Nurturing Peaceful Children

02/08/2008

What we know matters, but who we are matters more.
Brené Brown

"Recent research on the impact of violence on children in their early years should prompt a call to action for all citizens." This stirring charge came from Kevin J. Swick and Nancy K. Freeman in their article, "Nurturing Peaceful Children to Create a Caring World: The Role of Families and Communities," in Childhood Education (Fall 2004; www.acei.org/cehp.htm). In this article, the authors talk about how adults serve as important role models on how to love, how to care. They share four elements identified by Pearl Oliner in children's early relations that enhance their growth toward becoming caring persons...

"Bonding: forming positive connections and a sense of communion with others.

"Empathizing: understanding others' feelings and emotions, sometimes even feeling what they feel.

"Learning caring norms: acquiring rules and values, learning to recognize caring for what it is, and respond to care with care.

"Practicing care and assuming personal responsibility: participating in activities and developing a sense of personal obligation for doing so."

New Exchange Resource on Challenging Behavior

Exchange is proud to offer a new video product, Facing the Challenge, that provides insights from experts in the field on why children engage in challenging behaviors and what teachers can do when such behaviors occur in their classrooms. Facing the Challenge is an instructional, interactive DVD designed to help teachers learn how to prevent children’s use of difficult behaviors and develop intervention strategies to work with children who use challenging behaviors to meet their needs. The product has two DVDs with the following content:

Disc 1:
• What is challenging behavior?
• Developmentally appropriate behavior
• Why do kids misbehave?
• Parents as partners
• Skill Development Study #1

Disc 2:
• Prevention strategies
• Behavioral Planning I
• Behavioral Planning II
• Intervention strategies
• Skill Development Study #2

Teacher prep programs for working professionals.
Are you ready to give something back to your community by becoming a teacher? Walden University offers accelerated, online teacher preparation programs with an optional Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) degree.

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.