The Director's Cut!

Hey, Ivy Academy Families!

Last month we touched on summer safety, and we hope the tips were helpful to your overall summer play success.

As we move forward, we will continue the discussion around supporting a healthy social-emotional development. Our parents & teachers play an important role in helping the children reach a healthy social-emotional foundation. Remember, social-emotional development is the ability to recognize and understand one’s feelings, manage those feelings, and develop the ability to regulate their own behavior. In doing so, you can empathize with others and establish quality relationships.

Babies, toddlers, and children rely on nurturing relationships with their parents, teachers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc., to assist them in learning how to control or respond appropriately to their emotions. One way we here at Ivy Academy do this is through serve and return. This happens when a child gives a look or makes a noise while engaged with the parent or teacher, and the parent attends/speaks/interacts with the child. It’s like a game of tennis. The baby served by making the noise, and the teacher returned by speaking or interacting with the child. This provides a nurturing relationship and an opportunity for the child to develop stronger neural connections. The effect that an adult’s working relationship has on a child’s social-emotional development is priceless, so let’s take advantage of what we know!

Larry Lewis

Site Director