Kids.Social Development: The Power of Friendship on Children

When children start to mingle with other children of similar age, worries might start to hit parents. Many parents show great concern on with whom their child plays because they are afraid that their child will be influenced in the negative way.

However, instead of stopping your child from making friends, let them make friends freely. The friendship that your child seeks is important for healthy emotional and social development. Furthermore, research shows that children with friends have higher self-esteem and sense of well-being but fewer social problems as adults.

Why children need friendship?

To learn how to weigh alternatives and make decisions when faced with dilemmas.

To experience anger, aggression, fear and rejection and how to cope with these emotions.

To learn to be around different people and different behaviours and to understand that everyone has different viewpoints.

To learn to share, love and support each other in good and bad days.

To learn that they are similar to and different from each other.

To increase their self-esteem.

What parents can do to encourage friendship?

Invite your child’s friends over for a meal, an outing or a party.

Respect your child’s social style as some children do best in a large group while others do best in a smaller group of peers.

Encourage your child to play with his/her peers and join outings together.

Let your child make friends freely.

Guide your child on friendship development and how to maintain friendship in a positive way.

During this International Day of Friendship (by United Nations) which falls on 30 July 2013, why not organise some activities for your child and his/her friends, such as exchanging gifts, going on a trip or having a little party, as a way to foster and strengthen the bond of friendship?

Read more on the concept of sharing in Kids.Social Development: Teaching Your Child on Sharing

Kids.Mind n Soul Development: How Children Learn Best?

Children often have shorter attention span than grown-ups, especially when it comes to learning and focusing in class. In order to grab their attention, activities done in class shall be as interesting as possible and focus less on dull facts learning.

Generally, most children learn best using kinaesthetic learning method. This is a method that uses movement, such as moving, building, running, jumping and stroking, to stimulate the brain to focus. For example, give the children the opportunities to move around, to do a task while standing, to memorise while walking and to dance while listening to music.

The essential learning aids are:

Fresh air	Good flow of oxygen in the room creates a comfortable and relaxing environment. Children will then feel good and more confident, thus aiding them to learn more efficiently.
Water	Staying hydrated allows the brain to work better. Thus, children need to have sufficient water intake in order to learn more efficiently.
Exploration	Allow the children to explore and freely express themselves as a way to help them to learn more efficiently. If kinaesthetic learning method is not your child thing, keep trying different approaches until you have found one that fits your child well.

Kids.Mind n Soul Development: Montessori and Children Creativity

“Creativity is basically an attitude, one that come easily to young, but must be sustained and strengthened lest it be sacrificed in our too logical world”

- Marzollo and Lloyd, 1972.

Important relationships have been found between creativity and problem solving abilities. In fact, the society starts to see the real value of creativity – it is not just for artistic works but rather, it involves “thinking out of the box”, an attribute vital in this challenging world.

How can we encourage creativity in children? How does the Montessori approach creativity in children?

The Montessori method sees it in three components:

1. What is out there?
2. What might I do with what is there?
3. How can I carry out my abstract ideas?

The Montessori method holds on to the idea of independence – “I can do it for myself, I can think for myself. I can create” - and encourages children to self-explore and imagine.

In the Montessori method, children are provided with art materials (i.e. colour pencils, scraps of paper, threads, textile and clay) that are suitable for their age. They will be then left to explore the materials on their own. This process itself will encourage creativity as it challenges the children to create from their imagination. This will eventually increase their level of concentration and allow them to lose and engage themselves in the process wholeheartedly.

By mean of self-expression, the formation of abstract thought and imagination can be triggered at an early age. Children with the opportunities to express themselves freely will grow up to become a more healthy, positive, independent and creative person.

World Education: Montessori Education reveals more about what Montessori method is.

Be Inspired: Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain by Sue Gerhardt

Book title:

Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain

Author:

Sue Gerhardt

How love affection shapes a baby’s brain, especially on social and emotional brain systems, during the development in the early years? What are its lasting consequences?

How the development of the brain affects the child’s future emotional well being?

Through the many examples, illustrations and case studies, Why Love Matters combines the discoveries in neuroscience, psychology, psychoanalysis and biochemistry to answer on how our emotional lives work and why early ‘pathways’ can affect how we respond to stress when we grow up.

