May - June 2003 Newsletter

September 2003 Newsletter

1. Please make sure your child's clothing is clearly labeled.
2. When rainy weather comes around have raingear in your child's cubby so we can take rain-walks.
3. Leave your child's toys at home where they will not be taken away by another child or worse get destroyed.
4. Dress your child in clothes that can withstand the digging of the Panama Canal or painting the Mona Lisa.
5. Always keep an extra pair of clothing in your child's cubby.
6. Inform us if family dynamics or address or phone numbers change.
7. Call to inform us if your child is absent for the day.
8. Come and see me when you have comments or questions. My door is always open and if I am not here you may call me at 707 765-6180 or e-mail me at karla@daycaring.com
9. Please leave all pertinent information such as different time or people for scheduled pick-up in the notebook when dropping off.
10. Please be conscientious about picking-up at your scheduled time. It creates chaos when children get picked up late as our morning staff leaves and afternoon staff gets left with too many children. The same happens at 12:30 when staff is scheduled to take breaks.

What's happening in September at school?

September at school is dedicated to the theme "Getting to know you, getting to know me"

We ask each child to bring:

1. a family picture
2. a picture of your child to hang in his/her cubby

On Tuesday September 9th we have a Pre-K meeting for the parents of children who are moving on to Kindergarten next September.

We will be making nature walks and a walk to the Fairfax Library is scheduled as well. Please be sure to have proper footwear for your child at all times.

Jenny will take leadership of a new group this year. The three year olds will be in the newly forming "puddle-jumpers". This will be Jahshua, Lily, Eric, Yasmine, Allie, Jakob and Clay.

Kelly and Charlotte will be the "stompers" teachers and this is for the two and young three year olds.

Karla, Leydis and Laurie will be doing our Pre-K program and that will start on September 15th.

We promise to make this a good year and to let your children shine with their own very special talents.

KARLA'S PREACHING PAGE

Many parents today, especially those with little boys are struggling with issues around weapons and war play. In these violent times we are often distressed by our children's fascination with these things. Let me share with you, from my heart how I see this based on my education, my own experience as a mother and on many years of working with children.

First, I know that children under the age of 8 do not have a way to understand the finality of death or the literal meaning of killing. Watch the children playing their games and you will soon see that a "bad" guy who "gets killed" can just as quickly "get alive" with the magical words "I fixed him". Clearly children mean something different by their shooting and killing than we adults do.

Young children look upon adults and older peers as enormously capable and powerful. By comparison, they are little and less in control of their own bodies and their world. Inside they are working on this. Their developmental task is to develop a sense of initiative. This means the ability to do things and to have an effect on the world.

Our children with their pirate costumes and superhero capes are creating inner worlds in which they are powerful and able to control their own fates. This role-playing has nothing to do with causing pain and human suffering.

Play is a child's work. And in a child's play he acts out what is being worked on inside. It is common for parents to recognize strong will, anger and self-determination. It is not always easy to recognize how little and vulnerable and frightened and frustrated our children also are. Many times bravado hides these feelings. Children need to feel heroic and capable and their play helps them do this.

When you listen to children you often hear them give their own voice to both the hero and the bad guy. It seems to me they are working on the complex problem of things inside that they are not comfortable with-anger and fear. Children operate on a primitive level. Why negotiate with an inner monster if you can just blow it up and get rid of it?

A child needs to play these feelings out and when they get projected onto other children at school or at home, they need an adult's help to cope. We can help children work through their frustrations. We can listen to their side and help them negotiate. If they get stuck we can offer them ideas of what might help and above all we can remind them that in real conflict hurting and bullying always cause pain and do not produce win-win solutions.

I do not feel terribly alarmed when I hear our oldest children say they like war and fighting. I trust that as they grow older they will "get it" that people are not only either bad guys or good guys and that the world is more complex.

Children learn through imitation. Repeated images of violence on television or adults yelling or hitting as a way of working through conflict model poor solutions.

If your objection to war play is based on non-violence examine the model you present to your children: do you spank them or yell at them?

I recommend you respect your child's need for spontaneous play, be very selective about the toys you choose, make rules for group play as we do at school and help your child to become an adult capable of making peace.