This one night only course is offered on 2 different occassions and can serve as a refresher course for those who have already done the Parenting With Spirit series (see above) or as an introduction to Peaceful Parenting for newcomers. One of the most fundamental elements of Peaceful Parenting is the ability to make a shift from our standard ways of thinking about conflict in our families. This mini-workshop will give a brief overview of compassionate communication with a focus on creative problem solving. The format will be a combination of instruction and group sharing of personal questions and challenges. Please join us!

Ready to Learn

Now, Everything you need to know to get your child ready for kindergarten!

by Janet Gonzalez- Mena, MA  “Child Family and Community”

A narrow and simplistic view of what is “Ready to Learn” focuses on teaching academics to young children.  Focusing on early academics is a cheaper but far less effective road to school success than what the brain research indicates.  Good health and social -emotional stability in the early years of life are the real roads to later achievement.  Cognitive development is vitally tied to  the social-emotional realm of development (Lally, 1998; Shore, 1997; Zigler, Finn-Stevenson, & Hall, 2003)

Kindergarten readiness, a hot topic among politicians, is also a hot topic among parents.  With this in mind, let’s look at how kindergarten readiness goes far beyond learning the ABC’s and starts way back in infancy.

Here are some general indicators that early childhood educators agree show children are prepared to enter kindergarten:

1. Children who are ready for kindergarten are those who feel good about themselves.

The problem is that much of the discipline used makes children feel bad about themselves.  Children don’t feel good about themselves  by being made to feel bad.  Discipline should not only leave self-esteem intact but should also actually raise it when adults use modeling, guidance, and feedback.  Communication is an important part of discipline; adults should discuss feelings and behavior instead of criticizing  the child.  Adults who understand the importance of communication separate the child from the behavior, saying things like “I won’t let you hit your sister – it hurts her” instead of “Stop that, you bad boy!”

2. Children who are read for kindergarten are those who gain knowledge from mistakes.

Some of the best lessons come from things that don’t work.  It’s easy to take the lesson out of the mistake by rescuing children so they don’t learn about the consequences of their actions.  Or the opposite situation occurs when the adult reacts to a mistake with harsh punishment.  When children become fearful of mistakes, they quit risking.  Reasonable risks are good learning devices.  This child who avoids them misses out on a lot of important lessons.

3. Children who are ready for kindergarten can communicate.

They have lots of experience in talking and listening.  They know how to carry on a conversation.  A conversation means not just talking but listening and responding appropriately as well.  Adults should start emphasizing communication early.  Even infants enjoy conversation and taking turns “talking.”  They also play with language.  As children grow older, keeping a playful attitude toward language helps encourage it.

4. Children who are ready for kindergarten can weigh alternatives and make sound choices.

Visualizing alternatives and their consequences in an important life skill.  Children who arrive in kindergarten with plenty of opportunities to practice this skill come better prepared.  When the “prepared child” gets hit by another child, she asks herself, “What are some ways I can react, and what are the consequences of each?”  The child without the ability to visualize alternatives just lashes back without thinking.  Aggression, in the face of aggression is a poor choice.  Some children never learn that, unfortunately.  Some children have no ability to imagine any response other than hitting.

5. Children who are ready for kindergarten can concentrate and focus.

If they can’t do that, the problem may be too much television.  It might seem as though children develop a long attention span from watching television, because they are willing to sit and stare at it for long hours.  But turn it off and what happens?  They don’t know how to entertain themselves.  We add to the problem by over scheduling their time.  Children don’t develop long attention spans when they are never allowed to play for long periods, never free to follow their inclinations to get involved in something of their own choice, never encouraged to work at length on some project they are interested in (Elkind, 2007).  Adults tend to interrupt children, hurry them up, get them going on the next event. Preschool programs can contribute to the problem if they keep children on a tight schedule, move them rapidly from one activity to another, and never give them a chance to work at length or in depth on anything.

At Riviera PlaySchool we nurture children in all of the aforementioned ways, so that social, emotional, and cognitive intelligence is developed to full capacity.  Learning through play, and experiential learning, is the way children learn, and we honor that.

Lots of Love,  Linda

Riviera PlaySchool in Redondo Beach, CA

TEACHING FROM BALANCE

A Mindful program for the ‘Whole Child,’ inspired by the best of Attachment Parenting, Reggio Emilia, Montessori, Waldorf and Non-Violent (Compassionate) Communication.

“Wisdom begins in wonder.    -    Socrates

“Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.”

“People are people no matter how small.”  ~ Horton

More than in any previous time period, I worry about how children are hurried to grow up “faster than life.” As parents, we hurry children when we push them to do things they are not ready to do according to their own unique maturation time-table (weaning from the breast, bottle, pacifier, etc.; eating solid foods; using the toilet; learning to read; and taking piano lessons are a few examples). 

