Balancing Discipline and Compassion During Tantrums
Children experience stress, fear, and anger just like adults do, but they often don’t yet have the tools to manage these tough emotions in healthy and constructive ways. As a result, tantrums or meltdowns often occur, and can cause stress in home environments. Here are a few practical tips for practicing kind firmness with children during these moments to help them build their problem-solving skills while navigating difficult emotions.
Validate their feelings, not their actions
Acknowledging your child’s feelings can go a long way in making them feel understood and heard, and therefore less likely to lash out or meltdown. Simple phrases like, “I can understand why that made you upset” can help build rapport with your child and help them to talk through their emotions in more mature ways. It’s important to remember that validating their feelings doesn’t have to mean affirming their reactions to those feelings.
Practice positive reinforcement
Research shows that children respond best to positive rather than negative reinforcement in most cases. While discipline is important, particularly when dealing with tantrums, using positive reinforcement can often minimize the recurrence of these difficult behaviors. For example, praising positive behaviors or thanking your child when they do something kind or compassionate can build your child’s self-esteem and encourage them to handle stressful feelings in more productive ways.
Model problem-solving skills
Children often pick up on behaviors from their parents, siblings, and peers. For this reason, it’s important to make sure you exhibit healthy problem-solving skills, even during tantrums. Remaining calm and communicating with your child, even when you are angry or frustrated, will teach them to behave the same when faced with conflict.
Explain punishments
Time-outs or other forms of consequences can be useful when managing a child prone to tantrums. However, it’s important to communicate the reasoning behind these punishments to your child so that they understand that it is a direct consequence of unacceptable behavior. Punishment without explanation can sometimes make children feel targeted, unheard, or unloved, while open communication helps your child understand how they can avoid these consequences in the future.
As a parent, managing tantrums or meltdowns can often be stressful and overwhelming, but it can also be a learning opportunity for your child. Navigating these conflicts with patience, compassion, and understanding can help your child develop the problem-solving skills, resilience, and emotional intelligence necessary to minimize the occurrence of unacceptable behaviors in the future.
Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland childcare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.
Read MoreCultivating Resilience through Childcare
Children experience challenges, obstacles, and barriers just like adults do. The difference is that little ones often don’t have years of experience learning how to cope with tough emotions, problem-solve, or heal from these adversities. Childcare is one key way that children can begin to learn how to build resiliency and face life’s challenges head-on!
Creating a Safe Space
One of the first steps to building resiliency is creating a safe space for children to be open and vulnerable about their emotions and what they might be feeling. Choosing a childcare center where children’s emotions are considered and even encouraged can go a long way in building the foundations of resiliency. When children are allowed to fully feel their feelings, they are better able to communicate them to adults and, with time, process them.
Teaching Conflict Resolution Skills
Conflict is an inevitable part of life at any age, and instilling problem-solving and conflict resolution skills early in life helps set children up to handle disagreements calmly and respectfully. Encouraging children to work through their problems with their peers, rather than avoiding conflict or solving problems for them, empowers them to make their own decisions and handle their relationships independently in an age-appropriate way.
Cultivating Coping Skills
Regulating emotions can be tough for children, and this process often takes time, but teaching coping skills early in life helps children to become stronger and more emotionally mature adults. In order to cope with stress, disappointment, and other complex emotions on a daily basis, children must develop skills to cope with these tough feelings, thus building emotional resilience.
Encouraging Healthy Relationships
Healthy, and unhealthy, relationships are possible at every age. One of the many benefits of daycare is that your child is encouraged to form bonds with their peers and learn how to work through the challenges and benefits of these social relationships. Building connections and identifying connections that don’t make a child feel safe or valued, is a critical component of resiliency, and often carries on later into life.
At Heaven’s Elect, your child’s wellbeing, physical and emotional, is our top priority. Here, your little ones can build crucial and long-lasting resiliency skills that lead to healthier relationships, more positive interactions among peers, higher self-esteem and confidence, and a greater ability to handle any challenges that may come their way.
Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland childcare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.
