal thing and not a sign of an incompetent daycare.
• You will always be number one. The daycare teachers cannot replace parents’ love.
• Make sure that the daycare is licensed before taking your kid there.

Kids U

Talk to us if you require services of daycare in Calgary. We will help your kid become a better person in the future and ensure that she has fun while at it. Talk to us now.

Today, Verna Kirkness is known throughout Canada for her significant contributions to Indigenous educational policies. She is an Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia, and holds honorary degrees from four esteemed Canadian universities. She was bestowed the Order of Canada in 1998, the Order of Manitoba in 2007, and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal in 2003.

Despite having all of these prestigious honours to her name, Verna Kirkness will never forget and never stop fighting for her beginnings and for the Indigenous people and culture.

Born in 1935 to the Fisher River Cree Nation in Manitoba, Kirkness’ passion for learning began as soon as she could walk and talk. At the age of four, Kirkness recounts that she would walk to the nearest local school to knock on the door, in hopes of being admitted and being able to attend classes.

She’d never seen an Indigenous teacher, and certainly never had one throughout her schooling. As a non-status Indian, Kirkness was separated from her Indigenous peers upon entering Grade 8. While all of her friends were sent to residential schools, she attended a local high school in Teulon, Manitoba.

The passion for teaching stayed with Kirkness all throughout her high school years, and prompted her to earn her teaching diploma in the 1950s. As an official teacher, Kirkness felt her calling was to return home to River Cree Nation, where she had plans to teach among her own family, friends and culture.

The conditions that she found during her first teaching job at Birtle Indian Residential School deeply saddened her, and despite the school administration urging for her not to return the following year, Kirkness vowed to stay. The Indigenous children were connected to her; like Kirkness in her youth, they also had never had an Indigenous teacher, and the cultural connection was unbreakable.

Kirkness continued to work at residential schools, and vowed to make the educational experience for Indigenous people a better one. She began working on a policy that would allow Indigenous peoples to have more say in the education that they received. Her work on this led to the Indian Control of Indian Education policy, which was passed in the 1970s.

Since then, Kirkness broadened her reach, founding a research association and forging partnerships with other Indigenous peoples around the world, from North America, to New Zealand, and even to the former USSR.

It is a career and passion that Kirkness has dedicated her life to for the past 70 years, with no signs of slowing down.

With Kirkness as the face for equal and inclusive education, the Indigenous communities in Canada have seen a great surge in opportunities for their members, and a brighter future for the peoples who shaped Canada.

Written by Anna Santiago

Determining when your children are ready for preschool is easy to do if you know what signs to look for. Some of these signs at times are very easy to see, but some of these are a bit more hidden. You want what’s best for your kids, and that includes setting them up for success from the very beginning.

Preschool readiness is more about emotional readiness and not necessarily a skillset. Once you recognize your child showing signs of preschool readiness, chances are good that they are ready to tackle the preschool environment.

What Are The Benefits of Preschool?

Children who began education in early childhood got more out of school in every grade and were more likely to graduate from high school and attend college. The children who participated in early education programs were also healthier and wealthier than their peers who did not.

As such children already know how to get along with others, and came prepared with more language skills and a broader knowledge base, it sets them up for a much smoother academic sail.

The value of preschool is also not strictly academic as it is also for socialization, to introduce the idea that learning can be fun, and to teach kids how to share, compromise, and get along as a group.

Signs Your Child Is Ready for preschool.

• They can follow simple directions

If your little one can follow your basic commands throughout the day, they’ll do just fine at preschool. Teachers need kids to follow directions so there isn’t chaos in the classroom, but they also understand that young kids can’t follow a huge string of complex instructions.

• They can handle being away from you for short periods.

The most stressful part of your child’s transition to preschool might be fear or separation anxiety. You certainly aren’t alone in worrying about how your child will handle being dropped off that first day of school. It’s normal for a child to cry for a few minutes after you say goodbye, but if they continue to be upset throughout the day, they may not be ready to take on a whole day of preschool without you.

• They can focus on a task

Three- and four-year-olds aren’t known for their long attention spans. Luckily, preschool is the perfect place for them to hone their focus before entering kindergarten.

