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The Guidelines are a revision of the 2003 edition (and incorporate the latest scientific evidence). They were prepared by experts in paediatric nutrition, nutrition research, nutrition communication, public health and primary health.

The Guidelines provide advice and recommendations on breastfeeding, supporting mothers and parents, the introduction of solids, preparing infant formula and other common health related concerns.

The Infant Feeding Guidelines are relevant to healthy, term infants of normal birth weight (>2500g). Although many of the principles of infant feeding described here can be applied to low birth weight infants, specific medical advice is recommended for pre-term and underweight infants.

Table of updates and amendments

Minor amendments to:

Chapter 4

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Section 9.2.2

Section 9.3.1

Minor amendments to reflect the above changes were also made to the Summary of Advice section of the Guidelines and the Infant Feeding Guidelines Summary Booklet.
Editorial changes have been made to reflect the current evidence as well as provide further clarification and context.

September 2015

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Infant Feeding Guidelines: information for health workers

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The Guidelines are a revision of the 2003 edition (and incorporate the latest scientific evidence). They were prepared by experts in paediatric nutrition, nutrition research, nutrition communication, public health and primary health. The Guidelines provide advice and recommendations on breastfeeding, supporting mothers and parents, the introduction of solids, preparing infant formula and other common health related concerns.

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The National Quality Standard (NQS) sets a high national benchmark for early childhood education and care and outside school hours care services in Australia.

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download resources factsheets sids sudi safe sleeping guide parents sudden infant death information statement evidence based advice parents health professional maternal health nurse midwife

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Red Nose Australia - Resources and Factsheets

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Resources and Factsheets from Red Nose: the latest evidence to help keep your baby safe

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On this page:

Why is the requirement in place?

Principles to inform procedures

Children of all ages

Educators should closely monitor sleeping and resting children and the sleep and rest environments. This involves checking/inspecting sleeping children at regular intervals, and ensuring they are always within sight and hearing distance of sleeping and resting children so that they can assess a child's breathing and the colour of their skin. Service providers should consider the risk for each individual child, and tailor Sleep and Rest Policies and Procedures (including the frequency of checks/inspections of children) to reflect the levels of risk identified for children at the service. Factors to be considered include the age of the child, medical conditions, individual needs and history of health and/or sleep issues.

Babies and toddlers

Babies should be placed on their back to sleep when first being settled. Once a baby has been observed to repeatedly roll from back to front and back again on their own, they can be left to find their own preferred sleep or rest position (this is usually around 5-6 months of age). Babies aged younger than 5-6 months, and who have not been observed to repeatedly roll from back to front and back again on their own, should be re-positioned onto their back when they roll onto their front or side.

If a medical condition exists that prevents a baby from being placed on their back, the alternative practice should be confirmed in writing with the service, by the child's medical practitioner.

Babies over four months of age can generally turn over in a cot. When a baby is placed to sleep, educators should check that any bedding is tucked in secure and is not loose. Babies of this age may be placed in a safe baby sleeping bag (i.e. with fitted neck and arm holes, but no hood).At no time should a baby's face or head be covered (i.e. with linen). To prevent a baby from wriggling down under bed linen, they should be positioned with their feet at the bottom of the cot.

If a baby is wrapped when sleeping, consider the baby's stage of development. Leave their arms free once the startle reflex disappears at around three months of age, and discontinue the use of a wrap when the baby can roll from back to tummy to back again (usually four to six months of age). Use only lightweight wraps such as cotton or muslin. Visit the Red Nose website to download an information statement - Wrapping Babies - and the guidelines - Safe Wrapping - for more information.

If being used, a dummy should be offered for all sleep periods for children under one.

For older children, the use of dummies should be informed by parental choices.

Babies or young children should not be moved out of a cot into a bed too early; they should also not be kept in a cot for too long. When a young child is observed attempting to climb out of a cot, and looking like they might succeed, it is time to move them out of a cot. This usually occurs when a toddler is between 2 and 3 ½ years of age, but could be as early as 18 months. Download the brochure - Cot to bed safety: When to move your child out of a cot - for more information.

Safe cots

All cots sold in Australia must meet the current mandatory Australian Standard for Cots (AS/NZS 2172), and should carry a label to indicate this.

All portable cots sold in Australia must meet the current mandatory Australian Standard for children's portable folding cots, AS/NZS 2195, and should carry a label to indicate this.

Cots used at a service should meet current standards. Download the guide to infant and nursery products publication - Keeping Baby Safe - for more information from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's website.

Bassinets, hammocks and prams/strollers do not carry safety codes for sleep. Babies should not be left in a bassinet, hammock or pram/stroller to sleep, as these are not safe substitutes for a cot.

