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Washing Dishes

The “Do It Now” Approach

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Procrastinating is a natural part of development for some children. Though it’s not the best quality to have, you should expect it as a parent and be ready to help your child grow out of it. Getting children to stop procrastinating is not always easy, but teaching your child the “Do it now” approach can help guide them through the process.

Why Children Procrastinate

The reason procrastination occurs is not that simple. Children don’t always procrastinate because they’re lazy. There are many reasons children could procrastinate.

Most times, when you ask your child to do something, they don’t follow through because the task doesn’t seem relevant to them. The idea of having to stop what they’re doing to put their toys away or make their bed, or something else that isn’t important in their mind, lowers the chances of your child completing the task.

Sometimes your child’s attention is divided between things they like to do. Sometimes children aren’t always fully conscious of what you ask them, so it may seem like your child is forgetful!

The bottom line is that procrastination is not always a character flaw. It can be changed with guidance and practice.

The “Do It Now” Approach

The solution to procrastination could be using the “Do it now” approach. The “Do it now” approach states that the longer you wait to do a quick chore, the harder it becomes.

When your child remembers a chore you asked them to complete, they should learn to complete the task immediately. Generally, what you ask your child to do is a simple task. By telling your child to complete the task as soon as possible, your child will begin to view the task as relevant and will learn that they should not put it off in the future.

Nobody likes to be interrupted during their free time. Encouraging your child to go the extra step when completing a task can make a world of difference!

“Do It Now” at Home

Let’s look at a few examples. Washing dishes is such a boring and time-consuming chore, especially when there’s a mountain of plates to clean. Teach your child to rinse their silverware after every meal. It takes less than a minute, without interrupting free-time, and helps develop a habit of cleaning up after themselves.

Another example of an easy chore to teach is taking out the trash. When your child is throwing something away and they notice the garbage bag is almost totally full, you can show them how to shove down the trash to make space or walk the bag outside.

Starting Early

Starting early on in your child’s development is the key to making the “Do it now” approach stick. Having your child put their toy away before they take another one out makes the transition between play-time and clean-up time almost seamless. Imagine, your child playing and putting things back in the correct place, at the same time!

The “Do it now” approach can be a very helpful developmental tool for parents of preschoolers and young children. It can build healthy habits that will combat procrastination and offer your child benefits that will serve them well in the future.

 

How Parker-Chase Battles Procrastination

At Parker-Chase Preschool, we dedicate ourselves to helping each child realize their fullest potential through a broad curriculum, opportunities to build responsibility and a personalized approach to the teaching/learning process.

Manners

Manners Make a Difference

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Manners seem to be in short supply nowadays. Where did minding our P’s and Q’s go? Sometimes it may seem like nobody holds the door open or covers their mouth when they sneeze anymore, which means guiding our children to be polite and courteous should make it back onto our parenting radar. Manners are almost always appreciated in most social interactions and are tools that help instill self-worth in every individual. And with good manners on their side, your children will usually make a good impression on classmates, teachers and anyone else who meets them.

Here are 5 ways in which you can help your child mind their manners:

1. Saying “Please” and “Thank you.”

This is one of the oldest courtesies in the book, and probably the first one your child should learn. “Please” lets people know they can be helpful somehow, and “Thank you” shows people how much their assistance is appreciated; if your child wants people to think of them in the same way, the first step is to say it for others. Practice this at home with your children until it becomes a natural habit. Show them how nice it is to hear “Please” and “Thank you” from them when they say it, and be sure to use it with them too.

2. Sharing is caring.

You’ve probably heard this saying time and time again, and yes – there is some truth to it! While some things might be too precious for children to part ways with, try to model behaviors of sharing whenever possible. No, we don’t have to share every single thing. But we should make it a point to share as much as we can when we can.

3. Apologizing.

Saying, “I’m sorry” communicates more to others than just asking for pardon. The value of apologizing only works when your children stop to reflect on what they did, realize it was not right, and try not to do it again.

Teach your children that they should always apologize if they do something that hurts another individual, either physically or emotionally. Even when they just can’t see what they did wrong, show them that apologizing makes everything better, faster. In time, and with instruction, they will begin to understand the importance of apologizing. Hopefully, they will learn not to do it again.

4. Making eye contact.

Looking directly into someone’s eyes when they speak shows the person that you care about what they have to say. And everyone wants to feel like what they have to say is worth paying attention to. A good way to start practicing this with your child is by asking them to notice the color of a person’s eyes and to report it to you later after the conversation has ended.

5. Hand-shaking.

It might be uncomfortable for some children to make physical contact with strangers, but it’s a sign of trust that will carry on through the rest of their professional and personal lives. You can teach them this trick to remember how to shake hands properly: show them the web of your hand (the area between your thumb and pointer finger) and explain to your children that they should touch the web of their hand to web of the other individual’s hand.

 

Remember, practice makes perfect! Incorporating these teaching methods in your every-day life will ensure the development of manners and the full potential of your child’s character.

How Parker-Chase handles Manners

At Parker-Chase Preschool, we believe that manners instill gratitude rather than a sense of entitlement. Our caring and dedicated staff practices manners and gracious behavior with your children by letting them experience real social interactions. Through these hands-on lessons, Parker-Chase can ensure the development of the whole child; from physical to emotional and social growth, we make sure the worth and potential of each child is developed fully.