• They want to play with other kids

If your child smiles, waves, or greets other kids in the park or wherever, this could be a sign your child is ready to make friends and play with others in the classroom.

• They have basic self-care skills

This is quite very important.

Teachers will be available to help kids when needed, but your child should be able to handle the basics of taking care of themselves while at school. Kids should be able to do stuff for themselves like putting on their clothes, taking their shoes on and off, feeding themselves, and cleaning up their toys.

• They are potty trained

While not all preschools require students to be potty trained, it is recommended that this is a skill that will help children to not feel behind compared to their peers as no child wants to be the last of their friends still wearing diapers.

• They know what to expect in the classroom.

You can help set your child up for success by preparing them for the preschool experience. A recommendation is for you to read books about preschool with your child and introducing activities like identifying colors and singing the alphabet song.

If you identify a good number of these in your child, then there’s a pretty good chance that there are ready for preschool and would be able to cope adequately as well.

The next thing would be to find a preschool near you, and you should take time out to scout for the best preschool in Calgary as your chi ld deserves nothing but the best.

Children grow up so fast. Once you introduce them to foods other than breastmilk or formula, you will be shocked at how quickly they grow up. Soon enough you have to think about serious matters like education.

How prepared you are mentally and emotionally can affect when you take your child to a daycare near you. Many parents take longer to school their children because they are not prepared to let them go into the world. However, there are ways you can ready yourself and your child for this big transition.

More About Kindergartens

Kindergartens are the first school-based foundations for children. They represent the first day of school and formal education for most children. It is an important part of life for all kids, given that the curriculum and time away from family helps them build a higher mental and emotional capacity for their lives.

However, both parents and children struggle with the first schooling experience. The first day is often the hardest, with many kids having a hard time throughout the first month or so of school. In that case, you must put forth strategies to prepare your child and also yourself for the new changes that come with schooling.

What Is the Right Age to Enroll Your Child in A Kindergarten?

The first thing you have to figure out is the ‘when’. It signifies the right age for which your child should join the other kids at a daycare near you. You do not want to wait too long before you enroll your child in school, as this will have negative effects. Taking them too early can as well be difficult for your child to manage, both physically and emotionally.

Ideally, most toddlers join a school at around 5 years old. At this point, kids have picked up a lot of skills that can help them incorporate new ways of learning at school. If you are hesitant about it, talk to a kindergarten teacher for counsel on what age is most suitable for your child to start school.

Tips to Prepare Yourself and Kindergarteners for School

• Reading routines – every day is an opportunity for you to read with and to your child. The reading sessions foster literacy and language skills, which are integral in the learning processes at school. You can establish reading routines for about 10-20 minutes every day.
• Conversations about schooling – unless you bring it up, your child will never get to learn about schooling. Having conversations with your child about school and what it entails is the best kind of preparation. It makes your child have a longing for that experience because you have made them understand what it is about. Talk to them about the role of teachers, the kind of experiences they should expect, as well as the benefits they would get from going to school.
• Involve them in picking school materials – as the time approaches for your child to get into school, involve them in the preparation activities. This involves shopping for clothes and reading materials. The more control they feel they have over the situation, the more comfortable they likely will be about the whole idea of joining a school.
• Socialize them with schooling kids – expose your child to environments with other schooling kids. Organize playgroups with other kids of the same age group who go to school. During their interactions and playtime, they will learn a thing or two about the beauty of schooling.
• Reinforce healthy habits – your child will be surrounded by other kids in a new environment. You want to ensure that they are practicing healthy habits that will give them an advantage in the new environment. This includes people skills, interpersonal communication skills, sharing with others, to mention a few.
• Share your experience with your child – to make the journey personal and relatable, talk to your child about your experience as a young child. Talk to them about your first day at school and how you went about the new changes.
• Reinforce predictability in daily activities – kindergarteners thrive in routines and predictable activities. If you can start by reinforcing such-like systems at home, you can ready them for school. This includes creating a predictable and consistent order of activities ranging from brushing teeth, dinner time, and bedtime.

March is International Women’s History Month, which I can honestly say that I did not know until this year. Sure, I knew about International Women’s Day – every year I look forward to all the messages of support and solidarity from my female friends. Messages cheering me on for being a strong, confident, powerful, woman. Or, for being an emotional, sensitive, nurturing, woman. Or most recently, my favorite has been cheering me on for being whatever I want to be because I am a woman.

But this year, women get a whole month to celebrate and cheer each other on, not just one day! Maybe it has been like that for a while now, but to me this is BIG news, and it’s had me thinking and reflecting on my experience as a woman more than I usually do.

Recently I listened to a podcast on Spotify from Brene Brown where she interviews Elizabeth Lesser on her new book, Cassandra Speaks: When Women are the Storytellers the Human Story Changes. I have heard Elizabeth Lesser speak on other podcasts and videos, and each time I am impressed with her candor and honesty. She certainly has a knack for telling it like it is!

One of her more interesting points that has me really reflecting on being a woman is rooted in science. She describes how the original experiments that gave us the terms “Fight-or-Flight” to describe our human reactions to conflict were only conducted on men. In recent years, a female researcher reviewed the studies and reflected on how “Fight-or-Flight” didn’t really align with her experience of being a woman, so she simply repeated the experiments, but this time, on women. The results, as described by Elizabeth Lesser, are that women don’t naturally have a fight-or-flight response, but instead, we have a “Tend and Befriend” response instead. This means we reach out the most vulnerable among us, we gather resources and we look for connection and commonality. Reflecting on past challenges and conflict in my life, armed with this new vocabulary to explain my experiences, I can see that more often than not, I do have a tendency to tend and befriend, and only when I am pushed to my limits do I resort to fight-or-flight. Oddly enough, it is in those moments of fight-or-flight that I also experience the most discomfort, like I am living outside of my values and beliefs. Something deep inside me has always believed that there is an alternative.

Ultimately, the human experience should not be categorized as one-size-fits-all; for women or for men. Any person can respond to conflict in a different way based on their previously lived experiences, their education, training, and the current context in which they are living.

But the new understanding that I am coming to appreciate is that the stories we have been telling ourselves for years may not actually be truly representative of the depth and breadth of the human experience. For centuries, our history has been told from the perspective of one storyteller, without the many shades of nuanced diversity that make up our daily lives. This one-dimensional mode of thinking plays out daily in small and large ways – like me just learning that there is one full month dedicated to women’s history, or in being able to update our understanding of how we engage in conflict from an instinctive perspective.

And so, I come full circle: Happy International Women’s History Month. May you be strong, confident, powerful; emotional, sensitive, nurturing or may you be anything else that you choose to be. Our human story is no longer one-dimensional but a tapestry made of all shades of experience. In short, this is me, cheering you on, for being whoever you want to be, because that’s the most important you that you can be.

Do you have a child who is about to start school? Choosing a kindergarten for your child might be difficult since it’s not easy to choose a suitable one. Therefore, you might have to compare the suggestions you get from your friends and family members.

If you are looking for a kindergarten near you and having problems choosing one, you can consider some factors. By considering such factors, you can choose a suitable institution for your child’s early learning. Some of the factors that parents should consider when choosing a kindergarten for their kids include:

Program Schedule

Kindergartens might have differences in how they operate. Kindergarten programs vary on the time of the day and days of the week they operate. When choosing a kindergarten in Calgary, you should consider a schedule that is convenient for you.

Some institutions run kindergartens the whole day while others do it for only half a day. Also, some kindergartens run for five days a week while others go for fewer days. Therefore, you can choose a kindergarten program that is suitable for your work schedule.

Family Needs

When choosing a kindergarten for your child, you should consider the family’s concerns. Sometimes you might get a kindergarten for early learning with a list of offers. However, the school might not be suitable for your kid since you have to drop and pick them.

Therefore, when choosing a kindergarten for your child, you should consider the following logistical factors:

• Location. Is the school close to home? If so, you can choose the kindergarten program.
• Transport. Does the school pick and drop the kids home? With a school bus, you can save time taken to drop and pick your child from school.
• Tuition. When you are choosing a kindergarten for your kid, you might want to know how much you have to pay for tuition. Therefore, you can choose an institution with a suitable offer.
• School meals. Before choosing an early learning institution for your child, you should consult about meals. If they serve meals at school, you don’t have to pack them lunch every day.
• Before and aftercare. Does the school provide daycare services before and after school? If the school hours are shorter than your work ones, you will have to figure out how they will receive care before you come home.

