What Does Cooperation Look Like to Young Children & How Can We Foster This Life Skill?

Sometimes we forget how hard it can be to be very young; how the demands of adults to “behave”, “share,” and “cooperate” can be overwhelming when these fundamental skills of civilized society do not yet make much sense to a young mind. Why do I always have to act a certain way? I’m having fun!… Read more

Prosocial Development in Young Children: Compassion

Every parent hopes to raise a child that is socially intelligent and apt to help others in need, but how does that happen, and how can parents and teachers promote prosocial behavior in their children at home and school? What are the right expectations? Caregivers lay the foundation for children’s emotional repertoire, beginning with touch,… Read more

The Benefits of Boredom for Children and its Relationship to Curiosity and Creativity

From sporting events to iPads, children are bombarded with stimuli from their environment. In this digital age, children’s downtime is filled with television or other digital devices that offer entertainment that can stunt imagination and cognitive growth. As a mom, I want my children happy and active, of course, but as an educator and development… Read more

Back to School

What is really happening during this time, and its impact on children’s development? Back to school is among us, and to parents it can mean different things. For parents of older children, it means back to routines that help shape their daily lives, provide the social interactions that they need to be well rounded people,… Read more

Benefits of our S.T.E.A.M. Program

Education and teaching tools are always evolving, so it is up to school leaders to decipher what is simply a trend, and what is true innovation. Over the past several years S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) programs have boomed, reaching every level of the education field, from preschool to college. Even more recently, S.T.E.A.M. programs… Read more

Building Confidence

We all want our children and students to be confident. But what does confident mean, and how do we purposefully instill it in children? Confidence is an attribute of emotional intelligence that means a person can trust in someone, or feel certain about something because it is tried and true. As one might imagine, this… Read more

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to adapt to one’s environment; to build social skills needed to navigate successfully and relate to others in ways that are meaningful. For young children, emotions tend to dictate how they feel and interact, moment by moment. As a parent and teacher it is our responsibility to guide children toward… Read more

Building Independence

Greetings, Crème Community! We just celebrated the 4th of July and now we are looking forward to Back to School in the Fall. One common theme here is independence. Fostering independence is important for young children to develop a sense of self, responsibility and citizenship. There are several ways teachers and parents can help children… Read more