Preschool

Parents return to work after having children for a myriad of reasons. For some, it is out of financial necessity. For others, it’s because they genuinely love their jobs. But no matter the reason, that first day of daycare drop-off is hard on just about every parent. The working parent guilt is very real.

No matter how much a person loves his or her job, and no matter how ill-suited they feel about being a stay-at-home mom or stay-at-home dad, it is heart-breaking to hand the child they love so much off to someone else for 8 to 10 hours a day. It’s hard to miss the many “firsts” that occur over the course of early childhood development, and it is sad to not be the one there, kissing all the booboos and providing all the care.

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If you think about it, sales are a big part of parenting.  Especially repeat sales!  Every morning you probably have the same “sales pitch” that makes up the “Bed to Preschool Package Deal”.

Waking up instead of sleeping. A real breakfast instead of cookies. A clean shirt instead of the batman costume.  The list goes on…

But the real moment of truth is when it is actually time to jump in the car and go to daycare or preschool. It’s just you, the idea of preschool, and the idea of home. If your preschooler is going to be a tough customer that morning, that’s the moment when he will do it.

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That’s right. We are giving away a brand new Amazon Fire HD Kids Edition to the kiddo with the most votes in our Cutest Kids Photo Contest!

Upload your favorite picture of your child 0-6 years old and include #LuLuKids in the description for a chance to win.  You can enter once per week through April 30th, 2015.

If you have pictures that will warm hearts or make people laugh from the belly up, follow these simple steps and you could be our lucky winner!

• Like us on Facebook.
• Upload the cutest photo of your kids and use #LuLuKids in the description.
• Share your photo with friends & family and ask them to vote.
• Vote for your favorites by liking the picture and commenting.

Visit our gallery page regularly to see new photos and who is in the lead!

Click here to upload your adorable photos and enter for a chance to win an Amazon Fire HD Kids Edition!

So you’ve gotten through daycare and preschool, now what? Kindergarten can be a big transition for your little one, especially if they are going from a private child care center to a public school. They are leaving everyone that has become familiar behind, and have to learn how to cope with the higher demands that come along with being a kindergartener. The following tips for transitioning from preschool to kindergarten will help you as a parent in guiding your child along the way:

Typical care times: 9am – 12:30pm, with afternoon or evening care Ages: 3-5 years old, preferably potty trained Philosophy: “Play is a child’s work”

Overview
If you’re starting to look for a preschool, you have undoubtedly come across the highly popular Montessori program, but what exactly is it? The Montessori method of teaching was developed in the early part of the 20th century by Maria Montessori of Rome who developed a method of teaching that places a great deal of emphasis on individual-based creative, hands-on learning and student independence, all while allowing the students to be academically stimulated.

In a Montessori program, kids ranging in age from 3-5 all share the same room, with the older kids acting as role models for their younger peers. The students will typically have the same teacher (or “guide” as they are frequently known in Montessori schools) for several years which allows students to develop a closer relationship with their instructor.

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If you were an insufferable goodie-two shoes as I was as a girl, you would have given anything to be allowed in the room at this hallowed tete-a-tete to hear yourself heaped with laurels and praise by your admiring teacher and proudly and whole-heartedly endorsed by your modest parents.

But as a mom, praise (while lovely) is not really what you are there for. Here are some tips I received from friends as I prepared for my first parent teacher conference.

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T ypically, preschools describe themselves as either “play-based” (also known as child-centered and developmentally appropriate) or “academic” (also known as teacher-directed and traditional). Most early education philosophies fall into one of these two categories. What’s the difference and which one’s better?

Child-Centered / Play-based / Developmentally Appropriate

The most common teaching philosophy is child-centered and based on play, whereby children do activities of their choosing. In a fairly unstructured program, children learn at their own pace. They can select from several activities and can play alone or in small groups. The whole group often comes together for songs, stories, or other “circle time” activities. Doing activities based on children’s interests develops their love for school, builds creativity, and increases motivation to try new things. Play-based programs have a lot of unstructured hands-on play, group story-time, and themed activities. This approach typically helps children develop their social skills including communication, sharing, empathy, and listening. I’ve discussed examples of specific child-centered philosophies in my earlier post here.

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Did you know that more than half of obese children become overweight by the time they’re 2? Did you also know that roughly one in five children is overweight by their 6^th birthday? Given such high statistics, whether you’re a parent or a teacher, it’s critical to support physical fitness for preschool children and instill healthy lifestyle habits early on so that children may continue these habits as they grow.

Today is the National Preschool Fitness Day and in light of this, I’d like to take the opportunity to highlight a few child care centers that offer great fitness programs.

Kiddie Academy of Gainesville is a child care center where Health and Nutrition are part of the curriculum and where children spend two hours outside daily. The center has an indoor gym and a soccer enrichment program.

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Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, High-Scope, Bank Street… what in the world do these names all mean!? Most likely you’ve never come across such terms, unless of course… you started looking for a preschool! If all these early education approaches got your head spinning, this “Preschool Teaching Philosophies” blog series is for you!

In this first post, we’ll give an overview of five common preschool philosophies. Later in the series, we’ll have a specific post on each one and provide more details to help you understand the differences and decide on a program that works best for you and your child.

Teaching philosophies explain how a school approaches learning, which in turn might shed light on whether your preschooler will do well with that particular learning method or in that particular environment. So what preschool learning approaches are there?

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As much as we try to protect our children, studies show that more than half of children will experience bullying at some point in their lives. Bullying can take place as early as preschool. To protect your child, learn to recognize signs of bullying and the steps you can undertake to prevent your child from being bullied again.

Recognize the signs of a bullied preschooler:

• Sudden unexplained fear of going to preschool
• Being withdrawn or depressed
• Coming home with unexplained injuries
• Complaining about another child (or other children) doing or saying mean things
• Avoiding eye contact when asked about preschool and seeming embarrassed or ashamed
• Complaining of headaches and/or stomachaches when they are not sick
• Being clingy and whiny when dropped off at preschool

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