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Primarycaregiving
The practice in which the care of each infan is assigned to one specific caregiver who is principally responsible for caring for that child in the care setting and communicating with the child’s family. Consistent, responsive, and meaningful interactions with a primary caregiver build a child’s attachmentwith a familiar adult. Primary caregiving also strengthens relationships with families, which, in turn, supports the development of trust and security between the infant or toddler and the primary caregiver.
The primary caregiver’s responsibilities include
fostering a relationship with the child and his or her family;
observing, documenting, and anticipating and planning foreach child’s development process and learning;
supporting the child through transitions;
carrying out the majority of the child’s personal care routines; and
providing emotional support.
Primary caregiving does not mean exclusive care. It means, however, that program leaders, caregivers, and families know who has primaryPrimary caregiving does not mean exclusive care. It means, however, that program leaders, caregivers, and families know who has primary responsibility for each child. Primary caregiving often happens naturally in  child care.
Why Is Primary Caregiving Important for Infants?
Primary caregiving relationships provide a strong foundation for responsive interactions and communication between an infant or toddler and his or her caregiver.
Primary caregiving provides opportunities for caregivers to deepen their knowledge of a child’s development, abilities, and interests, which allows for more accurate developmental assessments and individualized curriculum implementation
Primary caregiving provides an opportunity forcaregivers to deepen their knowledge of a child’s development, abilities, and interests, which allows for more accurate developmental assessments and individualized curriculum implementation.
Primary caregiving provides an opportunity for partnerships between families, primary caregivers that support individualized care for infants.

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Mei Sum - Social and Emotional Development in Early Learning Settings

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Mei Sum - Social and Emotional Development in Early Learning Settings

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I feel that among all the domains of children development, social emotional development is the most important especially in the early years. How we as adults help children to develop their social emotional development will help them to lay strong foundations in their mental health for the rest of their lives.

As a lot of children spend most of the time in a day with the educarers in school, it is vital that educarers are nurturing in providing quality experiences for children. A lot of times, I see educarers are engaged in 'managing' children or rushing to complete routines, neglecting the quality interactions with the children especially infants. On the other hand, the staff-child ratio in our setting is always one of the reasons that teachers bring up when discussing about quality interactions with the children.

I would like to share that interactions is also a way of engaging the children. In the midst of engaging children through activities and routines, teachers are actually helping children to experience, regulate and express a range of emotions. They develop close, satisfying relationships with other children and adults. They also actively explore their environment and learn. Teachers must recognise the importance of 3Rs interactions and what it means by "Serve & Return" in making a difference in the children's lives and possibly the rest of their lives.

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COMMUNICATING WITH BABIES, WHY IT'S IMPORTANT?

1. Communication is an important foundation for raising happy and secure children. All of us here knows that a child’s preschool years are the most essential when it comes to their language development and also social and emotional development.
2. The more we talk with young children, the better. It develops the brain well as they interact.
3. It improves their understanding of language with different sounds and words because when we talk a lot to the young children using lots of different sounds and words, It helps to improve their understanding of language with the increasing number and variety of words that they can use to communicate.
4. It’s not just about better language skills. It also helps them do better at school when they’re older and prepare them for life long learning.

Serve & Return interaction!
It is similar to our 3Rs (where we show Respect towards our babies, Respond to their cues and Reciprocate their responses) whenever we interact with our babies on a daily basis.

5 Steps of Serve & Return

Share the focus

Support and encourage

Name It

Take turns, back & fort

Practice ending and beginnings

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Molly Wright: How every child can thrive by five | TED

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By Amatthunnoor - My Favourite Toy for Infants 6 to 12months

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By Amatthunnoor - My Favourite Toy for Infants 6 to 12months

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I shared on how soft blocks stacking is very engaging for infants. I would pick the coloured blocks and stack it on one on top of another. As I stack, I would count loudly for children to hear. This activity teaches children physics, resilience and fun. Children aged 6 months enjoys gnawing or simply holding onto it. Children at 12 months, their favourite part is knocking down the stacked blocks. They are happy to destroy any block tower we build. Stacking blocks is one of the things that evolves with time and practice. This toy definitely my favourite as it always works for me while interacting with the babies.

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You may view your past padlet entries on your 1st and 2nd Learning Community here and here.

Please use this padlet space to share your innovative practices and projects on EYC or any new ideas that you have recently been inspired to try!