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Resilience


News and Reminders: We are closed for in-service on April 21st. We will be offering parent teacher conferences from 8am-12pm for any families that would be interested. There will be sign up sheets posted this week in your child's classroom.

Resilience: the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness

The subject of resiliency in children has been something that I have a strong interest in. I have been looking at research for a long time that discusses the attributes of resilient children. For a child to be resilient it requires a lot of factors to be in place. These are factors that exist at home and at school. 

We want children to be resilient. As teachers, we are constantly thinking about how we can support children to handle the difficulties in life and be able to overcome them. Each day we work on skills that increase children's self-esteem, problem-solving skills, and ability to face challenges. We try very hard to consider these skills and attributes throughout the day, from a dispute with a peer over a toy, to dropping a favorite snack on the floor, to forgetting a favorite stuffed animal at nap time. We are constantly trying to find ways to support children in handling those situations, to face those emotions, and find a way to work through them. 

While looking through research there have been several skills of resilient children that have been identified. They are:
  • Social Competence: Qualities of responsiveness, flexibility, empathy, communication skills, a sense of humor, and other prosocial behaviors. Resilient children are considerably more responsive, more active, more flexible and adaptable even in infancy. Resilient children are able to elicit more positive responses from others as well. 
  • Problem-solving Skills: These skills include the ability to think abstractly, reflectively, and flexibly, and to be able to attempt alternate solutions for both cognitive and social problems. Children with problem-solving skills are capable of producing change in a frustrating situation and tend to be more active and competent in elementary school. 
  • Autonomy: The ability to have a sense of one's own identity and an ability to act independently, all while exerting some control over one's environment is incredibly important. Resilient have children a strong sense of independence, a sense of power, self-discipline, and impluse control. 
  • Sense of Purpose and Future: The belief in one's self and their future is motivating and enriching for children. Attributes of having healthy expectations, goal-directedness, hopefulness, a sense of anticipation, and a sense of coherence all contribute to a child's belief in their own purpose and future. 
The question then is, how can we support these attributes in children? Also, when should we be considering these attributes and what do they look like in early childhood?

The factors within a child's family that contribute to resiliency are:
  • Caring and support: for a child to have at least one parent, guardian, or caregiver that establishes a close bond that provides stable care and adequate attention is the most important piece to establishing a child's understanding of a healthy relationship. "Social relationships among family members are by far the best predictors of children's behavioral outcomes." (Feldman, Stiffman, and Jung 1987). 
  • High Expectations: When families treat children as contributing members of the family unit this translates to children that they are valuable and needed. The parental attitude that sees children's potential for maturity, common sense, for learning and well-being gives children the sense that they are capable and have the skills to succeed. "Families that establish high expectations for their children's behavior from an early age play a role in developing resiliency in their children." (Benard 1991). Families can support these skills even more by providing structure, discipline, and clear rules and regulations. When children are given those boundaries and expected to behave within them it gives them a sense of success. Children work better when they know what is expected and are given clear boundaries. This is true for adults as well. Consider your work environment. Does having clear expectations makes it easier to do your job? 
  • Encourage Children's Participation: Giving children responsibilities, chores, and jobs which are crucial to support children's sense of worth and place within a family. By offering children opportunities for participation in meaningful ways have been proven to be sources of strength and competence for children. "When children are given responsibilities, the message is clearly communicated that they are worth and capable of being contributing members of the family." (Bernard 1991). Autonomy also plays a big part in supporting children's sense of competence and strength. When we tell children that we believe in them and allow them to complete a task on their own (even when it's hard) we are sending the message that they are capable. We want children to believe that they can handle things on their own. In early childhood, this starts by sitting with a child and talking them through difficult situations, by scaffolding support so that they are able to complete a task without us. Tasks such as putting on their own shoes, taking off  their own snowpants, washing their own hands, the list goes on. We can start encouraging children's participation as infants, talking to them through routine care, giving them a spoon while eating, and allowing them to hold their own bottle during feedings. 
As teachers, parents, and caregivers we can all work together to support children's resiliency. We must consider our role in children's lives and what we can provide to support the skills that support the ability to handle change, challenge, and stressful events that everyone will inevitably face throughout life. 

