YWCA Boulder County
Parent Resource
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Hello Children’s Alley families!
We thought it would be best to stay connected during this hectic time. Many of us are facing difficulties and uncertainty, and all with kids at home for longer periods than normal with the closure of schools and child care centers. We are here to help with inspiration, activity ideas and parenting tips, and hope this weekly email can provide a brief time to come together and uplift our neighbors, friends, and community!
We'll look forward to staying connected with health and wellness inspirations, recipes, and activities to get your family and yourself moving. Let’s stay present and stay positive!
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YWCA Boulder County is dedicated to supporting parents and families. As we all deal with the Coronavirus pandemic, the
YWCA will begin providing virtual activities and learning opportunities from our Children's Alley teachers.
Check out the video of the week! Cook’s Corner Episode 2! Carter and Tori teach us how to make Sweet Spinach Muffins.
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Nurturing Your Child's Mental Health During Social Distancing
In this time of stress and disrupted routine, it is normal for people of all ages to experience signs of distress. Our little ones are no exception. Although they may be experiencing the same feelings of anxiety, fear, and confusion as us and other adults in our lives, the behaviors they exhibit to express this stress will likely look different.
For children, this may include increased clinginess, changes in diet and appetite, fits of tearfulness or “temper tantrums”, trouble sleeping, and for kids in especially high stress environments, they may also revert to behaviors you thought they had “outgrown” such as bed-wetting.
We understand that these behaviors can contribute to even more strain on your household than you are already enduring, and we are here to support you.
Here are a few simple ways you can nurture the mental health of the young children in your care, which will hopefully also give you more time to take care of you.
- Teach them how they can keep themselves safe, and the things you are doing to keep your family safe. When they understand why people are wearing gloves, masks, and why we are all washing our hands every five minutes, it makes these changes less foreign, and easier to accept.
- Have scheduled family time. This can help those caregivers who are still working/going to school with balancing these things and time with the kids. It lets them know they are still a priority, and will get their one-on-one time even if it’s not right this moment.
- View their behavior as a window to their needs and feelings. Try to remember they are experiencing this time of adversity right along with us, and it’s probably even harder for them to comprehend.
- Make active play and outside time a priority.
- Share your feelings with them, and validate theirs.
- Model healthy behavior. Do this with nutritious meal choices, staying active, and keeping your hands clean and yourself safe.
- Be truthful with them about what’s going on, try to stay calm and focus on positivity around you.
- Be consistent! Having at least a loose daily schedule is just as important for young children as it is for school age kids. Make a schedule together and do your best to stick with it, knowing what to expect and what is going to come next will help them feel relaxed and safe in their home.
- Practice relaxation exercises together! Breathing techniques, meditation, even just self-guided quiet time – they may surprise you with how much they enjoy these activities!
- Set and respect boundaries, both for you and for them.
- Try to remain present!
Here is another great resource:
Holly Golden is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a licensed Mental Health Counselor. In this series she provides tips and activities for parents and teachers as they guide students through the changes and big emotions related to the Coronavirus pandemic.
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Make "Me Time" Part of the Schedule
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You can't be emotionally generous to anyone else when you're running on empty. To stay centered, you need time when you're not engaging. And so do your kids. Make enforced quiet times part of the daily schedule. Kids can read or play quietly in separate rooms. Don't fritter that time away online. And don't use it to clean up. (Make that a fun task to do as a family!) Instead, find something that replenishes you: listen to a guided meditation, do some yoga, write in a journal.
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Babies and Children tell us what they know without using language!
Babies know more, care more and feel more than we ever thought. For example a newborn baby will imitate faces made to them, even when they have never seen their face in a mirror. Babies learn constantly through the back and forth interactions they have. This is why they need caregivers who provide loving and caring kinds of interactions, helping them to understand things and really playing with them. Research shows that PLAYING is a way for babies to figure out the world and it stimulates their brain which is very important!
Activity:
Pretend Play with your baby and let them lead the play. Pretend play helps children to understand people. The less the toys the better! You can pretend to use a cell phone, computer, dishes, stacking toys etc. Let children explore in different ways. Allow for lots of discovery by asking child “How can we use this?”. Have fun and cheers to nurturing brain development!
Source:
Gopnik, Dr. Alison. “Nurturing Brain Development From Birth to Three.” ZERO TO THREE, 24 Feb. 2016, www.zerotothree.org/resources/283-nurturing-brain-development-from-birth-to-three#downloads.
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An activity for toddlers and caregivers: Eye Spy-ish with two variations
1.) Find things the live in the sky, on the ground, and underground. This is an open-ended game that can be child or adult led. Starting with things that ‘live’ in the sky…birds, clouds, branches, leaves, squirrels, kites, airplanes, helicopters, snow, rain, lightning, really weather of any kind, etc…. This can be as simple or complicated as desired. On the grounds can be anything. This can include animals, houses, cars, and people. Underground is fun during spring because of seeds, planting, growth, roots, moles, nuts hidden by animals. This is a very simple game/ activity that can be played many times a day, for as long or short as wanted.
2.) The other version is more specific and led with questions. Here are a few examples of questions. What lives in the sky and says,” tweet, tweet”? What can be white or grey and makes snow and rain? What rolls on the ground? What runs on the ground? What digs underground? What gives plants their growing food? Where does snow go when it melts? There are no limits to these questions and can be based on child’s interests or random questions.
Toddler Tip for the Week
Encourage artistic creations. This can include crayons, pencils, watercolor paint, finger paint, etc…. Making art part of the daily schedule will increase hand/eye coordination and encourage brain and synapse growth.
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Introducing the YWCA Pre-K Virtual Classroom
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YWCA Pre-K Virtual Classroom: A website designed with the intention of keeping our families and children involved in our classroom curriculum and with our teachers!
