One of the biggest challenges in raising kids is learning to parent well—OK, reasonably well—when you’re angry. Raising children is inherently emotional. And that means we’re sometimes parenting under the influence of anger and its cousins – frustration, resentment, and irritation. When you think about it, a fair number of [...]
As a child, I loved worms. I remember collecting them off my driveway after a good rain, and digging for them in the mud at other times during the year. There was something so wonderful about holding that wiggling worm on your hand and watching it transform into shapes, letters, [...]
One of my favourite things to do on the weekend is to go out for brunch, especially with family members or friends. It often becomes the perfect time to connect with people. After my subitizing learning focus over a year ago now, brunch outings also offer new opportunities to add [...]
By Melissa Raine During a recent ski holiday in Japan, I had the opportunity to experience an onsen, a hot springs pool where the venerable Japanese tradition of communal bathing is practiced. Bathers are often but not always segregated according to sex. Strict codes of conduct support both respect for [...]
As a Kindergarten teacher, I understand the value of dramatic play. I know that students communicate much of their thinking and learning in this way. There are so many opportunities for oral language, including the development of new vocabulary, as part of dramatic play. But the truth is, I rarely like [...]
The Self-Reg educator or parent seeks to understand, rather than manage a child’s behaviour. In effect, what is being reframed here is what it means to see the Kindergarten teacher as a professional and not a glorified baby-sitter: someone who has been trained to ask the right kind of “Why” and has [...]
By John Hoffman In a past blog I suggested that the most important single factor in good parenting was not sensitivity, not parenting skills, but support—feeling well supported in your role as parent. Parents who feel well supported tend to parent better. That’s very Self-Reg isn’t it? Social support is [...]
Kindergarten marks a major transition in children’s lives: from being coddled infants to being treated as responsible individuals. They are students now, and as such they have to meet certain expectations, as noted in an article published on education.com: “He can follow the lead of a teacher and will honor [...]
By: Alison Cass Ronald,* age five, is an empathetic and hard working child. His parents have taught him love, kindness and compassion. Each day he works harder than most children in my kindergarten class. Ronald comes to school with a smile on his face—and one of heaviest backpacks in our [...]
My mom closed her eyes for the last time on a Sunday night last September and she took her last breath almost 5 days later. Over a short series of blogs to follow, I will share some personal reflections on the five steps of Self-Reg as practices that helped me [...]