The Art of Building People

Congratulations to all early learning professionals!  I wish you a wonder-filled Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day!  The work you are doing each and every day impacts the children you are working with for a lifetime.  Think about that for a moment…

A lifetime!

All of these small, everyday experiences that we provide in our early learning programs, each and every interaction that we have with the children in our care, every laugh we share with them, every tear we soothe away…this is a great responsibility, and a wonderful opportunity to model for and shape the next generation of decision-makers, innovators, creative thinkers and compassionate human beings.

What impression will you leave on their experience?  How will you involve and support their families?  Whose life will you make a difference in?

Why do you do the work you are doing?

It’s all in their heads!

A baby’s brain is growing rapidly in the first year of life!  Safe, stimulating experiences with caring, responsive adults will help make the connections necessary for continued development.  Check out this video from the Alberta Family Wellness Initiative:

 

Have you seen this website?  It includes great videos and resources to highlight the importance of building strong relationships with children and how that supports healthy brain development.  Parents are a child’s first teacher!  This is a great resource for parents and those working with families.  Healthy Baby, Healthy Brain

Setting the foundation in the early years…

We know that the early years matters; that children who have positive, stimulating experiences in their first years of life are more likely to have success in school.  But did you know that these early experiences also have impact on the rest of their lives?  Check out the video below to see how a child’s experience can influence their lifelong health and well-being!  New EDI data has been gathered in Ontario, and our local data will be available soon.  Let me know what questions you may have about how Oxford children are doing!