This direct guide supports practitioners in nurturing personal, social and emotional development (PSED) in young children by demystifying brain development research. Condensing a wealth of recent research and theory around PSED into practical guidance, it gives professionals the knowledge and understanding they need to critically evaluate their own practice and find the best course of action to support PSED in young children. From the perspective of neuroscience, it explores what can help or hinder development, considers why some children bite and why toddlers have tantrums, and questions how well-intentioned actions, such as reward systems or putting new foods on a plate for children to 'just try', may be misguided.

An understanding of brain development can help early years practitioners to better nurture personal, social and emotional development in children. This book explains recent research and theory in easy-to-understand terms and explores how this knowledge can be used to support the needs of young children.

This book provides an indispensable account of current understandings of children’s emotional development. Integrating the latest research findings from areas such as attachment theory, neuroscience and developmental psychology, it weaves these into a readable and easy-to-digest text. It provides a tour of the most significant influences on the developing child, always bearing in mind the family and social context. It looks at key developmental stages, from life in the womb to the pre-school years and right up until adolescence, whilst also examining how we develop key capacities such as language, play and memory. Issues of nature and nurture are addressed and the effects of different kinds of early experiences are unpicked, looking at both individual children and larger-scale longitudinal studies. Psychological ideas and research are carefully integrated with those from neurobiology and understandings from other cultures to create a coherent and balanced view of the developing child in context. Nurturing Natures integrates a wide array of complex academic research from different disciplines to create a book that is not only highly readable but also scientifically trustworthy. Full of fascinating findings, it provides answers to many of the questions people really want to ask about the human journey from conception into adulthood. Visit Graham Music's personal site at http://www.nurturingminds.co.uk/.

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

Young children’s personal, social and emotional development is of central importance to all those working in the Early Years. Offering thought-provoking questions and practical suggestions to help readers to reflect on and develop their own practice, this fourth edition of Marion Dowling’s much-loved book has been fully updated to include: Expanded coverage of key topics including independent thinking, living and learning with others, and dispositions for learning A new chapter on ‘Vulnerable Children and Fragile Families’, with sections on identifying risk, talking to families, and safeguarding and protection Guidance for working with parents in every chapter Updated links to the EYFS and a focus on two year olds. This is essential reading for all Early Years students and practitioners, and anyone working with or caring for young children.

Tap into children's natural curiosity and scaffold their creative abilities across all domains of learning--and nurture your own creativity!

Nurturing Students’ Character is an easy-to-use guide to incorporating social-emotional and character development (SECD) into your teaching practice. The links are clear—elementary and middle school students have better odds of academic success if you nurture their social and emotional skills. Drawing on broad field experience and the latest research, this book offers intuitive techniques for infusing your everyday teaching and classroom management with SECD opportunities. With topics ranging from self-regulation and problem solving to peer communication and empathy, these concrete strategies, practical worksheets, and self-reflective activities will help you foster a positive classroom culture.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

In the first years of life, as children observe, imitate, and interact with people and their environment, the brain is structuring a foundation for vocabulary, values, cognitive processes, and social skills. Educators, you can help influence that development by teaching the skills and dispositions of intelligent, creative, effective decision makers and problem solvers. Within these pages, Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick share the authentic stories and experiences of teachers who have taught these Habits of Mind (HOM) to young children: - Persisting - Managing impulsivity - Listening with understanding and empathy - Thinking flexibly - Thinking about thinking - Striving for accuracy - Questioning and posing problems - Applying past knowledge to new situations - Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision - Gathering data through all senses - Creating, imagining, and innovating - Responding with wonderment and awe - Taking responsible risks - Finding humor - Thinking interdependently - Remaining open to continuous learning The practical examples in this book show how anybody who works with young children can introduce the Habits of Mind in entertaining and concrete ways that are developmentally appropriate. By designing learning experiences that reflect the situations and challenges children face in their lives, educators can help our youngest citizens begin to develop the habits of mind that feed a lifetime of learning.