It may be “the most wonderful time of year,” but the holidays are also the busiest. There are holiday parties, school programs, final exams, post office lines, and elves on shelves. We fight mall traffic to search for the perfect presents for those on our list and too often time with our children gets shoved to the side.
In the midst of this holiday chaos, early childhood development doesn’t necessarily come to mind as a top priority. However, holiday activities bring an abundance of opportunities to impact the development of our youngest learners.
With the recent launch of the Chattanooga Basics initiative, the community has heard a lot about how simple everyday activities can jumpstart our young children’s brains and prepare them for success later on in life. Using the 5 Basics can be a fun and easy way to encourage healthy brain development in young children during this holiday season.
Maximize love and manage stress. Children are affected by our emotions, whether good or bad, and feed off of our feelings. While this is a very happy time with loved ones, it can also be extremely stressful. Give yourself ten seconds as you wait to respond in a moment of irritation. Be sure to hug your children and tell them that they are the best gift you could ever receive this season! Talk to your children about various family activities that will take place during the holiday and include the names of those who will be there and how much they are loved.
Talk, sing, and point. By talking, singing, and pointing, you are giving your child context clues to the meaning behind what you are saying. Sing your family’s traditional holiday songs in the car, on shopping trips and around the house throughout the holiday season. Add some bells or wooden spoons and watch their eyes light up as you sing together.
Count, group, and compare. Teaching your child math can begin early in life. You don’t have to be a math teacher to relay the basics! Talk about the decorations you have in your home. How many are there? What are their colors, shapes, and sizes? And, of course, holiday baking is a great way to talk about measuring, comparing and sorting.
Explore through movement and play. Embrace children’s curiosity and let them explore the world around them. Turn on the holiday music and rock out! Ask children to create a holiday inspired folk dance and perform it for you. Spending time laughing, dancing, spinning, and having fun will get them moving and create treasured holiday memories.
Read and discuss stories. Find a favorite holiday book to read with your child. Or find a great movie and watch it with your child, making sure to discuss things like what is going to happen next, which character would you like to be, what is your favorite scene, etc. Or take some time out during your holiday break and visit the Chattanooga Public Library for one of the early childhood activities including story time.
The holidays can be stressful, but helping your child get a healthy start in life doesn’t have to be. Use these techniques during your holiday celebrations and watch your children grow and respond as you share in the joy of the holidays and give them the priceless gift for learning that will last a lifetime.
Jayne Griffin, Ed.D. Director of Education, Creative Discovery Museum, Member Early Matters Action Team
Robin Cayce, Ed.D. Director of Programs, Chattanooga 2.0 and Early Matters
Early Matters Chattanooga, an action team of Chattanooga 2.0, was formed to ensure access to high quality resources supporting optimal development of children from birth to 5 years old in the greater Chattanooga area.
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Wow. I read this article and counted 15 times that these two female authors called our Christmas season "the holiday" or "holiday season". Some of their usages of this "politically correct" term in their article seemed obviously contorted to avoid using the word Christmas.
I read an article yesterday and saw an interview on TV about the "War On Christmas". It was really criticizing our President for drawing attention to "restoring Merry Christmas " to our discourse after the liberal attempts in the opinion of many to remove Christ from the public square all together. It might be noted that each of the eight years in office, Obama never included "Merry Christmas" on any of the official White House Christmas cards. He did however invite a group of Muslim clerics to a dinner at The White House in recognition of the Ramadan holiday. As a Christian and one who has studied The Constitution, our founders' writings, and The Federalist Papers, let me enlighten some of you to absolute historical facts:
1. Fifty of 55 framers of our Constitution were professing Christians.
2. Eleven of the first 13 states required faith in Jesus Christ and The Bible to hold public office.
3. The New England "primer" was the first reading primer and many of its selections were from The King James Bible.
4. Fifty state constitutions acknowledged the providence of God.
5. In 1787 James Madison, the architect of the Constitution and 4th President, said, "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of the government, far from it. We have staked the future upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the 10 Commandments of God."
6. In 1821 John Quincy Adams said, "The highest glory of The Revolution was this, it connected in one undissolvable bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. From the first day of the Declaration...they were bound by the laws of God, and by The Laws of The Gospel."
7. In 1891 the U.S. Supreme Court restates that America is a "Christian nation".
Bill Reesor
Ooltewah
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Just reading this political justification for personal opinions has worn me out. This philosophy of "we know what is best for your child" and those involved in bending the mind of innocent children at an early age run counter to this mother's and grandmother's teachings. Such teaching is a step away from the "state" taking over the children which can be read about in research on Wikipedia.
Charlotte Parton
Chattanooga
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Charlotte,
Where in there did you see "teach your child to vote Democrat" or "teach your child to be an atheist?" Parental uninvolvement is a large part of why "The Public Schools of Hamilton County" are failing, and if a few more parents would teach their kids to count and read early, we would be in much better shape fiscally as well as educationally.
Parental involvement is the key to the inequity problem that UnifiEd insists on fixing with more tax dollars.
Charles McCullough
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Perhaps the Chattanoogan.com should have placed the article “Teach Your Child The Basics This Holiday Season” in the Community section. It seems inappropriate to subject it to mindless, impertinent political debate.
The authors were sharing expertise, actual knowledge about early childhood development. All is not opinion. Arguments just for the sake of arguing are getting old. I spite of the decline in social discourse that invites so many to believe otherwise, there is still such a thing as knowing something.
Frank Wrinn