March News from Especially for Children

MARCH 2022

Greetings!

HAPPY WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

“WOMEN PROVIDING HEALING, PROMOTING HOPE”.

This month we would like to give a shout out to a few women who have made a great impact on our history, culture, and society. Happy March Birthday, Ladies!!

Gladys Spellman: American congresswoman (1st)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Poet (6th)

Josephine Cochrane: Invented the Dishwasher (8th)

Margret Murray Washington: African American Educator and Activist (9th)

Amanda Clemet: Baseball Umpire (20th)

Pearl Bailey: American Actress and singer (29th)

Liz Claiborne: Fashion Designer and Businesswoman (31st)

CENTER HAPPENINGS

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Fun Fact: There are approximately 10,000 regular 3-leaf clovers for every one 4-leaf clover!

This year St. Patrick’s Day is on a Thursday we will be celebrating by making St. Patrick’s Day Trail Mix. We invite you to dress in green or rainbow colors to celebrate this day!

WACKY MARCH HOLIDAYS

This month we wanted to celebrate a few different holidays with some fun snacks. Here are the holidays we are going to celebrate.

March 10: Popcorn Lover’s Day: We will serve popcorn

March 17: St. Patrick’s Day: Leprechaun Trail mix

March 23: National Chip and Dip Day: Chips and dip

March 28: Something on a stick day: Kabobs

READ ALOUD TO YOUR CHILD’S CLASSROOM

During the month of March, we would like to give parents, grandparents, or guardians an opportunity to come read to your child’s classroom. You can bring in your favorite story, your child’s favorite story, or pick one from the classroom library. The preschool classrooms will have a volunteer sign up sheet if you would like to participate.

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.