Parenta Magazine April 2020
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Issue 65<br />
APRIL <strong>2020</strong><br />
FREE<br />
Industry<br />
Experts<br />
10 benefits of<br />
outdoor learning<br />
How to help children<br />
understand time<br />
Talking about difference:<br />
Profound disability<br />
+ lots more<br />
Write for us<br />
for a chance to win<br />
£50<br />
page 31<br />
The benefits of animals for<br />
children’s development<br />
Scientifically-researched benefits, anecdotal reports, and scientific<br />
studies confirming some measurable benefits in children.<br />
AVOID SPREADING DISEASE • STRESS AWARENESS MONTH • MOTHER EARTH DAY • CRAFTS
Difference<br />
Joanna Grace’s second<br />
article: Talking about<br />
difference. This time she<br />
talks about profound<br />
disability.<br />
hello<br />
welcome to our family<br />
Hello and welcome to the <strong>April</strong> edition of the <strong>Parenta</strong> magazine!<br />
<strong>April</strong> is the month where we would normally be starting to enjoy the lighter evenings that we’ve been waiting so long for,<br />
going for walks with friends and family; and generally beginning to feel more sociable … and even, looking forward to<br />
the summer!<br />
Of course, normality doesn’t really exist for us at the moment, and although we know that our lives have been turned<br />
upside down only temporarily, the effects on us personally and for our businesses, will almost certainly be longer term.<br />
Not losing sight of that fact that we are trying our utmost to deal with a global health crisis, we would still like to bring you<br />
a magazine full of articles that, although may not feel completely relevant right now, at least will help you look ahead to brighter<br />
times when we will all be able to do the things that, up until very recently, we took for granted.<br />
So, for this month, we bring you some ideas for when we are able to enjoy being outdoors with the children. Industry expert Tanith Carey<br />
shares her wealth of knowledge and helps us to help our children understand the concept of time. We explore the variety of ways we can<br />
involve parents with their children’s learning which, now more than ever, is proving incredibly important; and look at some wonderful, heartwarming<br />
ways that animals can help with children’s development.<br />
Whilst you’re scanning the internet for news and advice about how the current crisis is affecting the industry, check out the Facebook page of<br />
Champagne Nurseries on Lemonade Funding (CNLF) - a campaign group for the early years sector, which is packed with guidance and sector<br />
opinions.<br />
Joanna Grace is guest author of the month for February. Her article “Neurotypical narratives” draws on her own experience and asks if<br />
neurotypical paradigms are damaging people on the autistic spectrum. If you’ve got a topic you’d like to write about, why not send an article<br />
to us and be in with a chance of winning a £50 voucher!<br />
All the news stories, advice, and craft activities in your free <strong>Parenta</strong> magazine have been written to help you with the efficient running of your<br />
setting and to promote the health, happiness and wellbeing of the children in your care. Please feel free to share with friends, parents and<br />
colleagues.<br />
We hope that <strong>April</strong> is a month that shines some sunshine on our cloudy days.<br />
Please stay safe everyone,<br />
Allan<br />
12<br />
APRIL <strong>2020</strong> ISSUE 65<br />
IN THIS EDITION<br />
Regulars<br />
26 International Mother Earth Day<br />
31 Guest author winner announced<br />
31 Write for us for a chance to win £50!<br />
32 The Big Pedal<br />
34 Apple doughnuts<br />
35 Mother Earth terrarium<br />
News<br />
4 Early years news & views<br />
5 Covid-19, the latest developments all in one<br />
place<br />
7 Standards are here<br />
Advice<br />
6 How to discuss the Coronavirus<br />
8 Electronic devices & online safety<br />
14 How our inner child affects us (as parents,<br />
practitioners & teachers)<br />
22 How to avoid spreading disease in your setting<br />
24 The importance of immunisation in fighting<br />
disease<br />
28 How to involve parents with children’s learning<br />
38 Take yourself from ‘distress’ to<br />
‘de-stress’ during stress awareness month<br />
Industry Experts<br />
10 Opening gateways - The role of the adult<br />
engaging in sustained shared thinking<br />
10 benefits of outdoor learning 16<br />
The importance of immunisation to fight disease 24<br />
The benefits of animals for childrens development 36<br />
Gateways<br />
Tamsin Grimmer<br />
discusses ‘Opening<br />
gateways. The role of<br />
the adult engaging<br />
in sustained shared<br />
thinking.<br />
10<br />
Understanding time<br />
Tanith Carey explains how to help<br />
children develop their concept of time<br />
up to the age of seven.<br />
20<br />
12 Talking about difference: Profound disability<br />
16 10 Benefits of outdoor Learning.<br />
18 The benefits of storytelling in music<br />
20 How to help young children understand time<br />
36 The benefits of animals for children’s<br />
development<br />
The benefits of storytelling in music 18
Early years news & views<br />
Early years<br />
news & views<br />
Education Secretary thanks our<br />
schools for their “incredible<br />
resilience and flexibility”<br />
Education secretary, Gavin Williamson,<br />
has written to schools to thank them<br />
for the “incredible resilience and<br />
flexibility they have shown in the face<br />
of unprecedented challenges” and asks<br />
them to go to exceptional lengths in the<br />
fight against coronavirus.<br />
The letter comes amid criticism from<br />
school leaders that the Government<br />
isn’t doing enough to keep them safe<br />
but states that schools are “central to<br />
this country’s fight against coronavirus”.<br />
Here is the transcript of the letter<br />
in full which he has also posted on<br />
Twitter:<br />
“Over recent days, the government<br />
has taken steps that are simply<br />
unprecedented in the history of this<br />
country. The decision to close all<br />
schools, except to a minority of pupils,<br />
is an essential part of our fight against<br />
the spread of Covid-19.<br />
“I have enormous appreciation for<br />
the work you do every single day and<br />
recognise that, with these extraordinary<br />
measures, I am asking you to go<br />
to exceptional lengths to rise to the<br />
challenge we face.<br />
“The weeks and months ahead will<br />
undoubtedly be testing for everyone.<br />
As we move further into uncharted<br />
waters, I wanted to express my deepest<br />
gratitude for the absolutely vital service<br />
that you are providing for our children,<br />
young people and communities.<br />
“By maintaining school provision for<br />
those who need it most, leaders of<br />
our schools and colleges – and your<br />
staff – rightly take their place next to<br />
our NHS staff and other critical workers<br />
as central to our country’s efforts in<br />
battling this virus.<br />
“Thank you for stepping up to this<br />
challenge with such dedication and<br />
determination. I know that you have<br />
moved quickly to implement last week’s<br />
announcement. Over the last few days,<br />
I have heard extraordinary examples<br />
of school leaders and teachers<br />
responding with flexibility, pragmatism<br />
and creativity – demonstrating true civic<br />
spirit in unparalleled circumstances.<br />
“Thanks to you, and particularly those<br />
of you working in our special schools,<br />
our most vulnerable children and young<br />
people will still have the support, care<br />
and constancy of school environments if<br />
they need it.<br />
“You are also the reason critical workers<br />
across the country can continue to<br />
deliver the crucial frontline services<br />
that are central to our national effort to<br />
tackle Covid-19.<br />
“I know this will be a difficult time. I’m<br />
aware that the challenge of delivering<br />
these measures sits alongside<br />
considerations about your own health<br />
and that of your families.<br />
“I recognise that you will also be<br />
anxious about the wellbeing of your<br />
staff and about the longer-term impact<br />
of this crisis on the children and young<br />
people you care for and educate every<br />
single day.<br />
“We have published initial guidance<br />
on how best to keep your staff and<br />
students safe, and will continue to work<br />
with the sector to answer you concerns.<br />
I will do everything in my power to<br />
support you.<br />
“On behalf of the Prime Minster and<br />
the entire Government, thank you once<br />
again for all your hard work.”<br />
Gavin Williamson<br />
• Number of coronavirus (COVID-19)<br />
cases and risk level in the UK.<br />
This information is updated daily.<br />
• Guidance for schools and other<br />
educational settings in providing<br />
advice about the novel coronavirus,<br />
COVID-19.<br />
• Implementing social distancing in<br />
education and childcare settings.<br />
Covid-19, the latest<br />
developments<br />
all in one<br />
all<br />
place<br />
in one place<br />
• Information for parents and carers<br />
about the closure of schools and other<br />
educational settings following the<br />
outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19).<br />
Covid-19<br />
the latest developments...<br />
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news from the Government’s<br />
general guidance, advice from the Department for Education<br />
and also from Ofsted.<br />
Here are all the handy links you need, all in one place.<br />
• Department for Education Coronavirus<br />
helpline. The Department for Education<br />
has launched a new helpline for early<br />
years providers, schools and colleges<br />
– as well as parents, carers and young<br />
people – who have questions about<br />
coronavirus.<br />
If you have specific questions about<br />
the virus, you can contact the helpline<br />
on: Call: 0800 046 8687<br />
Email: dfe.coronavirushelpline@<br />
education.gov.uk<br />
• Information about routine Ofsted<br />
inspections suspended in response to<br />
coronavirus can be found here.<br />
FACEBOOK<br />
You can find a huge amount of really<br />
useful information and can request<br />
and offer help too on this official NHS<br />
Coronavirus Facebook page here:<br />
4 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 5
How to How discuss to discuss the Coronavirus<br />
coronavirus with children<br />
in your setting<br />
Possibly one of the most common new words in our daily vocabulary; the<br />
children in your setting cannot fail to have heard the word coronavirus,<br />
both at home and within your setting.<br />
We want to help you prepare because<br />
Standards are here<br />
Apprenticeship<br />
Standards are here<br />
We want to help you get ready to plan ahead – because Apprenticeship<br />
Standards are here. To secure funding to train your staff or even<br />
to recruit a new apprentice, you need what’s called a ‘Government<br />
Gateway Apprenticeship Account’ to be able to request funds to pay<br />
for your training requirements.<br />
Set up your Government Gateway Account without delay! Follow our simple<br />
steps here which will help you through the process.<br />
Why are Standards replacing<br />
Framework?<br />
• Standards are replacing<br />
Framework across all<br />
apprenticeships which is a<br />
requirement from both ESFA and<br />
Ofsted and affects all training<br />
providers.<br />
When deciding how to tackle the<br />
subject, one of the most important<br />
things is to talk about it naturally and<br />
try not to make a really big thing of<br />
it. Talk about why some people might<br />
need to stay away from others and why<br />
“nursery might need to have an extra<br />
holiday for a while”... If things escalate,<br />
be prepared to have conversations<br />
with children around death and<br />
bereavement; but at this stage, children<br />
need adults to be supportive, honest<br />
and explain things in a simple way that<br />
reassures and doesn’t panic them.<br />
Industry expert, Tamsin Grimmer<br />
shares her top tips for talking to the<br />
children about the virus:<br />
Have an ethos of permission within<br />
the setting so that if children want to<br />
talk about the virus they are welcome<br />
to, whilst remaining sensitive to any<br />
children who find it upsetting.<br />
• Use this virus as an opportunity to<br />
reinforce the importance of hygiene,<br />
e.g. handwashing.<br />
• Make handwashing into a fun game<br />
- there are now some online videos<br />
to help with this, new songs to sing<br />
etc.<br />
• Engage in socio-dramatic play in<br />
which children role-play events from<br />
their lives.<br />
• Read stories and books which<br />
include illness and hygiene<br />
practices... (e.g. “I don’t want to<br />
wash my hands” by Tony Ross,<br />
“Germs are Not for Sharing” (Board<br />
book) by Elizabeth Verdick and Why<br />
Must I Wash My Hands? by Jackie<br />
Gaff).<br />
• Storytelling – making up stories in<br />
which a character gets poorly, or<br />
sneezes etc...<br />
Provide opportunities for children<br />
to make up their own stories (e.g.<br />
helicopter stories).<br />
• Use puppets and role play to<br />
prompt discussion.<br />
• Answer any questions about the<br />
coronavirus as honestly as possible<br />
….remembering that it’s OK to say,<br />
“I don’t know!”<br />
• Use correct language with the<br />
children, e.g. virus.<br />
• Explain that most children do not<br />
get very poorly but some people<br />
who have other illnesses or people<br />
who are very old, might find it<br />
harder to get better.<br />
• Try not to hype up the issue - some<br />
children will be hearing very scary<br />
stories at home, so be a calm<br />
reassuring presence.<br />
• Don’t talk about it to other adults<br />
over the children’s heads - they will<br />
pick up on anxiety or worries.<br />
• Go to HMRC’s website here:<br />
bit.ly/37IuVYF<br />
• Click the GREEN sign-in<br />
button<br />
• Click “Create sign-in details”<br />
• Enter your email address<br />
where asked<br />
• You will now be emailed a<br />
confirmation code. Use this<br />
code to confirm your email<br />
address<br />
• You will now be issued with a<br />
User ID for your Government<br />
Gateway account<br />
• Please save this and keep<br />
it somewhere safe because<br />
losing it can create a lot of<br />
work in the future<br />
Once you receive your<br />
Government Gateway ID, please<br />
create an account to manage<br />
your apprenticeships<br />
You’ll use your account to:<br />
• Get apprenticeship funding<br />
• Find and save<br />
apprenticeships<br />
• Find, save and manage<br />
training providers<br />
• Recruit apprentices<br />
• Add and manage<br />
apprenticeships<br />
Set up your Government Gateway<br />
Apprenticeship Account here: bit.<br />
ly/32fYHmm<br />
Please don’t hesitate to contact our training team via email if<br />
you have any questions at all: trainingadmin@parenta.com<br />
• The main purpose is to place<br />