Read MoreWhy Kids Need More Time Outside
In today’s digital age, children are spending more time than ever on screens and tablets, and less time exploring the outdoors and engaging with nature. However, early childhood research shows that spending time outside actually benefits children’s physical and mental development significantly! Here are a few key benefits of nurturing a healthy outdoor play schedule:
Emphasizes Physical Activity
Engaging in outdoor activities like sports, running, jumping, or climbing instills a healthy relationship with exercise early in life. Children not only are able to release their energy in healthy and productive ways, but also learn to take joy in moving their bodies and developing their gross motor skills. Encouraging outdoor play with your children at a young age empowers them to continue these healthy physical habits throughout their childhood and the rest of their lives!
Boosts Creativity
While the physical benefits of outdoor play may seem self-explanatory, there’s also significant evidence that outdoor play activates children’s creativity and innovation. Playing outside introduces children to different sensory experiences like new sounds, sights, and textures that allow them to develop more robust imaginations as they navigate these stimuli. These experiences then help to cultivate more creative play such as imaginary world building or crafting with natural materials.
Socialization Skills
Playgrounds and parks are a great way to engage in outdoor play with your child while also fostering their socialization skills. While interacting with other children in these environments, little ones develop key social skills like sharing, teamwork, friendship-building, and problem-solving. Navigating socialization freely outdoors can help teach your child crucial skills in independence and decision-making that can directly benefit their ability to interact with others!
As the weather steadily becomes warmer, now’s the perfect time to encourage children to engage in outdoor play as much as possible to best cultivate their physical, mental, and social wellbeing! Choosing a childcare center like Heaven’s Elect that incorporates outdoor play into children’s daily routines can be a key way to make the outdoors not only a regular part of your child’s day, but also a much-anticipated component of their schedule that gives them something to look forward to daily.
Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland childcare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.
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Instilling Christian Values Through Childcare
Heaven’s Elect takes great pride in its identity as a Christian learning center and is truly committed to fostering little ones’ faith as much as their developmental milestones! As a spiritual family, it’s normal to seek out childcare centers that not only provide high-quality care and support for your child, but also cultivate a relationship with Jesus and the Christian faith.
Here at Heaven’s Elect, faith is infused throughout your child’s daily routine. While the beliefs of families and childcare participants may vary, staff at Heaven’s Elect make an effort to model Christian qualities like patience and understanding, all while teaching children skills rooted in the teachings of Jesus such as sharing, supporting friends in need, praying before meals, etc.
In the classroom, academic lessons are complemented by bible stories, prayers, and a faith-based curriculum that helps to ensure your child’s learning goes far beyond the basics to include an understanding of Christian values like compassion, forgiveness, kindness, and humility. This type of faith-based education helps to build a spiritual foundation that’s especially important in your child’s formative years!
Furthermore, Heaven’s Elect is equally passionate about partnering with parents and families to collaboratively nurture your child’s spiritual upbringing. Through active communication, meetings, and events, we help to ensure that your child’s time with us aligns with the Christian principles you care about most.
Choosing the right childcare center for your family is no easy decision, but there are numerous benefits of selecting an agency that prioritizes the same Christian values and virtues that you seek to cultivate in your own home. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Heaven’s Elect abides by this belief and seeks to support children’s spiritual wellbeing by providing a safe, accepting, and nurturing environment where they can learn new skills while growing in their relationship with God.
Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland childcare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.
Read MoreFirst Steps in Learning: The Benefits of Infant Childcare
Whether you’re a first-time parent or have a few years of parenting under your belt, sending your infant to childcare can feel scary at first. However, infant childcare programs are specifically designed to cultivate your little one’s early developmental milestones, all while providing peace of mind to parents that your child is completely safe and cared for no matter their age.
One of the most critical benefits of utilizing infant childcare is that it provides a safe space for early learning skills. Through Heaven’s Elect’s infant programming, your little one can begin to learn basic hand signs to communicate, and can begin exploring colors, textures, and sounds. Through this process, children also begin to develop gross and fine motor skills that promote independence later in their growth.
Starting your child in childcare early also starts cultivating their socialization skills. Babies are naturally curious and social, and introducing them to other children early on can develop the building blocks little ones need to create positive and healthy peer relationships as they get older. Childcare provides a unique opportunity for this type of peer socialization that children may not normally experience at home.
