Category: Early Childhood Education

Categories
Children and Family Advocates Early Childhood Education Embracing the Gift of Parenthood Heart 4 kids Advocacy Organization Parenting Tips Sustaining our Humanity Uncategorized

Tiny Tips for Moms and Dads # 39 – Everybody Gets Mad, Sad, and Disenchanted, But We Don’t Have to Live in Those Emotions-Just “Push the Magical Reset Button” And Let the Emotions Frizzle Away!

Second generation of knowing how to process and validate their emotions!
These two characters know all about the “Reset Button”!  It has been a tool to help our children process through their emotions.

Children can have a difficult time navigating through their emotions and if I am being truthful, it is part of our human design to be challenged by dealing with our emotions throughout our life’s journey.  What we have to do as parents and caregivers of children, is to support them and guide them through the incidents that pop up and take them off their balance and control.  We want them to learn to be comfortable and in control of the feelings that run through them.  We don’t want them to be fearful and embarrassed about having a melt down or temper tantrum, feeing emotional of sad.  We want to support them with tools that will aid them in processing through their feelings and find a resolve to what might be overwhelming and unbearable for their age and maturity. 

We taught our children that they have the power and ability to reset the situation. We help them to process what they are experiencing by allowing them to have time and space to express themselves.  Sometimes it takes sitting in the feelings till they can verbally express themselves. Sometimes it means holding them in the embrace of your tender arms and whispering words of love to ease their stress. Sometimes it involves finding alternative ways other than verbally communicating, and we might have to come up with more creative ways for them to sort through their feelings.  I like “gentle reprocessing” which entails art, to bring to light what is transpiring so that words don’t get in the way. 

It will take trying different modalities to find out what resonates with each child.  Sometimes a family can come up with a safe way to process feelings and experiences that impact their emotions that are a clue for everyone to know that they need time, space, and support.  For our family we have the children visualize a “reset button” that is part of their belly button.  When we move through the emotions, we suggest pushing their “reset button”, take a deep breath, exhale, and start a new when they are ready.  Their mind, heart, and soul, have to align in harmony in order to be able to feel a sense of relief and resolve.  Trust me when I say, developing a ritual or modality for shifting through and resolving their emotions and feelings is a gift that will support them throughout their life. 

Categories
Children and Family Advocates Children's Bill Of Rights Early Childhood Education Embracing the Gift of Parenthood Heart 4 kids Advocacy Organization Parenting Tips Uncategorized

Tiny Tips for Moms and Dads #37 Bullying, Violence, and Racism is Self-Destructive and Can Disease the Soul!

We have a big job ahead of ourselves as
“guardians” of our precious children.

So much of what our children are experiencing in this “new world order” is fused with bullying, violence, and racism and we know as adults that it imperative for us as “guardians” of our children to protect them and give them the tools to navigate through the maze of illusions, deceptions, and untruths that try to capture the imagination and soul of our children.  Our responsibility is to cultivate in our children compassion, the ability to be kind, thoughtful, respectful, and non-judgmental of other people. 

Children are not born with feelings of hatred, violence, or racism.  Those traits or actions are taught and imposed by other people in a child’s world of influence.  They come into this world as a clean slate.  They come here to be loved and guided.  They come here to learn, to explore, to discover the world that they have to live in and be a part of.  We have the chance to influence them during the most important developmental time in their life.  We have a chance to instill the values and behavior in our children that will support them in being who they are designed to be.  They were designed to be loving, caring, gentle of spirit, kind, and receptive of being healthy in their perception of what life and people should be like.  Life will challenge them and try to “take them out of themselves”, as our ancestors use to say.  We therefore have to fortify them with the character skills that will sustain them in being their authentic selves. 

We have to be observant in what transpires in their interactions, especially with their peers.   So much is revealed during “play”.  This is the time we can use to have a “teaching moment” with our children.  Firsthand, real-time experiences are the best way to integrate a conceptual lesson.  There are children’s books that can also support us in sharing the concepts we want to instill in our children’s character development.  I realize that what makes “Tiny Tips for Moms and Dads”, different than other parenting books and media content, is that my focus is on helping parents support the character development and spiritual essence of their children.  I understand the significance of this area of human development and how it impacts the overall life journey of our children. 

Categories
Early Childhood Education Heart 4 kids Advocacy Organization Parenting Tips Sustaining our Humanity

Bullying-Why We Must Teach and Model Compassion

Compassion in its purist form. “He’s my little brother and he needs my gentle touch to fall asleep”.