greater emphasis on the teaching<br />
and learning (T&L) time between<br />
apprentice and tutor and to involve<br />
the employer in a greater capacity.<br />
What are the key differences<br />
between Standards and Framework?<br />
• The employer is more involved<br />
in the learning plan of their<br />
apprentice.<br />
• The key focus is based around<br />
skills, knowledge and behaviours<br />
(SKB) of an apprentice, which<br />
they acquire throughout their<br />
apprenticeship.<br />
• The entire learning plan is set out<br />
to prepare apprentices for their<br />
End Point Assessment (EPA).<br />
• Course duration will increase<br />
to potentially 18 months, which<br />
includes a 3 month allocation for<br />
(EPA) End Point Assessment.<br />
• The EPA includes a knowledge<br />
test as well as a professional<br />
discussion underpinned by the<br />
learner’s portfolio.<br />
6 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 7
Electronic devices<br />
& online safety<br />
in the early years<br />
Electronic devices & online<br />
safety<br />
Back in 2010, when iPads and other comparable tablets first appeared, their<br />
potential to change the way children were educated was revolutionary.<br />
What made them so attractive<br />
was that they had three<br />
noticeable features which<br />
had the potential to make<br />
a positive difference to<br />
education:<br />
• They are portable and<br />
lightweight<br />
• They eliminate the need for<br />
separate input devices (such<br />
as having an extra mouse or<br />
keyboard)<br />
• They are designed to house<br />
large numbers of applications,<br />
many of which are designed<br />
specifically for children.<br />
Unlike previous technologies,<br />
electronic devices give the user the<br />
opportunity to create their own content,<br />
simultaneously using texts, pictures<br />
and sounds, to create dynamic and<br />
engaging learning environments.<br />
It’s common practice now that schools<br />
and colleges are using the latest<br />
technology, to improve teaching and<br />
make lessons more interactive and<br />
engaging. That extends to the early<br />
years sector, too.<br />
Victoria Short, managing<br />
director of Randstad Public<br />
Services, who have, over the<br />
years, conducted research<br />
into the use of technology in<br />
early years education, said:<br />
“Teaching tools have<br />
come a long way since<br />
the days teachers used to<br />
write on chalkboards and<br />
present using an overhead<br />
projector”.<br />
“The introduction of the<br />
use of electronic devices<br />
into early education has<br />
facilitated the social<br />
aspect of the classroom.<br />
An article found in The<br />
International Journal of<br />
Education in Mathematics,<br />
Science and Technology<br />
states<br />
‘…using electronic devices<br />
like the iPad frequently<br />
becomes a social activity<br />
for young children as<br />
they often talk and work<br />
together while using<br />
the tool. It is possible<br />
that the mobility of the<br />
iPad contributes to the<br />
socialisation that takes<br />
place, because children<br />
can see the screens of<br />
other children easily<br />
and can manipulate the<br />
touchscreen in groups’.”<br />
Clearly, electronic devices can be<br />
used as great learning tools in early<br />
years. But how can we ensure the<br />
safe use of such devices?<br />
• In this case, prevention really is<br />
better than cure. It is important to<br />
talk to children about potential online<br />
dangers and how they can stay safe<br />
online.<br />
• Educating children so they feel<br />
comfortable alerting an adult when<br />
something unusual happens. For<br />
example, do they know how to deal<br />
with an unexpected pop-up? In this<br />
instance, the child should tell an<br />
adult who can remove it and should<br />
never click on it.<br />
• It is imperative these rules are<br />
reminded regularly and are in place<br />
to keep them safe, as children are<br />
naturally inquisitive.<br />
• Displaying posters around your<br />
setting about online safety can act<br />
as a visual reminder, but early years<br />
providers should ensure they verbally<br />
remind children on a regular basis.<br />
• Parents should always be aware of<br />
what children are doing/accessing<br />
online. Social networking, chat rooms<br />
and unsuitable websites should be<br />
off limits and specialist software<br />
should be installed to ensure children<br />
are blocked access to inappropriate<br />
sites. Start by setting boundaries<br />
around online use. For example, time<br />
limits on how long they can use an<br />
internet-enabled device each day.<br />
Download a child-friendly browser<br />
like Kiddle and ensure children only<br />
have access to apps or online games<br />
you have authorised.<br />
• Boundaries should be consistent, so<br />
share these with anyone, such as<br />
friends and family who look after or<br />
spend time with your child.<br />
Learning through technology, although<br />
growing, is just one small part of a<br />
child’s early years education. When<br />
used alongside a varied curriculum,<br />
technology can complement a child’s<br />
development. Technology must be<br />
used safely; both early years providers<br />
and parents must protect children by<br />
educating them on potential online<br />
dangers.<br />
8 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 9
Opening gateways<br />
The role of the adult engaging<br />
in sustained shared thinking<br />
“Sustained Shared Thinking” (SST) is a<br />
term describing effective interactions<br />
that arose from two influential UK<br />
research projects back in the early<br />
noughties: The Effective Pre-school<br />
and Primary Education (EPPE) and<br />
the Researching Effective Pedagogy<br />
in the Early Years (REPEY) projects.<br />
Both projects define sustained shared<br />
thinking as “where two or more<br />
individuals ‘work together’ in an<br />
intellectual way to solve a problem,<br />
clarify a concept, evaluate activities,<br />
or extend a narrative.”<br />
So what does this look like in practice? It’s<br />
when adults and children think together or<br />
ask questions about why things happen<br />
the way they do, or how things work.<br />
For example, when Zenya asks you why<br />
• Reciprocating<br />
Opening gateways<br />
sensitively with children or interfering<br />
- The<br />
in<br />
role • Asking open of questions the<br />
their play. Clearly we want it to be the<br />
• Modelling thinking<br />
former. She also talks about how adults<br />
can continue the learning momentum for<br />
adult engaging sustained shared<br />
children, through the way we interact.<br />
(Siraj-Blatchford, 2005)<br />
thinking<br />
the rain is wet or when Harry begins<br />
investigating how the internet works.<br />
Sustained shared thinking happens when<br />
your key group decide to tell their own<br />
story at home time and make up the<br />
characters, setting and whole narrative,<br />
with only a few prompts from you. It’s also<br />
when you pose ‘I wonder...’ or ‘What if…’<br />
questions and when one of your children<br />
decides to ‘teach’ another how to make a<br />
car out of blocks.<br />
Sustained Shared Thinking may be a fairly<br />
new term, having only been around for<br />
under twenty years, but sustained shared<br />
thinking is, in my view, not a new concept!<br />
Children have always questioned things<br />
and investigated the world, and educators<br />
have always enabled children to come to<br />
their own conclusions, or prompted them<br />
to think again about certain concepts<br />
to clarify or correct misconceptions. We<br />
could talk about scaffolding children or<br />
supporting them in the zone of proximal<br />
development, but perhaps it is easier to<br />
think about engaging with children and<br />
responding sensitively.<br />
So our role as the adult is to tune in to<br />
the child, listen to them and respond<br />
appropriately. We need to be interested<br />
in what the children are exploring or<br />
engaging with and notice how they are<br />
interacting. The best way to do this is to<br />
literally get down onto our hands and<br />
knees and become engrossed ourselves!<br />
To not just play alongside, but instead be<br />
a co-player, someone who can offer ideas<br />
in leading the play, but also someone who<br />
can be led by the children.<br />
We must remain sensitive however, of not<br />
hijacking the children’s play, or always<br />
trying to extend and challenge children’s<br />
thinking. Yes, this is part of our role, but<br />
not all of the time and certainly not in a<br />
forced way. Julie Fisher challenges us to<br />
think about whether we are interacting<br />
A metaphor that I have found useful, is<br />
the idea that our role as educator is “to<br />
open gateways to new understandings for<br />
children as they participate in the world<br />
around them” (Anning and Edwards,<br />
2006). I love the imagery of this: opening<br />
gateways is a gentle way of showing<br />
children possibilities. A gateway can act as<br />
a doorway into new and exciting learning<br />
opportunities or even as a way of seeing<br />
the bigger picture, but an open gateway<br />
is an invitation. Children can choose to go<br />
through or not.<br />
So let’s engage in sustained shared<br />
thinking with our children and open<br />
gateways to possibilities that they have<br />
never even dreamed of.<br />
How adults can engage in<br />
sustained shared thinking<br />
interactions:<br />
• Tuning in<br />
• Showing interest<br />
• Elaborating<br />
• Recapping<br />
• Offering own experience<br />
• Clarifying ideas<br />
• Suggesting<br />
• Reminding<br />
• Encouraging<br />
• Offering an alternative viewpoint<br />
• Speculating<br />
Continuing the learning<br />
momentum:<br />
• Commenting<br />
• Pondering<br />
• Imagining<br />
• Connecting<br />
• Thinking aloud<br />
• Talking about feelings<br />
• Reflecting back to children<br />
• Supporting the child to make<br />
choices and decisions<br />
• Explaining and informing<br />
• Posing problems<br />
• Staying quiet<br />
(Fisher, 2016)<br />
Tamsin Grimmer<br />
Tamsin Grimmer is an<br />
experienced early years<br />
consultant and trainer and<br />
parent who is passionate about<br />
young children’s learning and<br />
development. She believes<br />
that all children deserve<br />
practitioners who are inspiring,<br />
dynamic, reflective and<br />
committed to improving on their<br />
current best. Tamsin particularly<br />
enjoys planning and delivering<br />
training and supporting<br />
early years practitioners and<br />
teachers to improve outcomes<br />
for young children.<br />
Tamsin has written two<br />
books - “Observing and<br />
Developing Schematic<br />
Behaviour in Young Children”<br />
and ”School Readiness and<br />
the Characteristics of Effective<br />
Learning”.<br />
Website:<br />
tamsingrimmer.com<br />
Facebook:<br />
facebook.com/earlyyears.<br />
consultancy.5<br />
Twitter:<br />
@tamsingrimmer<br />
Email:<br />
info@tamsingrimmer.co.uk<br />
References<br />
Siraj-Blatchford, I. and Taggart, B. (Eds) (2010). Early childhood matters evidence from<br />
the Effective Pre-school and Primary Education project. Abingdon, United Kingdom:<br />
Routledge. P. 157<br />
Anning, A. & Edwards, A. (2006) Promoting Children’s Learning from Birth to Five<br />
Maidenhead: Open University Press<br />
Fisher, J. (2016) Interacting or Interfering? Improving interactions in the early years.<br />
Maidenhead: Open University Press<br />
10 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 11
Talking about difference:<br />
profound disability<br />
In our settings, we explore many differences with the children we support: we talk<br />
about the changing seasons, we explore different cultures and ethnicities, we celebrate<br />
festivals and we talk about growing up and growing old.<br />
Talking about difference:<br />
Profound disability<br />
This is my second article in a series<br />
of four, talking about difference<br />
through the lenses of disability,<br />
neurodivergence and social and<br />
emotional wellbeing. Difference<br />
is always immediately relevant to<br />
children, because all children are<br />
different. When we learn to recognise<br />
and understand difference in others,<br />
we are better equipped to recognise<br />
and understand our own differences.<br />
Teach children to embrace difference,<br />
and you teach them to embrace<br />
themselves.<br />
My first article talked about children<br />
with Down’s syndrome. It is very<br />
likely that the children in your setting<br />
have, or will, encounter someone with<br />
Down’s syndrome. In this article, I am<br />
going to be talking about children<br />
who have profound and multiple<br />
learning disabilities. It is much less<br />
likely that the children in your setting<br />
have encountered someone with a<br />
profound physical disability, but it is<br />
no less important to talk about them.<br />
Difference is a part of life; a very wonderful part.<br />
The reason the children in your setting<br />
are unlikely to have met someone<br />
with a profound and multiple learning<br />
disability is because they lead hidden<br />
lives. A long time ago these people<br />
would have been locked away from<br />
society in institutions on the outskirts<br />
of town. Today, the institutions have<br />
closed but we do little better than<br />
before. Take toilets for example:<br />
Imagine if I suggested to you that you<br />
take the children in your setting out to<br />
a place that had no toilets? You would<br />
be unlikely to go. Very unlikely!<br />
Children with profound and multiple<br />
learning disabilities cannot use<br />
disabled toilets, they need a<br />
Changing Places toilet – this has a<br />
large changing bed and a hoist to<br />
lift the person onto the bed. Over a<br />
quarter of a million people in the UK<br />
need a Changing Places toilet, but<br />
they remain few and far between,<br />
even hospitals do not have them!<br />
Consequently, the families of people<br />
with profound disabilities are less<br />
able to get out and about. We may<br />
think of these lives as being very far<br />
removed from our own, but a twist of<br />
fate, and they could become ours. We<br />
are not so far away from their reality.<br />
Imagine being the parent of a child<br />
with profound and multiple learning<br />
disabilities and taking them to the<br />
supermarket. Imagine all the logistics<br />
this would entail, how much harder<br />
it would be than your regular trip to<br />
the supermarket. Now imagine that<br />
when you get there, people stare at<br />
you, parents pull their children away<br />
from your child, children make faces<br />
of disgust at your child.<br />
This rejection of your child is by no<br />
means the biggest burden that you<br />
have faced, but you are braced for<br />
the big attacks and are ill prepared<br />
for the small ones. It is the straw that<br />
breaks the camel’s back, not the load<br />
it was already carrying.<br />
Preventing that hurt is simple,<br />
because it comes about through a<br />
lack of understanding. People stare<br />
because they want to learn more.<br />
Parents pull their children away<br />
because they understand staring is<br />
rude (but in that pull is the message<br />
that the other child is something bad).<br />
Children make faces because they do<br />
not know what they are looking at.<br />
Once people understand (adults and<br />
children) they will respond to people<br />
with profound disabilities in much the<br />
same way as they respond to anyone<br />
else.<br />
As we did with children with Down’s<br />
Syndrome show the children in your<br />
setting some pictures of children with<br />
profound disabilities and ask them<br />
to describe what they see. Accept<br />
answers about clothes and hair<br />
colour, etc. in the same way that you<br />
accept answers about twisted limbs<br />
and mobility equipment. Help them to<br />
shape their answers so that they are<br />
factual not judgemental, e.g. if a child<br />
says “Her legs are wrong,” shape this<br />
to “Her legs look small, or twisted, or<br />
have a support on the outside.” They<br />
are not wrong, they are different.<br />
My own son is five. He has been<br />
helping me with my work with<br />
children with profound disabilities<br />
since he was 18 months old. He talks<br />
about them as “my friends whose<br />
bodies do not work properly.” He is<br />
fascinated by their differences, not<br />
afraid of them. I am always clear with<br />
him about what his friend’s bodies<br />
can and cannot do, and what they are<br />
interested in. Together we find ways<br />
they can play together and everyone<br />
has a lot of fun.<br />
Engaging children’s curiosity and<br />
wonder is a great way to approach<br />
differences that are too complex<br />
for them to fully understand yet. I<br />
write sensory stories for children<br />
with profound and multiple learning<br />
disabilities: these are concise<br />
narratives in which each sentence<br />
is partnered by a rich and relevant<br />
sensory experience. Sharing a<br />
sensory story can be a fun way to<br />
explore how someone with a complex<br />
disability might learn and have fun.<br />
Explain to the children that the<br />
children with profound disabilities<br />
they have seen pictures of, often<br />
have sensory impairments as well as<br />
mobility impairments. Ask them, “If<br />
you couldn’t see a picture, how could<br />
I show you what was happening in a<br />
story?” See if someone says “make a<br />
noise” or “touch something”. Share a<br />
sensory story to gain an insight into<br />
how much fun it can be to learn in a<br />
different way.<br />
End by asking the children if they<br />
would be interested in getting to<br />
know someone who had a profound<br />
disability. What might they do if<br />
they met someone with a complex<br />
disability when they were out and<br />
about? Teach them to smile and say<br />
hello. When you do this, you turn<br />
the straws that break the camel’s<br />
back into lifelines of hope for a more<br />
inclusive, friendly world.<br />
For more information about Changing<br />
Places see www.changing-places.org<br />
For more information about Sensory<br />
Stories see www.thesensoryprojects.<br />
co.uk For more information about<br />
people with profound and multiple<br />
learning disabilities go to<br />
www.PMLDlink.org.uk<br />
“<br />
Sharing a sensory story can be a fun<br />
way to explore how someone with a complex<br />
disability might learn and have fun.<br />
”<br />
Joanna Grace<br />
Joanna Grace is an<br />
international Sensory<br />
Engagement and Inclusion<br />
Specialist, trainer, author, TEDx<br />
speaker and founder of The<br />
Sensory Projects.<br />
Consistently rated as<br />
“outstanding” by Ofsted,<br />
Joanna has taught in<br />
mainstream and specialschool<br />
settings, connecting<br />
with pupils of all ages and<br />
abilities. To inform her<br />
work, Joanna draws on her<br />
own experience from her<br />
private and professional life<br />
as well as taking in all the<br />
information she can from the<br />
research archives. Joanna’s<br />
private life includes family<br />
members with disabilities and<br />
neurodivergent conditions and<br />
time spent as a registered<br />
foster carer for children with<br />
profound disabilities.<br />
Joanna has published four<br />
practitioner books: “Multiple<br />
Multisensory Rooms: Myth<br />
Busting the Magic”, “Sensory<br />
Stories for Children and Teens”,<br />
“Sensory-Being for Sensory<br />
Beings” and “Sharing Sensory<br />
Stories and Conversations with<br />
People with Dementia” and<br />
two inclusive sensory story<br />
children’s books: “Voyage to<br />
Arghan” and “Ernest and I”.<br />
Joanna is a big fan of social<br />
media and is always happy<br />
to connect with people<br />
via Facebook, Twitter and<br />
LinkedIn.<br />
Website:<br />
thesensoryprojects.co.uk<br />
12 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 13
How our inner child<br />
affects us<br />
(as parents, practitioners & teachers)<br />
I talk a lot about early childhood programming and how a child’s consistent<br />
experiences form subconscious belief systems that then silently guide them<br />
throughout life. There’s always a big focus on how our actions as parents,<br />
practitioners and teachers impact children, but what about our own childhood<br />
programming and how that is now impacting us?<br />
We are all walking around, looking at the<br />
world through a lens that is influenced<br />
by the internal programming we received<br />
in our formative years and in order to be<br />
the best that we can be, both personally<br />
and professionally, it is important to<br />
understand this programming and how it completely subconscious. This means that<br />
How our inner child affects us (as<br />
affects us on a daily basis.<br />
most of the time we are on autopilot with<br />
our subconscious mind in the driving seat.<br />
How we consistently felt as children, the<br />
parents, messages that were given to us practitioners by the & teachers)<br />
One of its main jobs is also to keep us<br />
‘safe’. Now, safe to you and me would be<br />
actions and words of those around us<br />
and any major incidents that we went<br />
through will have likely created beliefs<br />
within us that now subconsciously impact<br />
our actions, reactions and decisions. If we<br />
grew up feeling valued and empowered,<br />
there’s a good chance that we will look<br />
at the world through a lens influenced<br />
by this belief and feel (more often than<br />
not) this way. However, if we grew up<br />
feeling like we weren’t good enough or<br />
unimportant, we will most likely view the<br />
world and ourselves in the same light or<br />
find ourselves in situations that reaffirm<br />
this belief.<br />
Example<br />
I always give the example of two people<br />
seeing a larger than life character who<br />
is dominating the room. One person<br />
might think they are inspirational and<br />
admire how they are commanding their<br />
audience. However, the other person<br />
might think they are ‘too big for their<br />
boots’ and be convinced that they were<br />
looking down their nose at them.<br />
Both people entered the same<br />
room but viewed it through a<br />
completely different lens. This is<br />
because each and every one of us has<br />
our own set of beliefs that almost put a<br />
filter over how we see the world.<br />
Neuroscientists have done studies<br />
showing that up to 95% of what we do is<br />
to make good decisions, to react well and<br />
to surround ourselves with good people.<br />
However, ‘safe’ to our subconscious mind<br />
means keeping us in alignment with<br />
our beliefs no matter if they are good or<br />
bad. If we have a belief that we are ‘not<br />
good enough’, it is more than likely that<br />
the world around us will reflect this. We<br />
might be surrounded by critical people or<br />
feel that others look down their nose at<br />
us. Either way, what we experience will<br />
probably link to this belief in some way,<br />
shape or form because that is what we<br />
are programmed to see or feel.<br />
Although what we experience is our<br />
truth, it is also important to realise that<br />
it is not necessarily the actual truth or<br />
the truth of others because we are all<br />
seeing the world through our own unique<br />
lens. It’s like one person saying that 5 +<br />
5 = 10 and being adamant that they are<br />
right. However, another person argues<br />
that they are wrong because 6 + 4 =<br />
10. Both are correct, each of them is just<br />
seeing it from a different perspective. Just<br />
because we are right does not mean that<br />
someone else is wrong, which is why it is<br />
important to try to view the world through<br />
other people’s lenses as well as our own.<br />
Beliefs are created over time. However,<br />
two people who experience the same<br />
circumstances might react differently to<br />
the same belief. People who were put<br />
down a lot as children might get the<br />
belief that they are not good enough.<br />
However, one person might learn that<br />
they have to do as they are told and to<br />
acquiesce in order to get by, yet another<br />
person might learn that they have to<br />
be a bully in order to be heard. In my<br />
experience, in adulthood, we either mirror<br />
the main influencers that were in our life<br />
as children, or we rebel against them.<br />
If we grew up feeling less than we might<br />
make a vow to never make anyone else<br />
feel that way and therefore conduct<br />
ourselves with kindness at all times.<br />
However, someone else might mirror<br />
what they experienced and become<br />
forceful and brash in a subconscious<br />
attempt to be someone powerful and<br />
significant. Either way, it’s important to try<br />
to understand our inner programming<br />
and to gain an understanding of how this<br />
can impact us as a parent, practitioner or<br />
teacher.<br />
“ ”<br />
If we have a belief that we are ‘not good enough’, it is more<br />
than likely that the world around us will reflect this.<br />
If we felt inadequate growing up and<br />
rebelled against what we experienced<br />
making a subconscious vow to never<br />
make anyone else feel this way, we<br />
might:<br />
- Struggle to assert ourselves and set<br />
boundaries because we subconsciously<br />
don’t want to see children feeling sad<br />
- Struggle to allow children to fail because<br />
we subconsciously don’t want them to<br />
feel like they aren’t good enough<br />
- Struggle to follow through with<br />
consequences because we don’t want<br />
to make children feel bad<br />
With or without this vow, we can still<br />
also be personally impacted by a ‘not<br />
good enough’ belief. We might:<br />
- Struggle to accept criticism of any kind<br />
because it hooks into this inner feeling<br />
of not being good enough<br />
- Have a default setting that makes us<br />
feel that people don’t like us or judge us<br />
in some way<br />
- Doubt ourselves a lot<br />
- Put ourselves down<br />
Either way, our childhood can impact us a lot. If we are struggling with anything<br />
personally or professionally, it can help to look at what belief might be linked to the<br />
scenario and where this came from in our own childhood. Self-awareness is crucial in<br />
life and by looking inwardly at our own programming, we can not only gain a better<br />
understanding of who we are and what drives us, but also avoid any of our own<br />
negative beliefs from being passed down to the little ones that look up to us so much.<br />
Stacey Kelly<br />
Stacey Kelly is a former<br />
teacher, a parent to 2<br />
beautiful babies and the<br />
founder of Early Years Story<br />
Box, which is a subscription<br />
website providing children’s<br />
storybooks and early years<br />
resources. She is passionate<br />
about building children’s<br />
imagination, creativity and<br />
self-belief and about creating<br />
awareness of the impact<br />
that the early years have<br />
on a child’s future. Stacey<br />
loves her role as a writer,<br />
illustrator and public speaker<br />
and believes in the power of<br />
personal development. She is<br />
also on a mission to empower<br />
children to live a life full of<br />
happiness and fulfilment,<br />
which is why she launched<br />
the #ThankYouOaky Gratitude<br />
Movement.<br />
Sign up to Stacey’s premium<br />
membership and use the<br />
code PARENTA20 to get 20%<br />
off or contact Stacey for an<br />
online demo.<br />
Website:<br />
www.earlyyearsstorybox.com<br />
Email:<br />
stacey@earlyyearsstorybox.com<br />
Facebook:<br />
facebook.com/earlyyearsstorybox<br />
Twitter:<br />
twitter.com/eystorybox<br />
Instagram:<br />
instagram.com/earlyyearsstorybox<br />
LinkedIn:<br />
linkedin.com/in/stacey-kellya84534b2/<br />
14 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 15
10 benefits<br />
of outdoor learning<br />
We know that children love to be outside and most will play happily for hours in the<br />
fresh air. As the weather begins to change for the better, you will find more and more<br />
opportunities to get the children outside. At this time you are liking to see some of the<br />
best learning that a child can experience – both physically, mentally and emotionally.<br />
10 Benefits of outdoor Learning.<br />
Show them how to look after our environment<br />
by letting them practise it in real life<br />
“ ”<br />
We know outdoor play is great for children, but why?<br />
Here is a list of 10 great benefits of outdoor play:<br />
Outdoor learning<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
4<br />
5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
8<br />
9<br />
10<br />
Gives new and exciting learning opportunities. Picking up a rock<br />
and finding lots of mini-beasts underneath, for example, is such<br />
an amazing opportunity to develop language, understanding of<br />
the world and to learn about caring for living things.<br />
Improves physical health. Children are able to exercise on a<br />
much greater level than they can inside, plus they breathe in<br />
fresh air whilst doing so. Win/win.<br />
Boosts social and communication skills – when outside, children<br />
are likely to be moving around a lot more, navigating one<br />
another and negotiating the toys they are playing with. What<br />
better opportunity to get them interacting with their peers and<br />
solving any problems. This also boosts self-esteem.<br />
Allows you to make the most of wet/windy weather. Teach<br />
children that it can be fun to splash in puddles, play under an<br />
umbrella and fly ribbons and scarves in the wind. Don’t forget<br />
that many parents will just stay indoors in such weather so if you<br />
don’t let children experience this, then they may not ever get the<br />
chance. This is also yet another opportunity to develop language<br />
and understanding of the world.<br />
Encourages good mental health. As adults we are told that fresh<br />
air and exercise is good for our mental health. It’s the same for<br />
children.<br />
Gives the opportunity to develop gross motor skills as well as fine<br />
motor skills. When you are indoors, it is a lot easier to provide<br />
activities that develop fine motor skills than gross motor skills,<br />
but they are both extremely important. Many outside play areas<br />
give children the opportunity to climb/swing/throw – all of which<br />
are developing gross motor skills. Children are also able to markmake<br />
on a large scale, for example using chalk on the ground or<br />
painting water on the walls.<br />
Teaches children how to look after our environment. We can tell<br />
children about this from outdoors but we know the best way for<br />
them to learn something is to experience it. Show them how to<br />
look after our environment by letting them practise it in real life.<br />
You get to take learning to a child’s favourite activity. If you have<br />
a child that is reluctant to engage in a particular activity, then try<br />
taking it outside and mixing it in with something that they love.<br />
Teaches about the local area - Going for a walk teaches children<br />
about their community, plus they will also begin to learn the<br />
basics of road safety.<br />
Offers different sensory experiences – this can be both things<br />
specific to outside, such as digging in the mud, or it could be<br />
bringing an indoors activity outside, but experiencing it in the<br />
wind or sunshine.<br />
Gina Smith<br />
Gina Smith is an<br />
experienced teacher with<br />
experience of teaching<br />
in both mainstream and<br />
special education. She<br />
is the creator of ‘Create<br />
Visual Aids’ - a business<br />
that provides both homes<br />
and education settings with<br />
bespoke visual resources.<br />
Gina recognises the fact<br />
that no two children are<br />
the same and therefore<br />
individuals are likely to<br />
need different resources.<br />
Create Visual Aids is<br />
dedicated to making visual<br />
symbols exactly how the<br />
individual needs them.<br />
Website:<br />
www.createvisualaids.com<br />
Email:<br />
gina@createvisualsaids.com<br />
The important thing to remember<br />
is that some children won’t get<br />
these opportunities at home, so<br />
make sure you provide them in<br />
your setting. It might be that they<br />
live somewhere that doesn’t have<br />
a garden, or that their parents just<br />
don’t take them out. If you don’t<br />
have a large outdoor area (or even<br />
if you do!) get out and about for<br />
walks or visits to the local library.<br />
In these vital early years, you can<br />
give children a love of the outdoors<br />
that they can carry with them into<br />
adulthood.<br />
16 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 17
The benefits of<br />
storytelling in music:<br />
using royalty & magic<br />
Stories are a natural way of communication. They have been used as far<br />
back as human records have been found, in all cultures and communities. A<br />
little like music. To start this series, I am going to share how the pre-school<br />
story-theme of magic and royalty can be used to develop musical skills. You<br />
may be inspired to create your own musical story!<br />
The story<br />
Royalty and magic are guaranteed<br />
winners for children because they<br />
suggest escape, power and freedom.<br />
There are few things in life that<br />
children can control, so this idea is<br />
very appealing.<br />
The story is in 10 parts, with 10 characters and 10 musical skills. This allows for<br />
the story to be told over 10 weeks, introducing a new character along with a<br />
new musical skill. This mirrors the benefit of gradually building skills through<br />
regular practice.<br />
Rhythm planning<br />
The benefits of storytelling in<br />
music<br />
A good and noble King lives in a<br />
castle with his Queen. They live<br />
with a Knight who is married to<br />
a Lady. The King’s daughter, a<br />
Princess, meets and marries a<br />
Prince. A naughty music-hating<br />
Goblin steals the King’s jewels (in<br />
the storybook for older children,<br />
Elfen steals the Princess). The<br />
Knight went in search of the<br />
jewels (Princess) and found Goblin<br />
hiding them in a dragon’s lair. In<br />
the meantime, a passing Fairy<br />
heard about this, looked for<br />
Goblin, found his gold, and hung it<br />
out of reach, on a moonbeam. As<br />
the Knight was about to get back<br />
the jewels (Princess), the Dragon<br />
trapped both him and Goblin in a<br />
tower. A beautiful unicorn heard<br />
about this, came to the rescue<br />
and brought them all back to the<br />
castle where they had a big party<br />
(Goblin went back to his cave,<br />
and Dragon went back to his lair).<br />
“And at night, when the moon is<br />
right, you can still catch a glimpse<br />
of Goblin’s gold in the moonlight.”<br />
Rhythms are the building blocks of music. Like Lego, they can be long or<br />
short, with different shapes added on that make them more interesting.<br />
Being familiar with the core rhythms makes learning music much easier,<br />
and these can be easily introduced through movement. Dalcroze Eurhythmic<br />
movements are perfect because they use specific actions for different rhythms.<br />
A crotchet (quarter) note is walking; a quaver (eighth) note is jogging; a dotted<br />
rhythm is skipping. The focus skill can be easily introduced as a warm-up at<br />
the beginning, clarified during the character song, and reinforced at the end.<br />
Week Music Note Character<br />
1 Pulse / crotchet / quarter note King Crotchet<br />
Casual walk to the beat<br />
Melody planning<br />
In order to make these rhythms clear, I either made up my own songs, or used<br />
traditional songs (with changes in the lyrics to fit the story). Songs in the minor<br />
third (nee-naw ambulance sound) and songs in the pentatonic anhemitonic<br />
scale (black notes on a piano) help children to successfully match notes and<br />
sing in tune. (All songs are available free on YouTube on the Musicaliti channel;<br />
the CD is available on Amazon.com.)<br />
Age planning<br />
For infants 0–2 years, all songs focus on the pulse using a variety of instruments<br />
to shake and tap, and the storyline is introduced through toys or puppets.<br />
Children 2–4 years alternate between walking and jogging, using instruments<br />
to beat including drums and triangles, and transition from toys or puppets to<br />
dressing up and playing/acting.<br />
Children 4–6 years use walking and jogging, introducing skipping to their<br />
movements. They use cymbals and glockenspiels and dressing up to play<br />
games and dances.<br />
Craft:<br />
Week 1: King Crotchet<br />
Physical Warm-up<br />
As we begin, shoes off, we calmly<br />
listen to instrumental music as we walk<br />
around the room, any direction, either<br />
holding baby, or holding hands with our<br />
new walker or pre-schooler.<br />
Vocal Warm-up:<br />
We then warm up our voices: Do<br />
you have your whispering voice?<br />
Yes, I have my whispering voice. Do<br />
you have your speaking voice? Yes,<br />
I have my speaking voice. Do you<br />
have your singing voice (singing like<br />
an ambulance tune)? Yes, I have my<br />
singing voice. Ready to sing!<br />
Song 1: Old King Glory (game)<br />
“Build” a mountain of scarves, blankets<br />
or pillows in the middle of the room,<br />
and take turns leading each other<br />
around the mountain while singing the<br />
song. When you get to the last line, the<br />
person at the back goes to the front as<br />
the new leader.<br />
Song 2: I am King (instrumental)<br />
This original song uses one word per<br />
note. This makes it great for tapping an<br />
instrument, like a drum or a pot!<br />
Make and decorate a paper crown. Walk around the room, singing the song!<br />
Story:<br />
A long time ago in a magical musical<br />
kingdom far, far away, there lived<br />
King Crochet. King Crotchet was big<br />
and strong and when he walked<br />
past, everyone stopped to watch him<br />
because he was so loud and took such<br />
big steps. King Crotchet ruled wisely<br />
and justly and had a great crown full<br />
of every precious stone in the world.<br />
People loved King Crotchet so much<br />
that they travelled far and wide to find<br />
the most precious stone, and every<br />
week, he would choose the best new<br />
precious stones to add to his crown.<br />
The rest of the precious stones were<br />
added to the walls of his magnificent<br />
castle that shone each morning on the<br />
magical hill. Every day, King Crotchet<br />
loved to play croquet, a game where he<br />
would hit four balls though four hoops<br />
in the ground.<br />
Activity:<br />
Play a modified version of croquet by<br />
taking turns standing up, legs wide,<br />
and rolling a ball between them.<br />
Music extension:<br />
Find instrumental music with a royal<br />
sound and a clear beat. Children can<br />
walk to the beat wearing their crowns,<br />
acting out the story.<br />
The next article includes the<br />
development of the next sessions,<br />
showing how different rhythms can<br />
be introduced at these early stages by<br />
musicians and non-musicians alike!<br />
Frances Turnbull<br />
Musician, researcher and<br />
author, Frances Turnbull, is<br />
a self-taught guitarist who<br />
has played contemporary<br />
and community music from<br />
the age of 12. She delivers<br />
music sessions to the early<br />
years and KS1. Trained in the<br />
music education techniques<br />
of Kodály (specialist<br />
singing), Dalcroze (specialist<br />
movement) and Orff (specialist<br />
percussion instruments), she<br />
has a Bachelor’s degree in<br />
Psychology (Open University)<br />
and a Master’s degree in<br />
Education (University of<br />
Cambridge). She runs a local<br />
community choir, the Bolton<br />
Warblers, and delivers the<br />
Sound Sense initiative aiming<br />
for “A choir in every care<br />
home” within local care and<br />
residential homes, supporting<br />
health and wellbeing through<br />
her community interest<br />
company.<br />
She has represented the<br />
early years music community<br />
at the House of Commons,<br />
advocating for recognition for<br />
early years music educators,<br />
and her table of progressive<br />
music skills for under 7s<br />
features in her curriculum<br />
books.<br />
Frances is the author of<br />
“Learning with Music:<br />
Games and Activities for the<br />
Early Years“, published by<br />
Routledge, August 2017.<br />
www.musicaliti.co.uk<br />
18 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 19
How to help young children<br />
understand time<br />
As grown-ups, we spend much of our time thinking about time, whether it’s<br />
seconds, minutes and hours - or yesterday, today and tomorrow.<br />
But as Dr Angharad Rudkin and I reveal in our recent book,<br />
“What’s My Child Thinking?”, time is an abstract concept for<br />
young children – and it will take a few years of their own<br />
personal life experience, along with thoughtful guidance from<br />
adults, for them to start to understand it.<br />
Although it can feel challenging, helping children<br />
understand time is always worth it.<br />
Explaining the sequences of events and<br />
the passage of time from the past to the<br />
present - and the future - will not only help<br />
them make sense of their world, but will<br />
also make it feel like a safer, and more<br />
predictable place.<br />
How<br />
Here’s the “What’s my Child thinking?”<br />
guide to helping children develop their<br />
concept of time up to the age of seven.<br />
Ages 2 to 3<br />
At this age, children only really<br />
understand what they can<br />
touch or feel. They have<br />
not yet developed the<br />
higher brain functions<br />
to understand how<br />
to count minutes<br />
and hours. They<br />
also live mainly<br />
in the moment.<br />
Their concept of<br />
the passage of time is<br />
based on knowing that things<br />
happen at roughly the same<br />
times in their day, like getting<br />
up when it’s light, eating<br />
breakfast, lunch and dinner,<br />
and going to bed when it<br />
gets dark.<br />
By hearing you link these<br />
events to words, like ‘before’<br />
and ‘after’, a child will start to<br />
understand that things happen<br />
in a predictable sequence.<br />
However at this stage, when you say ‘tomorrow’, that’s a<br />
concept which is still too far away and abstract for most<br />
children this age to imagine. As children are still developing<br />
self-control and so find it hard delaying gratification, this<br />
can also make them seem very impatient to adults. This<br />
is because in a child’s mind, they want an event they are<br />
looking forward to, like a visit to the zoo, to happen right<br />
now - so that’s when they think it should happen.<br />
How to help:<br />
Avoid telling children about events too far<br />
in advance: At this stage, save the news of<br />
exciting upcoming events until a few days<br />
or hours before, so they do not get too<br />
to overexcited help too soon. young children<br />
understand time<br />
Use lots of time words: Nursery-age children<br />
are ready to understand concepts like ‘before’<br />
and ‘after’, so work these words into<br />
your descriptions of their day.<br />
Show how time passes: As<br />
they get a little older, you<br />
can use visual tools to<br />
help children understand<br />
time. For example, you<br />
could stick a timetable<br />
of the week on the<br />
wall. If you are<br />
planning a zoo visit<br />
for example, you could<br />
move a picture of an animal<br />
along as it gets closer to the<br />
day you are going.<br />
Age 4 to 5<br />
By this age, a young child’s<br />
understanding of time is<br />
starting to evolve.<br />
They have experienced<br />
enough of the routine<br />
of life to start to<br />
understand that days<br />
add up into weeks<br />
and months. This<br />
means they can now<br />
refer to events that happen as ‘last<br />
week’ or ‘next week’, though they may<br />
not get these descriptions quite right.<br />
So a child who says “yesterday” may be<br />
talking about an event that happened<br />
two of three days ago. By now, children<br />
are also gradually developing a concept<br />
of the years passing. So a four-year-old<br />
may now hold up four fingers to show<br />
you what age he is. The same child<br />
may also have enough experience of<br />
the world to relate activities to different<br />
times of year.<br />
So he may understand that Christmas<br />
happens when it’s cold in winter, while<br />
Halloween takes place when the leaves<br />
fall off the trees in autumn. This means<br />
children can start to look forward to<br />
events, like birthdays, several months in<br />
advance.<br />
How to help:<br />
Listen to memories: Pay attention when<br />
children talk about the past and ask<br />
for more details. Ask a child what they<br />
were feeling or thinking at the time. This<br />
sort of interaction makes a child feel<br />
important and validates the way they<br />
experience the world.<br />
Introduce concepts of smaller units to<br />
time: Help them learn to divide up time<br />
into minutes and seconds. Try an egg<br />
timer, which takes one minute to empty,<br />
to show how long it lasts.<br />
Help them notice the weather:<br />
Watching the weather can help children<br />
understand the passage of the days.<br />
Making a weather chart in which<br />
youngsters can mark their observations<br />
will enable them to better understand<br />
the ideas of ‘yesterday’, ‘today’ and<br />
‘tomorrow’ better.<br />
Age 6 to 7<br />
By now, children, understand that<br />
clocks represent the symbolic passing<br />
of time. They also understand that time<br />
passes in a predictable way - in the<br />
same units of seconds, minutes and<br />
hours - for everyone. This is partly due<br />
to the fact that children’s frontal lobes<br />
are now more efficiently wired up to the<br />
rest of their brains, so they are able to<br />
start viewing the world in a more logical<br />
way. This allows them a better grasp<br />
of what numbers can symbolise, while<br />
their working memory allows them to<br />
hold numerical ideas in their heads.<br />
This higher-order thinking also allows<br />
them to plan more for the future and<br />
have a better memory, so they are now<br />
better able to understand the broader<br />
concepts of the past, present and<br />
future.<br />
How to help:<br />
Teach kids the value of time: Set start<br />
and end times on a timer to show<br />
children how to estimate how much<br />
time an activity, like putting away toys,<br />
will take. Make it fun by turning it into a<br />
race. This is not to pressure them, but<br />
to help them estimate time and develop<br />
planning skills.<br />
Read clocks with them. Start with the<br />
short hand. Tell them look at where it’s<br />
pointing first to find out what ‘o clock’ it<br />
is. Explain that when the big hand goes<br />
all the way round and back up to the<br />
top again, an hour has gone by. Show<br />
them how to make a basic clock out of<br />
a paper plate and write the numbers<br />
round the edge in the same order so<br />
they start to understand the concept of<br />
‘clock-wise.’<br />
Show them how time relates to their<br />
day: Talk about what a clock face will<br />
look like – and where the little hand<br />
and big hand will be - when their<br />
favourite things in the day happen, so<br />
they start to notice how time passes.<br />
Taken from “What’s My Child Thinking?<br />
Practical Child Psychology for Modern<br />
Parents”, by Tanith Carey and clinical<br />
psychologist Dr Angharad Rudkin,<br />
which uses child development to look<br />
at more than 100 different scenarios<br />
for two-to-seven-year-olds. Available in<br />
book shops and on Amazon.co.uk.<br />
Tanith Carey<br />
Tanith Carey writes books<br />
which offer a lucid analysis of<br />
the most pressing challenges<br />
facing today’s parents and<br />
childcarers – by looking at the<br />
latest research and presenting<br />
achievable strategies for how<br />
to tackle them. Her books<br />
have been translated into 15<br />
languages, including German,<br />
French, Arabic, Chinese and<br />
Turkish. Her 2019 publications<br />
are “What’s My Child Thinking?<br />
Practical Child Psychology for<br />
Modern Parents” and “The<br />
Friendship Maze: How to<br />
help your child navigate their<br />
way to positive and happier<br />
friendships”.<br />
An award-winning journalist,<br />
Tanith also writes on parenting<br />
for the Daily Telegraph, The<br />
Times, the Guardian and the<br />
Daily Mail, in which she also<br />
serialises and promotes her<br />
books. She is also a regular<br />
presence on TV and radio<br />
programmes, including the NBC<br />
Today Show in the US and Radio<br />
Four’s Woman’s Hour and You<br />
and Yours.<br />
Her full bio can be found on her<br />
website at www.cliomedia.co.uk<br />
and you can follow her on social<br />
media channels @tanithcarey.<br />
20 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 21
How to<br />
Tip:<br />
avoid spreading disease<br />
in your setting<br />
Why not have<br />
posters above sinks<br />
as a reminder of your<br />
handwashing routine to<br />
encourage consistency<br />
in handwashing<br />
practice?<br />
It’s a foregone conclusion that wherever young children are together in a group, there is a high<br />
chance that infections will spread. It’s an occupational hazard if you work in a childcare setting<br />
where they are touching each other and the toys - at the same time as wiping their noses and<br />
rubbing How their eyes to with avoid their little hands! spreading disease in<br />
your setting<br />
Illness spreads so quickly and easily We give our top tips on how to avoid<br />
in these conditions as children can spreading disease in your setting.<br />
be contagious for a day or more (or Viral and bacterial infections are spread<br />
longer in some cases) before they have in the same ways. A child with a cold<br />
symptoms. For the first few years of can spread the infection by coughing<br />
their lives, their bodies are building up and/or sneezing. Similarly, touching<br />
immunity to infections and they will food with dirty hands will also allow<br />
neither have completed their<br />
viruses or bacteria from the intestine to<br />
vaccination programme, nor have spread.<br />
developed good hygiene habits!<br />
Tip:<br />
Your health and safety<br />
policy should include the<br />
exclusion of staff as well as<br />
children while they are infectious.<br />
They may return to work when<br />
they are no longer infectious,<br />
provided they feel well<br />
enough to do so.<br />
The three main ways to prevent and<br />
manage infectious disease in your<br />
setting are to:<br />
Promote good hygiene at all times<br />
It may sound obvious, but by constantly<br />
encouraging good hygiene in your<br />
setting, you really could prevent<br />
infection spreading. It’s never too early<br />
to start teaching personal hygiene to<br />
children and it’s a good idea to remind<br />
staff of your health and safety policy at<br />
each team meeting.<br />
Top of the list is handwashing. Effective<br />
handwashing should be carried out<br />
routinely by staff and children: on<br />
arrival at the setting, after handling<br />
food, using the toilet or changing<br />
a nappy. Helping a child wipe his<br />
nose or mouth or tending to a cut or<br />
sore, playing in the garden and after<br />
touching an animal. In fact, in almost<br />
every situation that you find yourself<br />
as you are carrying out your day-today<br />
duties! Always use warm running<br />
water, together with a mild liquid soap,<br />
not a bar of soap, and always use<br />
disposable paper towels which can be<br />
thrown away in a foot-operated waste<br />
paper bin.<br />
Promote immunisation<br />
Some parents have strong feelings<br />
regarding immunisation, particularly<br />
surrounding the controversy in recent<br />
years around the MMR vaccination.<br />
Although it is important to support and<br />
respect parents’ wishes wherever<br />
possible, it is also the setting’s<br />
responsibility to safeguard the health<br />
of the children in your care by ensuring<br />
the vast majority are immunised. This<br />
also applies to staff!<br />
Remove the sick child from the<br />
immediate environment<br />
Even if you follow all the best health<br />
and safety procedures, and with<br />
every best will in the world, you will<br />
experience sick children in your care,<br />
at some point. Symptoms develop<br />
swiftly, and even the most<br />
conscientious parent may drop off a<br />
child who is ill. If, during the day, you<br />
notice runny noses, coughing, fever,<br />
or other signs of illness, you must act<br />
quickly as the virus or infection will<br />
easily spread to other children.<br />
In most settings, staff are not able to<br />
individually care for a sick child due to<br />
lack of space, or staff-to-child ratios<br />
(or both). In some, the child can be<br />
kept comfortable and allowed to rest<br />
in a separate area of the room where<br />
the other children have already been<br />
exposed.<br />
In certain cases, it is even better for the<br />
child not to be moved to another area –<br />
this is to prevent their illness from<br />
spreading around the setting and<br />
also to allow good supervision of the<br />
child. When the child is waiting to be<br />
picked up, they should be kept in an<br />
area where there is no contact with the<br />
children who have not already been<br />
exposed to their infection.<br />
Most settings have a 24-hour waiting<br />
period before children who are getting<br />
over fevers can return. This policy not<br />
only prevents the spread of illness but<br />
ensures that children feel well enough<br />
to participate in fun activities.<br />
Get parents on board<br />
As well as the health and safety<br />
aspects, another really important<br />
factor in preventing illness<br />
spreading in your setting is to<br />
build a trusting relationship with<br />
parents – encourage them to share<br />
important and relevant health<br />
or illness information with you. If<br />
you are informed in plenty of time<br />
about illnesses in the children or<br />
their families, you will be in a good<br />
position to reduce anxiety which<br />
other parents may have about their<br />
own children’s health and wellbeing,<br />
as well as being equipped to be able to<br />
prevent the spread of disease.<br />
Keep healthy!<br />
There are also lots of ways in which you<br />
can help yourself and your staff stay as<br />
healthy as possible to try and reduce<br />
the risk of staff illness. Go outdoors as<br />
often as possible, boost your vitamin C<br />
and D intake, drink plenty of water and<br />
try and get enough sleep!<br />
More information about staff health<br />
and wellbeing can be found on the<br />
<strong>Parenta</strong> blog.<br />
As well as these three main<br />
areas, there are many other<br />
things that you can do to help<br />
reduce the spread of infection.<br />
We’ve listed a few here – some<br />
of which you could incorporate<br />
into posters around your<br />
setting.<br />
• Sanitise toys and furniture<br />
daily.<br />
• Wipe changing mats with<br />
soapy water or a baby wipe<br />
after each use and disinfect<br />
nappy changing areas at the<br />
end of every day.<br />
• Encourage children and adults<br />
to cover their mouth and nose<br />
with a tissue and wash hands<br />
after using or disposing of<br />
tissues.<br />
• Clean spillages using a product<br />
which combines detergent and<br />
disinfectant – this is essential<br />
for working against both<br />
bacteria and viruses.<br />
• Clean children’s skin with a<br />
disposable wipe. Flannels<br />
should not be used to clean<br />
bottoms. Label nappy creams<br />
and lotions with the child’s<br />
name and do not share with<br />
others.<br />
With the Coronavirus in the news daily,<br />
there’s no better time than to remind<br />
ourselves about the importance of<br />
avoiding spreading germs. Download<br />
this handy poster, created just for our<br />
settings and learners.<br />
22 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 23
The importance of<br />
immunisation in<br />
fighting disease<br />
Media coverage of the current global health crisis has, understandably, been<br />
unprecedented. The Covid-19 pandemic is a new strain of virus, although other forms<br />
of the coronavirus itself have been known to cause common colds and flu for years.<br />
The importance of immunisation<br />
in fighting disease<br />
Interestingly, whilst the world has been engaged in<br />
containment, delay, quarantine and lock-down measures,<br />
many other illness and diseases, which are potentially as<br />
serious, have failed to gain headlines, yet some of these<br />
diseases pose as great a threat to certain sections of the<br />
population, especially young children, and the fight to eradicate<br />
these diseases needs to be highlighted again to tackle rising<br />
incidence rates.<br />
There are many pathogens that cause infections in humans:<br />
bacterial infections such as Staphylococcus aureus or<br />
Streptococcus pneumoniae (commonly treated with antibiotics<br />
e.g. penicillin); fungal infections such as athlete’s foot or thrush<br />
(treated with anti-fungals); and viruses which can cause things<br />
such as colds and flu, herpes and encephalitis and which<br />
cannot be treated with antibiotics. Protozoa, parasites and<br />
prions are other pathogens that can cause disease.<br />
The golden rule is that “prevention is better than cure”.<br />
It’s more cost-effective to vaccinate people than to treat a<br />
developed illness, because once people are ill, they can<br />
develop debilitating or even life-threatening symptoms<br />
that need to be treated with more expensive medicines.<br />
There’s also a economic/social cost that needs to<br />
be counted in terms of loss of productivity and<br />
potentially loss of life.<br />
Vaccines have been developed for many illnesses,<br />
all but eliminating certain infections in some<br />
countries, such as smallpox, polio and diphtheria<br />
in recent years, which caused great suffering and<br />
death in the past. But there’s a worrying trend<br />
emerging elsewhere as there are still nearly 20<br />
million children in the world today who are not<br />
getting the vaccines they need 2 – and we are<br />
not just talking about children in third-world or<br />
“<br />
No parent should be in any doubt of the devastating<br />
impact of these diseases. It’s vital that everyone recognises<br />
the value of vaccines and takes up this life-saving offer.<br />
”<br />
developing countries.<br />
In 2019, the World Health Organisation<br />
(WHO) withdrew the UK’s measles-free<br />
status because of a fall in the rates of<br />
MMR (measles, mumps and rubella)<br />
immunisations. MMR1 coverage at 5<br />
years of age was only 94.5% in 2018–19<br />
which is below the 95% target for the<br />
second year running. MMR2 coverage<br />
at 5 years, was also down at 86.4%,<br />
putting lives at risk.<br />
Measles is a “highly contagious, serious<br />
disease caused by a virus. Before the<br />
introduction of measles vaccine in 1963<br />
and widespread vaccination, major<br />
epidemics occurred approximately<br />
every 2–3 years and measles caused<br />
an estimated 2.6 million deaths each<br />
year.” 3<br />
More alarmingly, in 2018, there were<br />
close to 10 million cases of measles<br />
worldwide, and more than 140,000<br />
people died – mostly children under the<br />
age of 5 years, despite the availability<br />
of a safe and effective vaccine. 3<br />
Mumps and rubella (German<br />
measles) are other diseases that can<br />
be immunised against in the MMR<br />
vaccine, and although most children<br />
recover from mumps after a couple<br />
of weeks without any serious side<br />
effects, it causes painful swellings in<br />
the face, headaches, joint pain and<br />
a fever. In a few, rare cases, it has<br />
led to viral meningitis 4 . Rubella is the<br />
