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    April 18

    Self-Esteem fof children

    I read this as a background notes for parents at the end of a children's book entitled "Whn I'm Feeling Sad". This note was written by a Mebourne child psychologist. Thought it was very helpful notes.
     
    The greatest gift you can give your child is healthy self-esteem. Children who feel valuable, and who trust themselves have positive self-esteem. You can help your child feel valuable by spending quality time with him or her, playing games, reading books, or just listening. You can also help children feel valuable by helping them discover and become the person they want to be. Success follows people who genuinely like who they are.
     
    However, happiness is more than just being successful. Helping you child gain they self-trust needed to deal with failure, loss, shame, difficulty and defeat is as important-if not more so- than succeeding or being best. When children trust themselves to handle painful feelings- fear, anger and sadness- they gain an inner security that allows them to embrace the world in which they live.
     
    Talking about feelings teachers children that it is normal to feel sad, or angry, or scared at times. With greater tolerance of painful feelings, children become free to enjoy their world, to feel secure in their abilities, and to be happy.
    April 09

    The Hundred languages of children

    This is a lovely poem about children and how we as adults can sometimes crush their creativity...
     
    No Way: The Hundred is there
     
    The child
    is made of one hundred.
    The child has
    a hundred languages
    a hundred hands
    a hundred thoughts
    a hundred ways of thinking
    of playing, of speaking.
    A hundred always a hundred
    ways of listening
    of marveling of loving
    a hundred joys
    for singing and understanding
    a hundred worlds
    to discover
    a hundred worlds
    to invent
    a hundred worlds
    to dream.
    The child has
    ahundred languages
    (and a hundred hundred hundred more)
    but they steal ninety-nine.
    The school and the culture
    separate the head from the body
    They tell the child:
    to think without hands
    to do without head
    to listen and not to speak
    to understand without joy
    to love and to marvel
    only at Easter and Christmas.
    They tell the child:
    to discover the world already there
    and of they hundred
    they steal ninety-nine.
    They tell the child:
    that work and play
    reality and dantasy
    sceince and imagination
    sky and earth
    reason and dream
    are things
    that do not belong toegther.
     
    And thus they tell the child
    the hundred is not there.
    The child says:
    No way. The hundrend is there.
     
     
                                - Loris Malaguzzi
     
    *Translated by Lella Gandini
     
     
    April 03

    Potty Training

    Alright...unless you are a parent yourself or you have been involved in a child's potty training, you render this entry totally useless...for those who are going through the ordeal...here's something that may help you(though i have known parents who have tried everything, and nothing seems to work!!). The trick is DO NOT GIVE UP!!! Think of all the money you will save when your child is potty trained and you won't have to buy a diaper ever!!! This link has some useful tips!
     
    Hope this will help!
     
     
     
     
    April 01

    Tips with working with children: Cornflour paste

    This is really simple and great tip that i found in a craft book for children. This cornflour paste is really useful and its cheap and easy to make.
     
    Mix about 2 tablespoons of cornflour with enough cold water to form a paste in a saucepan. Add in 1 cup of water and cook on the stove until it reaches custard consistency. Store in the refrigerator. Add to ordinary paint for fingerpainting; add in food colouring and use as an economical extender for apint; use as a paper glue or use in papier mache.