As a parent, you have an incredible influence on the type of person your child will become. Early childhood is a critical time for development and it is incredibly important to make sure that your child’s needs are met not only at home, but also in their child care program.
A couple of years ago I had the opportunity of meeting and working with a remarkable team of people. Dr. Gerald Newmark and his wife Deborah were on a most important mission of helping families across the country focus on child psychology and learn how to address the emotional needs of children.
You see, all of us – babies, toddlers, teenagers, parents and grandparents have the same emotional needs. Meeting these needs in childhood provides the foundation for success in school, work, relationships, marriage and life in general. We see it in our daily lives and the news, failure to meet the emotional needs of our children is a serious and under-recognized problem facing our country.
Dr. Gerald Newmark, in his book \”How to Raise Emotionally Healthy Children: Meeting the Five Critical Needs of Children…and Parents Too!\”, as an early childhood professional, has helped me assist parents (including my own adult children), teachers and other educators, in recognizing and satisfying the critical emotional needs that all children have: to feel Respected, Important, Accepted, Included, and Secure.
At Sparkles! Child Care Centers we have adopted this book to share with incoming staff and families because we feel that meeting these five critical needs will assure the success of children, parents and staff passing through our child care programs. We invite you to take a few minutes to visit the non-profit website of the Children’s Project, to learn how you can enhance your ability to support your child’s emotional health and well-being.
Over the next few months we will go through each critical need one by one. We’ll also look at “behavior that hurts and behavior that helps”, as well as how to become a professional at parenting. These simple, powerful tools will hopefully enhance the lives of you, your children, and your entire family.
We’d like to know what you think about these concepts! Read along and share your comments as we continue our journey learning about the emotional needs of children.
Our goal…to raise children to be self-confident, independent, responsible, thinking, caring, and civic-minded individuals.
“How to Raise Emotionally Healthy Children: Meeting the Five Critical Needs of Children” Kindle editions are available on Amazon for $2.99 and hard copies are available for $12.30.