National Random Acts of Kindness Day will be celebrated on February 17th. This is a wonderful day to take time to show others your appreciation, or just show you care to random strangers. This is also a nice time to teach children about compassion for others without the expectation of receiving something in return. There are many ways to show your kindness:
It is always important to remember that the act itself is not what truly matters, but rather the intent behind the act. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” (Aesop) Happy National Random Acts of Kindness Day! -Michelle Rehse, Teacher, Celebrate the Children
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Most children love to play in the snow this is a wonderful opportunity to engage with your child. Aside from building a snowman, having a snowball fight, or going sleigh riding there are so many other activities you and your child can take part in and create new memories and experiences.
I hope you are able to enjoy some of these activities with your child in these long cold winter months and create some new memories. Tara Dolan, Teacher, Celebrate the Children Obstacle Course - Use couch, cushions, pillows & blankets and encourage your child to climb over under and through to go on scavenger hunt. This promotes motor planning, postural stability, and visual spatial and fine & gross motor skills.
Sledding - Pull your child on a sled. Provides movement and works on core stability. You can also have your child pull you on the sled. This is great way to provide heavy work. Building a Snowman - Rolling large snowballs is another way to provide heavy work to the body. Add as many body parts as possible and asking your child to identify body parts. You also add a hat, scarf, boots and mittens. Snowball Target Practice (indoor and outdoor activity) - Have child crumple up old newspaper or recycled paper and have a “snowball fight”. This promotes hand strengthening, eye hand coordination, visual spatial and encourages playful interactions. Occupational Therapy Department, Celebrate the Children "It’s not unusual to hear Nicholas Brahm singing a song for all the woods to hear when he’s hiking. He’s not picky with his song repertoire. It could be Jingle Bells (in July), or a car commercial jingle he’s heard on TV or a heavy metal Kiss song. Whatever pops into his eleven-year-old head. He memorizes every jingle and song he hears and feels moved to express himself when he hikes. Yet he has no other functioning speech. Perhaps this is Nicholas’s way of expressing the joy that he feels while on the Trail, in the woods. Singing is sure-fire proof that one is a happy soul, for he has no other way to express himself verbally. Singing makes Nicholas’s father, Rick, thrilled because Nicholas is autistic, and out here, on the Trail, Nicholas shines the brightest. And so, the New Jersey Sussex County family returns to the A.T. again and again." Read More! The concept of "mindful parenting," may seem out of reach in our fast-paced, technology driven society, however, there are particular elements that are crucial to our children’s emotional development which can help to strengthen our ability to co-regulate and connect with our children. Mindfulness is not another task that we make time for in our already busy, hectic schedules, rather it’s a way of being and connecting with our children.
As Daniel Siegel explains in his book Parenting from the Inside Out, "Mindfulness is at the heart of nurturing relationships. When we are mindful, we live in the present moment and are aware of our own thoughts and feelings and also are open to those of our children. The ability to stay present with clarity within ourselves allows us to be fully present with others and to respect each person’s individual experience. No two people see things in exactly the same way. Mindfulness gives respect to the sovereignty of each person’s unique mind. When we are being fully present as parents, when we are mindful, it enables our children to fully experience themselves in the moment. Children learn about themselves by the way that we communicate with them. When we are preoccupied with the past or worried about the future, we are physically present with our children but we are mentally absent. Children don’t need us to be connected all of the time, but they do need our presence during connecting interactions. Being mindful as a parent means having intention in your own actions. With intention, you purposefully choose your behavior with your child’s emotional well-being in mind. Children can readily detect intention and thrive when there is purposeful interaction with their parents. It is within our children’s emotional connections with us that they develop a deeper sense of themselves and capacity for relating." A question that we often hear from parents is, "How do I teach emotional regulation to my child?” This starts with us as parents. It's important to be in tune with our own emotions because our children learn emotional regulation from us. It is also important to take it easy on ourselves, we can be our own worst enemies. With the concept of mindful parenting, comes a lot of controversy. Mindful parenting is sometimes viewed as another stressor or unattainable expectation that can lead to parents striving for perfectionism. However, being mindful doesn’t mean being perfect. It is accepting all of our emotions within ourselves so that we are able to recognize and accept any negative or challenging thoughts we may be experiencing and reframe them accordingly. We are going to be stressed from time to time, but it's crucial that we are cognizant of what we are experiencing and consider how we need to reframe our emotions. Focusing on self-care is key because we want to model healthy coping skills. As we become more aware of our own needs through the practice of mindfulness, we become better at understanding and addressing the needs of our children, as opposed to becoming reactive to surface behaviors. Parents who are supportive and validating of their child’s emotional experiences, and do not match their child’s negative affect with their own negative affect promote healthier emotional development. As we are all on our own personal journey of life, adding mindfulness practices will enhance our quality of interactions with ourselves and our children. Siegel, D.J. & Hartzell, M. (2003). Parenting from the inside out. New York: Putnam. SFSS Department, Celebrate the Children Play is a vehicle for growth, learning and development. For children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), play can be difficult. To help enhance and develop your child’s play experiences, here are some tips, benefits & strategies used to engage children with ASD.
