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    <title>MECC Cares for kids</title>
    <category>MECC Cares for kids</category>
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    <description>Latest local news from The Durango Herald.</description>
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        <link>https://tj.durangoherald.com/make-a-new-years-resolution-that-will-last-a-lifetime/</link>
        <title>Make A New Year’s resolution that will last a lifetime</title>
        <description>By Mary Dodd Now that the holidays are over, the new toys have lost their novelty, and some New Year’s resolutions have already been broken, make a resolution that will last your kids (and our community) a lifetime. It won’t...</description>
        <pubDate>Thu, 15 Jan 2015 18:40:06 -0700</pubDate>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[By Mary Dodd Now that the holidays are over, the new toys have lost their novelty, and some New Year’s resolutions have already been broken, make a resolution that will last your kids (and our community) a lifetime. It won’t cost any money, won’t wear out or be outgrown, doesn’t require anything but you, and will have unimaginable benefits for your family. Make a New Year’s promise to give your kids your undivided attention for some time every day. In our fast-paced, increasingly-digital daily lives, the relationship needs of infants and young children can easily get overlooked. You may promise yourself, “Tomorrow I’ll sit down and play/read/be with Johnny.” But tomorrow never comes, and each day lost will have a lasting impact on every aspect of your child’s life – happiness, friendships, development, and school and life success. So slow down, turn off your digital devices, and share some time with your kids. Make memories, deepen your relationship, have fun, cherish the moments that add up to a lifetime. You probably have plenty of ideas about how to go about this, but we’ll share a few. “Your never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child.” Our favorite doctor, (Dr. Seuss) said it best, and we know from research that reading daily to babies beginning in infancy has lifelong impacts on their development in all areas. More important, it builds and deepens their relationship with you, and benefits your health, too, by causing your brain to make more of the feel-good hormones and less of the stress hormones. Your child’s health-care provider probably prescribes books as part of Reach Out and Read; your local children’s librarian can make book recommendations, as can a local early childhood professional. “Just play!” Let your inner child out to play with your kids every day. You don’t need expensive toys to have fun playing – as a matter of fact, finding every day items to use as props helps your kids be creative and imaginative. The most important things to remember about play are to let your child be the leader, that play is not testing for knowledge (“Show me the square,”), and that play should be fun. Don’t forget to be silly. Sing, dance, make music and art with your kids. Keep in mind that, although these activities will help kids develop skills in many areas like math, problem-solving, language, creativity, and movement, the primary goal is enjoyment for all. Don’t worry about the mess – kids will be more helpful with clean up if they had fun first. Go on a nature walk to find bugs, rocks, sticks, and other interesting natural objects. Make angels in the snow (if we get any this winter), splash in mud puddles, bundle up and go outside to admire our dark night skies. Share family conversation during at least one meal a day (no TV) and talk about all the great things you’re doing together every day. This will cement the activities into their memories to last a lifetime, strengthen your family ties, build values, and help your kids grow into successful, happy, thoughtful, productive people. And all this from one simple resolution. For more ideas and suggestions, visit the Montelores Early Childhood Council’s website at www.monteloresecc.org; attend a MECC Family Night (click the Events button on the Home page); sign up for our e-newsletter; ask your child’s health care provider, early childhood teacher, and children’s librarian; and be creative. Our best wishes for a fun New Year! Mary Dodd is MECC’s Chief Knowledge Officer.]]></content:encoded>
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        <link>https://tj.durangoherald.com/preparing-your-child-to-succeed-in-kindergarten/</link>
        <title>Preparing your child to succeed in kindergarten</title>
        <description>By Sahara Thurston and Geof Byerly As children approach kindergarten age, parents are often more nervous than their children, wondering whether their kids will be ready academically, socially, emotionally, and physically for all that’s expected of them. The Montelores Early...</description>
        <pubDate>Thu, 28 Aug 2014 21:16:51 -0600</pubDate>
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        <content:encoded><![CDATA[By Sahara Thurston and Geof Byerly As children approach kindergarten age, parents are often more nervous than their children, wondering whether their kids will be ready academically, socially, emotionally, and physically for all that’s expected of them. The Montelores Early Childhood Council has resources to help you prepare your child for kindergarten, and the earlier you begin, the better. Here are some daily activities to get them off to a good start. Remember, the learning process takes time. If you don’t enroll your child in preschool, provide frequent experiences with other children to help them learn social skills like turn-taking and sharing. Play groups, library storytime, parties, and playing with kids are great activities. Help your child learn social-emotional skills: tolerating frustration; sharing and taking turns; showing concern for the feelings of other kids; using words instead of actions for feelings; staying calm when things don’t go their way; and making friends. It’s important for your child to be able to do these things the first week of kindergarten so they can become part of the group. Read with your child. They’ll learn word and letter recognition; expand their vocabulary; acquire knowledge about their world; and deepen their relationship with you. Ask thinking-type questions about the story, and have fun. Do activities related to the book. For example, read “Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom,” and use magnetic alphabet letters to match the letters in the book; sing and dance to the theme song. Read children’s books about going to kindergarten and the first day of school – be prepared to read these over and over. Play with your child. Immerse yourself in their interests. Suspend your judgment, engage your imagination and enrich their play. Introduce language and concepts to bridge their experience with that of the school setting – even play school. Open-ended questions using “how” and “why” promote thought and reflection about their choices and values. Connect and support the development of your child’s identity in play, and have fun while you’re at it. Help them develop motor skills with activities like watering plants using a spray bottle; picking up colored pom-poms with tweezers and putting them into a color-coded egg carton; tearing paper to make a collage; using finger paints and play dough, etc. It’s important that they learn the fine motor skills needed for independence in self-care activities, too: using utensils; zipping/unzipping; putting on and taking off clothes, shoes, and socks. Learning these skills will promote self-esteem and confidence as your child becomes more independent. Encourage them to take more responsibility for their things, chores and hygiene. Attend our free family nights, many of which have a school readiness theme and include fun family activities and dinner. You’ll find fliers and how to RSVP at monteloresecc.org. There you can join our Pinterest site and visit the Parents and Families section for more about school readiness. Look for MECC’s school readiness calendar, which has ideas, tips and suggestions to incorporate in family life. Ask one of our community’s early childhood professionals for more ideas – MECC members want to help you prepare your child for school. Sahara Thurston and Geof Byerly are the School Readiness/ Social Emotional Coaches for the Montelores Early Childhood Council.]]></content:encoded>
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