DCRC Blog

While our team sincerely hopes you rest and recharge this summer, we also invite you to explore this summer activity list we put together for you. Think of it like a “summer reading list” but with more fun, reflection, and learning! We all know the school/program year is jam-packed with things to do and young children to care for. This list was curated with YOU in mind, and with the thought that you may have even just a little more time to spare. Try doing just a few of them, or work through the entire list! You’ll find that while we’re calling this a “summer activity list,” the activities can help prepare you for the school/program year to come. Enjoy and take care!

June is in full swing, the school/program year is closing out, kiddos are headed home, and vacations are commencing…what do YOU have planned? For many of us, summer is either already here or almost here and, usually, is a time to reset and recharge. Easier said than done, but there are many simple ways to do this. We are all different, which means we recharge in our own way – there is no “one-size-fits-all.” And even with one strategy, there can be more than one way to approach it. So, while the simple tips in this blog post are ones you have most certainly seen before, we invite you to try them in ways that make the most sense to you. It’s your time, your energy, and your choice…and if you are someone who will be continuing the very essential work of caring for young children over the next few months, we still encourage you to do at least a few of these things to help you recharge this summer.

Summer is upon us and many of you who may not be seeing kiddos until September may be thinking about what you can offer their parents and families, to continue social emotional learning at home! How about 21 simple reminders? Give these a look and then we encourage you to share this blog post with the parents and families of children in your care.

Mental health is a part of who we are. It cannot and should not be ignored. There are many things we can do to promote our mental health. Just by reading this blog post, you are doing something very important for your well-being. And, you know what? The research tells us that, for us to provide the best care for children, it is important that we take care of ourselves, our well-being, and our mental health!

The question is…are you ready for a workout?

The Devereux Center for Resilient Children (DCRC) recently announced the launch of a brand-new professional development resource, the Building Your Bounce: Promoting Adult Resilience Self-Paced Online Course. This course is designed to help teachers and other child-serving professionals who educate, and care for, young children (birth through preschool) discover ways to nurture their resilience and manage stress more effectively. The course offers evidence-based strategies to strengthen relationships, promote healthy self-regulation, increase initiative, and teach participants how to be kinder to themselves.

Dr. Nefertiti Poyner, co-author of Building Your Bounce: Simple Strategies for a Resilient You and co-creator of the course, took some time with me to reflect on the creation and importance of this new resource.

Early childhood professionals know how important social and emotional health is for young children, but they don’t always know how they can teach children critical social and emotional skills. The beauty of the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA) Program is that it takes the best of what research tells us children need and puts it into a practical framework that teachers can use every day during their lesson plans and daily activities to teach social and emotional skills, thereby promoting a child’s resilience and social-emotional health.

We all want to be happy and to achieve in life. We all also know that life can come at us and knock us down, and that we must pick ourselves up and keep moving forward. But how do we do that? How do we face great risk but continue to find success and happiness, despite the odds against us? With resilience, and focusing on what contributes to our resilience and well-being.

Resilience is the ability to “bounce back” from misfortune or change. A resilient person tends to have something in their life which helps them overcome challenges and move forward in positive ways. That “something” includes their protective factors, and there are four key protective factors that contribute to our resilience.

Our team is always so thrilled to spotlight the Week of the Young Child®. It is our mission to promote social and emotional development and foster resilience in young children, and to support the resilience of the adults caring for them. We work with so many programs across the country, and it would be impossible to express the amount of gratitude they deserve. To all our friends out there taking care of young children, we celebrate you and wish you a fun Week of the Young Child®.

We offer some activity ideas to help you celebrate all week long, and ones that can contribute to the social and emotional well-being of young children, their families, and you!

As every parent and teacher knows, children’s behavior varies throughout the day. A child is likely to act in different ways depending on the activity, the time of day, or the children present. Conducting multiple observations is an effective approach to getting to know children and for tracking ongoing progress throughout the year.

While not always possible, it is best if children’s words and actions are captured in a running record during the activity rather than from memory later in the day. Running record observations are written in the moment, capturing factual details about what the child says and does.

Can you help someone develop and grow, socially and emotionally, without having a solid relationship with them? When you think about the nature of social and emotional learning (SEL), a healthy relationship is truly at the center… Whether you are working with a young child or another adult, establishing a relationship should be the prerequisite to any SEL work. As that relationship develops, a trust begins to build. The stronger that trust is, the better both the teaching and learning experience can be.

Here is why a healthy relationship should be a prerequisite to SEL work…