(Family Features) Most parents would agree the quality of their children’s education plays a key role in their overall development. While parents are optimistic about the future of education, they also recognize children have educational needs beyond what is considered the standard.

A Harris Poll survey on behalf of KinderCare found 83% of parents believe it’s important for children to be raised with social emotional skills, 84% believe it’s important children learn to treat others the way they want to be treated and 83% believe kindness should be a core value in the way children are educated. Now, parents want a focus on social emotional skills, mental health, kindness and understanding differences.

Consider these three ways parents can encourage social and emotional learning in their children:

1. Practice Emotional Literacy at Home: Disagreements among parents and siblings are almost inevitable at home. While this can seem challenging to handle, it can serve as an opportunity for children to practice emotional literacy by identifying their feelings and the feelings of others. It also gives children the opportunity to practice their listening skills and put themselves in the other person’s shoes. By using these skills, children can develop a stronger sense of empathy and understand how their emotions drive their actions.
    
2. Practice Mindfulness with a Relaxing Activity: Mindfulness can help children understand and regulate their emotions, especially when it becomes a regular habit. Parents can instill this habit in their kids by picking a set time to do activities in a calm space at home every day such as reading a book, listening to calm music or something as simple as deep breathing.
    
3. Provide Unplugged Opportunities to Connect with Other Children: Activities that don’t revolve around a screen and encourage in-person socialization with peers can provide opportunities for children to practice building their social emotional skills. Programs like KinderCare’s Champ Camp include indoor and outdoor group activities as well as field trips designed to help children use their natural creativity and curiosity to learn and develop important social skills.

To learn more about social emotional learning, visit kindercare.com.

SOURCE:
KinderCare

(Family Features) Many parents of young children face behavioral concerns like children not listening, throwing tantrums, biting and more. While every situation is unique, parents can rest assured they aren’t alone and these behaviors aren’t atypical.

“As young children grow and develop, behavioral challenges are to be expected,” said Dr. Lauren Starnes, senior vice president and chief academic officer, The Goddard School. “That said, just because these behaviors are often normal doesn’t mean they are easy for the parents addressing them or the young children experiencing them.”

While eliminating undesired behaviors like defiance, tantrums and biting is likely unrealistic, it’s not a lost cause for parents. Understanding why certain behaviors occur and the appropriate techniques to address them can help parents mitigate their impact and lessen their frequency, duration and severity.

Starnes recommends these ways to understand and address challenging behaviors in young children.

Biting
Infants often bite when teething. Young toddlers bite out of excitement, exploration or in response to inconsistencies in their environment. Older toddlers and 2-year-olds frequently bite as a communication method, such as when they fail to have the language to communicate frustration.

For children who are 3 years of age or older, biting is typically an aggressive behavior. Understanding the root cause can help tailor the response more appropriately to curb the behavior. For example, giving infants various textured teething toys can lessen the likelihood they will bite. For 2-year-olds, modeling how to use words and phasing out oral soothing items like pacifiers can also reduce the likelihood of biting.

Defiance
Raising young children means preparing to hear them say, “No.” One of the primary developmental milestones of early childhood is emerging independence. The overt exertion of independence tends to peak at or around age 2 and can continue at varying degrees of intensity, depending in part upon the personality of the child.

One important factor about defiant behavior is that while it is independence exertion, it is also attention-seeking. Behavior is communication and some defiant actions may simply be a means of obtaining attention and situational control. By giving children more independence – for example, asking “Can you please put your shoes on for me?” or “Can you pick which one of these dresses you want to wear today?” – you may be able to help them become compliant.

Logical consequences can also help. For example, if children refuse to sit in their chair to eat, have them stand for dinner or remove their snack until they sit.

Tantrums
The American Academy of Pediatrics defines tantrums as a behavioral response by young children who are learning to be independent and desire to make choices yet lack the coping and self-regulation skills to handle frustration. Whether a tantrum is triggered by communication gaps, frustration or a reinforced behavior to control a situation, there are specific techniques that can be used to deescalate the behavior and help children regain emotional composure.

Your reaction to a tantrum is a direct predictor of its intensity and longevity. Taking an opposite position to children in terms of volume, speed of movement and pace of speech can be enough to counterbalance the tantrum.

Another effective technique to curb a tantrum is sportscasting. Using a soft tone of voice, sportscasting is the verbal, non-biased account of what is happening in the moment retold in third-person as though telling a story or broadcasting a sport. While this may feel awkward at first, it often catches children’s attention and deescalates their reaction. For example, “Lou wanted more gummy bears. Mom said no. Lou is yelling and crying.”