Safe cot mattresses

Mattresses should be in good condition; they should be clean, firm and flat, and fit the cot base with not more than a 20mm gap between the mattress sides and ends. A firm sleep surface that is compliant with the new AS/NZS Voluntary Standard (AS/NZS 8811.1:2013 Methods of testing infant products - Sleep surfaces - Test for firmness) should be used.

Mattresses should not be elevated or tilted. Testing by hand is not recommended as accurate in assessing compliance with the AS/NZ Standard. For information on testing adequate mattress firmness, watch this video or refer to written instructions.

Remove any plastic packaging from mattresses.

Ensure waterproof mattress protectors are strong, not torn, and a tight fit.

In portable cots, use the firm, clean and well-fitting mattress that is supplied with the portable cot. Do not add any additional padding under or over the mattress or an additional mattress.

Safe bedding

Light bedding is the preferred option; it should be tucked in to the mattress to prevent the child from pulling bed linen over their head.

Remove pillows, doonas, loose bedding or fabric, lambs wool, bumpers and soft toys from cots.

Soft and/or puffy bedding in cots is not necessary and may obstruct a child's breathing. Download the information statements - Pillow Use, Soft Toys in the Cot and Bedding Amount Recommended for Safe Sleep - for more information on the Red Nose website.

Safe placement

Ensure a safety check of sleep and rest environments is undertaken on a regular basis.

If hazards are identified, lodge a report as instructed in the service's policies and procedures for the maintenance of a child safe environment.

Ensure hanging cords or strings from blinds, curtains, mobiles or electrical devices are away from cots and mattresses.

Keep heaters and electrical appliances away from cots.

Do not use electric blankets, hot water bottles and wheat bags in cots.

Do not place anything (e.g. amber teething necklaces) around the neck of a sleeping child. The use of teething bracelets (e.g. amber teething bracelets) is also not recommended while a child sleeps.

Individual children

Ensure that children who do not wish to sleep are provided with alternative quiet activities and experiences, while those children who do wish to sleep are allowed to do so, without being disrupted. If a child requests a rest, or if they are showing clear signs of tiredness, regardless of the time of day, there should be a comfortable, safe area available for them to rest (if required).

It is important that opportunities for rest and relaxation, as well as sleep, are provided.

Consider that there are a range of strategies that can be used to meet children's individual sleep and rest needs.

Look for and respond to children's cues for sleep (e.g. yawning, rubbing eyes, disengagement from activities, crying, decreased ability to regulate behaviour and seeking comfort from adults).

Avoid using settling and rest practices as a behaviour guidance strategy because children can begin to relate the sleep and rest environment, which should be calm and secure, as a disciplinary setting.

Minimise any distress or discomfort.

Acknowledge children's emotions, feelings and fears.

Understand that younger children (especially those aged 0-3 years) settle confidently when they have formed bonds with familiar carers.

Ensure that the physical environment is safe and conducive to sleep. This means providing quiet, well-ventilated and comfortable sleeping spaces. Wherever viewing windows are used, all children should be visible to supervising educators.

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On this page: Educators should closely monitor sleeping and resting children and the sleep and rest environments. This involves checking/inspecting sleeping children at regular intervals, and ensuring they are always within sight and hearing distance of sleeping and resting children so that they can assess a child's breathing and the colour of their skin.

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Attachment Theory

By Saul McLeod, updated Feb 05, 2017

Take-home Messages

Attachment can be defined as a deep and enduring emotional bond between two people in which each seeks closeness and feels more secure when in the presence of the attachment figure.

Attachment behavior in adults towards the child includes responding sensitively and appropriately to the child's needs. Such behavior appears universal across cultures.

Attachment theory explains how the parent-child relationship emerges and influences subsequent development.

Attachments are most likely to form with those who responded accurately to the baby's signals, not the person they spent more time with. Schaffer and Emerson called this sensitive responsiveness.

Attachment is characterized by specific behaviors in children, such as seeking proximity to the attachment figure when upset or threatened (Bowlby, 1969).

Introduction

Attachment theory in psychology originates with the seminal work of John Bowlby (1958). In the 1930s John Bowlby worked as a psychiatrist in a Child Guidance Clinic in London, where he treated many emotionally disturbed children.

This experience led Bowlby to consider the importance of the child's relationship with their mother in terms of their social, emotional and cognitive development. Specifically, it shaped his belief about the link between early infant separations with the mother and later maladjustment, and led Bowlby to formulate his attachment theory.

Bowlby defined attachment as a 'lasting psychological connectedness between human beings.'
(1969, p. 194)

Bowlby (1958) proposed that attachment can be understood within an evolutionary context in that the caregiver provides safety and security for the infant. Attachment is adaptive as it enhances the infant's chance of survival.

This is illustrated in the work of Lorenz (1935) and Harlow (1958). According to Bowlby infants have a universal need to seek close proximity with their caregiver when under stress or threatened (Prior & Glaser, 2006).

