North Queen Anne Child Care
March Parent Page 2013
In This Issue
Move-a-thon
Meet Teacher Ashlee
Emergency Comfort Kits
NQACC Nut-free Policy
Parenting Articles
Important Upcoming Dates

March
1-Dr Suess Dress up day
7-Move-a-thon
8-Sport dress up day
10-Daylight Savings
13-Orange Giraffe Parent Meeting 5-6 pm
15-Classroom Color Day
22-Pajama Day
29-Crazy Hair/Hat Day
30-Easter Eggstraganza

April
17-Blue Bird Parent Meeting from 5-6 pm
19 -NQACC Opens late at 10 am for professional development

Move-a-thon is March 7th...this coming Thursday!

Come join the fun and cheer your child on while they run laps to raise funds for our enrichment programs.

Here is the class running schedule...

3:30 Yellow Ducks
3:50 Purple Bunnies
4:10 Orange Giraffes
4:30 Blue Birds
4:50 Green Monkeys
5:10 Red Bears

There will be book prizes for the most laps run and the most money raised in each classroom.  (Donations need to be in by the day of the event to qualify for a prize.)
 
Meet Teacher Ashlee
 
  We are excited to welcome Ashlee Thomas to our team as a float teacher.  Ashlee has worked in Arizona with a kids program and also spent time volunteering here at the church office.  Ashlee will be giving support to all of our classrooms.  Her very favorite color is pink, and she likes reading, coffee shops, spending time with friends, phad thai, and bubble tea. 
  
Emergency Comfort Kits
A BIG Thank you goes out to Melanie Mitchell and Jane Rasanen for the time invested to get the ball rolling on our earthquake comfort kits.  If you have not signed up for one, you will need to assemble one for your own child.  It is not too late to sign up now.  The $20 will be billed on your April Invoice. 
  
We are still looking for classroom kit coordinators for the Yellow Ducks, Purple Bunnies, and Orange Giraffes to help round up the remaining letters and pictures to be added to the kits. 
  
If you are interested in helping out in this way or with kit assembly, please email shari@nqacc.org
NQACC is NUT-Free
You may have seen our signs near the parent sign in that NQACC is a nut free center.  We want to take this opportunity at the close of our safety month to review what this policy means.  All of our menu items are nut-free, but we also ask that any in-coming treats for birthdays, celebrations, and comfort kits be free of nuts and free of peanut butter.   We also ask that in-coming food be store bought so that teachers can double check the labels before serving any to our students with allergies. Some of our students are allergic to peanuts and other to walnuts, so all nuts are included in our nut free policy. 
 
Greetings!

Whether you are a basketball fan or a veteran of NQACC, March Madness may or may not hold special meaning for you.  Each year it is one of our traditions to have dress up days for the Friday's in March.  This is a fun way to celebrate the coming of spring and endure the tail end of winter.  I have great memories of the Dr. Suess Birthday Celebration we had last year and know that we must include it in our line up again.  We also have our Move-a-thon event coming during the first full week of March and the Easter Eggstravaganza during the last weekend.  Check out this newsletter for more information on these events and more.  And be prepared to answer when your child might ask you..."Do you like Green Eggs and Ham?"

Shari

What Matters Most... The Soul of Parenting

By Jan Pendergrass, Pastor for Children and Families at First Free Methodist

 

I recall a teacher training exercise that requires instructors to crawl around the classroom on their knees. The idea is to see things from the child's perspective. Besides the potential of ending up completely crippled (I'm pretty sure my knees wouldn't last but a few "steps!"), I'm not sure putting my nose at table height is truly going to help me see things through a child's eyes.

But the basic concept is good. Kids have that amazing ability to keep the main thing the main thing, while we often get distracted by insignificant details, or rush on to what's next, missing the power of the moment.

Dr. Kevin Leman is an internationally known psychologist, humorist, best-selling author (The Birth Order Book) and speaker. I was happy to recently rediscover Dr. Leman's list, "A Child's 10 Commandments," from his book called

10 Secrets for Raising Sensible, Successful Kids.

The kid perspective he captures in his commandments helps us to remember we need to take time to see things through their little eyes.