leading vaccine-preventable cause of<br />
birth defects and in pregnant women,<br />
and can cause foetal death or other<br />
congenital defects. 5<br />
But it’s not just MMR. Worryingly,<br />
experts have expressed alarm at<br />
the drop in take-up of ALL routine<br />
childhood vaccination rates in the<br />
UK, with a marked decline in rates<br />
against 13 different diseases including<br />
whooping cough (pertussis), diphtheria<br />
and meningitis, which leaves many<br />
thousands of children under-protected. 6<br />
Health officials have previously<br />
warned that children are being put<br />
at risk by the decision to shun these<br />
routine vaccinations. Public Health<br />
England’s head of immunisations,<br />
Dr Mary Ramsay, said last year that<br />
while the percentage changes might<br />
seem small, the impact should not be<br />
underestimated.<br />
World immunisation week runs<br />
from 24–30 <strong>April</strong> with the aim of<br />
raising awareness and take-up of<br />
immunisations across the world. The<br />
theme this year is #VaccinesWork<br />
for All and the campaign will focus on<br />
how vaccines – and the people who<br />
develop, deliver and receive them – are<br />
heroes by working to protect the health<br />
References<br />
1. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/<br />
country/uk/.<br />
2. https://www.who.int/news-room/events/<br />
detail/<strong>2020</strong>/04/24/default-calendar/worldimmunization-week-<strong>2020</strong><br />
3. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/<br />
detail/measles<br />
4. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/mumps/<br />
5. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/<br />
detail/rubella<br />
6. https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/<br />
publications/statistical/nhs-immunisationstatistics/england-2018-19<br />
of everyone, everywhere.<br />
What you can do<br />
One of the things that has caused a<br />
drop in the take-up of vaccines in recent<br />
years, is misinformation about the<br />
perceived risks associated with some<br />
vaccines, and a misconception that the<br />
diseases being vaccinated against,<br />
are only mild childhood illnesses.<br />
Tackling these problems, by raising<br />
awareness of the suffering and deaths<br />
caused by illnesses such as measles<br />
and rubella, as well as disseminating<br />
correct information about the vaccines<br />
themselves, is key. Remember that once<br />
vaccinated, most people develop a lifelong<br />
immunity.<br />
The vaccination pages on the NHS<br />
website offer lots of information and<br />
advice about the need for vaccinations,<br />
what they do, and how they protect<br />
people, especially young children.<br />
With World Health Day (<strong>April</strong> 7th), also<br />
falling this month, and current concerns<br />
about the spread of illnesses globally, it<br />
is more important than ever that every<br />
precaution possible is used to stop the<br />
spread of potentially life-threatening<br />
diseases.<br />
Things to do:<br />
1. Research vaccinations via<br />
the NHS website<br />
2. Talk to parents, staff<br />
and children about<br />
the importance of<br />
immunisation<br />
3. Encourage everyone<br />
to have the free NHS<br />
vaccinations at the<br />
appropriate time<br />
4. Implement health advice<br />
on the prevention of<br />
disease i.e. “Catch it, Bin<br />
it, Kill it”<br />
5. Teach the children in your<br />
setting the correct way<br />
to wash their hands and<br />
include pictures to help<br />
them follow the steps<br />
6. Seek medical attention at<br />
an early stage if serious<br />
illnesses are suspected<br />
such as meningitis or<br />
measles<br />
24 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 25
International<br />
Mother Earth Day<br />
<strong>April</strong> 22nd<br />
There’s a famous quote that has been attributed to US<br />
Native Americans, which has been modernised and<br />
translated as:<br />
“When the last tree has been<br />
20 million Americans (10% of the U.S.<br />
population at the time) took to the<br />
streets, protested on college campuses<br />
and across hundreds of cities to rail<br />
against the environmental ignorance<br />
of the time, and demand a new way<br />
forward for the planet. As support for<br />
the movement grew year on year, the<br />
environment became an important<br />
agenda item across the globe at<br />
cut down, the last fish caught,<br />
International Mother Earth Day<br />
the last river poisoned, only<br />
then will we realise that one<br />
cannot eat money.”<br />
summits and inter-governmental<br />
meetings, until the UN adopted the day<br />
as International Mother Earth Day in<br />
2009, throwing the weight of the UN<br />
behind the movement.<br />
What you can do in your setting<br />
There are so many things that you can<br />
do to help return our planet back into<br />
balance, and to protect it for future<br />
generations. We can all do something,<br />
and little things add up to create<br />
big changes. After all, what use will<br />
nurseries be in 20–50 years’ time if our<br />
planet becomes uninhabitable?<br />
The United Nations also have a global<br />
call to individual action, known as “Act<br />
Now”. They say that “even a small<br />
gesture can help fight climate change<br />
and accelerate the implementation of the<br />
Paris Agreement on climate change.<br />
You can register on the Earth Day<br />
website for ideas of things you can do<br />
under 5 different headings. There are<br />
free toolkits, posters and resources to<br />
download, so no one will run out of<br />
ideas. You can register your own events<br />
or join in with others, and with over<br />
half a million events worldwide, there’s<br />
something for everyone.<br />
The main categories of action are:<br />
• Climate action<br />
• Science and education<br />
• People and communities<br />
• Conservation and restoration<br />
• Plastic and pollution<br />
Things you could do include:<br />
• Run an education session<br />
• Organise a litter-pick<br />
• Shop more locally<br />
• Plant a tree or wildflower garden<br />
• Reduce the amount of single-use<br />
plastic in your setting<br />
• Tidy your garden space or that of an<br />
elderly neighbour<br />
• Commit to using less energy<br />
• Invest in solar power<br />
• Host a climate discussion<br />
• Create a recycling station in your<br />
setting<br />
• Reduce your water waste/install a<br />
water butt<br />
• Raise awareness by sharing the free<br />
posters and logos on social media<br />
Facts from the United<br />
Nations<br />
• More than 33% of the<br />
earth’s soils are already<br />
degraded and 90% could<br />
become degraded by 2050<br />
• Insects, vital for pollination of<br />
crops and plants, are likely<br />
to lose half their habitat at<br />
a rise of temperatures by<br />
1.5°C, but this becomes<br />
almost twice as likely at a<br />
rise of 2°C<br />
• By 2050, there will be more<br />
than 9 billion humans on<br />
earth, and we will need to<br />
produce 60% more food<br />
Some people call it a prophesy, others<br />
say it is ancient wisdom, but whatever<br />
you call it, the sentiment has an eerie<br />
resonance as the human race tries<br />
to come to terms with some global<br />
problems facing it in the 21st century.<br />
Climate change, global warming,<br />
increased pollution, deforestation, soil<br />
erosion, pandemics, globalisation,<br />
energy crises, the availability of<br />
resources, ageing populations,<br />
monoculture, decreasing biodiversity and<br />
sustainable living are just some of major<br />
issues currently facing the world!<br />
At some point, humans will have to come<br />
to terms with our place in the world and<br />
the responsibility we have to our home<br />
planet, which many countries lovingly<br />
refer to as, ‘Mother Earth’.<br />
The term ‘Mother Earth’ or ‘Mother<br />
Nature’ was known to the ancient<br />
Greeks, who revered the planet as<br />
a goddess named Gaia, meaning<br />
Mother Earth. Gaia, it’s said, created<br />
herself out of primordial chaos and<br />
is the source of all life, and the place<br />
where all living things must return<br />
after death. She personified the entire<br />
ecosystem of planet earth - a nurturing,<br />
healing, female energy promoting<br />
harmony, wholeness and balance<br />
within the environment. If the balance is<br />
maintained, then life can be maintained<br />
and is sustainable forever.<br />
Nowadays, Mother Earth is a common<br />
expression in a number of countries<br />
and regions, and is recognised by the<br />
United Nations (UN), as reflecting the<br />
“interdependence that exists among<br />
human beings, other living species and<br />
the planet we all inhabit”.<br />
The problem is that humans have<br />
recently caused an imbalance in Mother<br />
Earth due to an accumulation of actions<br />
we have taken, which have at best,<br />
been short-sighted or misinformed, and<br />
at worst, have been downright selfdestructive.<br />
The earth and its ecosystems<br />
are our home and we need to achieve<br />
a balance in the economic, social, and<br />
environmental systems for present and<br />
future generations to promote harmony<br />
with nature and the earth and ensure<br />
sustainability.<br />
Fifty years ago, on 22nd <strong>April</strong> 1970, in<br />
response to the increasing pollution they<br />
faced, a group of American activists set<br />
up the very first Mother Earth Day with<br />
the aim of creating a unified response to<br />
the environmental crisis they faced – oil<br />
spills, smog and rivers so polluted they<br />
literally caught fire!<br />
As the Earth Day<br />
website says:<br />
“The time is long overdue for<br />
a global outpouring of energy,<br />
enthusiasm, and commitment<br />
to create a new plan of action<br />
for our planet. Earth Day <strong>2020</strong><br />
can be the catalyst that<br />
galvanizes an unparalleled<br />
global collaboration”.<br />
The Earth Day Mission today strives “to<br />
build the world’s largest environmental<br />
movement to drive transformative<br />
change for people and planet”. It aims<br />
to diversify, educate and activate the<br />
environmental movement worldwide and<br />
works with over 75,000 partners in over<br />
190 countries to drive positive action for<br />
the planet. The <strong>2020</strong> event will mark 50<br />
years since the first Earth Day with the<br />
theme being climate action. To coin an<br />
old phrase, “The world needs you” but it<br />
especially needs action at an individual,<br />
local, national and global level to tackle<br />
the climate change crisis.<br />
26 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 27
How to<br />
involve parents with<br />
children’s learning<br />
In today’s modern society, when parents are often working full-time (and<br />
subsequently short on time!) it’s not uncommon for their children to be placed<br />
in childcare for up to 50 hours a week. More often than not, your setting is the<br />
prime provider of early years education for these children. This, of course,<br />
is in contrast to years gone by when children would mainly learn the about<br />
the world - and their place in it - through conversations, play activities and<br />
routines with parents and families in a home environment.<br />
By working in collaboration with<br />
parents, you can enhance children’s<br />
learning and development in ways<br />
How that would not to be possible involve without understanding parents of the children in with their children’s Top Tip learning<br />
them.<br />
A ‘partnership approach’ of sharing<br />
information to improve the children’s<br />
learning outcomes can prove really<br />
valuable in the long term.<br />
What are the benefits of parents<br />
and childcare practitioners working<br />
together?<br />
• It gives parents a better<br />
understanding of how you are<br />
helping to prepare their children for<br />
success in school.<br />
• Parents learn how well their children<br />
are progressing in developing the<br />
building blocks of learning.<br />
• Parents learn ways to help their<br />
children at home.<br />
• You will have a better understanding<br />
of children’s backgrounds and<br />
experiences.<br />
• Children will see that the adults in<br />
their life care about them, and their<br />
learning and development.<br />
When parents see you make the<br />
effort and involve them in the dayto-day<br />
education of their children,<br />
they can feel valued and respected,<br />
they become aware of their children’s<br />
experiences outside the family home<br />
and can then use this information to<br />
support their learning and development<br />
more effectively by reinforcing these<br />
experiences at home.<br />
It works both ways too: practitioners<br />
can benefit from parents’ skills and<br />
expertise, they can gain a better<br />
setting and use this information to<br />
make learning more enjoyable and<br />
rewarding for all children. After all,<br />
the parents are the experts on their<br />
own children and so their feedback is<br />
invaluable!<br />
With increasing emphasis on, and<br />
changes to EYFS, parents care more<br />
than ever about the education path of<br />
their child and we know they want to<br />
engage.<br />
But how?<br />
Collaboration<br />
When you engage with parents,<br />
you automatically build a stronger<br />
“practitioner-family” partnership. This,<br />
in turn, leads to a better understanding<br />
of the child, increased feedback from<br />
parents on how things are going<br />
and ultimately, a happier and more<br />
successful learning experience for the<br />
child.<br />
You could suggest new ways that<br />
parents can get involved and support<br />
their child’s learning at home, for<br />
example: when they are reading a<br />
bedtime story, they can ask their child<br />
to make predictions about what will<br />
happen next. This will help strengthen<br />
the child’s reading comprehension and<br />
reinforce their reading ability.<br />
A good way to engage parents<br />
and make them part of your<br />
extended learning team is<br />
to make your passion shine<br />
through – enthusiasm is<br />
contagious and parents will<br />
want to continue their child’s<br />
learning at home if they see<br />
how engaged you are!<br />
Communication is key!<br />
Keep parents up-to-date as much<br />
as possible with what’s going on in<br />
your setting and what events or other<br />
activities are coming up. If you produce<br />
a newsletter, you could suggest<br />
conversation topics so parents can<br />
ask their children about what they’re<br />
learning and then this learning can<br />
continue at home, after the event. Even<br />
if you only produce a short newsletter,<br />
it’s really important to thank parents for<br />
all the ways they’re currently helping<br />
your setting and how this is impacting<br />
on the lives of the children.<br />
Cutting through the barriers<br />
Busy lives, financial worries, language<br />
barriers and time pressures are just<br />