Stages of Attachment

Rudolph Schaffer and Peggy Emerson (1964) investigated if attachment develops through a series of stages, by studying 60 babies at monthly intervals for the first 18 months of life (this is known as a longitudinal study).

The children were all studied in their own home, and a regular pattern was identified in the development of attachment.

The babies were visited monthly for approximately one year, their interactions with their carers were observed, and carers were interviewed.

A diary was kept by the mother to examine the evidence for the development of attachment. Three measures were recorded:

* Stranger Anxiety - response to arrival of a stranger.

* Separation Anxiety - distress level when separated from carer, degree of comfort needed on return.

* Social Referencing - degree that child looks at carer to check how they should respond to something new (secure base).

They discovered that baby's attachments develop in the following sequence:

Findings

The results of the study indicated that attachments were most likely to form with those who responded accurately to the baby's signals, not the person they spent more time with. Schaffer and Emerson called this sensitive responsiveness.

Intensely attached infants had mothers who responded quickly to their demands and, interacted with their child. Infants who were weakly attached had mothers who failed to interact.

The most important fact in forming attachments is not who feeds and changes the child but who plays and communicates with him or her. Therefore, sensitive responsiveness to the baby's signals, appeared to be the key to attachment.

Evaluation

The Schaffer and Emerson study has low population validity. The infants in the study all came from Glasgow and were mostly from working class families. In addition, the small sample size of 60 families reduces the strength of the conclusion we can draw from the study.

However, accuracy of data collection by parents who were keeping daily diaries whilst clearly being very busy could be questioned. A diary like this is also very unreliable with demand characteristics and social desirability being major issues. Mothers are not lkely to report negative experiences in their daily write up.

The study lacks historical validity. It was conducted in the 1960s when gender roles were different - Now, more men stay at home to look after their children and more women go out to work so the sample is biased.

Attachment Theories

Psychologists have proposed two main theories that are believed to be important in forming attachments.

learning theory of attachment proposes that all behavior is learnt rather than an innate biological behavior as children are born blank slates. behaviorists focus their explanation on behaviors which is learnt through either classical or operant conditioning. Classical conditionin g was firstly investigated by Pavlov in 1927.

Certain things such as an infant's mother can become associated with food as they are consistently present each time an infant is fed during an infant's first months of life which is known as the neutral stimuli.

Once the neutral stimuli which in this context is the mother present while the child is eating is consistently associated with an unconditioned stimulus and will eventually produce the same response.

The mother then becomes a learned conditioned stimulus and produces a conditioned response. This then results in the mother once seen by the infant gives the child a sense of pleasure which is a conditioned response.

Operant conditioning was first investigated by Skinner and then further investigated by Dollard and Miller (1950) in regard of attachment and drive reduction theory which describes something that motivates behavior. This was then investigated as when an infant is hungry there is a drive to reduce the discomfort which happens as a result. Once the child is fed this produces a feeling of pleasure which is positive reinforcement.

Behavior which is rewarded by food is repeated and food becomes the primary reinforcer as it is associated with a reward and reinforces the behavior.

The person supplying the food which can be the mother or primary caregiver becomes a secondary reinforcer as they become the source of the reward. Conclusively, the attachment occurs because the child associates the person who supplies the food with rewards and seeks them.

The evolutionary theory of attachment (e.g., Bowlby, Harlow, Lorenz) suggests that children come into the world biologically pre-programmed to form attachments with others, because this will help them to survive.

The infant produces innate 'social releaser' behaviors such as crying and smiling that stimulate innate caregiving responses from adults. The determinant of attachment is not food, but care and responsiveness.

Bowlby suggested that a child would initially form only one primary attachment (monotropy) and that the attachment figure acted as a secure base for exploring the world.

The attachment relationship acts as a prototype for all future social relationships so disrupting it can have severe consequences.

This theory also suggests that there is a critical period for developing an attachment (about 0 -5 years).

If an attachment has not developed during this period, then the child will suffer from irreversible developmental consequences, such as reduced intelligence and increased aggression.

APA Style References

Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bell, S. M. (1970). Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development, 41, 49-67.

Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1973). The development of infant-mother attachment. In B. Cardwell & H. Ricciuti (Eds.), Review of child development research (Vol. 3, pp. 1-94) Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1991). Attachments and other affectional bonds across the life cycle. In C . M. Parkes, J. Stevenson-Hinde, & P. Marris (Eds.), Attachment across the life cycle (pp. 33-51). London: Routledge.

Bowlby, J. (1958). The nature of the childs tie to his mother. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 39, 350-371.

Bowlby J. (1969). Attachment. Attachment and loss:Vol. 1. Loss. New York: Basic Books.

Bowlby, J., and Robertson, J. (1952). A two-year-old goes to hospital. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 46, 425-427.

