Posts Tagged ‘Self-esteem’

Age Appropriate Fitness

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

Focusing your child’s physical fitness on fun activities will increase your child’s ability to move with confidence and competence.  Exercise increases overall metabolism, builds a healthy heart and lungs, strong bones and muscles, and improves coordination, balance, posture and flexibility.

Infant Gross MotorInfant

Encourage babies to explore activities that allow for reaching, rolling, sitting, crawling, pulling themselves up and walking.  ‘Tummy Time’ is the perfect opportunity for babies to practice lifting their heads and develop strong muscles.  Placing toys just out of reach encourages babies to reach for the toys, assisting in physical development. 

First Steps/Toddler

Support young toddlers mastery of walking by allowing them to be active!  Play with them as they learn to run, hop, dance and throw.  Have them chase bubbles or invent a silly walk – play becomes exercise.  Remember to always provide encouragement to toddlers as they build self-confidence.

Preschool +

Preschoolers need plenty of time and space to run around and play.  Taking your child to a playground or park is a great way to release energy and exercise!  Encourage creative dancing and riding scooters and tricycles.  Play ‘Statues’ by playing up-tempo music.  Have your child move while the music is playing and freeze into a statue when you pause it.  Play outside with your child and teach hand-eye coordination by showing the basics of throwing, catching and kicking a large, soft ball.

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Setting Limits: Discipline & Action

Monday, August 30th, 2010

Teacher & GirlWhen setting limits, there are two key points to remember:

  • The fewer words the better.
  • Actions speak louder than words.

Fewer Words

My own decades of experience in clinical practice shows me that when parents use discipline phrases of more than 20 words, their children do not respond most of the time. If the emotional tone of that discipline is negative and nagging, children are particularly deaf. This is so hard for many parents because we feel we are so right (actually righteous), compared to our children. We want to believe that the more we correct them, the better they will behave. The data shows exactly the opposite.

Effective Actions

Few words only work in the self-control area if you back it up with action. Otherwise, internal shame will turn into the humiliation of being useless. When your child bites someone during a visit, take her home after a simple reprimand, and don’t endlessly berate her in her car seat. The action of losing her playtime speaks louder that anything you might say. Handing a spoon to a child who is mashing food into her mouth at dinner beats a lecture on manners.

Your love and opinion of your children matters deeply to them, especially when they are struggling to develop more self-control. Showing your children that their behavior affects the way you feel, helps children understand that you have feelings, too. Empathy and compassion begin to grow. When children see that their evolving self-control can make their parent feel good, the affirmation adds social and cognitive accomplishment to the achievement of controlling one’s behavior.

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Posted in Dr. Kyle Pruett, parenting | No Comments »

Self-Esteem Development

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Infants

Self esteem begins with building trust.  You can build trust with infants by meeting their needs in a timely fashion.  When you respond to a child’s cry, you are showing them that they are worthy of care and love.  When you meet their needs consistently the infant trusts that they are consistently worthy therefore building self-esteem.

Music - Young Boy BToddler/Get Set (18-36 months)

Now that your infant has trust it is important to continue building trust into the Toddler phase.  Self-esteem comes from the picture the child has of himself as someone who can do things.  Toddlers believe they can accomplish certain tasks and supporting their independence builds confidence that they can succeed.  Offer your child activities that lead to success.  Toddlers are very successful at self-care activities such as getting dressed, cleaning up after self and helping around the house but they also enjoy new activities.  When planning your day, find ways for your Toddler’s involvement to be important.

Preschool  (36 months – 5 years)

A preschooler’s self-esteem is all about supported choices.  Unlike the Toddler phase when choices are made from selected options, a preschool child’s actions are the choice.  Preschool children are attracted to specific activities such as blocks or art.  Goddard teachers will support that child’s choice to stay in that center every day and take the learning skills to the child.  By doing so, the teacher has supported the child’s choice.  The child interprets this as “If my choice was supported, I am good because my choice was good.”  Consistent support will lead to the child’s trust in his own decision making, therefore building self-esteem.

Pre-K/K  (5+ years)

Pre-K and Kindergarten children build self-esteem through skill mastery.  You may see your Pre-K child go back to old familiar activities or repeat activities.  This process of experiencing past successes builds confidence.   Ask your child open-ended questions to find out what they are thinking and know about their own activity.  After your child displays their knowledge inquire with “what if?” questions to draw out the next level of curiosity.   Social skill success begins to play an important role in self-esteem.  Offer opportunities for new social opportunities in anticipation of the next step to Kindergarten or First grade.