Our team of teachers are also uniquely experienced with working with infants and specialize in helping to form caregiver bonds. Basic needs like food and sleep are provided in structured routines while your child can practice learning to trust their caretakers and meet their developmental milestones.
Entrusting your little one to a childcare center can be a big step, and it’s important to consider the unique needs of you and your family. However, choosing to utilize a trusted and experienced agency like Heaven’s Elect can make this process much smoother. Here, your child’s safety, development, and comfort are our top priority, and we value close communication with parents to ensure your family’s needs are being met.
Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland childcare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.
Read MoreNurturing Social Bonds in Childcare
Childcare centers provide so much more for children than simply childcare. They’re also a safe space for children to develop their social skills and cultivate friendships with other children! For many little ones, childcare actually plays an important developmental role in relationship-building skills and helping children get along with one another. Here are a few key social benefits of childcare:
Social Interactions
While home is the first place a child starts to build relationships and learn to interact with others, childcare offers a uniquely structured environment where children can develop skills for interacting with peers rather than just family members. In childcare, children begin to experience important social interactions like sharing, taking turns, and working together with others their own age. This is extremely important as children learn new ways to work with and collaborate positively with others!
Conflict Resolution
Conflict is inevitable at every age, but learning how to handle conflicts respectfully with the support of adult caretakers and teachers is instrumental for children’s social development! In childcare, children learn how to navigate disagreements, express their feelings more clearly, and work through problems. These conflict resolution skills not only build stronger social bonds, but also increase emotional intelligence at a young age.
Cultivating Friendships
Every person, at every age, benefits from friendships. For children, finding peers with shared interests or hobbies can make all the difference when developing a sense of inclusivity and belonging! Childcare is often when children begin to form friendships with their peers, mainly through shared activities or playtime.
Understanding Diversity
Childcare centers bring together children and families from all types of backgrounds, and introducing your children to different cultures, languages, beliefs, and experiences can have a profound impact on their ability to relate to others. Children who play and learn in a diverse environment are better able to appreciate differences and celebrate uniqueness, and they learn important communication skills regarding tolerance and understanding.
Building effective communication and relationship-building skills are critical developmental milestones for children. In childcare, your child is able to learn how to interact with and understand others on a deeper level, building a stronger foundation for blossoming into respectful, friendly, and well-rounded adults!
Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland childcare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.
Read MoreBeyond Babysitting: Five Key Benefits of Childcare
As a parent, the idea of leaving your child in a new environment with new people can feel overwhelming at first. However, Childcare is a staple in many families’ lives as a means of promoting healthy work/life balance and providing working parents with a safe, dependable space for their child to learn and play. Let’s look at five key benefits of Childcare:
Educational Building Blocks
For many children, Childcare is a crucial precursor to school! Childcare programs offer diverse educational activities and programs that help children to learn, grow, and develop. Early exposure to numbers, letters, reading, and peer relationships not only aids in cognitive development, but also prepares your child for the structure and expectations of school classrooms.
Socialization
Building social relationships is a major benefit of enrolling your child into a trusted Childcare program. Being able to play and interact with other children from a young age helps teach crucial relationship skills like sharing, communicating, and cooperating. A bonus is that these socialization skills carry over into your home life as well!
Structure
Children thrive best when introduced to structure and routine early in life, and Childcare programs are great for creating a consistent and stable environment for kids! Following a regular routine of activities, play, snacks, and sleep can help manage children’s behavior and pave the way for the stricter structure of formal schooling.
Exposure
One of the key benefits of Childcare is that your child is introduced to a diverse array of other children from different backgrounds. Being exposed to different lifestyles, cultures, and communities can be extremely beneficial for children’s development, as it teaches them how to celebrate differences and learn new skills in inclusivity and respect.
Parental Peace of Mind
While Childcare programs offer a vast number of benefits to children, they also benefit parents! Choosing a trusted and reputable Childcare center allows you, as a parent, to handle your daily responsibilities and errands with peace of mind that your child is safe, engaged, happy, and healthy!
Heaven’s Elect Christian Learning Center is a Non-denominational Christian childcare center fully licensed by the state of Michigan. Our Midland childcare center has been serving the community since 2000. Please contact us at heavenselect.com.
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