References

Feldman, Ronald, Alene Stiffman, and Kenneth Jung, eds. Children at Risk: In the Web of Prenatal Mental Illness. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1987.

Benard, Bonnie. Fostering Resiliency in Kids: Protective Factors in the Family, School, and Community. WestEd, 1991.



Classroom Updates

Infant I: This week children and teachers alike have been getting used to everyone's new physical abilities. It is surprising to have an infant who has been immobile for eight months suddenly crawl up behind you! On the infant side, it takes some time to realize that they now have new options for movement in situations where they would have previously been stuck. On one sunny afternoon, we got everyone outside, and they were thrilled with the hay delivery that offered many options for play and for watching the older children's activities. We are all looking forward to more sunny afternoons to come! 


Infant II: This week we worked on measuring ourselves. The children enjoyed each having a turn getting measured and the other children enjoyed watching while they waited their turn. We then traced their bodies on paper, making different poses. We have been spending time sitting at the table after we have finished eating to enjoy each other's company and it also helps with not rushing through mealtime. The children have enjoyed playing in the mud and getting boots stuck. We also had a mole visit our classroom this week. The children were very excited about this and after we caught it we were able to watch it for a while. We have also been working on using inside voices, especially when we are excited. We have been practicing using calm quiet voices while inside. 


Toddlers: We had a wonderful week in our classroom. We are working hard on recognizing letters while we read books. We are also working hard on shape recognition and the children are beginning to recognize various shapes around the classroom. While eating a cracker at lunch one child noted, "That's a triangle". This week we have truly enjoyed exploring in the mud and finding puddles everywhere we look. The children really love when mud season and take full advantage of it. Please make sure to send extra clothing and boots, we will need them. 




Preschool I: Another exciting week from our classroom. Our interests have ranged from bugs and birds to construction vehicles, and then to workers and tools. We returned last week's library book about a special toy that could snap back together and checked our a few new books including one construction site book with vehicles that worked together and used teamwork to get the job done. We also took out "Tacky the Penguin" (a big favorite in our classroom) and "Little Toot" a book about a little tug boat who overcomes fears of the great big ocean to rescue an ocean liner from the storm. Wednesday was another very successful day at the library story time. We listened to books about opposites. Once again, we were great listeners with calm, quiet bodies and did great on the walk there and back. It has been fun to watch as new friendships have blossomed among the children. With great excitement, we welcomed a peer back from a long vacation. Many of us are looking forward to seeing each other in the mornings, greeting each other, and playing together. 

Preschool II: We started the week off with some new playdough. We chose spring colors of yellow and green. The play that has been happening with this sensory experience has definitely evolved. The children spent time creating very dynamic dramatic scenes with animals, people, homes, and impending disasters. Fine motor skills have also been stronger as they roll their own balls, pinch shapes to make effects, and very carefully shape things to give more detail. We celebrated another birthday and are looking forward to more coming up soon! We spent a lot of time in the mud and water this week as we wait for spring to arrive. There has been a lot of very focused work gathering muddy water and distributing it to specific cooking recipes and containers. We have been working hard to make sure we hang our clothing well so that it dries for the afternoon. 

PreK: We had an awesome week working with the letter O. Did you know that an octopus is oviparous?! We did a lot of reading about volcanoes and created some different types out of paper, cardboard, and containers. On Friday we made one erupt in our sand table (vinegar and baking soda). We also investigated the topic of dinosaurs! We dried some playdough into dinosaur bones to put in our sand table. We also made several trips to campfire forest where we used sticks to create dinosaur skeletons. Next week we will be working on the letter P (paleontologist, paper mache, and patterns). We started a little early with a very successful pajama party. 





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