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Empower Your Children to Eat Healthy: Pasta Primavera Plus

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Dinner is an opportunity to reconnect with your family at the end of each day.  Make this important ritual less stressful by giving everyone the chance to create an individualized meal.  It’s easier than you may think!

  • Make enough pasta for everyone – choose a fun shape like spirals, pinwheels, or shells.  Not only is the pasta pleasing to look at, it’s already bite-size!  Put a fist-size amount in a bowl for each family member.
  • Steam fresh vegetables a cup or two at a time.  Choose your family’s favorites and provide variety in color, texture, and taste such as, carrots, corn, and peppers.  Put each veggie in its own serving bowl.
  • Add the “plus” to dinner with a little protein power!  Place a legume or two into individual serving bowls.  You could choose soybeans, peas, lima beans, lentils, or chick peas.
  • Let the kids choose their own veggies and legumes to create personalized recipes.
  • The sauce is up to the chef.  Do your kids prefer a red sauce, white sauce, or no sauce?

By providing good food choices, you are modeling a healthy attitude. By giving your children an opportunity to make their own food choices once in a while, you are empowering them to make their own decisions.

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Fun with Fitness

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Yoga BAn effective fitness program includes activities that promote physical activity in ways that are creative and fun, is clear and easy to implement, incorporates fun materials, includes opportunities to enhance personal and social skills, and integrates into other life experiences.

At the preschool level, there are a number of fun and exciting ways to introduce health and fitness at home. There are basic motor skill development areas to concentrate on such as running, jumping, hopping, galloping, side sliding, and leaping. There are also basic object control skills, which commonly use a ball such as rolling, throwing, catching, dribbling, kicking, and striking. Experiences with music and movement can enhance spatial awareness, basic body identification, loco-motor and non loco-motor skills, rhythm skills, motor memory, creativity, problem solving, language and listening skills, role-playing, social interactions, and self esteem.

Try these fun music and movement activities at home with your child:

The Freeze

Dance to the beat of your favorite music.  When you hear FREEZE, stop and pose like a status.  Then start the music again.

Shake My Sillies Out

I’ve got to shake, shake shake my sillies out…

I’ve got to wiggle, wiggle, wiggly my waggles out…

I’ve got to clap, clap, clap my crazies out…

I’ve got to jump, jump, jump my jiggles out…

I’ve got to yawn, yawn, yawn my sleepies out…

I’ve got to stretch, stretch, stretch my stretchies out…

Body Talk

To music of your choice:

Move your eyebrows up and down, move your nose like a bunny, move your cheeks like a frog, move your mouth like a fish, move your tongue like a lizard, move your arms like a gorilla!

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Cooking with Children: Make it Fun, Safe & Memorable!

Monday, May 17th, 2010

Sharing the kitchen with your child can not only create a lifetime of happy memories, but can also instill valuable life lessons from a young age. Through baking, cooking and even cleaning up, children can develop and express their creativity and independence; explore new foods; learn about nutrition; enhance their math, reading and science skills; and, most importantly, spend valuable quality time with mom, dad and siblings.

Below are a few tips to help make kitchen time with your little one fun, safe and memorable:

Always stress cleanliness and safety in the kitchen.

  • Wash hands before, after and as-needed during the process.
  • Provide your child with a sturdy, non-slip step stool to stand on so they are at your level.
  • Use kid-friendly wood or plastic utensils.
  • Let them choose their own apron or buy a plain one that they can personalize with fabric markers. Covering up will help cut down on the cleanup afterward.
  • Keep sharp knives, graters and other dangerous tools/appliances away from small hands.
  • Explain that only mom and dad can use the stove, oven and other electrical appliances.
  • Supervise your child closely. Stay in the room until the cooking is complete. If you need to leave for some reason, take them with you.

Include your child in the preparation.

  • Decide together what to make.
  • Read the recipe together thoroughly and gather all ingredients before beginning.  Take them shopping with you for the ingredients and/or have them help select what you need from the cupboard.

Start out easy.