Understanding the characteristics of play:
Play allows children to:
Parent tips/strategies to engage & enhance positive play experiences for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder:
Most of all HAVE FUN!!!! -Jacqueline M. DiJoseph, Teacher, Celebrate the Children First, I would like to announce that my wife and I are expecting our second child this coming February! With this exciting news comes familiar feelings and questions we both experienced with our first child: Can we handle this? What will the expenses be? Who will this child end up growing up to be? Parents unwillingly and sometimes uncontrollably have pre-existing expectations for their child even before holding them for the first time in the hospital. We forecast who and what they will be, almost like how a coach game plans for a sporting event even before the first play has occurred. However, in life as in sporting events, things can change in a blink of an eye that sets our voyage on a completely different course. As I was navigating through social media a few months ago, I came upon a video by a man named Jason Hague. Jason is a pastor, writer, and blogger who has a busy life full of many of the same things we keep busy with as well. He also has a son with Autism. In his video, Jason reads a poem to his son which gives a glimpse into the inner world of their relationship. Without going into the whole video, the most important aspect to take away is something we should all share as parents with children, whether typical or on the spectrum; they are works of creation that we need to show unconditional love and acceptance. Please visit jasonhague.com and watch “A Reflection of Aching Joy” (A poem for Jack). -Joe DeVore, Teacher, Celebrate the Children October is National Physical Therapy Month and as a profession we are celebrating the change of seasons and establishing new habits. As we “Move Forward” we encourage everyone to create their own playlist to staying healthy. Small changes make a big difference.
Here is our short playlist: 1). Choose water as a drink- Eight, 8 ounce glasses of water is the recommended daily amount. 2). Eat more fruits and vegetables- The USDA recommends 1-2 cups a day. 3). Pick Healthy snacks- choose a granola bar instead of a candy bar, choose air popped popcorn instead of buttered, choose yogurt instead of pudding. 4). Turn off the Electronic devices- The average 8 year old is on a screen for 8 hours a day exceeding the American Pediatric Associations recommended 2 hours a day. 5). Be more physically active- 60 minutes of physical activity is recommended per day. -Physical Therapy Department, Celebrate the Children Congratulations CTC graduate, Alec!
The Boggs Center at Rutgers University is delighted to welcome Alec to the New Jersey Partners in Policymaking Class of 2016-2017! An overwhelming number of strong candidates applied to the program, and his application was considered outstanding. Together with the other accepted participants, he will learn from nationally-known experts, develop the knowledge and skills needed for effective advocacy, and gain valuable leadership experience. Way to go Alec! Ten years ago I had the privilege of being the principal at Celebrate the Children. We were still at Byram and Linden and the school was just starting to really grow. After leaving for 6 years to have my children, I returned to CTC as a supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction. I will never forget the first time I came to the Denville campus and saw the brand new school. What a difference from where the school first started. The school was so much bigger with a lot more students. Monica and Lauren took me on a tour and I was amazed! All of Monica and Lauren's ideas had finally come true. Though the building changed and the students changed (some were just little 3 years old when I left) the philosophy of CTC was still very evident. Celebrate the Children believes in their students and cares about each and every one of them. I loved working here ten years ago and I feel the same today. At the end of last year, I once again became the principal of CTC and I am honored to be in this position. Celebrate the Children is an amazing place to work with an incredibly hard working staff that come in each day ready to make a difference in a child's life.
-Trinka Sullivan, Principal, Celebrate the Children |
AuthorsContributions to this blog are made by Celebrate the Children's highly talented, interdisciplinary team and wonderful families. Archives
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