Harlow, H. F. & Zimmermann, R. R. (1958). The development of affective responsiveness in infant monkeys. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 102, 501 -509.

Prior, V., & Glaser, D. (2006). Understanding attachment and attachment disorders: Theory, evidence and practice. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Schaffer, H. R., & Emerson, P. E. (1964). The development of social attachments in infancy. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1-77.

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By Saul McLeod, updated Feb 05, 2017 Take-home Messages Attachment can be defined as a deep and enduring emotional bond between two people in which each seeks closeness and feels more secure when in the presence of the attachment figure. Attachment behavior in adults towards the child includes responding sensitively and appropriately to the child's needs.

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Learn about the early childhood sector and the role of the Early Childhood Education and Care division, and our network of early childhood offices. You will also find a collection of news, updates, our publications and research.

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Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs is one of the best-known theories of motivation. Maslow's theory states that our actions are motivated by certain physiological and psychological needs that progress from basic to complex.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory

Abraham Maslow first introduced the concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper, titled "A Theory of Human Motivation," and again in his subsequent book, "Motivation and Personality." This hierarchy suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other, more advanced needs.

While some of the existing schools of thought at the time-such as psychoanalysis and behaviorism -tended to focus on problematic behaviors, Maslow was more interested in learning about what makes people happy and what they do to achieve that aim.

As a humanist, Maslow believed that people have an inborn desire to be self-actualized, that is, to be all they can be. To achieve this ultimate goal, however, a number of more basic needs must be met. This includes the need for food, safety, love, and self-esteem.

Maslow believed that these needs are similar to instincts and play a major role in motivating behavior. There are five different levels of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, starting at the lowest level known as physiological needs.

Physiological Needs

The physiological needs include those that are vital to survival. Some examples of physiological needs include:

In addition to the basic requirements of nutrition, air, and temperature regulation, physiological needs also include shelter and clothing. Maslow included sexual reproduction in this level of the hierarchy as well, since it is essential to the survival and propagation of the species.

Security and Safety Needs

At the second level of Maslow's hierarchy, the needs start to become a bit more complex. At this level, the needs for security and safety become primary.

People want control and order in their lives. Some of the basic security and safety needs include:

Finding a job, obtaining health insurance and health care, contributing money to a savings account, and moving to a safer neighborhood are all examples of actions motivated by security and safety needs.

Social Needs

The social needs in Maslow's hierarchy include love, acceptance, and belonging. At this level, the need for emotional relationships drives human behavior. Some of the things that satisfy this need include:

Friendships

Romantic attachments

Family relationships

Social groups

Community groups

Churches and religious organizations

In order to avoid loneliness, depression, and anxiety, it is important for people to feel loved and accepted by others. Personal relationships with friends, family, and lovers play an important role, as does involvement in groups-such as religious groups, sports teams, book clubs, and other group activities.

Esteem Needs

At the fourth level in Maslow's hierarchy is the need for appreciation and respect. Once the needs at the bottom three levels have been satisfied, the esteem needs begin to play a more prominent role in motivating behavior.

At this level, it becomes increasingly important to gain the respect and appreciation of others. People have a need to accomplish things, then have their efforts recognized. In addition to the need for feelings of accomplishment and prestige, esteem needs include such things as self-esteem and personal worth.

People need to sense that they are valued by others and feel that they are making a contribution to the world. Participation in professional activities, academic accomplishments, athletic or team participation, and personal hobbies can all play a role in fulfilling the esteem needs.

People who are able to satisfy esteem needs by achieving good self-esteem and the recognition of others tend to feel confident in their abilities. Conversely, those who lack self-esteem and the respect of others can develop feelings of inferiority.

Self-Actualization Needs

At the very peak of Maslow's hierarchy are the self-actualization needs. Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned with the opinions of others, and interested in fulfilling their potential.

"What a man can be, he must be," Maslow explained, referring to the need people have to achieve their full potential as human beings.

Maslow's said of self-actualization: "It may be loosely described as the full use and exploitation of talents, capabilities, potentialities, etc. Such people seem to be fulfilling themselves and to be doing the best that they are capable of doing. They are people who have developed or are developing to the full stature of which they capable."

Progressing Through the Pyramid of Needs

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is often displayed as a pyramid. The lowest levels of the pyramid of needs are made up of the most basic needs while the most complex needs are at the top.

Once lower-level needs have been met, people can move on to the next level of needs. As people progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and social.

At the top of the pyramid, the need for personal esteem and feelings of accomplishment take priority. Like Carl Rogers, Maslow emphasized the importance of self-actualization, which is a process of growing and developing as a person in order to achieve individual potential.

Different Types of Needs

Maslow's hierarchy of needs can be separated into two types of needs: deficiency needs and growth needs.