some of the obstacles practitioners<br />
can be faced with which hinder the<br />
development of an open, honest and<br />
trusting relationship with parents.<br />
However, parents really do want to hear<br />
from you… they do want to get involved<br />
with their children’s learning outside<br />
your setting.<br />
Say “cheese”!<br />
A great way to communicate a child’s<br />
learning journey with their parents<br />
and carers is by sending updates that<br />
bring the learning to life. What parent<br />
wouldn’t love an update from you that<br />
includes a picture that catches their<br />
child in the act of learning something?<br />
If parents understand and are excited<br />
by the value of an activity, they are<br />
more likely to continue the learning at<br />
home and also provide feedback that<br />
you can use for future staff training.<br />
Engage and educate with family<br />
learning<br />
Here are a few examples of family<br />
learning which can easily be started in<br />
the childcare setting and then continued<br />
and extended at home:<br />
• Family history and culture sharing<br />
Demonstrating what a ‘family tree’<br />
is can encourage the children to talk<br />
about where they come from – they<br />
can work at home to make their<br />
own family tree and share it with the<br />
others at their childcare setting.<br />
• Extended storytime<br />
During storytime, they can learn<br />
about different cultures and<br />
then discuss at home and bring<br />
something in which relates to their<br />
particular surroundings – e.g. a<br />
pebble from the beach where they<br />
live, or a leaf from a walk in the<br />
woods, or something that symbolises<br />
their particular culture.<br />
• Counting the pennies<br />
Playing ‘shop keepers’ at nursery<br />
can easily be put into practice while<br />
out shopping with family. Counting<br />
coins and pointing out groceries is<br />
an excellent example of fun, family<br />
learning.<br />
If you would like to find out<br />
how the team at <strong>Parenta</strong><br />
works in partnership with<br />
thousands of settings,<br />
helping them to engage with<br />
parents, involving them with<br />
their children’s day-to-day<br />
learning, talk to us about<br />
‘Dayshare’ – an online daily<br />
diary software. Dayshare<br />
captures all of the day’s<br />
activities and allows you<br />
to upload photos and give<br />
parents a detailed insight into<br />
their child’s day of learning<br />
through play.<br />
Call us on 0800 002 9242<br />
or email<br />
hello@parenta.com<br />
28 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 29
PARENT<br />
PORTAL<br />
Parent Portal is a FREE APP that works<br />
hand-in-hand with <strong>Parenta</strong>’s other software<br />
solutions and it gives parents:<br />
A newsfeed of their child’s day<br />
including photos and videos<br />
Their account balance and invoice<br />
breakdown<br />
The ability to download invoice and<br />
payment receipts<br />
FREE<br />
Training with Linden<br />
Early Years<br />
Keeping children at the heart of<br />
early childhood education and care<br />
Tamsin Grimmer is the early years director for Linden<br />
Learning. If you have enjoyed reading Tamsin’s<br />
articles every month, why not invite Linden Early<br />
Years to deliver bespoke training at your setting?<br />
Linden Early Years associates regularly share their<br />
expertise at conferences, INSET meetings, CPD<br />
sessions, workshops and seminars.<br />
Twitter: @LindenEY<br />
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lindenearlyyears/<br />
Website: https://www.lindenearlyyears.org/<br />
Email: tamsin.grimmer@lindenlearning.org<br />
Linden Learning’s early years team has built up a reputation in<br />
the sector for a deep knowledge of how young children learn<br />
and develop. Many of our associates are published authors and<br />
have written regularly for popular early childhood magazines.<br />
We also work regularly in settings and have a real appreciation<br />
of current issues facing staff working in settings across the<br />
country. We look forward to hearing from you!<br />
A calendar view of past, present and<br />
future sessions booked<br />
View and request changes for<br />
information about their child including<br />
allergies, illnesses and medication<br />
+ lots more!<br />
We’ve worked with thousands of settings, so we<br />
know exactly what tools you need to make your<br />
business successful. We believe that delivering<br />
great childcare means working closely alongside<br />
parents; and with Parent Portal, they can stay<br />
involved in their child’s day.<br />
Interested? Speak to our team to find<br />
out more on 0800 002 9242 or email us<br />
at hello@parenta.com.<br />
Write for us for a chance to win £50!<br />
Write for us!<br />
We’re always on the lookout for new authors to contribute<br />
insightful articles for our monthly magazine.<br />
If you’ve got a topic you’d like to write about, why not send an article to<br />
us and be in with a chance of winning? Each month, we’ll be giving<br />
away a £50 voucher to our “Guest Author of the Month”. You can find<br />
all the details here: https://www.parenta.com/sponsored-content/<br />
Guest author winner announced<br />
Congratulations<br />
to our guest author competition winner,<br />
Joanna Grace!<br />
Joanna’s article in the February edition of the <strong>Parenta</strong> magazine<br />
“Neurotypical Narratives” was very popular with our readers.<br />
Well done, Joanna!<br />
A massive thank you to all of our guest authors for writing for us.<br />
You can find all of the past articles from our guest authors on our<br />
website: www.parenta.com/parentablog/guest-authors<br />
30 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 31
The Big Pedal<br />
It’s that time of year again: when the clouds part (hopefully) and the spring<br />
bulbs are in full bloom, so it must be time for the annual push to encourage<br />
people to be fitter, get out and tell them to get on their bike!<br />
“Our society faces some profound challenges. From climate change<br />
and air pollution to physical and mental health crises, the pressures<br />
on communities across our four nations are growing. There is no silver<br />
bullet but the work of Sustrans and our partners provides an essential<br />
contribution to tackling the challenges of our time.”<br />
Lynne Berry – Sustrans Chair of Trustees.<br />
Each year, Sustrans, a charity with the<br />
aim of making it easier for people to<br />
walk and cycle around the country,<br />
organise a week called The Big Pedal<br />
which has become the UK’s largest interschool<br />
cycling, walking and scooting<br />
challenge. It supports staff, pupils and<br />
parents and encourages them to use<br />
human power to get themselves to and<br />
from school. The charity connects people<br />
and places with the aim of creating<br />
“liveable neighbourhoods, transforming<br />
the school run and delivering a happier<br />
and healthier commute”.<br />
The Big Pedal<br />
And since this is a challenge, there are<br />
some great prizes to be won for eligible<br />
schools too.<br />
<strong>2020</strong> is the tenth year of the challenge<br />
which runs for 10 days from the 22nd<br />
<strong>April</strong> to the 5th May. It is open to all<br />
primary and secondary schools in the<br />
UK, including SEN schools. Schools in<br />
England and Wales need to have a DfE<br />
number to apply. Schools in Scotland<br />
should use their SEED number and in<br />
Northern Ireland, they should use their<br />
Inst Ref number. You can still participate<br />
in your own version of the challenge as<br />
a nursery or other setting if you don’t<br />
have one of these numbers, but you will<br />
not be eligible to win prizes. However,<br />
there is nothing to stop you from<br />
creating your own in-house competition<br />
and you can compare how you are<br />
doing to the schools registered on the<br />
website.<br />
So what’s involved?<br />
On each day of the challenge, schools<br />
compete to see who can accumulate<br />
the highest percentage of pupils,<br />
staff and parents who cycle, walk or<br />
scoot to school. By 9am, schools must<br />
log journeys that their staff, parents<br />
and pupils take to school on the days<br />
they wish to enter. There is a daily<br />
competition, as well as a five-day<br />
challenge in which the best five day’s<br />
results from a school are totalled and<br />
compared to others. If over 15% of the<br />
school community registers an eligible<br />
journey, then the school is entered into<br />
a prize draw to win some cool prizes<br />
such as bikes, including equipment and<br />
accessories, but you can always give out<br />
some free fruit or a book token as well!<br />
There are currently over 1500 schools<br />
registered, representing over half a<br />
million pupils.<br />
Another aim of the week is to get<br />
authorities and planners to sit up and<br />
take notice and to raise awareness of<br />
the changes that pupils, parents and<br />
staff would like to see in their local<br />
areas, so Sustrans also asks people<br />
to think about the changes they’d<br />
like to see and how these could be<br />
implemented.<br />
The charity provide a host of free<br />
resources on their website at https://<br />
bigpedal.org.uk/ which are available<br />
to download, even if you have not<br />
registered your school, including:<br />
• An introductory PowerPoint<br />
• Information and top tips posters<br />
• A general poster advertising the week<br />
• A parent letter template<br />
• A family guide to the week<br />
Calling all superheroes!<br />
One fun and exciting way to participate<br />
in the week is to join in on Superhero<br />
Day. The final challenge day is a day<br />
which is also used to raise money for<br />
the charity as well as awareness, and<br />
participants are encouraged to dress up<br />
as their favourite superhero for the day.<br />
But you can use any of the 10 days as<br />
your Superhero Day if you want to. There<br />
are 4 main steps to joining in:<br />
1. Download the parents’ letter and<br />
send it out to advise parents about<br />
the day<br />
2. Encourage everyone to dress up for<br />
the day – the theme is superheroes<br />
but if you have your own ideas,<br />
then that’s fine too. You can print a<br />
superhero mask template from the<br />
website here<br />
3. Decorate your setting and get on your<br />
bikes!<br />
4. Collect the money – the suggested<br />
donation is £1 for dressing up but<br />
you could hold other fundraising<br />
opportunities too, such as a cake sale<br />
or ask people to be sponsored for<br />
their journeys.<br />
Additional ways to celebrate the<br />
week include:<br />
• Hold a ‘best decorated scooter’ or<br />
‘best decorated bike’ competition<br />
• Get the children to draw their journey<br />
to school and create a Big Pedal<br />
collage<br />
• Ask children to draw their own<br />
superhero avatar and then describe<br />
their superpower to the group. You<br />
could enhance this activity by having<br />
the children act out their power or<br />
make up a story about their character<br />
too<br />
• Post your stories and photos on your<br />
social media channels – use the<br />
hashtag #BigPedal<br />
• Practice safe road travel in line with<br />
last month’s road safety campaign<br />
Where does the money go?<br />
Sustrans uses the money raised to<br />
help them with their charitable aims<br />
including:<br />
• Creating places that are walkable and<br />
cycle-friendly<br />
• Supporting people, in their<br />
communities, to have the opportunity<br />
and ability to walk, cycle, scoot or<br />
wheel<br />
• Working with decision-makers to<br />
create policies that make walking and<br />
cycling a more attractive choice<br />
One of the main things that Sustrans<br />
coordinate and promote is the National<br />
Cycle Network, a UK-wide network of<br />
signed paths and routes for walking,<br />
cycling, wheeling and exploring<br />
outdoors. The routes are free to use<br />
and offer cycle lanes and paths that<br />
are traffic-free making them safer for all<br />
users, especially children.<br />
The Big Pedal is a great opportunity for<br />
you to help make a real difference to the<br />
community and environment that you<br />
work in. Due to current restrictions, you<br />
may not be able to do this immediately,<br />
but you could set up a Big Pedal day<br />
later in the year. So go on,<br />
GET ON YOUR BIKE!!<br />
For more information, see<br />
https://bigpedal.org.uk/<br />
which is also available in Welsh.<br />
32 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 33
Apple doughnuts<br />
Apple doughnuts<br />
You will need:<br />
170g of cream cheese, softened,<br />
cut into thirds<br />
1 tsp honey, divided<br />
20g melted chocolate<br />
1 drop pink food colouring<br />
2 apples<br />
Sprinkles<br />
Extras: cutting board, knife,<br />
cookie cutter (or round cutter<br />
to remove the core)<br />
Mother Earth<br />
terrarium<br />
This craft was created to celebrate Mother Earth Day on the<br />
22nd of <strong>April</strong>. We always encourage the children to spend as<br />
much time outside as possible, and this craft is perfect for<br />
that! Children can spend hours trying to find the best looking<br />
moss and wild plants. And they might even get lucky and<br />
find some amazing earth creatures! Just remember to teach<br />
children to be respectful and only take what they need<br />
Mother Earth terrarium<br />
Instructions:<br />
1. Divide cream cheese in 3 little bowls.<br />
2. In the first bowl, add 1 teaspoon honey<br />
to the cream cheese and mix together.<br />
3. In second bowl, mix cream cheese<br />
with melted chocolate.<br />
4. In the third bowl, add pink food<br />
colouring and mix in the remaining<br />
honey.<br />
5. Slice apples into rings and using the<br />
cookie cutter, remove the core so they<br />
take on the shape of a ring doughnut.<br />
6. Carefully spread the mixture on<br />
the apples and decorate them with<br />
sprinkles.<br />
7. You are done!<br />
These ‘doughnuts’ don’t taste like the real thing,<br />
but they are super fun to make and help children to<br />
eat their portion of ‘5-a-day’.<br />
You will need:<br />
• Plants – we used a shop bought plant, but<br />
you can use any plants you’d like. If you<br />
have enough time, you could get a cutting<br />
of an English Ivy and keep it in water until it<br />
sprouts roots. Another fantastic activity to do<br />
with the children!<br />
• Moss<br />
• Gravel<br />
• Stones<br />
• Compost<br />
• Plastic fishbowl<br />
– you could also use glass jars<br />
Instructions:<br />
1. Start with filling the bowl with gravel,<br />
followed by compost.<br />
2. Pick a spot in your bowl where you would<br />
like your plants to grow, then carefully insert<br />
the plant in that spot.<br />
3. Use some more compost to secure the<br />
plant in place, then add moss on top of the<br />
compost.<br />
4. Add stones, or any decorative pieces you<br />
like. If children want, they can put one of<br />
their tiny toys in there. Imagine a T-Rex<br />
