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Your Successful Preschooler: Ten Skills Children Need to Become Confident and Socially Engaged
The latest research shows that children can be taught--at veryearly ages--the tools they need to become successful and connectedto others. This new book offers parents and teachers theinformation they need to teach children the most effective ways toengage peers and make social interactions easier and moremeaningful. Your Successful Preschooler: Using the methods outlined in the book, parents and teachers cansupport activities that lead to a lifetime of social success andlikeability that are crucial for every child's emotionalstability.
- GenresParentingNonfiction
288 pages, Paperback
First published December 9, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 7, 2012
Due to the high level of brain plasticity between the ages of 3 and 5, the authors stress the importance of early childhood education. Children who are home with a parent should be actively homeschooled, ideally with siblings or in a co-op with other families. Children who are cared for outside the home ought to be in a program that provides lots of play and a low student-teacher ratio.
Children who misbehave may have sensory processing issues. These students can benefit from a sensory corner furnished with things like soft, squishy balls, crunchy snacks, and jumping wind-up toys.
Children may need help socializing--guide them through a discussion of how they feel and how their peers feel (based on observable body language). The best way to teach kids to read facial expressions--a key part of being empathetic--is to point out the expressions on a peer's face whenever dramatic feelings occur (a daily occurrence in presschool). When talking to young children, illustrate your thoughts through facial expression, body language, and gestures, in order to help them understand the connection between language and emotions. When asking a child to do a favor, tell him how good it feels to help others. Emphasize your own happiness whenever you see one child helping another.
Help students learn to self-regulate by developing dramatic play scenarios that involve conflict. When a child acts inappropriately, set up a dramatic scenario and start narrating a story about "the boy who was good at sharing/letting other people play they want/etc." Teach kids ways to take care of the environment (this helps them build moral character). When children are playing well, stop them to praise and identify positive actions they have done to one another.
To build resiliency, don't yell, and never make fun of a child. Read stories about characters who are brave in adversity. If a child says, "I'm not good at that," encourage them to restate it as "I'm not good at that yet, but I can try to do it. It might work."
Use stories and play scenarios to reenact loss or fears. In stressful situations, provide children with options to give them some control over things. Remind children that compromise is for the purpose of staying friends. If play isn't going smoothly, don't break it up or take away toys; help restart the play with an altered story theme to keep the kids connected in play. But stop play if a child becomes aggressive.
Encourage bullied kids to tell bullies how they feel and tell them to report each incident to an adult. Remind bullies that their bullying behavior will result in not having friends.
Children who misbehave may have sensory processing issues. These students can benefit from a sensory corner furnished with things like soft, squishy balls, crunchy snacks, and jumping wind-up toys.
Children may need help socializing--guide them through a discussion of how they feel and how their peers feel (based on observable body language). The best way to teach kids to read facial expressions--a key part of being empathetic--is to point out the expressions on a peer's face whenever dramatic feelings occur (a daily occurrence in presschool). When talking to young children, illustrate your thoughts through facial expression, body language, and gestures, in order to help them understand the connection between language and emotions. When asking a child to do a favor, tell him how good it feels to help others. Emphasize your own happiness whenever you see one child helping another.
Help students learn to self-regulate by developing dramatic play scenarios that involve conflict. When a child acts inappropriately, set up a dramatic scenario and start narrating a story about "the boy who was good at sharing/letting other people play they want/etc." Teach kids ways to take care of the environment (this helps them build moral character). When children are playing well, stop them to praise and identify positive actions they have done to one another.
To build resiliency, don't yell, and never make fun of a child. Read stories about characters who are brave in adversity. If a child says, "I'm not good at that," encourage them to restate it as "I'm not good at that yet, but I can try to do it. It might work."
Use stories and play scenarios to reenact loss or fears. In stressful situations, provide children with options to give them some control over things. Remind children that compromise is for the purpose of staying friends. If play isn't going smoothly, don't break it up or take away toys; help restart the play with an altered story theme to keep the kids connected in play. But stop play if a child becomes aggressive.
Encourage bullied kids to tell bullies how they feel and tell them to report each incident to an adult. Remind bullies that their bullying behavior will result in not having friends.
October 25, 2012
skimmed. Couldn't decide how I felt about the need for peer orientation such as the book suggests, so I gave up. Found some good advice in there about conversing with kids and helping them engage, and, as usual, thought it would be difficult to remember how to do some of the tips in real life, but made a note that I'd try harder to think of ways to open conversations and ideas with my preschooler. Some of the conversations sounded clinical, but successful, and helpful.
February 27, 2013
I'm not quite sure how to rate this book. It's written by two experts who obviously know what they're talking about, it has some valuable, practical advice about how to improve your toddler/preschooler's social skills, and it's fairly well written. But I found it terribly, terribly dull and could hardly finish it. Maybe I've just read too many books on the subject lately? Grade: C.
April 26, 2013
Meh. Stuff I already knew. The best advice I gleaned is to break away from the questions and integrate yourself into your child's imaginative play; this serves to validate the activity and encourage creative thought. Other than that, kind of a snoozer.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews