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Happy Kid playing skateboard

Empathy in 3 Steps

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Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. It can be considered one of the most important characteristics of social behavior and is something that should be taught early on in childhood.

Let’s look at the importance of, and how we can teach our children, empathy.

Why Empathy Matters

The ability to reciprocate feelings is an important social and emotional skill for everyone to learn.

For parents, empathy can be a highly effective child development tool. Having empathy can help to maintain an emotionally positive environment in the household, which keeps the family attitude positive and makes development easier for children. Being empathetic with your children also helps them learn to love and trust you more deeply, allowing for better communication.

For children, the benefits of empathy will stay with them for the rest of their lives. Practicing empathy helps children become more aware of their own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Not only does this help children control their own emotions more effectively, it also assists in creating and maintaining healthy relationships.

Empathy is an emotional and social skill that children should begin practicing as early as possible, so parents should begin teaching it from day one.

Empathy in 3 Steps

In order to teach empathy, you must first be empathetic with your children. Follow these three steps when interacting with your children to practice empathy:

1. Recognition: Take a moment to recognize what your child is feeling. This initial emotional connection with your child shows them that you’re on their side, not against them.

2. Definition: Find out where the emotion is coming from by starting a dialogue with your child. This will let your child know that you are ready to listen to their feelings and that you understand them.

3. Solution: Offer a solution with your child’s emotional well-being in mind. If something must be done to improve your child’s feeling, give suggestions and ask if your child would be willing to do them.

At this point your child will be more open to changing behavior if necessary, because you have established your intentions to help and understand them using empathy.

Practicing at Home

Practice makes perfect when it comes to empathy. At home, it is important to lead by example. Be empathetic in any scenario that applies. If your child is excited, ask them why and decide if praise or celebration is in order. If your child is sad, be open to talking about it and offer solutions to make them feel better. It’s all about communicating with your child frequently.

Talking and listening to your child, and being empathetic with them, can greatly help their emotional and social growth. Following the three steps of practicing empathy, and teaching them to your child, can make a world of difference in the long run.

How Carpe Diem Teaches Empathy

At Carpe Diem Private Preschool, we understand that children meet their full academic potential when they feel comfortable and respected. We pride ourselves on having caring, trained teachers who take the time to learn each child’s name and make each student feel special when they come to class. Our teachers lead by example and demonstrate empathy every day by how they interact with our students.

Little girl trying giving food to her teacher

Childcare 101: Too Much of a Good Thing? How to Praise Kids Effectively

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We all know that kids should be praised for doing something right or behaving well in various situations. But is there such a thing as too much praise? Many childcare experts say yes. It’s possible for too much praise to negatively impact the process of rewarding good behavior. The most important thing to remember when it comes to praising our children effectively, should be the quality of our praise rather than the quantity. Understanding when and how to praise your child can play a fundamental role in raising confident children with a healthy self-esteem.

When to Praise:

When she complies – Praise your child for following your instructions and complying with the rules. Your child also deserves praise for playing quietly and entertaining herself, so make sure calm and peaceful behavior doesn’t go unnoticed.

When he displays prosocial behavior – When your child interacts with other children in a healthy way, such as by taking turns, sharing, using kind words, or just getting along in general, you should reward this kind of prosocial behavior with praise.

When she shows effort – As a way of encouraging your child, you should praise them for learning a new skill or for their willingness to try hard. Your patience and strategic praise during these situations will motivate your child to keep trying until they have mastered the skill.

How to Praise:

Praise the process specifically – How we praise our children can affect their mindset. Childcare professionals have found that the best way to create a growth mindset is to praise the process. Children with a growth mindset, relate success to the act of becoming smarter, as opposed to showing that they are already smart.

So rather than offering your child a general statement of praise such as “You’re so smart” for doing something right, try praising the process instead. For instance, “You found a really good way to tie your shoes” or “I can tell you’ve been practicing this.”

Praise positively – Praise should never be mixed with criticism, or it will reduce the effectiveness of the praise. Instead of saying “I’m glad you didn’t cry this time,” try something along the lines of “I’m proud of you for staying calm when I said you couldn’t have the toy.”

Praise genuinely – Children will know when you’re being insincere, and praising them insecurely could cause them to lose trust in you. This may also lead to insecurity. If they don’t believe your positive words, it could cause confusion in trying to distinguish when you mean the praise and when you don’t. Instead of saying, “You’re the smartest kid in the world, try “You do a really good job getting your homework done.”

Praise at Carpe Diem Private Preschool

Our teachers at Carpe Diem Private Preschool – Southlake, Allen, Frisco, Richardson, and Cedar Park – Austin, are trained to develop the child cognitively, as well as socially and emotionally. Our programs are based on the best knowledge of education theory and research, and our teachers are well-trained to administer just the right amount of quality praise to each individual child.

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The Top 10 Benefits of Summer Camp

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Summer camp is so much more than just a way to keep children occupied and entertained throughout the summer months. You may be surprised to find out that summer camp actually has many positive effects on children, some of which can last a lifetime. In fact, many child development experts agree that the summer camp experience is valuable in guiding children to become more mature socially, intellectually, emotionally, morally, and physically.

Although the benefits of summer camp are seemingly endless, we have provided our top 10 picks on how we believe children benefit from this experience:

  1. Boosting self-esteem and confidence – Because summer camp isn’t about grades or test scores, it removes the somewhat consuming sense of competition that the school year brings with it. A less competitive atmosphere, coupled with a wide-range of opportunities to succeed and explore, gives summer camp the potential to really boost a child’s sense of confidence and self –esteem.
  2. Finding unique interests – Many camps specialize in certain subjects or sports, such as video game design, archery, golf, STEM, and many more. If something interests your child, summer camp is the perfect place for her to discover and explore new interests.
  3. Staying physically active – Summer camp programs incorporate many different sports and outdoor activities for children to participate in daily. From running and jumping to dancing and swimming, summer camp allows children to spend their day being physically active.
  4. Developing life-long skills – Through their social experiences at camp, whether it be through daily activities, sports, or field trips, children are constantly evolving. Some important life-long social skills such as leadership, communication, and participation are developed during summer camp.
  5. Gaining independence – Something as simple as letting your child choose what kind of camp he wants to attend can help build independence. During camp, there are often many opportunities for children to foster that sense of independence. For instance, your child may revel in the fact that he gets to participate in activities of his choosing during an unstructured play time.
  6. Experiencing new things – Camp is full of opportunities for taking a child out of her comfort zone. At camp, kids get to try new activities, explore new topics, and dive deep into areas that they might not have otherwise known about.
  7. Reconnecting with nature – Instead of being stuck inside glued to the TV or tablet all day, summer camp allows a child to be outside and develop a deeper appreciation of nature.
  8. Sharing a sense of community – Through their interactions with other children and teachers at summer camp, children develop a sense of community and hone in on some important life skills. Caring, fairness, citizenship, and trustworthiness are some of the many community-oriented service skills that can be developed during camp experiences.
  9. Building good character traits – Attending a summer camp helps a child gain self-respect and helps them build other life-long character traits such as responsibility, resourcefulness, and resilience.
  10. Making true friends – Summer camp is the ideal place for kids to make new friends and strengthen existing friendships. At camp, kids are free from the stressors and pressures of school. This often allows children to relax and open up more. Through singing, laughing, playing, and talking, camp experiences can help develop new friendships and bring friends closer together.

Summer Camps at Carpe Diem Private Preschool

At Carpe Diem Private Preschool, we offer an exciting 11-week summer camp program in arts, humanities, sciences, and more! Each week features a different theme, which allows children to discover many new interests throughout the summer.  We also offer a special STEM program that allows children to explore topics such as marine biology, engineering, archaeology, sports science, coding and gaming.

 

Kindergarten teacher and children with hands raised in library

Preparing Your Child for Kindergarten

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The first day of Kindergarten can be an emotional experience, for both you and your child. You might be riddled with worry about how well your child will do in this new learning environment. Your little one might be scared to walk into a classroom full of other children he doesn’t know and adults he hasn’t met before. Thankfully, there are some easy ways to make your baby’s transition into Kindergarten as painless as possible.

Prepare socially                    

  • Set up play dates with children of various ages so that your child can get used to interacting with other kids. Observe your child’s behavior and notice if he struggles with concepts such as sharing or taking turns. These are social behaviors that you can easily teach your child before they start Kindergarten.
  • Leave your child with other trusted adults, such as an extended family member or a highly recommended babysitter, for a few hours at a time. If your child is not used to being in the care of someone other than mommy and daddy, this is a good way for her to adjust to being under the care of a teacher that she has never met prior to walking in on the first day of Kindergarten.