On the website, we will be posting videos, resources, activity ideas, as well as sharing lessons, ideas, tips, and general conversations that we hope will help you navigate this time at home with your child. We are so excited to connect with you all in this new way.
Please explore the website and let us know if you have any questions or suggestions for this new experience, as we are learning along the way, too! There are opportunities for you to post your own content in the forum. If you would like to get in contact with us, you can reach a specific teacher by their emails listed, or send a general message to this email address or the website's contact page.
Continue to check in for additional content, like story-times, cooking and nutrition classes, and more. We will add more weekly!
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Activity of the week: Healthy Space Snacks!
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Vegetable of the Week:
Spring Greens
This week we are sharing the Farm to ECE’s Harvest of the month!
April = Spring Greens!
Examples of Spring greens include arugula, lettuce, pea and sunflower shoots, spinach, bok choy, dandelion greens, mustard greens and kale, to name a few.
Greens are a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin K, folate, manganese, potassium, calcium and iron.
Speaking of iron, did you know that spinach contains more iron by weight than a hamburger?
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Sweet Spinach Muffins
Got a picky eater? These kid-favorite muffins are 100% whole wheat, refined-sugar-free, and packed with fresh spinach!
Ingredients
18 standard cupcake liners
2 cup flour, whole wheat
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, unsalted
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup honey
1 large banana
6 ounce raw baby spinach (by weight)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F, and line a muffin pan with paper liners (or use silicone muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray).
- Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- Heat the butter until just melted. Using a blender or food processor, blend the raw spinach, banana, honey, milk, egg, vanilla, and melted butter until completely pureed.
- Pour the puree into the dry ingredient bowl, and fold together gently until just combined. (Do not over-mix.)
- Spoon the batter into the muffin pan, and bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the muffins are firm to the touch on top, but not quite browning.
- Cool most or all of the way before serving.
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Remember our Preschool Garden from last year?
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Have you started gardening? Do you plan to have your own garden this year? Here are some resources that could help:
Dates/times are TBD, but please register now (using the forms below) to reserve your seeds and starts and give Growing Gardens a better idea of how many people to expect.
In the Garden: Here’s a list of what to plant in your garden this month…
Early April
- Seeds (inside): Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, basil, tomatillo, tomato, eggplant, peppers
- Seeds (outside): Radish, turnip, parsnip, potato, pea, lettuce (head), carrot
- Plant starts (outside): Spinach, onion, leek, cabbage, lettuce (head)
Late April
- Seeds (outside): Chard
- Plant starts (outside): Parsley, cilantro, kale/collards, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi
(Adapted from Farm to ECE April Newsletter)
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Here are some resources to check out this week:
Food Assistance
Emergency Food: Are you or your families in need of food assistance? Here are a few resources to help:
- Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) and Saint Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) are offering free meals for all children between the ages of 0 and 18. For a list of locations, visit https://www.cde.state.co.us/nutrition/nutriemergencyfeeding or text FOOD or COMIDA to 877-877.
- Fruit & Veg Boulder is available to individuals and families who live in the City of Boulder and earn too much to get SNAP benefits, but could use help covering the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables. Get more info and apply online - www.boco.org/Fruit&Veg.
- SNAP, WIC, and Fruit & Veg participants are able to order a box of food, valued at $20 from the Boulder County Farmers Market (see attached flyer).
Parenting Resources
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Domestic Violence Resources
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For some in our community, staying home is also not safe.
This is a stressful time for all of us. The uncertainty created by the COVID-19 public health emergency combined with social isolation, reduced access to employment and food, and in some cases lack of child care, is difficult for many families and individuals to endure.
Please reach out to your family, friends, and neighbors by phone or video during this time, and help ensure they feel supported.
We also recognize that for some families and individuals, the difficulties are too much to handle.
The
Boulder County Abuse and Neglect Hotlin
e is available 24 hours a day, every day, at 303-441-1309.
Boulder County responds to concerns around potential abuse and neglect by working with families and individuals to understand their challenges and -in many cases- connecting them with supports they may need. The safety of children and at-risk adults is a top priority. Anyone witnessing a child or at-risk adult in a life-threatening situation should call 911 immediately.
Here are some tips from SPAN: Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence:
If a friend or a neighbor is in trouble, what can you do?
- Help them plan where they (and the children), could go in an emergency or if they decide to leave.
- Agree on a code word or signal they can use to let you know they need help.
- Help them prepare an excuse so they can leave quickly if they feel threatened.
- Find out about how the police can protect them, and if calling the police is an option.
- Help them prepare an "escape bag" and hide it in a safe place. If they leave, they will need money, keys, clothes, bank cards, driver's licence, social security documents, property deeds, medication, birth certificates, passport and any other important documents.
- Think if it is safe to help interrupt an episode of violence, create a code so you can knock on the door.
- If they decide to stay they may need to think about other ways to protect themselves and the children from further violence.
***Be careful. Don't place yourself in a position where the person who is being abusive could harm or manipulate you. Don't try to intervene directly if you witness a person being assaulted - call the police instead.***
24-Hour Crisis Line: 303-444-2424
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We want to hear from YOU!
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If you have questions or concerns and/or would like to request specific topics or recommend ideas, please contact Tori Anderson at
Tori@ywcaboulder.org.
We are here to help!
You can also submit questions or feedback anonymously through the
signup form (do not enter your name or email in order to make it anonymous).
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Thank YOU for your support!
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As a nonprofit, our work would not be possible without the support of passionate individuals and businesses like you, who support our programs and services.
If you can, please consider
making a donation in whatever amount you are able
. Your donation is tax-deductible and eligible for the Colorado Childcare Contribution Tax Credit. Together, we will weather these difficult times and continue our work to provide affordable, high-quality child care for our community.
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