Deficiency needs: Physiological, security, social, and esteem needs are deficiency needs, which arise due to deprivation. Satisfying these lower-level needs is important to avoid unpleasant feelings or consequences.

Growth needs: Maslow called the needs at the top of the pyramid growth needs. These needs don't stem from a lack of something, but rather from a desire to grow as a person.

While the theory is generally portrayed as a fairly rigid hierarchy, Maslow noted that the order in which these needs are fulfilled does not always follow this standard progression.

For example, he noted that for some individuals, the need for self-esteem is more important than the need for love. For others, the need for creative fulfillment may supersede even the most basic needs.

Criticisms of Maslow's Theory

Maslow's theory has become wildly popular both in and out of psychology. The fields of education and business have been particularly influenced by the theory. But Maslow's concept has not been without criticism. Chief among the long-held objections are:

Needs don't follow a hierarchy: While some research has shown support for Maslow's theories, most of the research has not been able to substantiate the idea of a needs hierarchy. Wahba and Bridwell (researchers from Baruch College) reported that there was little evidence for Maslow's ranking of these needs and even less evidence that these needs are in a hierarchical order.

The theory is difficult to test: Other critics of Maslow's theory note that his definition of self-actualization is difficult to test scientifically. His research on self-actualization was also based on a very limited sample of individuals, including people he knew as well as biographies of famous individuals who Maslow believed to be self-actualized.

Some of the more recent critiques suggest that Maslow was inspired by the belief systems of the Blackfoot nation, but neglected to acknowledge this. Maslow's studied the Northern Blackfoot tribe as an anthropologist. However, this foundational basis disappeared over time, causing him to misuse the concepts he was originally there to assess.

Impact of Maslow's Hierarchy

Regardless of these criticisms, Maslow's hierarchy of needs represented part of an important shift in psychology. Rather than focusing on abnormal behavior and development, Maslow's humanistic psychology was focused on the development of healthy individuals.

There has been relatively little research supporting Maslow's theory, yet the hierarchy of needs is well-known and popular both in and out of psychology. And in a study published in 2011, researchers from the University of Illinois set out to put this hierarchy to the test.

What they discovered is that, while the fulfillment of the needs was strongly correlated with happiness, people from cultures all over the world reported that self-actualization and social needs were important even when many of the most basic needs were unfulfilled.

Such results suggest that while these needs can be powerful motivators of human behavior, they do not necessarily take the hierarchical form that Maslow described.

The Expanded Hierarchy of Needs

In 1970, Maslow built upon his original hierarchy to include three additional needs at the top of his pyramid, for a total of eight:

Cognitive needs. This centers on knowledge. People generally want to learn and know things about their world and their places in it.

Aesthetic needs. This addresses the appreciation of beauty and form. People might fulfill this need through enjoying or creating music, art, literature, and other creative expressions.

Transcendence needs. Maslow believed that humans are driven to look beyond the physical self in search of meaning. Helping others, practicing spirituality, and connecting with nature are a few ways we might meet this need.

A Word From Verywell

Whether you accept Maslow's hierarchy of needs or not, his theory shines a light on the many needs we have as human beings. And even if we don't all place these needs in the same order, keeping them in mind when interacting with others can help make our interactions more caring and respectful.

Frequently Asked Questions

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How Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Explains Human Motivation

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Maslow's hierarchy of needs describes five levels of needs that motivate human nature. Learn more about the pyramid of needs and why it matters.

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Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

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Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences posits that individuals possess various distinct types of intelligences, rather than a single general intelligence. These types encompass areas like linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalistic intelligences, emphasizing a broader understanding of human capability.

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The AEDC measures five important areas of early childhood development

physical health and wellbeing

social competence

emotional maturity

language and cognitive skills (school-based)

communication skills and general knowledge.

The tables below provide explanations of each of the domains in relation to children who would be considered developmentally 'on track', 'at risk' or 'vulnerable'.

You can download this information as a fact sheet here.

AEDC domain descriptions for developmental categories
Table 1 Physical health and wellbeing descriptors. Table 2 Social competence domain descriptors. Table 3 Emotional maturity domain descriptors. Table 4 Language and cognitive skills (school-based) domain descriptors. Table 5 Communication skills and general knowledge domain descriptors.

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The AEDC measures five important areas of early childhood development physical health and wellbeing social competence emotional maturity language and cognitive skills (school-based) communication skills and general knowledge. The tables below provide explanations of each of the domains in relation to children who would be considered developmentally 'on track', 'at risk' or 'vulnerable'.

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TAPS - Adventurous play—Developing a culture of risky play - FULL version

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Including Indigenous Perspectives - ECA Video

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Including Indigenous Perspectives - ECA Video

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Including indigenous perspectives in early childhood environments

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Social & Emotional Well-Being: Kids Matter 

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Social & Emotional Well-Being: Kids Matter 

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TAPS NQS PLP - Social and emotional learning Part 1 of 3

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When it comes to children's mental health, things are never black and white.

