Friday, September 29, 2023


A Mindful Garden Where Active Minds Blossom...We nurture your child's beautiful inner nature through engaging, nature-based, hands-on play.

Riviera PlaySchool offers a humanistic, constructivist, and mindful program for the "whole child," inspired by the best of Attachment Parenting, Reggio Emilia, and Non Violent (Compassionate) Communication. We are also inspired by other forward-thinking philosophies, including the fun and freedom to explore of Bev Bos, the beautiful and abundant nature of Waldorf, and Maria Montessori's easily digestible, experiential approach to learning. PlaySchool has the distinction of having been chosen as the very first ever practicum site for UCLA Extension’s Early Childhood Education Certificate Program. We will also continue our partnership with El Camino College Childhood Education Department that currently brings student teachers to Riviera PlaySchool to learn from our wonderful staff... Read More

Parenting From Balance©

Fill Yourself Up! (The Oxygen Mask Rule)

Being a stay at home mom can be exhausting. A lot of that exhaustion comes from the demands not only others put on us, but the demands that I put on myself. And it is also tricky: I trick myself into thinking that because I am at home PHYSICALLY with my children all of the time, that I am PRESENT with them. And therefore I often take for granted the... [Read more of this review]

The Mask We Live In: watch this for your children and LOVE YOURSELF

Three Easy Steps to Raising Emotionally Whole Boys and Girls, and to Waking Yourself Back Up! Tonight I saw “The Mask We Live in” at The Knowing Garden Community School.  Yet another reason I am grateful for our socially intelligent community school in South Redondo Beach and the beautifully aware people who comprise it. I had a few thoughts... [Read more of this review]

The Joyful, Illiterate, Kindergartens of Finland!

OCTOBER 2, 2015 BY TIM WALKER “The changes to kindergarten make me sick,” a veteran teacher in Arkansas recently admitted to me. “Think about what you did in first grade—that’s what my 5-year-old babies are expected to do.” The difference between first grade and kindergarten may not seem like much, but what I remember about my first-grade... [Read more of this review]

What “Be Nice” Really Means When We Say it to Our Kids

“Be Nice” is one of the most common phrases we say to our kids, especially our young ones. It comes out of our mouth without thought, like a reflexive reaction to our eternal fear that our kids will grow up to be unscrupulous and cruel. Let’s stop to examine, what “be nice” really means. For the most part, it means: be tolerant and accommodating. If... [Read more of this review]

Why Preschool Shouldn’t Be Like School

New research shows that teaching kids more and more, at ever-younger ages, may backfire. By Alison Gopnik Posted Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Ours is an age of pedagogy. Anxious parents instruct their children more and more, at younger and younger ages, until they’re reading books to babies in the womb. They pressure teachers to make kindergartens... [Read more of this review]

The Good Enough Motherhood Process

“Dear Riviera, What do you do for a teen who picked a major clearly not suited for them? Do you let them take the classes or do you talk them out of it and advise them to sign up for the classes that better suit them?  Especially if you are worried that it was your biases that influenced that wrong decision in the first place….?” yours, Ethical... [Read more of this review]

Social-behavioral readiness in kindergarteners impacts long-term success — ScienceDaily

Children who enter kindergarten behind in social-behavioral development are more likely to be held back, need more individualized supports and services, and be suspended or expelled, according to new research by the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing’s Deborah Gross, DNSc, RN, FAAN, Amie Bettencourt, PhD, and Grace Ho, PhD, RN. The recently-released... [Read more of this review]

It’s in the Dirt! Bacteria in soil may make us happier, smarter

It’s in the Dirt! Bacteria in soil may make us happier, smarter Reposted from TLN AND to the National Wildlife Federation for featuring this article as a guest post on their blog! Many people, including me, talk about the restorative benefits of gardening (see last Tuesday’s post, for example) and the reasons why it makes us feel good. Just being in... [Read more of this review]

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