Bullying- Why We Must Teach and Model Compassion–

What is essentially the act of compassion or being a person that carries and uses compassion from a heart space?

I looked up the word compassion in the Webster’s Children’s Dictionary and was so disappointed in the choice of words that were used for children to define and understand what the word means. “ Pity for and a desire to help someone”- “ having or showing pity and a desire to help someone”.  Then I looked it up in the regular Webster’s Dictionary and the same word “pity” was used in the definition. The Center for Compassion and Altruism defines compassion as “ A multi-textured response to pain, sorrow and anguish. It includes kindness, empathy, generosity and acceptance. When we teach children that to be compassionate it means to pity, this is the very reason behind the foundation on which bullying is such a devastating and dangerous act in our society today. 

From the word “pity” there is a feeling of superiority and entitlement ingrained in the texture of the word! I would never have used that word in explaining compassion to children! Who do they think these children of this period of civilization are?  They don’t have a clue. We are not nurturing and guiding our children in the “light of spiritual development that they deserve and are looking for. The very examples of what they see in the media, games, movies and adult behavior, that they are bombarded with, does not promote compassion and or empathy.

This Early Childhood period of development is critical in so many areas of development! It is the only time in a child’s educational experience that there is a conscious and intentional decision to provide children with a curriculum that embraces teaching a child what it is to be a whole, healthy, happy socially and an emotionally sound human being!

We must teach compassion, empathy, inclusiveness, acceptance, love and generosity of spirit. We must teach cause and effect! We must teach responsibility for our actions. We must teach remorse for negatively impacting another person thru teaching empathy. We are as parents, teachers, extended family, and friends influencing and imprinting on the soul development of our children! How do we hold a sacred space for them to show up as being compassionate adults in this challenging world? Will they have the tools and character to be contributing members of society? Are we setting them up for failure and pain because we have not done our part to guide them and uphold the integrity of their divine identity? Bullying is taught and modeled.  Children possess an innate ability to respond with love and compassion. It must be protected and nurtured. We have work to do!

Even little animals need our love and compassion. I think the expression on her face demonstrates how compassion impacts our being.

Categories
Children With Special Needs Children's Bill Of Rights Early Childhood Education Embracing the Gift of Parenthood Heart 4 kids Advocacy Organization Parenting Tips

Reflections on the Radio Session with Les Brown Talk Radio Show 980 AM

I really wanted to blog to you last night, but we are fine tuning our Heart4Kids theme song and the rehearsal went late into the night. I am so excited about this song and our prayer is that it will go around the world and touch everyone’s heart. We will upload it on the Website when we have the finished product. Once again I had a great time participating on the Les Brown Show. The topic he chose was “How Do You Build Self Esteem in your Children”. . He encouraged parents to call in and share what they were doing to develop self-esteem in their children. This is such an important topic so much so that in my book “Embracing the Gift of Parenthood” I thread the essence of this throughout the fabric of each chapter in different angles. It really speaks to how by loving ourselves and showing our children what that looks like, we model loving one’s self. It also speaks to showing our children that we love them and that they are worthy of being loved. I am going to come back to this discussion and go into it in a more expansive conversation. I know that this will come up in our seminar on Friday, July 22, 2011. I hope you will join us! Check into the website and RSVP (heart4kids@hotmail.com or call 310-422-0766. This is the first of the 12 part series of our seminars on “Parenting from the Heart”.

Categories
Children's Bill Of Rights Early Childhood Education Embracing the Gift of Parenthood Heart 4 kids Advocacy Organization Parenting Tips Uncategorized

Parenting Habits that Get on my Nerves!

16041705-facd-4fc7-b843-bfc7dd09d6fd

Leilani takes being a mother of her three children very seriously.

A Parenting Habit that Get on My Nerves!

One of the things that really bothers me, is when a parent is crossing the street and is busy on their cell phone having a conversation and not even holding their child’s hand. I really want to jump out of my car and confront them, but instead I gently honk my horn just enough to get their attention but not frighten the child. I put an expression on my face that shouts, ” Hey! grab your child’s hands before they get killed by a car!!” We have to be present for our children! That is what it is to be a parent! It is not easy to be “on” all the time, but we have to be the “watch keepers” it’s our job! We have so little control over so much, we have to be awake and on call for the things we can be in control of. It is a lot of work and that’s why if you are going to be a parent you must realize that you are entering into a life time “Covenant” with your child.