The content is divided into 3 parts:

Part 1 The Foundations: Babies and Their Brains	·         Back to the Beginning ·         Building a Brain ·         Corrosive Cortisol
Part 2 Shaky Foundations and Their Consequences	·         Trying Not to Feel ·         Melancholy Baby ·         Active Harm ·         Torment ·         Original Sin
Part 3 Too Much Information, Not Enough Solution	·         “If all else fails, hug your teddybear” ·         Birth of the Future

This book is highly recommended by the professionals and parents alike. Here are some of the reviews:

"I would like to add to that positive view and suggest that this book be on every reading list you offer to new parents, politicians, clients, colleagues, family and friends."
- Jeannie Wright, British Journal of Guidance and Counselling

"Sue Gerhardt's choice of title reflects the loving attention to detail that is the essence of this book... excellently researched and well-written book which deserves to be widely read by practitioners, researchers and parents."
- Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice

"Gerhardt's book offers perhaps one of the most concise arguments for why love and affection in early life truly do matter. Written with clear and direct language, this text can serve as a general resource for mental health professionals and parents alike."

- Rachel Altamirano, Clinical Social Work Journal

World Education: Thematic Approach to Teaching & Learning

Integrating the curriculum with a theme - this is what thematic approach is all about.

Instead of delivering the curriculum from A to Z and directly from the book, thematic approach allows teachers to teach creatively and encourages fun learning and activities in class.

Why thematic approach to teaching and learning?

• Learning will become more natural, less fragmented and more easily integrated into life.

• Children will enjoy the fun of learning, involve more actively, develop learning skills at a faster pace, have more confident, be self-motivated and show less discipline problems.

• When children enjoy what they are learning, it will be easier for them to absorb the new knowledge and skills.

Developing a theme

Developing thematic activities

For example, to deliver the concept of “home sweet home”, teachers can arrange activities such as:

• Drawing an art piece using different medium (colour pencil, crayon etc) and colours
• Making a little book with drawing and words
• Making a house out of cardboard and other materials
• Collecting pictures of house and pasting them on a cardboard
• Role-playing

These activities will create the opportunities for children to discover their best learning approach and allow creativity to flow naturally in them.

World Education: Montessori Education

"Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed."

– Maria Montessori, the pioneer of Montessori method.

Montessori education, an internationally acclaimed children education system, was pioneered by Dr. Maria Montessori more than 100 years ago. It is a system that focuses on the philosophy of child development and the rationale for guiding such development.

In Montessori education, children will be motivated to reach their full potential in all areas of life through activities that encourage the development of social skills, emotion, physical coordination and cognitive. The children are encouraged to experience the joy of learning and its process, the development of self-esteem and the development of “I can do it” attitude.

The characteristics of Montessori education include:

The Prepared Environment

• The classroom setting is organized for the children in such a way that it is comfortable within the child’s reach and eye level. The learning materials and furniture that are placed at their specific location give opportunities for the children to learn in a safe and positive environment. Due to their orderly nature, children will be able to grow positively in this environment.

• Out of respect for others, children are usually quiet. Thus, the Montessori classroom setting encourages children to return to the inner peace they hold.

The Montessori Approach

• Children will correct their mistakes on their own as compared to the conventional education system that encourages the teacher to point out the mistakes. This way, the children will be motivated by their desire for self development instead of by their teacher.

• Children are encouraged to experience the joy of learning and the sense of discovery in learning new tasks because their interest is in the process rather than the end result.

• Given that everyone learns at a different pace, each child in Montessori programme will learn individually at his own pace. This method will allow a proper development in all areas of life.

• Children will undergo concrete learning through hands-on experience.

• Children will develop a natural sense of discipline through the clearly-stated ground rules or expectations.

• Older children are placed to teach their juniors as a way to promote a sense of community, self-esteem and learning.

The Teacher

• In the classroom, the teacher plays an unobtrusive role in facilitating learning.

• The teacher and the children will form a positive relationship based on trust and respect, thus fostering self-confidence and desire to try new things.