Five Ideas for Keeping Children Happy

Five Ideas for keeping children happy are:

1. Love Children-Find something in each child that you cherish. Remind a child how unique he or she is, by noticing something about him/her each day. Say things like, "you have a red shirt on today!" Or, "I love how you smile when you play with the play dough."

2. Keep Them Safe-Do what you can to provide a safe environment for all children. Make household rules based on safety: " Inside walking keeps us safe-please don't run."

3. Follow A Daily Routine-Have a daily routine that you follow. Eat breakfast, lunch and snacks around the same time every day. Play games and read books around the same time everyday. Remind children about the routing: "We always read books after lunch before we take our naps." Children feel safer when they follow a routine.

4. Learn About Child Development-Learn about how a child typically develops. Learn what activities, games, books, and songs are good for a child during each year of life. Have plenty of opportunities for children to explore those activities. At times, an adult will have to show a child or a group of children how to play a new game or how to play with a new toy. Children need plenty of time and experience to learn now things-even how to play with other children. Be understanding as children are learning.

5. Explore Simple Activities Together-The world is new to a child. Exploring even the simplest items can make a child happy and encourage them to learn. Melt ice in a bowl. collect milk tops, find twigs outside, or watch ants crawl on the ground. These are simple but powerful activities that help a child learn about the world around them and can help keep them happy.

Strengthening Your Connection to Parents

Lets talk about the many ways you can stay connected to parents. Staying connected means more than just saying "good morning" or "good evening." Sometimes, it means going that extra maile to keep the connection. How about adding just a little more flavor to the pot to make parents feel special? Here are some easy tips that will improve the communication and the relationship with parents.

• Support the parent by providing them with resources and information within the community. With today's economy, you could have some parents experiencing financial struggles. Encourage them to use free programs and resources like the library, where they can use a computer free of charge: or help them get in touch with their local child care resource and referral agency where parents can get additional resurces and helpful information about programs for them.
• Manintain a comfortable environment by providing a healthy, safe, nurturing and comfortable place for parents. You can do this by providing a comfy chair with a pillow or a blanket. How about adding interesting reading materials such as exciting books, cookbooks, or magazines.
• Encourage families to bring family portraits and tell stories about the pictures. Ask your families to bring in family recipes to share with other families, and have a potluck when you meet with parents.
• Help the parent improve relationships with their child by encouraging them to read to their child, do arts and crafts, cooking, or active games together.
• Always share any changes in your program.

These simple tips can help you strengthen the connection you already have with your families. Try thinking of other ways to strengthen this bond and ask them for their ideas, too.