Community at Children’s Country House

by admin on January 28, 2010

Post image for Community at Children’s Country House

Everyone needs to have a feeling of belonging. We belong to our families and then to our community.

At Children’s Country House one of our goals is to foster a sense of community. One way we try to do that is to have get-togethers. It fosters a wonderful feeling of family and is gives us a chance to get to know one another a little better. When the children help cook the Thanksgiving luncheon they learn from the experience how much time, effort and planning it takes to make an community or family event happen.

An important aspect of community is getting to know one another better. The teachers are always getting to know the children. We make an effort to have conversations and in which we just listen. Children have wonderful things to say and it is fun to listen to their ideas even when they are fanciful.

It is always amazing to me when some one publishes statistics showing how little time we spend listening to each other. There are always so many things to do that conversation falls by the wayside. Everybody has a need to be known including children. It is important to listen to them. Community is developed and improved when we listen to one another.

Another aspect of community is learning to get along. When children are part of a classroom they have an opportunity to learn to respect the rights of others. They learn that they need to take turns and to respect the rights of their classmates. We often talk with the children about how they want to be respected and therefore must learn to respect others. That’s the way everyone can have a good time.

Our Christmas party is a great example of our families coming together to support their children. There is something magical for me when there are a lot of people together having a good time.

Popularity: 6% [?]

{ 0 comments }

Raising the Happy Child

by admin on July 6, 2009

Happiness is as warm puppy, that phrase captures our imagination. Puppies do generate good feelings. But happiness needs to be more than fleeting moments of cuteness. It needs to be at the core of a person. So that a person has a positive outlook on life and feels that success is assured with effort and diligence.

These positive feelings can start with a young child. Children can feel positive about choices they are allowed to make. When given the opportunity to choose between good choices, children come to feel they can make good choices, and being allowed to choose gives the a feeling of freedom.

How does choosing bring happiness? Just imagine how you would feel if you could not choose the food you eat, the place you live, your friends, your activities. It would be a bleak existence.

Many children lead this kind of existence. Someone is always making all this choices for them. In school the teacher chooses the book, the project, the schedule of the activities. But they will be missing out on happiness. Happiness is making your own choices.

Popularity: 3% [?]

{ 2 comments }

Violence in Children’s Literature

January 30, 2008

Should children be exposed to any violence in literature? It was suggested to me that it is inappropriate for children to experience any kind of violence in books. Excepting graphic and gratuitous violence as unacceptable at any age, classic tales do contain violent elements at time which lend to the story. When there are witches [...]

Read the full article →

Early Childhood and the Environment

November 13, 2007

Because of all the recent news coverage, everyone’s awareness is heightened about global warming. Many of us understand that we all need to participate in whatever ways we can to help the environment.
I named my preschool Children’s COUNTRY House. Why? I have ALWAYS felt, from the very first time I thought about creating a preschool/daycare [...]

Read the full article →

Developing Creativity in Children

October 22, 2007

Many of the behaviors and attitudes that you want your child to develop are not easily quantifiable. The real Einstein put it this way. “Many of the things you can count, don’t count. Many of the things you can’t count, really count.” One such behavior is imaginative creativity. It is not so much that your [...]

Read the full article →

Want to Raise a Bright Child?

October 6, 2007

Parent’s want to raise bright and intelligent children. So often both parents are working and dealing with the resulting busy schedules. It’s no wonder parents are tempted to seek out and turn t turned to “quick” fixes like the Baby Einstein tapes, etc. But the problem that remains with such a tempting time saving solution [...]

Read the full article →

The Path to a Brighter Child

September 27, 2007

All parents want to have bright children. I know that’s true, because as a parent of tow daughters and the grandmother of three grandsons, I know I did. On my bookshelf are books with tiles like “How to Raise a Brighter Child” and the like. Thus when a series of tapes entitled “Baby Einstein” is [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries