March News from Especially for Children

MARCH 2022

Greetings!

MINNESOTA SPRING

Mud, slush and water… Oh My. The first day of spring is March 20, and with that comes the thaw. With this thaw, comes lots of puddles and wet snow. The children will get wet all the way through their snow pants and sometimes through boots too! Please make sure your child has at least two changes of clothing at school, including extra socks, and mittens. We want to make sure that the children can play outside every day and still come in and be able to learn and play in comfort. This is also a great time to double check your child’s bin of extra clothes to ensure they have the proper sizes! Thank you.

CENTER HAPPENINGS

SPREADING SIGNS OF SPRING

We are excited for the extra sunshine that goes along with spring and want to spread that warmth around the center! Since we are unable to hold family events inside due to Covid, we want to invite your family to participate in a spring craft to display at the center. We will be decorating butterflies! Everything you need to decorate is in a Ziploc bag on the parent counter. (with the exception of glue or tape…if you needs these items, please see a director or your child’s teacher). You are welcome to add additional items from home, but please keep it to one color! As always, participation is optional. Please return your completed butterflies by Friday, March 11.

READING TOGETHER

A great way to promote reading is to make sure the whole family reads together. This doesn’t mean reading aloud to your child 100 percent of the time, but reading together can help foster feelings of love and security, increase imagination and vocabulary and increase future success in reading and writing.

Here are a few tips to for an enjoyable reading time:

Choose a book with repetition.
Choose a story that is not too long.
Read with expression.
Allow your child to ask questions.
Set aside a special reading time, such as right before bedtime.
Read books that your child likes again and again.

PRESCHOOL BOOK CLUB

Our book club book this month is: Little Humans by Brandon Stanton. This book celebrates all the things little humans can do!

ESPECIALLY FOR PARENTS

SUPPORTING SELF-REGULATION

By Angie Williams

One of the main emotional developmental goals we support at Especially for Children is self-regulation, or the ability for children to understand and manage their own behavior and reactions to feelings and experiences taking place around them. We recently shared the article Regulation as the Foundation for Learning by Jamie Chaves with our teaching staff and thought it would be a helpful resource for families as well—at least it was for me!

Below are some of the highlights from the article, but the whole text is worth a read and can be found here:

https://www.communityplaythings.com/resources/articles/2022/Regulation-as-the-Foundation-for-Learning

The Brain’s Hierarchy

The brain is organized in a hierarchical fashion—there are systemic needs at different levels, and the needs of the lower level must be met before the higher level can be engaged. The limbic system regulates the lower-level needs---those related to survival such as processing fears or threats, anxiety, etc. If the limbic system is signaling a threat, the brain’s resources move there, and higher-level brain functioning can’t be easily engaged. Therefore, when children are struggling, it is important that caregivers first help children feel a sense of safety. As the author writes, “And here the word 'safety' does not just mean an environment that is free from perceived threat or harm, it is the felt sense within the brain and body guided by connections to the nervous system. This environment is created through both internal and external messages of safety rooted in relationships.”

Co-Regulation Versus Self-Regulation

When considering the process of creating a safe environment through relationships, it is key to understand that both people in the relationship contribute to the regulated state. Before engaging with the child, caregivers should take note of their own feelings and energy:

“It’s important to recognize that a student’s state of regulation will impact their behaviors, and their behaviors will impact your state of regulation and subsequent behaviors. We call this the teacher-student response cycle. This cycle can be negative or positive.”

In order to make create a positive cycle, caregivers should use tools such as deep breaths, humor, or brief meditation to regulate their own emotions.

The Importance of Sensory Inputs

Sensory inputs can have a large influence on regulation. Natural light, flexible seating, and outdoor play all support self-regulation while excessive screen time can have detrimental effects. From the article: “While screen time altogether is not ‘bad’, it does tend to overstimulate the visual and auditory systems while at the same time deprive the brain of stimulation from the tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems.” Providing young children with an abundant amount of time to explore sensory experiences can help them self-regulate as well as learn about the world around them.

Learn more about the brain’s functioning around self-regulation and additional tips for supporting this important emotional skill by reading the full article.