Promoting Well Being In The Pre School Years

Promoting Well-Being in the Pre-School Years provides evidence-based research and real-life strategies that support social and emotional development and well-being for children aged 3–5 years. It places emphasis on nurturing social emotional competence through purposeful scaffolding activities and how these can be used by children and families to create a harmonious platform for building resilience and positive relationships with family and the community. Drawing on principles from Positive Psychology and Positive Education, it is illustrated throughout with examples of sustainable practice in diverse, global settings. Key topics explored include: Contemporary well-being concepts, including ‘grit’, ‘growth mindset’ and ‘gratitude’, as well as ‘classic’ constructs such as coping and self-efficacy The attitudes and skills that need to be developed to ensure that young children flourish Cognitive and sociocultural perspectives complemented by neuroscience and epigenetics Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in the early years curriculum Using visual tools – the Early Years Coping Cards How we measure young children’s coping The relationship between coping, stress and mental health Recognition of the importance of parents’ own coping skills How partnerships with communities can improve children’s SEL. Promoting Well-Being in the Pre-School Years shows how we can support young children to develop an understanding of what it means to be happy and to flourish as a socially responsible member of the family and wider community. It is essential reading for teachers, parents and professionals who work with young children, as well as academics in child development.

This book focuses on improving well-being among young children. It provides a theoretical base explaining why physical activity is important, and offers practical strategies for increasing health and well-being in early childhood settings. It takes ancient wisdom on the mind and body connection, applies it to the youngest children, and supports it with current empirical and international evidence—all with an eye toward improving wellness across the lifespan. The many topics discussed in the book include children’s motor skills, movement, interaction, physical literacy, the use of video games, dog ownership, developmental delays, as well as strategies to improve physical activities in the classroom and broader contexts. In recent years, children’s health has become a priority worldwide. Topics such as “screen time” “sedentary behavior” and “childhood obesity” have become important issues everywhere- in the news, in schools, in community and commercials settings, and among health care providers. Limiting sedentary behavior, increasing physical activity, and maintaining a nutritious diet are three fundamental needs during early childhood. Preschool years are a time when children begin to explore the world around them, and develop more vivid understandings of their surroundings. As this book shows, the early years may be the best time to teach wellness concepts and assist young children in establishing healthy lifestyle habits.

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

This book examines the ways in which well-being affects educational outcomes. Using an ecological approach, the book defines what we mean by well-being and resilience in education and how this relates to policy and children and young people’s rights. The book considers strategies utilised by the education, health, voluntary and private sectors which promote well-being and resilience for children and young people from the early years to adulthood. This book also explores societal factors such as poverty and family well-being. Childhood Well-being and Resilience goes on to provide examples of practice interventions inside and outside the classroom. It represents a sea change in professional approaches to well-being and resilience as protective factors against poor mental health. It includes chapters on key topics such as: The concept of child well-being, resilience and the rights of the child Peer interaction and well-being Social media and mental health Well-being and outdoor learning Mindfulness for young children International policy and child well-being This book supports professionals to increase their knowledge, establish a skill set and build their confidence which can enable children and young people to develop good levels of well-being and to improve their resilience. Including reflective questions and case studies, Childhood Well-being and Resilience is essential reading for undergraduate students studying Early Childhood Studies, Education Studies, Teaching Awards and Family and Community Studies.

How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.

Health and Wellbeing in Childhood provides a fundamental introduction for educators in key priority areas of health and wellbeing education, including physical education, promoting health in childhood, and strengthening social and emotional learning in young children. It approaches each topic with childhood diversity and complexity in mind. The fourth edition has been comprehensively updated and continues to explore relevant standards and policies, including the revised Early Years Learning Framework. It includes a new chapter on executive functions in early childhood, focusing on the development of higher-order skills required for children to engage in purposeful and goal-directed behaviours. Each chapter features case studies that exemplify practice; spotlight boxes that provide further information on key concepts; and pause and reflect activities, end-of-chapter questions and learning extensions that encourage readers to consolidate their knowledge and further their learning.

This report sets out the findings from the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study in the United States. The study assesses children's skills across both cognitive and social-emotional development, and how these relate to children's early learning experiences at home and in early childhood education and care.

This book attempts to shed light on Mental Health Promotion and Communication both examined as key factors for improving interpersonal relationships in Early Childhood Education. It is a book that promotes common mental health issues and counselling interventions, mental health promotion in pre-school and early childhood context, communication in the school environment between teachers, students and parents. In addition, it discusses common mental health issues that teachers have to deal with in early childhood education and describes counselling interventions in school context as well as strategies for addressing these issues in the school environment.Within this framework, this book actually focuses on the definitions', forms' and activities' of Mental Health Promotion and Communication Impact upon relationships and interactions taken place in everyday Early Childhood Education environment. Moreover, it stresses the importance of cultivating the emotional intelligence of all the members of school community in designing preventive interventions. An emotional intelligent school unit can contribute to the prevention of mental health issues. Emotional intelligence is related to communication skills and communication competence. The development of emotional intelligence and communication competence fosters healthy interpersonal relationships within the school community and reduces emotional and behavioral difficulties. It can also provide parents with ideas for improving their relationship with their children, eliminating, thus, communication problems and negative parenting practices which are associated with mental health problems.This book is aiming at providing readers with practical ideas and suggestions in order to avoid conflict situations that harm their relationships with the valuable others, parents, teachers, students or classmates. In this book special terms and rarely used vocabulary are avoided, so it will be easy to be read not only by professionals, scholars or experts but also by the students, parents and all interested reading public which concerns about relationships' improvement among school community members. Moreover, this book attempts to improve teaching procedure and ameliorate learning effectiveness, keeping classroom in calmness and classroom participants in discipline, according to modern classroom management rules.