Love

How to Keep Kids Learning After School

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When your child steps foot outside of the classroom at the end of the school day, learning doesn’t stop. Children are constantly receiving an informal education from their environment, and from what parents teach them at home. Learning through experiences outside of the classroom helps children build bridges between theory and reality. By allowing children to be curious and explore the world around them in different ways, we provide the opportunity to engage their “natural learner” within.

Here are some simple ways you can help your child learn after school and outside of the classroom:

Play family-style games.

Young children often learn best through play experiences. Games such as Uno are great learning opportunities that can be played together as a family. Playing Uno reinforces numbers and colors, and teaches young kids some important skills such as pattern recognition and the relationship between numbers and objects. Older kids will also benefit from lessons in logic, reasoning and strategy.

Bingo is another fun option for a family game night. Bingo sharpens a child’s listening and memory skills, and aids in the ability to visualize shapes and objects and match them on a card. These skills will help children improve their reading and math abilities.

Board games such as Scrabble are great for advancing a child’s spelling, vocabulary, and literacy skills. For older kids, it also teaches math skills as they learn how to add up the points and strategize to create the words that will earn them the most points.

Exercise together.

Exercising is a great way to teach your child about the importance of keeping your body healthy. Whether you decide to go rock-climbing or play a game of basketball, exercising is a great way to emphasize the importance of staying physically active. Exercising through sports like soccer and softball are also a great way to build teamwork skills and teach lessons about adhering to rules.

Exercising doesn’t have to be too strenuous. It can be as peaceful as doing yoga, which teaches mindfulness, or as simple as walking the dog together as a family, which teaches responsibility.

Take your child with you to run errands.

Taking your child out with you, whether it’s to the grocery store or the dry cleaner, is a great opportunity for your child to spend one-on-one time with you. As they take in the world around them and see how you react to different situations, they learn valuable lessons from these real world experiences. Children often learn by imitation, so this is a great way for you to role model appropriate behaviors and establish certain values that you want your children to learn.

Learning after school at Parker-Chase

At Parker-Chase Preschool, our after school program is a great way to keep kids learning after normal school hours. Designed for school-aged children, our after school program is designed to foster peer connections, friendships, alliances, and responsibility. Offering a comfortable group atmosphere and creative learning environment, the program features weekly thematic units integrated into the schedule. After students complete their homework during the scheduled homework/study time period, they are free to play with any of the craft supplies, puzzles, board games, or manipulative toys that our classrooms are well-stocked with. We encourage our students to use their imaginations and engage in creative play that makes learning fun for everyone!

 

Childcare

Surprising Childcare Discipline Solutions that Just Might Work

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Are your typical discipline techniques just not cutting it anymore? Many parents and childcare experts have become extremely creative with the tactics they use to keep the peace in the household or the classroom – and you can too! Remember, each child is different. So what might work for one of your children, may not work for another. What’s important is to keep trying new tricks until you find the ones that work.

Here are some interesting solutions that might save your sanity in the long run:

For cleaning up a mess:

Let your children know that whenever they leave their personal belongings around the house in places they’re not supposed to be, pick them up and put them in a large box or sack. Do not give anything back to them until the end of the week, and then instruct them that they will have the option of buying back their belongings. You could charge them 25 cents per item if they want to buy them back. If they choose to leave them there, you can take them and donate them to Goodwill or a local charity.

This practice will not only teach your child to put their things away next time, but it will also teach them two other important concepts – the value of money and appreciation of their belongings.

For doing chores:

As much as you love them, sometimes kids can slow you down when you are trying to do housework. They may want your attention, ask you for your help in finding something, or want you to play with them. When this happens, you can give them a choice – if they want to be around you while you are doing chores, then they must help you with the chores you are working on.  If they don’t want to help, they must go elsewhere. The key is that they are not allowed to stay and just distract you.

This tactic works with either option that your children may choose. If they choose option one, then you get some extra help with the chores. If they choose option two, then you get some peace and quiet while you do your housework. Just be sure they still have their own age-appropriate chores and/or responsibilities they must do on their own time around the house to contribute to the household!

For your relaxation:

If you’re trying to relax but being bombarded with shouting, singing, banging and noisy clamor, try this quick solution. Simply tell your children that they are free to be as noisy as they want, just not here.  If your children are whining, pouting or throwing a tantrum, tell them that you’re ready to listen when they’re ready to calm down and talk.

For bedtimes:

Many childcare experts and parents agree that the trick to getting your children to go to bed without a hassle is to stick to some kind of bedtime routine. To make this routine go as smoothly as possible, and to give yourself a few hours of downtime before you go to sleep yourself, try implementing a new policy in your house. For instance, you could eliminate screen time at least one hour prior to bed time and replace it with an hour of reading books. Electronic devices are well-known for emitting a blue light that prevents the body’s natural release of the sleep hormone melatonin. Reading on the other hand is a relaxing activity perfect for helping children put themselves to sleep.

How we discipline at Parker-Chase:

At Parker-Chase Preschool, our childcare professionals use positive reinforcement and individualized discipline techniques that are consistent for each child when necessary. We make sure that the discipline methods we use are appropriate to the child’s level of understanding. Most importantly, we make sure that our teachers use only positive methods of disciple that encourage self-esteem, self-control, and self-direction. Some of these methods include using redirecting behavior and positive statements, focused on the praise and encouragement of good behavior rather than unacceptable behavior.