 

  1. My hands are small; please don't expect perfection whenever I make a bed,
    draw a picture or throw a ball. My legs are short; please slow down so that
    I can keep up with you.
  2. My eyes have not seen the world as yours have; please let me explore safely. Don't restrict me unnecessarily.
  3. Housework will always be there. I'm only little for a short time, please take time to explain things to me about this wonderful world and do so willingly.
  4. My feelings are tender; please be sensitive to my needs. Don't nag me all day long. (You wouldn't want to be nagged for your inquisitiveness). Treat me as you would like to be treated.
  5. I am a special gift from God; please treasure me as God intended you to do, holding me accountable for my actions, giving me guidelines to live by and disciplining me in a loving manner.
  6. I need your encouragement to grow. Please go easy on the criticism; remember, you can criticize the things I do without criticizing me.
  7. Please give me the freedom to make decisions concerning myself. Permit me to fail, so that I can learn from my mistakes. Then someday I'll be prepared to make the kinds of decisions that life requires of me.
  8. Please don't do things over for me. Somehow that makes me feel that my efforts didn't quite measure up to your expectations. I know it's hard, but please don't try to compare me to my brother or sister. 
  9. Please don't be afraid to leave for a weekend together. Kids need vacations from parents, just as parents need vacations from kids.  Besides, it's a great way to show us kids that your marriage is very special.
  10. Please take me to church regularly, setting a good example for me to follow. I enjoy learning more about God.

 

I hope you'll keep Dr. Leman's
Child's  10 Commandments  somewhere to be reminded again and again how important it is to see things from your child's point of view. In Matthew 18, Jesus reminds us that we need to become like children in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. When we take time to see and do life through our kids' eyes, we just might experience a little piece of Heaven here on earth.

Egg Hunt
Here's an opportunity to enjoy an event with your kids, and have fun like kids! It's time for our annual Easter Celebration-
the EGGSTRAVAGANZA!

 

Saturday morning, March 30

9am FREE Pancake Breakfast (food service ends at 9:45)

9:45 Event Registration in the Gym

10:10 Rotation starts (don't be late!) and includes a puppet show with the real meaning of Easter (Jesus is alive!), a games room, crafts room, of course an egg hunt and TWO bounce houses! The event is over at 11:45. Join us for this very fun, family-friendly celebration! To preregister, or for more information, email Pastor Jan@ffmc.org.

 

Targeted for children age 3-8.  

 

 

Bringing Sanity and Well-Being Through Rituals and Routines

                 By Mary Ann Abbott, Parent Consultant, North Seattle Community College

So, it was a hard day!

There were lots of possibilities as to why. The daily commitments of work and family life!

Was it the morning frenzy of getting out the door?

Was it not enough sleep and eating meals on the run? Being off-schedule?

How about too many evening commitments this week and too many babysitters?

Was it just plain weariness?

Polly Greenberg, grandmother and Early Childhood expert, believes it's routines and rituals that promote sanity and well-being with children in family life.

               "RITUALS AND ROUTINES ARE EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL 'FENCES' AND TEMPLATES."

     "Knowing what to do (being able to predict what's coming next) makes a child feel competent -- and feeling competent is an important part of emotional contentment. This is what rituals and

routines do: They help make your child feel happy and good about herself. They foster your child's social and emotional growth."

                                                                 A Prevention Tool

An antidote for a hard day starts with prevention-a ritual or a routine in place. Most families have guidelines, but sometimes parents hit a non-compliant attitude from a child, and they are tempted to throw out the guideline, to suspend it -"just this once." Parents should hang in there. Planning for rules, routines, and rituals and then following them really helps everyone's well-being.

 

With routines/rituals in place, the daily hum-drum, have-to activities --from depositing dirty clothes in the hamper to getting dressed in the morning (before breakfast, before TV, before coming to the living area)-slide into action before anyone has realized it. Rituals/routines can pave the way for introducing necessary changes and help cope with the unexpected events which inevitably occur.

                                                                    Help With Stress

Days can be filled with moments of great joy and strong positive emotions.

They can also be filled with times of gritting one's teeth, working very hard to be patient, and trying to remember what the expert said about gaining a child's compliance and the proper way to interact with a non-cooperative child!

And, stress! Positive stress, such as hurrying to a Seattle Children's Theatre play. Negative stress, like coaxing a child to wear ruffles to the wedding, instead of her gymnastic outfit.

 

Polly Greenberg shares the advantages a rituals and routines framework can bring:   "Routines and rituals provide people with behavior boundaries, procedures for solving problems, prompts for acting appropriately, patterns for celebrations, and ways for coping with the emotions and social implications attending life's landmarks events such as losing loved ones (funerals) and creating the next generations of families (weddings)."

All people need routines, from birth and on to old age! Hold on to them, and do them, even on tough

days!


 


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