It's easier to understand children's mental health through risk and protective factors. The relationship between these two factors can influence mental health in a substantial way.

In other words, your goal as a parent or carer in promoting your child's mental health is to reduce risk factors while increasing protective factors. This strategy is known to have a positive effect on children's mental development.

Let's try to understand the influence risk and protective factors can have to your child's wellbeing.

Understanding risk and protective factors

Environmental factors play an important part in your children's development (both physical and mental).

As complex as the relationship between risk and protective mental health factors can be, it's important to understand one simple rule. Risk factors increase the likelihood of mental health difficulties while protective factors balance out the risks for mental health difficulties.
How can you identify these two types of risks in your own family environment?
Let's take a look at some their characteristics and a few examples...

Mental health risk factors are the liabilities in your child's environment. They can increase the chance of mental health difficulties down the line. These may be specific events that threaten your child's emotional or social development. They may include events like:

Family conflict or separation

Parents or carers suffering from mental health difficulties

Experiencing natural disasters, stressful events, trauma or abuse

The lack of social support such as a supportive family and close friends

Sometimes these risk factors can seem out of a parent's or carer's control. The best solution whenever struggling with these events is to ask for help. Reaching out for help is a sign of strength and the first step to recovery. There are so many great organisations that are not only helpful but also willing to give a hand.

Tip: Addressing risk factors as early as possible can have a tremendous influence on your child's mental and physical wellbeing.

Mental health protective factors encourage a stable environment for your child. Protective factors can balance out the risks, offering you a certain amount of control over the prevention of mental health difficulties. They help build a family environment that nurtures resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back and recover from life's difficulties. Protective factors include:

A stable and warm home environment

Supportive parents or carers

Ambition to overcome life challenges

Supportive community: family, close friends and neighbours

Routine and consistency

Knowing how mental health risk and protective factors can influence your child's mental health can help parents in a number of ways. They can plan and support those resources that improve their child's wellbeing.

Parents can focus on creating a supportive family environment for their children. A warm home environment can increase your children's sense of belonging and connection, which can protect children from emotional vulnerabilities.

Try to assist your child's social and emotional development. Initiate activities that promote a healthy development and celebrate developmental milestones. This will strengthen the bond with your child. Most of the time, strong family relationships promote healthy emotional development.

How can parents and carers promote their child's mental health?

Understanding the factors that influence your child's well being is the first step in promoting your child's mental health.

Finding practical ways to do it is the next step.

How can you find practical ways to promote their mental health? Here are a few effective ways you can try...

Teach and help your child to understand, express and manage their feelings. It will help them create healthy coping mechanisms;

Talk about your child's feelings and try to understand and respect them. This will create a strong bond between you and your child, which will help them feel safe and protected;

You can help your child to cope with difficult situations by being supportive;

Teach and help your child to understand stress, loss and grief are normal emotions we all go through in life;

Try to create and maintain routines, as this will create a consistent environment that can help your child feel safe;

Create and maintain a supportive relationship with close family members, it will create a secure environment for your child;

Encourage and initiate activities that stimulate your child's social and emotional skills, such as expressing and managing their emotions. Be on the lookout for fun and interesting ways to stimulate their emotional development;

Look for opportunities to build partnerships and relationships with other parents and carers to support your child;

Observe your child's behaviours and whenever you notice concerning tendencies, don't hesitate to ask for specialised help.

Mental health difficulties can seem overwhelming and scary. The good news is that a supportive and stable environment can go a long way when it comes to supporting your child's wellbeing.

It's important to be involved in your child's development and pay attention to their tendencies and behaviours. Whenever there's cause for concern don't hesitate to ask for specialised help. It can make a big difference in your family's life.

Remember, struggles are meant to be shared.

Content for this article was provided by: KidsMatter Early Childhood. Click here to read a more in-depth article on this topic

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Effective Ways Of Promoting Mental Health In Young Children

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When it comes to children's mental health, things are never black and white. It's easier to understand children's mental health through risk and protective factors. The relationship between these two factors can influence mental health in a substantial way.

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By Ann Pelo

Illustrator: David McLimans

Illustration: David McLimans

This essay is the introduction to Rethinking Early Childhood Education, edited by Ann Pelo, and published this month by Rethinking Schools.
- editors
There's a small town in Italy with an international reputation for its early childhood programs. The teaching and learning that happens in their schools is certainly compelling - but more compelling is the story of how the community came together to create an early childhood education system. The town of Reggio Emilia, like much of Italy, was devastated by World War II; as the war ended, the townspeople were fiercely determined to create a new culture, a culture in which the fascism that had taken hold of Italy in the decades leading up to the war would find no foothold. The citizens of Reggio Emilia were clear about how to begin this work of culture-building: they would create schools for young children.

