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111, 2015

Talega Life November 2015 Issue – The Gratitude in Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is more meaningful than simply gathering family and celebrating a good meal. With many public schools dropping the celebration of all holidays, parents have a unique opportunity to teach their children about thankfulness. This time of year is perfect for cultivating an understanding and practice of gratitude. A grateful perspective has been shown to develop more optimistic and resilient attitudes in children. Children with a grateful perspective experience: Less negative emotions Bounce back quicker from adversity Report feeling better connected to school and family [...]

110, 2015

Talega Life October 2015 Issue – Good Parenting and Effective Teaching

Parents often wonder what is the best method in which to teach children that are learning how to behave and how to think. Good parenting and discipline often equate the same thing: effective teaching. Discipline does not equal punishment. Discipline is an emotional education: a way of teaching your young child to handle their feelings and reminding her/him how to behave. The ultimate goal is to help children gain self-control, which is one of the best predictors for personal well-being, learning, and healthy functioning. While [...]

109, 2015

Talega Life September 2015 Issue – Processing Death with Young Children

When we agree to love something or someone, we agree to face loss at some point.  Adults can rationalize the process of love and loss while young children may face difficulty in processing what death is and what to do with the emotions of grief. There is not one proper way to process death and grief with children, parents and caregivers often have to find the best possible way to discuss the topic with children in a developmentally appropriate way. There are however, a few [...]

108, 2015

Talega Life August 2015 Issue – “Inside Out” and Into Childhood Mental Health

Disney-Pixar’s latest movie, Inside Out, illuminates the intricate world of the human brain in a way that playfully captures the attention of children and adults. The developmentally appropriate (yet still accurate) depiction of the way people feel and think opens up opportunity for dialogue among families in regard to our brain, emotions, and our behaviors.   This timely animated film provides a foundation and vocabulary for children to understand why they may experience certain emotions. The main character, eleven-year-old Riley, is guided by five relatable and humorous [...]

107, 2015

Talega Life July 2015 Issue – An Examination of Playful Academic Learning

When did preschool learning become the new nature or nurture debate? Decades of research have indicated that both nature and nurture contribute to the development of a human. Similarly, the past forty years of research have demonstrated that play and social learning contribute to the intellectual development of a preschooler. Play and learning are not separate from one another in early childhood development. This concept leads to confusion for parents looking for a preschool that stimulates intellectual development, as many schools promote their program as [...]

106, 2015

Talega Life June 2015 Issue – Teaching Young Children to Save, Spend and Share

When should young children learn to save, to spend, and to use money as a form of helping others? Research indicates that children as young as age three can begin to understand the value of saving and spending. By age seven, many children have already developed habits and mindsets for how money is earned and what to do with it. Currently, thirty-five percent of adults in America have debt in collections, therefore teaching our younger generation how to be mindful consumers, savers, givers, and investors [...]

105, 2015

Talega Life May 2015 Issue – Meaningful Praise with Children

In the last article we examined how praise can have negative effects on children’s motivation and performance. A wide body of motivational and psychological research suggests that parents and educators have options besides praise to encourage and support their children. Even praise itself has various forms, such as process praise, authentic praise, and meaningful praise. The one constant in all praise is that it needs to be specific and genuine. Instead of saying “Good job’ or “You’re so smart” try commenting on the process rather [...]

104, 2015

Talega Life April 2015 Issue – The Effects of Meaningless Praise on Children

According to a survey conducted by Columbia University, 85 percent of American parents think it’s important to tell their kids that they are smart and to praise them for grades, performance, appearance and intelligence. Many well-intended parents and teachers praise children for everything from reading a book, playing jump rope, climbing up the stairs, and drawing pictures. To what extent does praise promote or limit children’s performance? The last twenty years of research on motivation and academic success has indicated that common and frequent praise [...]

103, 2015

Talega Life March 2015 Issue – The Importance of Social and Emotional Development in Young Children

Scientific research indicates there is a very strong relationship between social-emotional learning and cognitive development and well-being. Children as young as 18 months exhibit compassion, empathy, and altruism. Some schools have programs designed to help students better identify and manage their emotions, establish respectful caring relationships and resolve conflicts using nonviolent means. A decade of academic research across several countries has consistently shown that schools with high quality social and emotional learning dramatically reduces aggression and increases social and emotional understanding among children who receive [...]

102, 2015

Talega Life February 2015 Issue – Designing Yearly Intentions with Children

Designing clear intentions for you and as a family can have a powerful impact on motivation, optimism, connection, and self-worth. Creating annual intentions is a way to focus on the deliberateness of what we plan to experience and feel. Our intentions provide a course of action that we plan to follow, thereby preparing us to respond and to create. What are you intentionally creating for 2015? Setting intentions with children is a fun, easy, and often artistic process that may take a bit of practice. [...]

Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.
–Albert Einstein

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