NUACHTÁN KINDER | April 2021

What is early stimulation? and What are the benefits of it?

From Miss Selene Mora’s desk 

We will divide this into two parts: stimulation, which develops to the maximum the psychic, motor, emotional and social capacities of children, and early stimulation, where the aim is to take advantage of the capacity to adapt and the ability to learn, that characterizes the brain of children between 0 and 6 years of age.

It is recommended to start from 45 days of birth, because at this age group, cognitive, emotional, and physical abilities are developed and mature, for example: language, memory, perception, spatial sense, motor skills and reasoning.

Experts claim that early stimulation leads to changes that are enhanced by the intense neuronal plasticity that occurs during these ages (0-6 years) and its correct use, helps to become an adult with cognitive attributes that benefit the quality of life (academic, work, personal, among others), as Albert Schweitzer said: «taking advantage of the right time is the key to life».

It focuses on the development of the following areas:

MOTOR: Necessary control and coordination over muscles.

COGNITIVE: Reasoning, comprehension, and reaction capacity.

EMOTIONAL: Security, independence, and sociability.

LANGUAGE: Communication with words or sounds.

SOME OF THE BENEFITS:

• Motivates the sensitive capacity through sensations and body-exterior relationships (others and objects).
• Cultivates the perceptive skills through the knowledge of movements and body response.
• Organizes the ability of movements represented or expressed through signs, symbols, plans and the use of real and imaginary objects.
• Enables infants to discover and express their abilities through creative action and the expression of emotion.
• Expands and values self-identity and self-esteem.
• Creates confidence in expressing themselves, in a variety of ways, as a valuable, unique, and irreplaceable being.
• Creates an awareness of others, a respect for their presence and their space.

SOME MYTHS:

• Early stimulation speeds up processes, false. Early stimulation orients and facilitates processes.
• Stimulation accelerates my child, false. It helps him/her to channel his/her energy in a systematic way.
• Stimulation is for children with special needs, false. It is for all children.

Human beings learn by interacting with the different stimuli around them. Therefore, the development of our skills will be better the earlier we start. So, I invite you to enjoy the benefits of early stimulation, you will not regret it.

Visits within the Inquiry Unit

Children are natural inquirers from birth; they have the capacity to learn about, interact with and interpret the world around them.

There is a sustained, complex, and dynamic interplay between learning and development that requires a well-considered early years educational experience for young children.

By actively facilitating students’ ability to construct meaning, the physical and social environment fosters children’s participation in enriching ways that respond to their developmental level.

For this reason, it is important to have the support of the members of our community or specialists, to make the connections that allow them to understand and develop the learning experiences within our units of inquiry, this helps our students to get a more real approach to the topics they are working on.

During the work on our third unit of inquiry, K1 and K2 students had the opportunity to have virtual visits from some specialists.

Bonds that give life

Laura Elena Gerdingh – Degree in Psychology | M.A. Psychoanalysis

For young children, the most important thing in life are their parents, because they are the source of all their well-being, security, physical and emotional well-being, and survival.

When this bond is strong and healthy, it conveys that the child is a valuable, capable person who deserves to be loved. This will accompany them through the rest of their lives and will be a fundamental part of the bonds that are created between them and the people they are surrounded by.

Although this bond is created and determined in the first years of life, from birth to 4-5 years of age; we have the possibility of nurturing it throughout life.

Here are some ideas to strengthen it:

1.- Express the love you feel for your child by telling him/her that you love him/her, with hugs, kisses, and cuddles.

2.- Give yourself time to look at them, listen to them, connect, without any interruption. Let them know they are important and that they have your full attention.

3.- Have very precise limits to take care of their well-being.

4.- On days when there are moments of tension and conflict between you, look for a moment to express your affection before going to sleep.

5.- On days when you feel too tired, tense, nervous, worried or any feeling that leads you to not being able to be with your child in a loving way, take a break to reconnect with yourself, give yourself a moment.

Being a mom/dad is the most important job in this world, as you receive a dependent, fragile, and vulnerable being and it is your job to present to society with a being of good, someone grateful and helpful to him/her and others, who loves and respects himself/herself and extends this to those around him/her.

Parents who solve everything for their children, possible consequences

Specialists are alarmed because the new generations are experiencing an overcompensation and overprotection that is being taken to the extreme and that can affect the social, personal, and cognitive development of our little ones. Parents who solve everything for their children are causing them harm without even realizing it.

It is a fact that as parents we always seek the welfare of our children, however, it is also essential to provide them with a little autonomy so that children can make their own mistakes and learn to interact with the world around them.

How do I affect my child if I solve everything in his/her life?

Parents who solve everything for their children often believe that they are taking care of them or trying to do more for them; however, this excessive attention can lead to problems related to self-esteem and the way in which they relate to the world.

‘A child to whom we do everything, will grow up thinking he or she is not capable of doing anything’, explains Rosa Rasche, educator in positive discipline and respectful parenting.

Even though there is now more information regarding the upbringing of children, this same bombardment is what makes parents believe that «they are better» at preventing their children from experiencing negative situations; however, this effect is also counterproductive on a personal level.

This expert mentions that many parents prefer to do things themselves for their children, largely because of the rush of life nowadays and because of the fear that they will suffer pain or harm.

To provide more security to your children you only need to follow this advice

According to studies, overprotection causes children to generate an insecure attachment in which they believe they are not capable of performing the tasks or challenges of life because of the situation created in the family nucleus.

It is essential, according to psychologists, not to transmit their own fears to their children and let them also make small mistakes, always letting them know that as parents, you «will be there for them».

Trusting and allowing children to practice will be the only way to make children more independent. Experts in positive parenting indicate that it is advisable to allow children to be the ones to ask for help, eliminate unnecessary assistance and intervene less in their lives.

Signs that a child needs more love and affection

We know that our children don’t miss a detail of our behavior, so we have a great mission with them: to be the best parents, for them and for us. Our children value our love, attention, and care according to the time we dedicate to them.

The lack of love and affection can have negative consequences for their development and education, so we must pay attention to the signs that show they are not receiving enough affectionate attention.

• The child develops fear of abandonment:
Children who do not feel loved are afraid of being abandoned, as they feel they are not important. Living under that fear will determine a way of being that will lead them to develop adult relationships in which emotional dependence or lack of self-esteem will predominate in their life.

• The child tries to get attention:
Remember that a bad behavior is a claim of an inner need and it is likely that this need is the lack of affection.

• The child feels sad:
The third sign is more evident, and it is shown when the child feels sad, apathetic, or angry in a continuous way. These are symptoms that, prolonged in time, can approach the effects of depression. Something similar happens with the fear of abandonment we were talking about before.

• There is a decrease in school performance:
They will not be interested in what they are studying or the activity they are doing .

• They will use negative language:
They will use a defeatist, negative language, full of discouragement.

Now, remember to observe the behavior that we are having as parents. That is, if I’m not paying attention to my child, it’s because something is going on with me, so before I fix the situation with my child, I need to take care of me and figure out what I can do better as a parent. Signs that a child needs more love and affection.

The importance of sensory stimulation in children

Did you know that your children’s learning becomes meaningful through what they see, touch, feel, hear, etc.? It is through their senses that they can promote the input of information to their brain, stimulating the brain areas that allow them to receive information, and which in turn trigger the brain devices that activate other cerebral areas so that the information is analyzed, processed, and general and specific learning circuits are initiated.

Deficiencies or lack of stimulation in the first year of a baby’s life can have consequences in the optimal development of motor, cognitive, linguistic, and social skills. Some of the main causes are lack of time and parental fatigue, because of work demands and the massive access to the use of technologies.

How can we encourage sensory stimulation of our children?

• Increasing contact: skin to skin
• Generate sensory experiences in everyday life: reading stories, singing songs, bathing the baby, imitating baby noises, holding the baby, etc.
• Playing is the most significant activity in early childhood, through which we can enhance and develop children’s abilities and skills.
• Outdoor exploration: feeling the wind, exploring nature, etc.
• Multiple sensory stimulation, exploring through the senses with varied objects of different textures, remaining safe and with possibilities for play. Manipulation of objects (stacking, piling, grouping, opening, and closing), as well as experimentation with different sensory stimuli. Sensory development in people goes hand in hand with learning, even before birth.

Sounds, smells, colors, and touch allow the child to learn about the world and construct meanings from it, so it is important to create spaces that allow exploration, curiosity, and experimentation.

Happy Birthday!

In April we celebrate:

• 20th – Miss Tere Muñoz

• 29th – Miss Samantha Vázquez

Dates to remember

• APRIL 1st to 9th – Easter Holiday

• APRIL 12th – CTE

• APRIL 13th – Students Return to School

• APRIL 17th – ‘Cosecha un Libro’

• APRIL 30th – Children’s Day Celebration