Structure of the Curriculum

If you are choosing a kindergarten for your child’s early learning, you should consider the school’s curriculum. What and how your child will be learning in class can affect the outcome of the child’s education.

Therefore, you can consult about the checkpoints during learning. The structure and boundaries the school has in place should ensure you get what is suitable for the child.

School Community

When you are looking for a kindergarten, you can try to familiarize yourself with the class and school culture. You can ask other parents in the school before making a decision. If they have a suitable culture for your child’s learning, you can choose the kindergarten.

The Ratio of Teachers to Children

There is a law that guides the ratio of teachers to children. Some schools adhere to the law, while others bypass it. Therefore, you can consult about the ratio to ensure your kid gets a suitable education.

Amenities

Other than the learning environment, you can consider other factors that will facilitate your child’s development. Therefore, you can look at the amenities around the school. The amenities should ensure your child is growing in several aspects.

The Takeaway

There are many factors to consider when choosing kindergarten learning for your child. Some of the factors might feel more significant. Therefore, you can weigh the pros and cons before choosing an early childhood education program for your child.

If you feel that the kindergarten doesn’t meet your expectations, you can choose another one.

Kindergarten Near You

Are you having trouble finding a suitable kindergarten in Calgary? If you are experiencing such problems, you can pay us a visit to our preschool T2K 6J5.

You can take a tour around our school and consult us at Kids U if you have any concerns. Our team will listen to your concerns and discuss what we have to offer.

Have you heard about the importance of adopting a “growth mindset?” Lately, it seems like the new buzzword has been popping up all over the place, from the realm of education, leadership, business and even parenting spheres. Experts explain that a person’s mindset influences their ability to solve problems, achieve greater success, learn from their mistakes and have greater emotional resiliency. When you consider these skills and attributes, it’s no surprise that the concept of growth mindset is gaining popularity and more people are trying to build it into their personal, professional and parental practices.

The idea of growth mindset is grounded in neuroscience, it’s more than just some new personal wellness phenomenon. It relates to neuroplasticity; the idea that a person’s brain physically changes over time with attention, repetition and practice. Essentially, as you learn your brain changes shape, just like a muscle changes and grows with exercise!

Many times, people think “this is just the way I am” or “I’m not ever going to be good at this” but the truth is, when we devote our attention to change, when we practice a new skill or habit over and over, with time, we transform! Embracing a growth mindset encourages us to buy into this reality and to make subtle shifts in how we think about learning, solving problems and making mistakes. Simply put, adopting a growth mindset is as simple as saying “I can’t do this… YET.”

So, what are some ways you can shift yourself to a growth-oriented mindset? Is it really as simple as adding the word “yet” to every self-doubt? Thanks to neuroplasticity, yes and no. The more we focus on a growth mindset, the more naturally it will come to us. And in the meantime, here are some other strategies that you can use to build your own capacity as well as support others, children included:

• Focus on the process of learning, instead of the outcome. How did it feel when you were learning to do something? How do you feel now? How much effort did the task take? What can you try to do differently next time?
• Celebrate learning by finding stories where people display perseverance and growth – my personal favourite is Mindset, by Carol Dweck. If you have children, there are lots of children’s books and movies to choose from, and I would recommend Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty.
• Choose your praise carefully. Constantly telling yourself “Good job!” or “You got 100%” can lead to a fixed mindset.  Putting emphasis on how hard you worked, or how much you have improved, helps to reiterate the concept of growing. For young children, phrases like these have a huge impact on their developing minds!
• Create a challenge board! Post sticky notes with different kinds of challenges on it, from “Complete 100 push ups” to “Make a souffle.” Seeing tasks that are challenging to different people may inspire you or your child to tackle something new, or at the very least to talk about the ways in which we can all grow!

In today’s world, there is so much pressure to be perfect. Adopting a growth mindset and embracing neuroplasticity opens space for grace and self-love. And if you’re anything like me, that’s something that you could use in your day to day life. Feeling scared that this is one more thing to add to your to-do list, like drinking water or exercising more often? That’s okay too!

Remember: you are still learning, too.

Written by Celeste McIllhargey