Practicing Independence

When toddlers leave toddlerhood, and continue to change in size and shape, it is at this time we begin to bid good bye to those beautiful chubby legs, and say hello to the taller independent child!

In our practicing of graduating Early Childhood Professionals we know that kindergarten teachers are grateful when young children are “aces” with self help skills, i.e. the ability to serve their own snack, pour their own juice, find and zipper their own jacket, successfully go to the bathroom, and are at an emotional level where they are past experiencing separation anxiety.

Attaining these self help skills requires much patience and steady nerves on the grown ups’ part. Keep in mind a hefty supply of paper towels will help as far as the juice pouring goes!

Picking up their toys is another aspect, and though an activity such as this will take longer being “child directed” in the long run giving them the leeway will be best. Does it take us long to make the bed, or put away the dishes? In this busy world-long enough-longer with little hands helping. We must try to remember that this is an investment in their future. Let them help.

AND whatever you do-if we ask them to do something, but the child does not complete the assignment quite to our expectations-just do not be the grown up who takes it all apart and fixes it right in front of them. Give compliments, help them along their way, their successes are far reaching, especially when we talk about their self esteem. When you notice what a child does, please remember to not be skimpy with the compliments, however, a phrase like “good job” can be vague and heavily overused-and after a while looses its impact on young children. Think about what exactly they have done and use that in your complementary description. For example: “you really took a long time painting that picture, look how beautiful your color choices are!” or “you did a fantastic job putting the blocks away on that shelf, high five!”

Thank you very much for visiting our blog.

We hope our thoughts were inspiring and meaningful.

Robin and Yana