Children & Family Resource Center: As school begins, tell educators how much you appreciate them
Sending our last baby to kindergarten a few weeks ago was harder than I imagined. I counted down the hours until I could ask my son how his day went... if he made any friends, and bombard him with all the questions.
Unlike my daughter, he could not care less what he wore on the first day and as I watched him walk away in a Batman backpack that was almost as big as he is, I was both excited for him and worried about whether he was ready or not. Kindergarten is much more rigorous than most of us can remember. Naps are a thing of the past, and children need so many more tools in their toolbox to be successful in school. Children not only need academic skills like being able to identify the letters in their name and recognize and write numbers, but they also need the fine gross motor skills to hold a pencil, hold scissors, open a milk carton, hold a lunch tray and button their clothes.
A lifetime ago I was a kindergarten assistant and I laugh remembering the way those milk cartons looked when the kiddos tried to open them on their own. You would also be surprised at how difficult it is to open a not-quite-ripe banana with little 5-year-old fingers.
There are also a whole set of other skills that is much harder to teach and test — the social and emotional skills. Can a child calm themselves down when they are upset; how does a child handle transition from classrooms to specials?; can the child play well with others, and can the child go to the bathroom on their own? In kindergarten, this might look like the teacher checking in, face to face with each child daily, teaching children to stop and take a deep breath when they are feeling really frustrated, or children learning about kindness and respect and how to be a good friend. As children get older, these important learning opportunities evolve into the “soft skills” so many employers are looking for today. Monster.com’s The Future of Work 2021: Global Hiring Outlook reported that “when employers were asked to name the top skills they want in employees, they cited soft skills such as dependability, teamwork/collaboration, flexibility and problem-solving.”
Roughly 80% of Henderson County’s children have never been in a licensed child care center or family child care home. Some of these children stay home with work-at-home parents and are exposed to experiences that teach motor skills, literacy and math topics, but for many families, the need to work, coupled with the lack of available and affordable child care slots, and lack of dependable transportation leave children in potentially unsafe situations. For these children, kindergarten might be the first time they are asked to sit in a desk chair, raise their hands, hold a pencil a certain way or sort items.
Today’s teachers are tasked with teaching the whole child from day one. At Children & Family Resource Center we work with early childhood educators to help them set goals for their classrooms and to ensure that they are having positive one-on-one interactions with each child in their class each day. We help them identify and utilize tools in the classroom that promote positive social-emotional development in preparation for entering school.
Our Parents as Teachers (PAT) program is an evidence-based program that empowers parents to be their child’s first and best teachers. Fifty-five percent of children currently enrolled in PAT are not enrolled in a licensed care or preschool program and Parents as Teachers is the only early childhood intervention they are receiving. Our parent educators help parents understand what to expect at each stage of development so parents can use teachable moments every day to enhance their child’s intellectual growth, language, social-emotional development, and social skills.
Triple P Positive Parenting Program draws from social learning theory which emphasizes that children learn from watching others. Learning and developing socially acceptable and appropriate skills are critical to one’s ability to develop healthy relationships and a sense of self-efficacy, as well as to decrease behavioral challenges. Through the Incredible Years Parent Program parents/caregivers learn the importance of their young children developing social competence and emotional regulation to be ready for school and to have and maintain school success.
Fast forward to my son today at school and I think he is thrilled to have a three-letter first name and not something longer; he loves that school lunch includes chocolate milk, and he thinks school is pretty great most days. He is a good kid who, like all children, needs support to self-regulate at times. He is not the perfect child every moment of the day, but I am thankful he has so many caring adults around him who can help him build the social and emotional skills he needs when he becomes dysregulated or acts out. His teachers are incredible, and I love our school.
Preschool teachers, kindergarten teachers and all educators are committed to inspiring and developing capable minds that go on to be our future workforce of CNAs, police officers, HR professionals and machinists. They teach well beyond simply letters and numbers and help children learn everything from tying their shoes and buttoning their pants to being kind and caring friends and community citizens. Thank you for all you do educators.
As we kick off the new school year, make sure you tell as many educators as you can how much you appreciate them.
Jamie Wiener is the Executive Director of the Children & Family Resource Center in Hendersonville
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Children & Family Resource Center: Be sure to thank your educators as school begins