standing under the plants!<br />
5. You have now finished! Don’t forget to water<br />
it from time to time!<br />
34 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 35
The benefits of<br />
animals for children’s<br />
development<br />
There’s no doubt that the UK is a nation of animal lovers! You only have to look around<br />
at the number of us who co-habit with pets of every shape and size, the predominance<br />
of pet shops, and the amount we spend on our pets each year, which currently runs into<br />
the tens of billions of pounds. Pets are big business, but we rarely count their worth in<br />
money. In fact, most of us have admitted we would rather reduce spending on ourselves<br />
than our pets, because our pets can melt the heart of even the toughest cynic, remind us<br />
of our humanity, our unity and our underlying need for unconditional love.<br />
Perceived benefits<br />
Animals have anecdotally been<br />
reported as being of benefit to children<br />
by parents, teachers and childcare<br />
professionals for a number of years.<br />
The Some of the benefits reported include: of it is an animals essential one, especially if dealt for children’s<br />
Improving confidence and learning<br />
development<br />
about unconditional love – pets<br />
do not judge children with any moral<br />
compass; they simply give love and<br />
affection regardless of the child’s<br />
mood or recent behaviour (provided no<br />
negative behaviour has been directed<br />
towards the animal). Children often find<br />
animals comforting if they are feeling<br />
sad or low as the pet is always there to<br />
‘listen to’ and ‘accept’ problems, when<br />
adults may not be.<br />
Teaching empathy and respect –<br />
animals need to be treated with love,<br />
empathy and respect, just like humans.<br />
And whilst they may enjoy a cuddle<br />
sometimes, at others, they may need<br />
space, feeding, grooming or walking.<br />
Children can learn to be empathetic<br />
to the needs of the animal and to<br />
recognise these needs without using<br />
words. This is an excellent skill to have<br />
in dealing with humans who may not<br />
be able to express emotions too well<br />
themselves.<br />
Understanding the circle of life<br />
– watching a pet be born, grow up,<br />
reproduce and eventually die, helps<br />
children learn about life and death. It<br />
may be a difficult lesson for most, but<br />
with in a sensitive manner by the adults<br />
around them. It may be a cat or dog,<br />
hamster, fish or worm; the process of<br />
grieving and learning that ‘life goes on’<br />
and memories will remain, is one that<br />
we all need to learn at some point.<br />
Learning to appreciate nature<br />
and the natural world – by<br />
observing animals, children can get<br />
an understanding and develop an<br />
appreciation for the natural world<br />
around them. They can observe<br />
different animal lifecycles and learn<br />
about reproduction by watching a<br />
caterpillar turn into a butterfly or seeing<br />
the lambs being born at a local farm.<br />
With the right encouragement, it can<br />
also lead to an interest in the natural<br />
world and an appreciation for all forms<br />
of life on earth.<br />
Teaching responsibility – although<br />
most animal species have been<br />
around on the planet a lot longer than<br />
humans, and as such, are very selfsufficient,<br />
the ones we have spent time<br />
domesticating, or those we keep in<br />
captivity, need our help to survive. This<br />
means they need feeding, cleaning out<br />
and exercising regularly, depending on<br />
the animal. This is a great way to teach<br />
children about looking after others and<br />
although no pet should be the sole<br />
responsibility of a child, they can learn<br />
to take on certain responsibilities (such<br />
as feeding or refilling water bottles)<br />
with the aid of a supervising adult.<br />
Helping with communication –<br />
we might not all be Dr Doolittle, but<br />
animals can still be useful in helping<br />
children communicate. Dogs are<br />
currently used in schools to help boost<br />
the confidence of children learning to<br />
read. The children read aloud to a dog,<br />
who listens without judgement and<br />
the children learn to feel calmer whilst<br />
reading. The very presence of animals<br />
can help children to start to speak as<br />
they learn to communicate with another<br />
living being.<br />
Scientifically-researched benefits<br />
As well as anecdotal reports, there<br />
have also been a number of scientific<br />
studies confirming some measurable<br />
benefits in children. Pets have been<br />
shown to 1,2 :<br />
• help lower blood pressure<br />
• reduce stress and anxiety<br />
• make recovery times shorter<br />
• improve social interactions<br />
• improve self-worth<br />
• reduce loneliness and depression<br />
In children with autism spectrum<br />
disorder (ASD), researchers found the<br />
children demonstrated more social<br />
behaviours and received more social<br />
approaches from their peers when<br />
animals were present, compared to<br />
when toys were present. 3<br />
What you need to consider<br />
Bringing animals into your setting either<br />
as pets or with occasional visitors can<br />
have many benefits, but also requires<br />
careful planning and the safety of all<br />
children and adults is paramount.<br />
Therefore, before you consider bringing<br />
animals in, ensure that you have<br />
thought everything through, have<br />
the approval of parents, staff and<br />
governors and have suitable policies,<br />
risk-assessments and insurances in<br />
place. Remember to consider any<br />
allergies that children and staff may<br />
have, costs such as food costs or vet<br />
bills, and if bringing in a class pet<br />
such as a fish or hamster, determine<br />
who is going to look after it during the<br />
weekends and holidays.<br />
Ways to introduce more animals<br />
into setting<br />
Here are some ways you can<br />
introduce more animals, without<br />
breaking the bank.<br />
• Visit a local farm or petting zoo<br />
– this can be an easy way to get<br />
children to pet animals and<br />
discover more about the natural<br />
world<br />
• Incubate some fertilised chicken<br />
eggs and raise some chicks<br />
• Order a butterfly nursery and teach<br />
the children about their lifecycle<br />
• Set up a fish tank – this can offer<br />
sensory and visual stimulation too<br />
• Introduce some rabbits and/or<br />
guinea pigs but ensure they can be<br />
properly looked after<br />
• Start a worm farm – another great<br />
way to introduce children to natural<br />
science<br />
• Feed the birds/local wildlife – set<br />
up some feeding/watering stations<br />
to welcome some British wildlife to<br />
your garden<br />
• Go on a bug or mini-beast hunt –<br />
you can do this in your outside<br />
space or at a local park<br />
However you choose to introduce more<br />
animal interactions in your setting, we’d<br />
love to hear from you and see your<br />
pictures. Please email us at marketing@<br />
parenta.com.<br />
References<br />
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/<br />
pubmed/3236382<br />
2. https://habri.org/research/child-healthdevelopment/<br />
3. https://www.relias.com/blog/animalassisted-therapy-for-autism<br />
36 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 37
Take yourself from ‘distress’<br />
to ‘de-stress’ during<br />
stress awareness month<br />
Stress. n. “A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from<br />
adverse or demanding circumstances”.<br />
A definition that almost certainly resonates with many – particularly during<br />
this unprecedented period of dealing with the outbreak of the new coronavirus.<br />
Even without a global health crisis to contend with, most of us at some point<br />
are likely to have found ourselves in a situation where we feel stressed.<br />
Take Stress can be debilitating, yourself and can cause Practice from meditation ‘distress’ to<br />
and/or aggravate health problems. One of the most effective ways to deal<br />
And since is a normal part of<br />
‘de-stress’ human life - nobody is immune to it during stress awareness<br />
with stress is to learn how to silence<br />
the mind. Meditation is one of the most<br />
- it’s important to arm ourselves with<br />
knowledge so that we recognise the<br />
month<br />
signs ahead of the times when stress is<br />
going to rear its ugly head. The problem<br />
can be that sometimes we don’t even<br />
see it in ourselves if we are inwardly (or<br />
‘blindly’) stressed.<br />
Stress Awareness Month has been held<br />
every <strong>April</strong>, since 1992 and aims to<br />
increase public awareness about both<br />
the causes and cures for this modern<br />
mental epidemic. According to the<br />
Mental Health Foundation, 74% of UK<br />
adults have felt so stressed at some<br />
point over the last year that “they felt<br />
overwhelmed or unable to cope.” That<br />
is a worrying statistic, particularly as we<br />
are in an industry where the wellbeing<br />
of the children in our care is paramount.<br />
The Stress Management Society, which<br />
founded Stress Awareness Month, has<br />
many resources and ideas to help you<br />
during times of stress, including how<br />
to understand stress itself and different<br />
coping mechanisms you can use.<br />
You can even take a stress test here!<br />
https://www.stress.org.uk/individualstress-test/<br />
Here are our top tips for alleviating<br />
stress – you could try discussing these<br />
in your next team meeting. You may be<br />
surprised how many people actually do<br />
some of these things already!<br />
popular methods of achieving this quiet.<br />
Mindworks is a blog for meditation<br />
novices and has some great tips which<br />
you can share with your colleagues.<br />
Exercise<br />
A proven way to battle the debilitating<br />
effects of stress is to exercise. Whether<br />
you’re a jogger, cyclist, or just like to<br />
take long walks, be sure to get some<br />
fresh air and exercise into your daily<br />
routine. You may spend a lot of time<br />
cooped up indoors, either at work during<br />
the day or at home during the evening.<br />
But, going outside to get some fresh air<br />
can work wonders for relaxing you. Try<br />
taking a short walk around the block on<br />
your lunch break, or spending time in<br />
green spaces when you come back from<br />
work.<br />
Focus on your breathing<br />
Taking just a few minutes out of your<br />
day to focus on deep breathing can help<br />
you feel calmer and more relaxed. Find<br />
somewhere you can sit quietly without<br />
being disturbed, then focus on breathing<br />
in deeply through your nose and out<br />
through your mouth. See if you can<br />
make each inhale and exhale last for a<br />
count of 4 seconds, and adjust the count<br />
until you feel at your most comfortable.<br />
Listen to music<br />
Music feeds our mood and can affect<br />
our emotions, so listening to a few of our<br />
favourite tracks can make us instantly<br />
feel much better. If you feel like getting<br />
up and dancing around the room whilst<br />
listening to music, indulge yourself. If<br />
you’d prefer to sit and close your eyes<br />
whilst you listen on your headphones,<br />
that’s okay too! Do whatever works best<br />
for you.<br />
Discover your creative side<br />
Taking part in an activity which requires<br />
you to be creative can help you instantly<br />
de-stress. Try writing in a journal,<br />
doing an adult colouring book, learning<br />
an instrument, drawing or baking.<br />
Experiment with whatever feeds your<br />
creativity, and enjoy the process rather<br />
than focusing too much on what the<br />
outcome will be.<br />
Have a technology detox<br />
Although designed to destress, just<br />
the mention of those words can have<br />
the ability to make some people even<br />
more stressed than they already were!<br />
Checking social media is often the first<br />
thing we do when we wake, and the<br />
last thing we do before we go to bed.<br />
However, finding out what’s happening<br />
in everyone else’s life often conflicts with<br />
our own wellbeing; leaving us under<br />
constant pressure to check newsfeeds<br />
and scroll through new photos. Take<br />
a step back from your phone and<br />
make sure the last hour before bed<br />
is technology-free – this will help you<br />
unwind and get to sleep much quicker.<br />
“<br />
One of the most effective ways to deal with<br />
stress is to learn how to silence the mind.<br />
”<br />
Top tips for<br />
learners!<br />
Get plenty of sleep<br />
Sleep is essential – make<br />
sure you’re getting at least<br />
8 hours a night and if you’re<br />
feeling tired, you could even<br />
think about squeezing in a<br />
short nap if you’re at home!<br />
Making sure that you get<br />
enough sleep will set you<br />
up for the day and give you<br />
more energy to put into your<br />
studies; feeling energised<br />
will only make you feel<br />
happier and healthier.<br />
Take a bath<br />
Bathing is one of the most<br />
relaxing things you can do:<br />
chuck in a bath bomb, put<br />
on some music and let the<br />
hot water take away your<br />
stresses. You’ll feel 100 times<br />
better when you get out.<br />
Listening to music at the<br />
same time as having a bath<br />
releases endorphins in your<br />
body (hormones that make<br />
you happy), so what could<br />
be more de-stressing!<br />
Drink water<br />
Staying hydrated is essential.<br />
If you haven’t been drinking<br />
enough, you’ll feel groggy<br />
and tired; leaving you unable<br />
to study when you need to.<br />
It’s recommended that you<br />
drink at least 8 glasses of<br />
liquid day. Water, tea, coffee<br />
and fruit juice all count<br />
towards your fluid intake.<br />
Make a study schedule<br />
If you can plan your time<br />
down on paper you’ll be<br />
able to see exactly when<br />
you do and don’t have time<br />
to study, and where you<br />
can get some extra revision<br />
in. Planning how much you<br />
have to do and knowing how<br />
long you have to do it will<br />
make you feel a lot better.<br />
38 <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> | parenta.com<br />
parenta.com | <strong>April</strong> <strong>2020</strong> 39
Continuing<br />
Professional<br />
Development<br />
eLearning<br />
courses<br />
During these<br />
uncertain times,<br />
and with many staff<br />
at home, you can<br />
continue to develop<br />
skills and knowledge<br />
with one of our many<br />
online courses. By<br />
ensuring your team<br />
undergoes relevant<br />
refresher training,<br />
they can keep up-todate<br />
with the latest<br />
policies, procedures<br />
and practices –<br />
and it certainly<br />
doesn’t need to be<br />
expensive.<br />
Our full list of<br />
eLearning and eBook<br />
courses can be found<br />
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parenta.com<br />
START YOUR TRAINING<br />
parenta.com/parenta-online-courses<br />
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