October 2018

Self Regulation and Resilience (part 1)

At the recent Early Childhood Australia (ECA) conference in Sydney in September I was introduced to the work of Dr Stuart Shankar from Canada when he gave a keynote speech on day 2. Dr Shankar is a researcher and author and one of the founders of the Canadian Self-Regulation Institute. Dr Shankar says “There is no such thing as a bad kid… even the most frustrating, annoying or troubling behaviour has an explanation”. Dr Shanker’s research has shown that for every child and every adult the ability to thrive–to complete tasks, form friendships, learn, and even love–depends on being able to self-regulate. At the ECA conference Dr Shankar shared some of his research findings. In the past twenty years fours sciences; neuroscience, neuro-biology, psychology and psychophysiology have converged showing us a lot about brain state. We can now see into the brain. Research in these disciplines has provided a wealth of evidence on the what impacts on our behaviour and what and how our behaviour patterns are created when we are young. How we respond to challenges and stress is largely set by the time we are 8 years of age. Our brain has achieved 95% of its growth at age 6.5 years and then takes another 20 years to develop the last 5%. We also know through modern research and the growing science of neuroplasticity, that the brain has the ability to change throughout an individual's life. However, supporting children to develop effective self-regulation in their early years builds their long term resilience. “Because of the power of neuroplasticity, you can, in fact, reframe your world and rewire your brain so that you are more objective. You have the power to see things as they are so that you can respond thoughtfully, deliberately, and effectively to everything you experience.” Elizabeth Thornton Self-Regulation says Dr Shankar is the “major construct for the 21st Century”. He defines self-regulation as how effectively and efficiently a child or adult deals with stressors and then recovers. The term “stress”, as it is currently used, was coined in 1936, and defined as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change”. We have come to view stress as a negative experience but stress is basically something that causes our body to use energy. A little stress arouses us, wakes us up and motivates us. For example, play is a positive stress for children. The brain processes that respond to stress consume energy. Too much stress will overload the brain, drain our energy and in children (and adults!) may result in difficult behaviour. For a child (and some adults) sugar is a stress as is being tired. We all need balance; balance of nutrients, balance between sleep and rest, balance between the tasks we don’t like and those we enjoy, balance between the difficult things we have to do and those that we love. When there is an imbalance, whether this is too little or too much, it puts stress on the body and the brain. A child’s brain is still growing and the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that is linked to decision making, and moderating social behaviour, does not begin to develop until about 4 months after birth and is not fully developed until adulthood, now known to be about age 26. Children need the support of kind and loving adults who understand that learning that is needed for them to develop self regulation.

Part 2: Steps to Self Regulation next month.

FAMILY NEWSLETTER

Board and PAG Matters 2018 Adelaide University Childcare Services Inc (AUCS) meets on the last Monday of the month. Next meeting for 2018 is Monday 27th November. The Board is currently undertaking a review of its own policies and planning for 2019. The Parent Advisory Group (PAG) The WCCC PAG next meeting is Monday 12th November. The 2018 End of Year Celebration has been planned. We thank PAG members Annelise and Shari for their work as members of the recruitment panel for the new Director. Recruitment for Room 1 coordinator is in progress.

Toilet Time with Debbie Atkins— by Laura Short (parent R1and R3)

Parents and educators who attended the parent evening on Monday 22nd October experienced an informative session with a wealth of information on supporting children to learn to use the toilet. Laura has provided the following summary to share with other parents: Debbie's seminar outlined 6 stages of body awareness and toilet capability: Stage 1: little control or awareness Stage 2: awareness of being wet/dirty and awareness of doing a wee or poo, no bowel motions during the night (for most children this would begin before 18 months of age) Stage 3: able to hold on briefly, voluntary release begins, but with frequent accidents Stage 4: can hold on longer, can release voluntarily, more periods of dryness Stage 5: can stop and start flow, can empty from partly full bladder Stage 6: consistent night time control These stages made me realise that my daughter (3.25 years old, stage 4) is well and truly ready to use the toilet. She has been showing (sporadic) interest for about six months, and I know what to do: * Kids need opportunities to practice toilet use, with consistent and positive daily toileting routines. * Don't ask questions, such as "do you need to do a wee or poo?" Use statements, such as "it's time to use the toilet, let's go together!" * As Debbie noted: the longer you wait, the harder it gets to toilet train. * However, if there seems to be a particular issue or problem, there may be an underlying bowel or bladder issue (constipation, etc). See your GP if you suspect there might be a problem. Debbie recommends keeping a record for 1-2 weeks of bowel movements and passing urine (in toilet, nappies and/or "accidents"), meals and sleeps, and others observations (showing awareness, indicating a need for the toilet, using toilet with no result, etc). From this, develop regular toilet times, such as soon after waking, soon after meals and big drinks (regulars drinks from a cup and not sippy cups is important) , before bath time and bedtime. Make a calm and relaxed routine. You can add toys and books to the toilet area to make it inviting, especially for kids with a fear of the toilet. Use the time to talk about bodily functions. Be available to help and also encourage independence. Celebrate all the successes, even if it was simply sitting on the toilet for five minutes with no result or flushing the toilet and washing hands. Debbie suggested social rewards (high fives, praise, calling granny, etc over physical rewards). For every toilet time, do all the steps, even if nothing happens. Likewise for accidents, use it as a learning opportunity. Go into the toilet (if feasible), remove wet/soiled clothing. Flush the poo if applicable. Put clean undies or nappy on. Wash hands. Celebrate! Thanks to the seminar, I realised I was expecting too much too quickly. We are day three into earnest toilet training with my daughter. It still has ups and downs but I have a lot more tools and a better understanding of how to approach toilet time. And if nothing else I'm enjoying some extra high fives!

Diary Dates Early closure at 4.30pm

Wednesday October 31st

End of Year Celebration Monday 17th December

End of Year closure

6pm Friday December 21st 2018 - 8am Monday 7th January 2019

Staff Matters Congratulations to Eleanor who has been appointed as the new WCCC Director. Eleanor and I are currently working on a transition process. I will be reducing my days to 3 (hopefully) in November and even less in December so that Eleanor can be ready to move into the full Director position in 2019. We now need to replace Eleanor’s position as Room 1 coordinator. This position has been advertised on SEEK. Applications close Monday 5th November and we hope to be able to fill this position by early December. We are also aware that it may take until 2019 before a new employee can commence.

Bookings, Transitions and Enrolments 2019 We are currently trying to plan for 2019 to ensure that as many families as possible can access their childcare requirements. It is very important for all families to inform us as soon as possible of any changes they would like to current bookings including increasing or decreasing days. When families delay doing this it impacts on our ability to confirm changes with other families. The majority of children currently in Room 2 will be moving to Room 3 in 2019. However, while we have a group of children who can transition from Room 1 to Room 2 it is a much smaller group. The current projections, with children leaving for school or preschool off site, is that Room 3 will be fully booked most days after transitions, Room 2 will have vacancies and Room 1 will be able to accommodate some of the many children on the waiting list. We aim to support all families to achieve a work life balance by accessing their required childcare days. At the same time, consistent booking patterns provide more equal enrolments across each day of the week, supporting more families to access their childcare needs. It can be especially difficult for families wishing to access full time childcare. Some external factors impact on the variation in enrolments across days of the week, particularly in Room 3, with a high demand for Fridays from preschool aged children as preschools in the local and wider area do not offers sessions on a Friday. Please email us any booking changes as soon as possible providing the nature of the change and the exact days for commencement . We are not able to accommodate all requests for change especially if these involve increasing or changing days and aim to let you know as soon as possible. It is also time to consider if you are taking holidays outside the Centres closure times? Notifications of holidays must be provided with 3 weeks operating notice in order to attract the holiday holding. Please include the first date and first date that you child will be absent. It also greatly assists us if you can put different notifications in separate emails and label the ‘subject’ appropriately e.g. ‘holiday’ or ‘additional day required’ or ‘change of day required’. When you put multiple requests in the same email some requests may be over-looked. When you send a holiday request in response to a newsletter the subject says ‘re newsletter’ and may not be given the attention required.

End of Year Celebration Our end of year celebration will be outdoors on Monday 187h December 6.15-7.30 at the Gum Oval, Entry 1 of the Waite Campus. The Centre will provide sausages and bread for a sausage sizzle and families are asked to bring a salad or fruit platter to share. This year we have Mr Oopy to entertain us with bubbles, singing, dancing and percussion. Please note this is an alcohol free event. A registration sheet will on the parent notice board from November so we can have confirmation of numbers attending and ensure we order sufficient sausages for the night. These will be gluten free.

WCCC Green Page

National Recycling Week 2018 National Recycling Week this year is Monday 12 to Sunday 18 November Planet Ark founded National Recycling Week in 1996, to bring a national focus to the environmental benefits of recycling. NRW is now in its 23rd year continuing to educate and stimulate behaviour change, by: Promoting kerbside, industrial and community recycling initiatives Giving people the tools to minimise waste and manage material resources responsibly at home,

work and school. This year’s theme, for NRW has been taken from the ABC’s War on Waste. From Waste War to Recycling Reboot, aims to educate us and resolve some of the confusion surrounding what happens to our recycling and how to recycle right. In Sa we are fortunate to have genuine recycling programs. However, we all must ask the questions where is our recycling going? As part of NRW Planet Ark has suggested a couple of special events you might like to try in your work-place or with you family. Here are some ideas from Planet Ark for you to try in NRW. Friday File fling Get rid of those paper files piling up in the office and flinging it into the recycling bin at a Friday File Fling! A great way de-clutter and to give your desk some special. Host a Fling and engaged your work colleagues to get quality office paper back into circulation in a fun, easy to organise event. Make it into a fun event by rewarding people with nibbles and drinks or give prizes for who 'flings' the most. Buy It Back Day Buy It Back Day will be held on Saturday 17 November 2018 during National Recycling Week. This is a day to celebrate National Recycling Week with mindful purchasing by: Buying something second hand OR Buying a product made from recycled materials. Host A Swap Party Swap Parties encourage us to reuse items, which, then reduces the demand for new items. Did you know that by swapping, rather than buying, a pair of jeans, you will save over 6,000 litres of water.

National Recycling Week at WCCC: Big Swap Party As well as our annual recycling quiz we will be hosting a clothes swap party. We are going to turn the front veranda into a second hand clothes shop for the week. Remember clothes need to be clean and in good condition. Suitable clothes for a clothes swap are ones that no longer fit anyone in your family, are not their style any more, or you have too many! Any surplus will go to Vinnies. We are looking at a range of experiences for children with a focus on music making. If you have any great ideas for making simple musical instruments using recycled materials please let us know. We also hope to install the WCCC Little Book Exchange now that we have found a suitable cupboard (pictured)