Preparing for a Career in Early Childhood Education

Do you love working with children? Do you desire to strengthen individuals, families and community? Are you an energetic person? Do you have natural leadership skills?

If yes, you may want to consider a career in Early Childhood Education.

When planning for a career in Early Childhood Education, you need to start at the beginning and decide which path you would want to take.

This planning shall not be taken lightly as every action you take will greatly influence the children you will be dealing with. You will be directly involved in shaping the lives of children – from health, emotional well-being to intellectual growth – all of which can affect their later success in school, work and life.

A proper training, for example, pursuing higher education in Early Childhood Education, is advisable as this training ground will provide you with the fundamental knowledge and skills that you need to study children, dealing with children, understanding their mind and feelings, and bringing the best out of them.

A typical college course may cover the following modules (or equivalent):

• Adult Supervision: Mentoring in a Collaborative Learning Setting
• Children & Literature
• Culture & Diversity in Early Childhood Education
• Infant & Child Development
• Introducing Young Children to Visual Arts
• Introduction to Early Childhood Education
• Music and Movement with Young Children
• Principles & Practices in Early Childhood Education
• The Child, the Family & the Community

Through the training, you will gain much more than just a stepping stone to a career in Early Childhood Education. You will find that your life will be enriched at the same time. Furthermore, these skills are applicable across different areas of life:

• Ability to create appropriate learning environments for children
• Ability to promote healthy development in children
• Active listening with patience and empathy
• Aware of cultural differences and special needs of children
• Developing collaboration with parents
• Enhancing speaking and presentation skills
• Increased self-confidence and self-understanding
• Teamwork and leadership
• Understanding of how children learn
• Understanding the different stages of child development

Is Early Childhood Education for you?

Further reading:

• Careers.Fun n Professional: It’s So Much Fun in Nurturing Preschoolers
• Further Study: Trained & Qualified Early Childhood Educators?
• Further Study: Be a Trained, Certified and Qualified Educator of Young Children (1)
• Further Study: Be a Trained, Certified and Qualified Educator of Young Children (2)

A STEP Forward in Parenting: Systematic Training for Effective Parenting

Have you heard of Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP)?

STEP was initiated in the United States. Since its induction in 1976, STEP has reached over 4 million parents and has been implemented in more than 1,000 schools, agencies, churches and mental health treatment facilities. Other countries that have implemented STEP include Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Romania, and South Korea.

So, what is STEP?

According to SAMHSA’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP), STEP is a programme that “provides training for parents dealing with frequently encountered challenges with their children that often result from autocratic parenting styles.”

Based on Adlerian psychology, STEP aims to promote a more participatory family structure by:

• Fostering responsibility, independence and competence in children
• Improving communication between parents and children
• Helping children learn from the natural and logical consequences of their own choices.

This programme has been evaluated in about 70 separate research studies and targeted at families with abusive parent, at risk for parenting problems and child maltreatment, or with a child receiving mental health treatment.

Here are some of the lessons parents learn through STEP:

• Understanding child behaviour and misbehaviour
• Applying positive listening
• Giving encouragement instead of praise
• Exploring alternative parenting behaviours
• Expressing ideas and feelings
• Developing responsibilities and confidence in children

Left Brain vs. Right Brain: Unleashing Children’s Potential

When is the best time to nurture children’s brain to unleash its full potential?

The peak period of brain development takes place between age four and 12. The rapid growth of brain cells starts from age four before slowing down around age 12, the age when the brain reaches 75% of the size of an adult brain.

What are the abilities of the left brain and the right brain?

Left brain vs. Right brain

Which side of the brain shall be the focus of development? Which side is more important? The answer is both are equally important.

In any given career field and in life, the power of both brains is required to produce excellence results. For example, in cooking, putting in the accurate amount of each ingredient and controlling the cooking method (left brain) will create a dish that is just nice to the taste buds while being creative in improvising the menu and feeling passionate in cooking (right brain) can bring out the distinctive taste of the dish.

Combining the abilities of the left brain and the right brain can lead to astonishing results when used effectively. One of the examples is Albert Einstein who used creativity and imagination of the right brain, and deduction and logic of the left brain to propose the Theory of Relativity. What’s more amazing is that he only used a very low percentage of his brain potential.

Hence, here are the four important mental abilities that need to be developed in children:

·         Concentration

·         Observation

·         Visualization and imagination

·         Memory

Study says: Parents’ Yelling and Hitting Are Equally Harmful

How harmful is yelling towards children’s mental development?

A recently published study on the website of the journal Child Development revealed that “a good, warm relationship with Mom and Dad doesn’t protect teens from the negative effects of parents’ yelling, cursing or lobbing insults, such as calling teens ‘lazy’ or ‘stupid’". The study also revealed that yelling is as harmful as hitting and can lead to same problems, including increased risk of depression and aggressive behaviour.

Although the study focuses on adolescent children, the results may reflect similar effects on early childhood too.

Early childhood is the time when children develop their behaviour. When children are yelled at for their mistakes and problem behaviours, it not only is not helpful in correcting their mistakes and behaviour but can make the situation worse. Overtime, the harm caused by frequent yelling may lead to disturbed mind in children.

Furthermore, children start learning through modelling on those around them. Hence, it is vital for parents to create a positive environment so as children will grow into a better person. Shower them with love as affection plays a big role in shaping children’s brain.

Further reading:

• How to Say No Without Saying No
• Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain

Art Therapy, for an Enriched Life (2)

Why is art therapy suitable for people who are not suffering from mental illnesses too?

1. It focuses on your “inner experience”.
2. It promotes self-understanding.
3. It encourages emotional change.
4. It inspires personal growth.

Through the process, you will be able to discover insights about yourself that had gone unnoticed previously.

As Cathy Malchiodi, author of The Art Therapy Sourcebook, puts it:

Art therapy asks you to explore your inner experience—your feelings, perceptions and imagination. While art therapy may involve learning skills or art techniques, the emphasis is generally first on developing and expressing images that come from inside the person, rather than those he or she sees in the outside world.

Thus, what you express in your artworks pretty much says something about you.

With these newly found insights, you can discover an enriched lives and sense of well-being. This part of living (personal growth) is especially important when you are communicating with children because children learn by imitating adults.

Let us enrich ourselves for the children

Recently, Institut CECE organized an Art Therapy Foundation 3-Day Workshop, and here’s what one of the participants has got to say:

"Art Therapy is an amazing course! After attending this course, not only expanded my vision but also opened my heart and soul. This course can help us to understand more about ourselves and solve our personal problems too. I hope I can become an Art Therapist in the future, to help those who are facing problems in their life."

Due to positive response, this workshop is back this month. For more information, kindly visit Art Therapy Foundation 3-Day Workshop (13-15 September 2013).

More reading on similar topics:

• Art Therapy, for Enriched Life (1)
• Colours Stimulate Child’s Brain Development
• 5 Skills Children Can Learn From the Arts
• Montessori and Children Creativity

Art Therapy, for an Enriched Life (1)

Have you thought of taking up art therapy classes to understand yourself better so you could enrich yourself?

Art therapy is not just one of the effective tools in treating psychological disorders but also beneficial to anyone. Due to its expressive form, art can help us to communicate, manage stress, and explore different aspects of our personalities.

 So, what is art therapy in professional term?

• A mental health profession that uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals of all ages. - American Art Therapy Association

• A form of psychotherapy that uses art media as its primary mode of communication. - British Association of Art Therapists.

Let’s take a look into the origin of art therapy.

Did you know that the arts have been used as a way to express, communicate, and heal since thousands of years ago?

According to doctors, people with mental illnesses frequently use drawings and other art forms to express themselves, thus encouraging many people to explore the use of art as a healing strategy.

Art therapy was introduced in the 1940s. Many said that the founder of art therapy is Margaret Naumburg, an educator and therapist. According to Naumburg, it is very important to uncover the unconscious, thus art comes into its role as a way to manifest unconscious imagery.

Let us enrich ourselves for the children

Art Therapy Foundation 3-Day Workshop (13-15 September 2013)

More reading on similar topics:

• Art Therapy, for Enriched Life (2) Coming soon
• Colours Stimulate Child’s Brain Development
• 5 Skills Children Can Learn From the Arts
• Montessori and Children Creativity