Parents occupied an abandoned building near the town square, demanding that the city government make that building available to them for their first school, while the teachers and children set up school each day on the courthouse steps where the city officials would be sure to encounter them. Parents and teachers didn't set out to create private schools available to a few; they wanted publicly funded schools, open to all families in the community, organized around the values of critical thinking and joyful collaboration. One of the founders of the schools, Loris Malaguzzi, explained the vision of the community this way: "We are part of an ongoing story of men and women, ideals intact, who realize that history can be changed, and that it is changed starting with the future of children." ¹

This story has resonance for us today. It reminds us that early childhood education is a political act, and that it necessarily involves values and vision. Early childhood is the time in our lives when we develop our core dispositions - the habits of thinking that shape how we live; our work as early childhood educators is to nurture dispositions in young children towards empathy, ecological consciousness, engaged inquiry, and collaboration. These dispositions undergird just and equitable communities; they are at the heart of activism and in the hearts of activists. Early childhood educators must believe, with the founders of the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy, that history can be changed, and that our work is to contribute to that change. Quality early childhood education is inseparable from social justice teaching and ecological education. It is essential to rethink early childhood education, and it is essential to ensure that quality early education - programs for children from their first months through the primary grades - is offered to all children.

Fostering Social and Ecological Dispositions in Young Children

Early childhood programs that put social justice and ecological teaching front and center share particular characteristics.

They prioritize anti-bias, culturally sensitive teaching and learning. Teachers call attention to the ways in which people are different and the ways in which people are the same, honoring individual and group identity. They intentionally introduce issues of fairness and unfairness, and coach children to think critically and to take action. Teachers learn about children's family and cultural identities and integrate those identities into the daily life of the classroom, at the same time as they acknowledge the ways in which their own cultural identities shape their teaching.

They are organized around play and ample time for exploration. Teachers create time and provide open-ended materials for children's imaginative, self-directed play. They talk with families, with other teachers, and with community members about the value of play for children's healthy development and for their learning.

They use curriculum approaches that are responsive to children's developmental and intellectual pursuits. Teachers pay attention to children's play and conversations, watching for the developmental themes, compelling questions, understandings, and misunderstandings expressed in their play. They use what they observe to develop curricula that challenge children to think deeply and to explore collaboratively.

They cultivate a sense of place - of belonging to a particular patch of earth and sky - and a connection to the earth and its creatures. Teachers take the children outdoors and bring the natural world into the classroom, inviting the children to engage their senses and their minds as they come to know and care about - and to care for - the place where they are spending their days.

They emphasize children's social-emotional and dispositional learning. Teachers seek to cultivate in children the disposition to pay attention to their own and others' emotions and needs. They emphasize the importance of collaboration and offer children coaching and practice about understanding multiple perspectives. Teachers create opportunities for children to think critically and engage intellectually with ideas and with each other - and to take action based on their critical thinking.

They learn from and stand with children's families. Teachers recognize that they have much to learn about children from their families, about children's particular ways of being in the world, about their family rituals and rhythms, and about their cultural identities. As they learn from families about their strengths and challenges, they can then offer themselves as allies to families, in ways specific to individual families and in the arena of broader community activism and justice efforts.

They advocate for children, families, and early childhood workers. Teachers acknowledge the broader social conditions that impact the lives of children, families, and teachers. They take action - speaking out in their community, writing letters to news media and to legislators, participating in demonstrations. They know that their activism is an extension of their teaching, contributing to social justice efforts and modeling for children what it is to live in the world as a change-maker.

This is early childhood education at its best: teachers, children, and families opening themselves to each other and to the earth in ways that invite joyful play, collaborative inquiry, thoughtful observation, and deep caring that gives rise to action. These ways of being are a foundation for children's lives in community. They foster the social and emotional well-being that is at the heart of just communities, and they strengthen the intellectual development that is at the heart of academic learning.

Challenges to Early Childhood Education

This vision for top-notch early childhood programs is a stark contrast to the cultural belief system that now threatens early childhood education. Early childhood, we're told, is a time to get children ready for school and for work. Play is nice, but school is about learning and skill development, and that means memorization and drill and testing.

Pressure from federal policy has pushed assessment-driven, academic instruction into programs for the youngest children: most federal- and state-funded programs use standardized, scripted curriculum packages that emphasize literacy and numeracy at the cost of open time for play, and administer a barrage of tests to the 4- and 5-year-old children enrolled in their programs. This emphasis on a "teacher-proof" drill-and-skill curriculum communicates to families that early childhood ought to be about "school and test readiness," defined in the narrowest and most hollow academic terms. Families, in turn, are confused: should they accede to this vision for their children's earliest years, hoping to insure their children's school success, or press for a more generous and spacious experience for their young children, anchored in their intuition that childhood ought to be about more than literacy drills and tests?