Prepare verbally

  • Give your child simple and specific directions and encourage him to complete the tasks. It’s important for your child to be able to listen attentively and follow through with what is requested of him before he goes into a classroom environment where this will be expected of him.
  • Read to your child daily and pause occasionally to ask questions. This will ensure that she stays engaged while you read to her. Here are some ways to make story time a more interactive experience.

Prepare cognitively

  • Teach your child his numbers. You can practice with him by counting aloud during car rides or helping him count objects in your home. Make sure he is able to identify the numbers 1-10 before beginning Kindergarten.
  • Talk about concepts with your child. It’s usually a good idea to start with an easy concept like opposites. Some common opposites include big/little, empty/full, and slow/fast. Positional and directional concepts are also important to go over with your child. Make sure they know the basics like up/down, over/under, in/out, behind/in front of, top/bottom, beside/between, off/on, and stop/go.

Prepare physically

  • Go outside and let your child run wild (under your supervision, of course)! Things like running, jumping, and climbing allow your child to naturally develop you his gross motor skills. Playing catch and skipping around are also great ways to do this.
  • Practice name writing. Not only will your child most likely need to know how to write her name on the first day of school, but name writing exercises are also one of the best ways to develop her fine motor skills.

At Carpe Diem Private Preschools, we believe that the best early childhood education starts with a good foundation. We believe that where a child learns has a direct impact on how well a child learns. This is why our preschool classrooms and teachers are so well-equipped to prepare the little ones for their big transition into our Kindergarten classroom. We have put careful thought into creating the perfect learning atmosphere for all of our students.

beautiful cheerful little girl playing hopscotch on playground

Having Fun the Old-Fashioned Way

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Remember how much fun you used to have when you were a kid? You probably played games that entertained you and your friends for hours! Think about all the fun your kids could be having if you reintroduced these classic games to them. Here are some ways you can have some good old-fashioned fun with your kids:

Indoor Games

  • Hide and Seek. Your kids will have a blast playing this game. A series of uncontrollable giggle fits will often lead you to their secret hiding spot, if it isn’t already obvious enough!
  • Hot Potato. Grab a bean bag, a stuffed animal, or even a real potato (if you want to spice things up with older kids) and get to tossing! This game is often more fun if you have a few extra kids over for a play date. You can have them all sit in a circle, turn on the music have them pass around the object of choice. Every time the music stops, the child caught holding the “hot potato” leaves the circle. The last kid sitting wins the game!
  • String cups. Before there were cell phones, there were string phones! Help your child discover the wonders of this method of communication. Click on this link to learn how to make your own and how to explain the simple science behind how it all works.
  • Paper airplanes. Fold up a piece of paper and get to flying! Here are some ways to get creative with the planes.
  • Puzzles. These are a timeless way to sharpen your child’s cognitive and problem-solving abilities. The best part is that puzzles come in many themes and sizes, so as your child gets older you can switch the easy ones out for some more age-appropriate ones.

Outdoor Games

  • Hopscotch. This is a great game to set up for your children if they find themselves bored on a crisp, clear afternoon. Here are some ways to add a twist to the traditional game!
  • Four-square. Get the family or some friends together because you’ll need four players for this game. A chalk and a bouncy ball are also required to play. Check out the rules here!
  • Freeze tag. Decide which child will be “it” and have him close his eyes and count to 10. While he is counting, have the other kids run and hide. When the “it” child is done counting, he can close his eyes and run around looking for the other kids and trying to tag them. Once another player gets tagged, that player must automatically stand frozen in place until another player comes and “unfreezes” them by touching their arm, shoulder, or back. The last one to get tagged becomes the next “it” child.
  • Backyard Bocce. This is more than just a classic game, it’s a sport that dates back to as early as 5000 B.C. Bocce can be played with as little as two or as many as eight players. All you need is a set of bocce balls and an open space or court. Watch this video to find out how to play.
  • Bubbles. Time to get soapy! Have your kids blow bubbles of different sizes. Make a game out of it by timing how long the bubbles last for. The one who blows the longest lasting bubble wins!

At Carpe Diem, we encourage social interactions with other children and adults through physical experiences. We believe that children learn best through experimentation and play, which motivates their interest and curiosity. Classic games like the ones listed above are timeless and can help inspire imagination while teaching children the importance of good old-fashioned values such as fairness, integrity, and honesty.