  • When first introducing your child to the joy of baking, use simple recipes with basic ingredients and uncomplicated instructions.
  • Box mixes are a great way to get started. They usually ask for only two or three added ingredients and provide easy-to-follow, detailed instructions right on the box.
  • As your child learns more about the cooking and baking process, feel free to introduce more complex recipes.

Let them do it.

  • This is a great learning opportunity for your little one, so let them measure and pour ingredients into the bowl. It’s not only a good math lesson, but also bolsters their confidence.

Taste and praise!

  • Learning to cook and bake should be a fun experience for your child, so always be enthusiastic about tasting their masterpiece and praise the effort and the outcome, no matter what. They’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment and be excited for their next cooking adventure!

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Posted in Activities, Nutrition, Tips | 2 Comments »

What is Positive Discipline?

Friday, January 8th, 2010

The Difference between Discipline and Punishment

Mom-daughter2Contrary to popular belief, discipline and punishment are not equal.  Discipline is positive and should prevent the need for punishment.  In fact, the word “discipline” is derived from the Latin “disciplina” which means teaching or education.  Discipline helps to guide children toward positive behavior, promotes self-control, encourages children to think before acting and is not damaging to their self-esteem.  Punishment, on the other hand, is negative – whether physical, verbal, withholding rewards or penalizing.

Positive discipline teaches children rules and behaviors in a respectful, loving and considerate way.  It requires thought, planning and patience from parents and caretakers, such as:

  • “No, don’t run inside!” becomes, “What happened to our walking feet?  Where do we use our running feet?”  or “We will go outside soon and you can show me how fast you can run.”
  • “No, don’t throw the blocks!” becomes, “When did our blocks grow wings?” or “Let’s try building a castle and see what happens!”

Use positive discipline to redirect your child’s behavior, and you validate the legitimacy of your child’s desires and shows you care and understand.  Redirecting endorses your child’s right to choose and begins to teach that others have rights, too.

Children also respond to reasoning – it just needs to be put into their language.

  • ‘Inside feet’ versus ‘outside feet’
  • ‘Soft hands’ versus ‘hard hands’
  • ‘Inside voices’ versus ‘outside voices’

Create a Positive Environment

  • Show the love; smile, touch, hold, caress, kiss, cuddle, rock and hug your child!  This will not only make your child feel secure and happy, but is essential for normal social development.
  • Listen and answer as an equal – not as an instructor.  This will help build your child’s self-esteem and foster respect.
  • Spend time with your child every day.  Make time every day to drop everything and play with your child – even if it’s only for a couple of minutes.  Your child will realize they don’t need to have a temper tantrum to gain your attention.
  • Catch your child doing something good – praise and compliment!  “You’re doing a great job feeding yourself and keeping your food on your plate!”
  • Provide simple rules and state them in positive terms.
  • Demonstrate the behavior you want your child to adopt – actions speak louder than words.

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Fun and Learning with Your “Little Chef” in the Kitchen

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

veggies

Cooking with children requires time, patience, and some extra cleanup, especially when the children are younger. But it is well worth the effort.

Cooking can provide a great outlet for bonding with your child. Some of the lessons children learn in the kitchen reinforce what they’ve been learning in school, like basic math (counting eggs, pouring water into measuring cups), science (exploring with senses: listening to a mixer, pounding dough and watching it rise, smelling it bake in the oven, then tasting it) and language skills (reading a recipe together and introducing new vocabulary, listening skills developed when following steps in a recipe).

Start off with tasks that can be easily executed. This will encourage your child to keep on trying, and they’ll feel very good about themselves when the task is complete. Here are some examples of simple tasks to get your “little chef” started in the kitchen:

  • Stirring and adding ingredients
  • Tearing lettuce
  • Helping to read a cookbook by turning pages
  • Sprinkling cheese
  • Using cookie cutters
  • Pouring ingredients that are cool/cold
  • Setting the table

When cooking with children, always stress safety. You must establish all the rules before getting started:

  • What is OK to touch and what will hurt them
  • What is strictly for adults
  • Proper hand washing

Including your child in the kitchen can encourage a more adventurous palate and healthy eating patterns. This is the perfect opportunity to introduce healthy eating choices into a child’s life. More importantly, cooking with your “little chef” can boost their self-esteem once the task at hand is complete. Children are usually proud of their cooking accomplishments!

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Posted in Nutrition | No Comments »