Greetings

Hello everyone, welcome to our October newsletter! As always, we provide an overview of what is happening within our childcare community. This month, we will focus on  helping young children cope with fear and anxiety this Halloween!

It’s that spooky time of year again when the streets are filled with little ghosts and goblins, and the shops are stocked with all sorts of frightening Halloween goodies. While the holiday can be loads of fun for kids, it can also bring up big feelings like fear and anxiety in little ones. As parents and early childhood educators, it’s important to help our little ones navigate these emotions in a healthy way. 

Let’s meet fear and anxiety in a better way, exploring strategies for understanding big emotions, facing fears, handling anxiety with healthy coping mechanisms, separating fantasy from reality, and seeking support. 

Understanding Fear and Anxiety

Children have fear as a basic emotion. Our bodies can have a quite intense physical reaction to help us deal with danger. Familiarising kids with how they express fear when they feel it can help them identify it as soon as symptoms occur. From their hearts racing, their palms getting sweaty, shorter breaths, and even feeling butterflies in their tummies, children can be taught to tune into these sensations so they can recognise when they’re feeling afraid. You can even play a game where you act out different emotions and have them guess which one you’re feeling based on body language and facial expressions.

Facing Fears

One of the best ways to overcome fears is to face them head-on. But for young kids, it’s important to take it slow and steady. Encourage them to confront their fears gradually, starting with less scary situations and working their way up. For example, if your child is afraid of spiders, you could start by looking at pictures of cute, fuzzy spiders before moving on to seeing them in real life.

Role-playing is another way to help kids face their fears. Act out scenarios where characters are scared of something, like a big loud dog, but then they use their imagination, bravery and problem-solving skills to overcome their fear. Talk about how the characters felt and what they did to stay safe and calm. You can even have your kids come up with their own stories and act them out together. 

Coping Strategies

When fear and anxiety strike, it’s important for kids to have a plan for how to cope. Work with kids on their “fear plan”, and list up coping strategies such as taking deep breaths, talking to a trusted adult, or squeezing a stress ball. Practise these strategies in a role-play so that when fearful or anxiety-inducing situations arise, children can have the memory of their fear plan and strategies.

Separating Fantasy from Reality

As Halloween approaches, children are bombarded with a lot of fantastical pretend representations of scary, if not haunting, characters. It’s great fuel for nightmares. And this is where a good explanation of what’s real versus fantasy comes in. It’s important to have honest conversations about the difference between things that are imaginary and, like monsters under the bed, and things that are real. Explain that while pretend things can seem scary, they can’t actually hurt you.

It’s also a good idea to designate safe spaces in your home or centre where children can go if they feel afraid, like your room or a nook with their favourite toys. Let them know that these areas are off-limits to any scary Halloween decorations or costumes. That way, they always have a place to retreat when they need to feel safe and secure. 

Seeking Support

Make children feel secure by letting them know it’s okay to feel afraid at times. Encourage them to tell you or a trusted adult when they feel fear and anxiety. As a parent or early childhood educator, offer plenty of comfort and reassurance. Give them a big hug, and remind them you’re there to protect them against whatever it is that gives them fear or anxiety. 

The Takeaway

Fear and anxiety are part and parcel of basic emotions we feel as human beings. But these emotions can be too much at times, especially for children. With their big emotions at this time of the year when the cobwebs go up and spiders put up are gigantic, it can just be absolutely overwhelming. So go out there and show those Halloween fears who’s boss! With a little bit of preparation and a whole lot of love, we can help our little ones have a spooktacular time this Halloween! 

0-12 month development

Whooping cough can be deadly for young babies. Vaccination is our best defence

Authors: Phoebe Williams, Archana Koirala, Katie Louise Flanagan and Margie Danchin

Whooping cough is making a comeback after years of health measures such as social distancing and masking prevented it from spreading to babies. However, since most babies have little to no immunity to whooping cough, cases are rising. 

Read more about how whooping cough can be prevented through immunisation here.

1-2 year development

Here’s exactly how to try ‘responsive feeding’ with toddlers

Author: Paula Cerqueira, MS, RDN

As you transition your toddler from milk to semi-solids and solid food, it can be quite tricky to get them accustomed to various food textures and tastes. This is where responsive feeding comes in wherein you let them eat and explore at their own pace. It might be messy, the floor may get more than its fair share of the food than your toddler but it’ll certainly help in ensuring you won’t have a picky eater.

Find out how to exactly use ‘responsive feeding’ as part of your food training for your toddler here.

2-3 year development

‘Tricks and mind games’: The real reason your kids won’t put down their device

Author: Chris Zomer and Sumudu Mallawaarachchi

Do you have a hard time separating your toddler from their gadgets? It’s because designers have made it with our internal reward system in mind. When rewards in the form of stickers, stars, diamonds, or badges are handed out, children’s reward centres in the brain light up like a firework display. Dopamine hits and they just want to get more of it.

Read on to find out what parents and early childhood educators can do to prevent children from clinging on to their gadgets here

3-4 year development

Picky eating in kids is mostly due to genetics, study says

Author: Christina Marfice

It turns out that 74% of picky eaters aged three to 13 years old can be explained by their DNA. Researchers set out to find how picky eating is influenced by comparing 2500 sets of twins. 

Read on and find out where your child is getting enough sleep and its consequences here.

4-5 year development

Kids are digital natives. They have ideas to help protect children from being harmed online

Author: Faith Gordon

Kids have grown up in a world where digital technology is a basic part of their life. Children has incorporated it as part of their socialisation process and with it comes new forms of harm. As digital natives, children also know best on what ought to be done to protect themselves from these online dangers. Part of it is “digital siblingship” where children guide their peers and younger children on how to navigate the online world in a safe manner. 

Find more about these digital natives’ ideas on how to safeguard their generations from online harms here.

Halloween Magic Milk Experiment

Put a Halloween twist to your magic milk experiment by using Halloween food colouring extracts. Mix and match basic colours first to achieve orange, black and purple colours. After which kids can practise their fine motor skills by using pipettes to drop colours onto their milk dishes, creating jack o’ lanterns, ghosts or spiders. 

Find the steps on how to make this Halloween Magic Milk experiment here.

Make a Book Invitation to Play

Do you have shy kids in your class? Or do they sometimes run out of games to play? In this activity, children will create their own book, filled with their own ideas, decoration, and content! This activity will have them use scissors, improving their hand dexterity, hand-eye coordination, hand strength, and grip. 

See the steps in making a play book here.

How to Make a Bug Hotel Craft: Fun Craft for Kids

Let your little ones get creative by scavenging for pieces that can create a bug hotel. Let them look for twigs, stones, moss, dried grass, pebbles and whatever else they think might fit a bug hotel. In this activity, they’ll have to use their observational skills, and exercise their creativity.

Find the steps on how to construct a bug hotel 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.