Greetings

Hello everyone, welcome to our December newsletter! As always, we provide an overview of what is happening within our childcare community. This month, we will focus on celebrating achievements and setting goals with children.

As the year comes to a close, it’s a wonderful time of the year to look back and celebrate children’s achievements while also setting new goals for the coming year. This process helps children recognise how far they have come and encourages them to think about their aspirations and plan steps to achieve them.

The Importance of Celebrating Achievements

Celebrating achievements, no matter how small or big, gives a boost to a child’s self-esteem. It reinforces their positive behaviour, and motivates them to continue striving for their goals.

1. Foster a growth mindset.

Recognising achievements helps children understand that hard work and perseverance lead to success. This fosters a growth mindset, encouraging them to embrace challenges and learn from failures.

2. Encourage positive behaviour.

Celebrating successes boosts children’s confidence. When children see their efforts and positive behaviour recognised, they are more likely to repeat these positive behaviours.

3. Strengthen family relationships.

These achievements can be a cause for celebration which in turn create shared experience that strengthens family bonds. It allows families to come together, reflect on their journey, and support each other in future endeavours.

Ways to Celebrate Achievements

Here are some creative ways to celebrate children’s achievements:

1. Achievement Wall or Board

Creating an “Achievement Wall” or “Celebration Board” at home or in the classroom can serve as a visual reminder of all the successes they have achieved. This is where they can display their artwork, certificates, or photos of special moments.

2. Personalised Certificates

Giving a tactile representation of their achievement in a personalised certificate can certainly make a child feel proud of their achievement while also validating their successes with a token.

3. Goal-setting Journals

The feeling of having a record of their achievements and ticking off boxes can be equally encouraging for children. Encourage them to reflect on not only their achievements but also on what they have learned every step of the way.

Engaging Children in Goal-Setting

To children who are very much in the now and present, the future might seem an abstract word that’s far away. Goal-setting helps them develop their focus, determination, decision-making, and planning skills. Here are the steps on how parents and educators can help children set their goals for the coming year:

1. Discuss the Importance of Goals

Start by explaining what goals are and why they matter. Use age-appropriate language and examples that children have witnessed in the past or they experienced themselves. This could be when they did a STEM activity to achieve a result, when they solved a puzzle or when they learned how to ride a bike.

2. Reflect on Past Achievements

Knowing which goals are the most important to achieve needs some self-reflection first. Reflecting on what they have accomplished and what needs improvement on can help guide children in which areas they need to focus their attention and goals on. Ask questions like:

• What am I proud of?

• What skills have I developed?

• What challenges did I overcome?

This will show their strengths and weaknesses, and will give them an idea on which ones to try and improve upon.

3. Set SMART Goals

Having a SMART criteria for goal-setting can help in evaluating their goal progress and achievement in the future:

• Specific: clearly-defined goal

• Measurable: how the progress will be measured

• Achievable: a realistic goal is set

• Relevant: a goal based on their interests and values

• Time-bound: set a deadline for achieving the goal

An example of a simple would be, “I want to get better at reading” but a SMART goal will be “I want to improve my reading skills by completing one book each week until the end of the year”.

4. Break Goals into Smaller Steps

Help children break down larger goals into smaller, manageable steps. This makes the process less overwhelming and allows them to have mini-celebrations every time they make progress on their goals.

5. Create Visual Goal Trackers

As children may have shorter attention spans, having a visual cue to remind them of their goal and progress can help remind them where they’re currently at and the milestones they have achieved.

6. Regular Check-ins

Having regular check-ins with children to discuss their progress towards their goals can let you know if the child needs extra support or if they want the goal to be re-aligned. Celebrate successes together and reassess any challenges they may be facing.

Encouraging Resilience Through Goal-Setting

A goal means not only facing success but also setbacks. Goal-setting and facing challenges as they progress is a great way to help build a child’s resilience when faced with challenges. Here are some strategies on how to help children learn how to handle setbacks when pursuing their goals:

1. Emphasise Effort over Outcome

Teach children that effort is just as important as achieving the final result. Praise them for trying hard, and encourage them especially when they don’t succeed right away.

2. Model Resilience

Share your own experiences of overcoming challenges with your child or students. Discuss what you learned from setbacks and how you moved forward. There’s a Bluey episode for this called “Bike”.

3. Encourage Problem-Solving

When faced with obstacles, encourage children to brainstorm solutions rather than giving up. Ask guiding questions such as:

• What could you try next?

• How can you approach this differently?

4. Promote Positive Self-Talk

Help children develop positive self-talk by teaching them self-encouraging phrases when faced with setbacks (e.g., “I can do this,” “I’ll keep trying). Or you can teach them Chili’s checklist!

• Have a cry!

• Pick myself up,…

• … dust myself off,…

• ...and keep going!

Because the show must go on!

This builds a supportive inner dialogue that fosters their resilience.

The Takeaway

As we approach the end of another year, it’s an opportune time to take stock of how far we’ve come and where we want to see ourselves this time next year and for the years to come. To children, this self-reflection doesn’t come naturally, what with their vague sense of the past and future and their preference for the present. 

Helping children realise how far they have come and setting goals for themselves is invaluable to their development. By doing these things, we empower the children with confidence, resilience, and motivation.

Let us all commit to making this festive season one of reflection, celebration and inspiration as we encourage our young ones toward bright futures filled with endless possibilities!

0-12 month development

Language used by mothers affects oxytocin levels of infants

Author: University College London

Researchers found out infants whose mothers label what the baby was feeling had higher levels of oxytocin. Oxytocin, one of the happy hormones, responsible for the development of social bonds including the bond of parent and child, formation of trust and social understanding.

Find out more about this study here.

1-2 year development

8 Montessori-inspired phrases to use for each stage of potty training

Author: Christina Clemer

Getting inspiration from the Montessori way when it comes to potty, or rather toilet, training can give your child more control and sense of ownership on their progress when it comes to toilet training. 

Get more Montessori-inspired phrases for toilet training here.

2-3 year development

How Do I Help My Mad Toddler Express Anger in a Healthier Way?

Author: Emily Edlynn, PhD

A toddler’s capacity to handle anger as a basic emotion can be explosive at first, full of shrill screams, stubborn demands and uncontrollable wails. But there are ways to teach a toddler how to express anger in a healthier, non-harmful way. 

Find out ways you can help your toddler manage her anger in healthier ways here.

3-4 year development

6 things to do if your child’s weight is beyond the ideal range – and 1 thing to avoid

Author: Nick Fuller

Childhood obesity has been on the rise and while parents want to make sure their children grow at a healthy rate, problems that start during childhood can stay throughout their whole lifetime. Making sure your child is growing within the ideal developmental framework can be easy with these 6 easy steps.

Find out the one thing you should avoid to keep your child’s mindset positive and optimistic about their growth here.

How do children learn good manners?

Author: Sophia Waters

Children, unfortunately, do not have an innate capacity to suddenly develop good manners. And in Australian society, good manners such as greeting, requesting, thanking, and apologising are some of the key pillars of good manners. Research shows that modelled behaviour is one of the best ways children can learn, emulate, and acquire these good manners.

Read on to find out how parents can best teach their children good manners here.

Winter Play Dough Recipe

It might not be winter but this activity  certainly can evoke the feeling of a snowy winter feel with this winter play dough recipe. Give kids a play dough fit for the festive season with this recipe.

Read on and find out how to bake a winter play dough here.

Hot Cocoa and Marshmallows Melting Snowman Activity

Turn a drink break into a STEM activity with a sweet twist by this hot cocoa and marshmallows activity. Children can practise their measurement skills, fine motor skills and observational skills as they record their observations about melting snowmen in their cocoa drink.

Find the steps for this delicious cocoa & marshmallow activity here.

New Years Confetti Eruptions

Give children an explosive welcome to the coming new year with this STEM activity. They’ll be able to see chemical reactions and practise their observation skills, measurements, and counting. 

See the steps on creating these festive new years confetti eruptions here.

Enlarge gummy bears to reveal the secrets of osmosis

Gummy bears aren’t just sweet little bear candies, they can also be great teaching partners about osmosis. Using simple ingredients like salt, water, and gummy bears, see which solutions make a gummy bear expand, shrivel or if it stays the same.

See the steps of this osmosis experiment here.