Our schools hurry children as the curriculum continues to be “pushed down”.  What was once taught in 4^th grade is now taught in third and second grade and even, in some cases, kindergarten, and with a heavy focus on academics, children of all ages are not given the crucial time they need to learn through play (David Elkind’s books, The Hurried Child and The Power of Play outline the importance of play in a child’s life and education ). 

The media hurries children.  Movies that were once rated “R” are now rated “PG”, and with technology becoming part of children’s day-to-day lives as in no other previous time, children as young as infants are exposed to images they might not have been in contact with for many years. 

Ironically, when children are pushed to learn something before they’re physically, cognitively, or emotionally ready, it actually slows their progress down. 

As poignantly and painfully illustrated in the following excerpt from Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis, there are consequences to hurrying.  

Faster Than Life

                “I remembered one morning when I discovered a cocoon in the bark of a tree, just as a butterfly was making a hole in its case preparing to come out.  I waited awhile, but it was too long appearing and I was impatient.  I bent over and breathed on it to warm it.  I warmed it as quickly as I could and the miracle began to happen before my eyes, faster than life.  The case opened, the butterfly started slowly crawling out and I shall never forget my horror when I saw how its wings were folded back and crumpled; the wretched butterfly tried with its whole trembling body to unfold them.  Bending over it, I tried to help it with my breath.  In vain.

                It needed to be hatched out patiently and the unfolding of the wings should be a gradual process in the sun.  Now it was too late.  My breath had forced the butterfly to appear, all crumpled, before its time.  It struggled desperately and, a few seconds later, died in the palm of my hand.

                That little body is, I do believe, the greatest weight I have on my conscience.  For I realize today that it is a mortal sin to violate the great laws of nature.  We should not hurry, we should not be impatient, but we should confidently obey the internal rhythm.”

So, Dear Parents,

Slow down.

Trust your child’s innate timetable.

And most importantly, enjoy the present moment!

I wish you all the best.

Happy Spring!

With loving~

melody

April 2010

www.awakenedheartparenting.com

Our program at Riviera PlaySchool is centered around helping young children develop their innate gifts, and spend time being a child!  We offer a humanistic, constructivist, and mindful preschool program for the “whole child,” inspired by the best of Attachment Parenting, Bev Bos, Montessori, Waldorf, and Compassionate or Non-violent Communication (NVC). 

Lots of Love,

Linda

AFTER PRESCHOOL: supporting your child in the next transition ~what are the best choices for your family?”

 Topics covered will be:

Developmentally appropriate practices

Schooling options after preschool/nursery school

Academic kinders vs developmental kinders

Advocating for your child

When:             Tuesday, August 24, 6:30 to 8:30.
 
Where:          Riviera PlaySchool

Cost:               $10 per person for enrolled families, $20 per person for general public

RSVP:             by August 10, to Linda (310)408-5616

The Facilitators:

Laura Dotson LMFT, the mother of four adult children and the  grandmother of three, has over 30 years of varied experience working with  adults and children.   A long time staff member at Play Mountain Place she is currently the Psych. Consultant at Manhattan Beach Nursery School, a position she has held for 20 years.  Laura maintains a private practice in Marriage and Family therapy in the South Bay and holds a Masters Degree in Clinical psychology.  

Melody Elder M.A., the mother of an adult daughter, is a teacher and parent educator with over 30 years experience working with children and parents in nursery school, elementary school, and home-school settings.  She has taught parenting classes for South Bay Adult School and the Center for Positive Parenting and works part-time teaching and directing at Manhattan Beach Nursery School.  Melody maintains a private coaching practice in the South Bay where she facilitates parenting support groups as well as 1:1 coaching (www.awakenedheartparenting.com).  She holds a Master’s Degree in Education and in Spiritual Psychology and is a credentialed teacher in Early Childhood, Elementary, and Special Education.

Riviera PlaySchool in Redondo Beach, CA
TEACHING FROM BALANCE
A Mindful program for the ‘Whole Child,’ inspired by the best of Attachment Parenting, Reggio Emilia, Bev Bos, Montessori, Waldorf and Non-Violent Communication.

This scientific view of how we are soft-wired to feel empathy and seek to belong is amazing!

This animated video is a fascinating view on human development and something that seems to be the opposite of original sin, or what the creator calls “an empathic embrace” with members of our human family.

The Empathic Civilisation

Our program at Riviera PlaySchool is centered around helping young children develop empathy.  We offer a humanistic, constructivist, and mindful preschool program for the “whole child,” inspired by the best of Attachment Parenting, Bev Bos, Montessori, Waldorf, and Compassionate or Non-violent Communication (NVC). 

Lots of Love,

Linda