Helping children succeed in life and in learning is sole purpose of education, so it was somewhat surprising to hear Elizabeth Truss, Under Secretary at the Department for Education announce proposals to allow adult to child ratios to be flexible to encourage providers to take on bigger groups. She steered away from talking about education [...]
We live in a world that celebrates busy as a sign of status and success. This may work for adults but it goes against what nature intended for children. One of the casualties of our too busy world is that children are loosing the time to play, freely and independently with no pre-set task or [...]
Children love to play and become totally absorbed in games they choose for themselves. Everyone agrees that play is important for young children but once children reach school age it can become crowded out by a busy timetable of structured activities and homework. But play is not just a time filler and it has a [...]
Will your children have a happy summer doing things they love and avoiding boredom? The summer holidays are upon us, hooray for that. Children need a rest and time to unwind. Six weeks or more is a luxury which is eagerly awaited but doesn’t always go smoothly. Whether the holidays have started already or you are waiting [...]
Confidence comes from within, it is based on knowing what you can do and remembering how you have succeeded in the past. Confidence must be based on accurate self knowledge. Offering false praise by telling a child you know they can do it, to build their self esteem, won’t help much unless it prompts a memory [...]
Friendship is essential for childhood wellbeing. Children learn valuable life skills from their friends and from being independent. So how can you help your child to be confident with others without getting in their way? When younger children first attend pre school groups they will meet a lot of new faces. Give them more time to [...]