kidsLink

Every early learning program has a philosophy that guides its teaching practices.  This informs how the environment is set up, what types of instruction are provided, and how child development is supported.   As a result, a program may become theme-based and adult directed, emphasizing school preparation, or become child directed, by providing an environment rich [...]

When we consider every day childcare practices we often think about ensuring that things are done the ‘right way’.  As an early childhood professional we are trained to understand what the research shows about care giving and child development.  We often think in terms of handling care giving practices, such as feeding, toileting and sleeping, [...]

When teaching children, there are various reactions regarding different typical childcare practices, such as toileting, feeding, sleeping and child directed play.  Consider this quote from Anne Frank, “We will all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same”.   In order for us to truly be effective teachers, [...]

Written by Christine Garinger When I graduated from nursing school in 1994, we didn’t use a computer to communicate with patients or clients. Heck, I was barely using a computer personally.  At work, slow clunky computers with huge boxy monitors were used mainly for word processing and that was about the extent of it. Early [...]

A parent’s ultimate job is to keep their child safe.  In a world filled with frightening media, is it any wonder that parents become overly anxious and want to “bubble wrap” their children?  What better way to shield children from the world than bubble wrap? Many parents can cross the line from making their children [...]

The media can frequently depict mental illness as a frightening, debilitating condition. However, an illness is not typically all consuming.  “A Beautiful Mind”, a movie created in 2001, had one viewer reflecting on how to identify a mental health problem.  See the review here: http://youtu.be/RRPjLCHKEW By D Ripley

Food is medicine – in today’s society a lot of us rely on prescribed medicine to ‘fix’ us when we are out of sorts. What most of us don’t understand is that what we feed our bodies has a huge impact on our minds, health, bodies and overall well-being.  It is never too late or [...]

By:  Katie Cameron Just in the past decade, it has become popular for children to join sports teams. Organized sports have a lot of beneficial outcomes for building a child’s self-esteem at a young age. It also allows children to be physically active and develop a healthy lifestyle throughout their life. Not just sports, but [...]

Resilience is the ability to show positive adaptation, handle stress, overcome disadvantage, recover from trauma, and use opportunities to grow and learn in the face of adversity. (Adapted from Masden et.al.) The other day, I saw a story of an incredible young man who just seemed to personify this definition. Check out his amazing story. [...]

By William Lee This week marks children’s mental health week. A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending an educational workshop on the importance of children’s mental health. The early-morning event was organized and sponsored by the Waterloo Region District School Board and was presented by Dr. Ian Manion, a clinical psychologist, [...]