There is no silver bullet to stop biting, defiance and tantrums. These behaviors, for better or worse, are expected parts of early childhood. However, by gaining an understanding of their root causes and employing appropriate techniques to address these behaviors, parents can mitigate their impact while helping children develop and grow socially and emotionally.

For more actionable parenting insights, guidance and resources – including a webinar with Starnes providing additional tips for behavioral guidance – visit GoddardSchool.com.

Photos courtesy of Getty Images

SOURCE:
The Goddard School

NASA is awarding more than $3.8 million to 21 museums, science centers, and other informal education institutions for projects designed to bring the excitement of space science to communities across the nation and broaden student participation in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).

Projects were selected for NASA’s Teams Engaging Affiliated Museums and Informal Institutions (TEAM II) program and TEAM II Community Anchor Awards. Both are funded through NASA’s Next Generation STEM (Next Gen STEM), which supports kindergarten to 12-grade students, caregivers, and formal and informal educators in engaging the Artemis Generation in the agency’s missions and discoveries. The selected projects will engage their communities in a wide variety of STEM topics, from aeronautics and Earth science to human space exploration.

TEAM II: NASA-Based Learning Opportunities

NASA’s vision for TEAM II is to enhance the capability of informal education institutions to host NASA-based learning activities while increasing the institutions’ capacity to use innovative tools and platforms to bring NASA resources to students. The agency has selected four institutions to receive approximately $3.2 million in cooperative agreements for projects they will implement during the next three years.

The selected institutions and their proposed projects are:

• Universities Space Research Association, Columbia, Maryland
  Virtual Trips to Extreme Environments
• Michigan Science Center, Detroit, Michigan
  Urban Skies – Equitable Universe: Using Open Space to Empower Youth to Explore Their Solar System and Beyond
• Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts
  UNITED (Unveiling NASA’s Inspirational Tales of Exploration and Discovery)
• University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado
  Using a Network of Ozone Bioindicator Gardens to Engage Communities on Air Quality and NASA’s TEMPO Mission

Community Anchors: Local Connections to NASA

The designation as a Community Anchor recognizes institutions as local hubs bringing NASA STEM and space science to students and families in traditionally underserved areas. The agency has selected 17 institutions to receive more than $660,000 in grants to help make these one- to two-year projects a reality, enhancing the local impact and strengthening their ability to build sustainable connections between their communities and NASA.

The selected institutions and their proposed projects are:

• St. Anna’s Episcopal Church, New Orleans, Louisiana
  Communicating Our Future For Education Expansion (COFFEE)
• Frontiers of Flight Museum, Inc., Dallas, Texas
  Youth STEM Initiative – STEM Leaders in Education
• Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
  Our Earth From Above
• Pacific Science Center Foundation, Seattle, Washington
  Connecting Youth to the Journey of Human Space Flight
• National Space Science & Technology Institute, Colorado Springs, Colorado
  Mobile Earth + Space Observatory Science Experiences for Engaging Rural Students
• Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska
  Because I’m Earth it: A NebrASkA Experience
• Pajarito Environmental Education Center, Los Alamos, New Mexico
  Exploring STEM Opportunities from New Mexico to the Solar System
• Scienceworks Hands-On Museum, Ashland, Oregon
  ScienceWorks Robotics in Space Program
• City of Manhattan, Kansas
  Flying Cleaner and Faster: Connecting Kansas Kids to the Future of Aviation
• Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, Kentucky
  Afterschool NASA Production Club
• Utah State University, Logan, Utah
  4-H Moon to Mars Tetrathlon
• New York Hall of Science, Queens, New York
  Connecting Communities to Real Time Astronomy Phenomena: Solar Eclipse 2024
• Monterey Institute for Research In Astronomy, Marina, California
  MIRA la Luna: Igniting Interest in STEM for Middle School Students of the Salinas Valley
• Infinity Science Center, Inc., Pearlington, Mississippi
  Outreach STEM Education: Bringing NASA STEM Education to local communities through local county library systems and INFINITY Science Center
• Sierra Nevada Journeys, Reno, Nevada
  NASA Family STEM Nights
• Union Station Kansas City, Inc., Kansas City, Missouri
  Union Station Kansas City Inc NASA Team II Proposal
• Eugene Science Center Inc., Eugene, Oregon
  Sky’s The Limit: Access to Portable Planetarium Experiences for Rural and Title I Schools to Address Disparity in STEM Proficiency

Next Gen STEM is a project within NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement, which develops unique resources and experiences to spark student interest in STEM and build a skilled and diverse next generation workforce. For the latest NASA STEM events, activities, and news, visit:

https://stem.nasa.gov

Source: NASA

https://stmdailynews.com/category/science/