Families carry their confusion to teachers, looking for reassurance that their children will be ready for school - and for the tests they're sure to encounter there. Teachers are squeezed between this push towards early academics and their commitment to children's right to play and to meaningful curricula anchored in their lives and questions. And teachers are weighed down by the emphasis on narrowly technical teaching centered on discrete skills, which stands in stark contrast to the intellectually engaging work of reflective study and inquiry that is teaching at its best and most sustaining. Teachers face wrenching pressure to abandon their desire to be reflective, responsive educators who think critically about their teaching and the children's learning, and, instead, to organize their teaching around assessments and scripted curricula.

In addition to this daily intellectual and emotional challenge, childcare teachers and caregivers work with the constant strain of low wages and no health care or retirement. Their work is dismissed as unskilled, jobs that anyone can fill - an attitude born of the view that early childhood work is women's work. Caring for and educating very young children comes naturally to women, the thinking goes: women do that work by instinct, and have been doing it forever - it certainly doesn't require any particular education or professional development. That attitude has been institutionalized in the field of early childhood education: there are only minimal requirements for childcare workers in most states - typically, passing a criminal background check and having a high school diploma. No specialized training, no internships, no particular experience needed.

The attitude that "anyone can do this work" is one reason for the current emphasis on "teacher-proof" curricula. Early childhood agencies provide scripted curricula in place of professional development for early childhood educators. This communicates a startling disrespect for teachers' ability to generate engaging, thoughtful, instructive

experiences for children without a script to follow, and drives people from the field who are eager to engage intellectually with children, families, and colleagues.

Given these stresses, it's no wonder that the annual national turnover rate in child care stands at around 40 percent. ² And that turnover compounds the challenges that early childhood education faces. Children and families are shaken each time a cherished caregiver leaves; the effort of developing trust in new caregivers becomes a too-familiar detour away from learning. And teachers, too, are shaken as their colleagues come and go; they face a daunting uphill struggle to create a community of thinkers anchored by a shared understanding of the work. The disruption created by teacher turnover is felt especially in impoverished communities, where teachers typically earn rock-bottom wages and struggle with an appalling lack of resources and a corresponding high degree of stress.

Early childhood education is in a precarious situation.

We believe that social justice and ecological teaching offers a much-needed vision for early childhood education in the face of the challenges weighing on the field and confronting the planet.

Social Justice and Ecological Teaching Is Responsive Teaching

Social justice teaching grows from children's urgent concerns. If we listen to the themes embedded in children's play and conversations, we hear questions about identity and belonging, about community and relationships and fairness: Can boys be part of the game about the kitty family, or just girls? The bad guy is the one with brown skin and a funny way of talking, right? Can we have two moms in this family? And, in their everyday negotiations, children are working to make sense of the ways in which people are the same and different: Your lunch has food in it that I've never seen before. Why don't you have a dad in your family? You have Easter at your house, but I don't. Why is your skin a different color than your mom's skin? Children are fundamentally concerned with making sense of their social and cultural world; teachers and caregivers can join them in this pursuit, guiding them towards understandings rooted in accurate and empathetic understandings - or we can leave them to figure out their questions on their own, coming to conclusions based on misinformation and cultural bias. When we engage with children in questions about identity and equity, we participate in the work of reshaping our society.

Ecological teaching grows from an understanding that current ways of living on this planet are unsustainable and destructive and must be replaced. Young children are forming the fundamental understandings that will shape how they engage with the earth. Will they learn that the earth is a resource to be used and abused by humans with little attention to the price of that use, or will they grow a more intimate relationship with the earth that ranks the environment high on the list of "things to consider" in every decision? Our planet cannot afford another generation of children to grow up disregarding the earth, the sky, the water, and all who live in them. And children cannot afford to grow up ignorant of the earth and its ways, displaced from their ecological home terrain by lack of intimate knowledge.

Changing the Discussion About the Purpose of Early Education

Social justice and ecological teaching relocates the meaning of early childhood education from school readiness to social and emotional learning and intellectual development. It offers another way to understand childhood, reminding us that this is a time when children ought to be developing core social and ecological dispositions rather than cramming for the tests ahead. Social justice and ecological teaching reframes our work as educators from a too-heavy focus on academic skills that actually diminishes the capacity for deep learning, and offers, instead, an emphasis on thoughtful observation, reflection, and planning on behalf of children's dispositional and developmental learning. This is teaching at its best: responsive to children's developmental questions and pursuits and attentive to building a sturdy intellectual foundation for the academic work that children will encounter in later schooling.

In these ways, social justice and ecological teaching becomes a form of resistance to the view that early childhood education is unskilled work, important only inasmuch as it prepares children to recite the alphabet, identify colors, and count to ten. Social justice and ecological teaching is intellectually and emotionally engaging work; it sustains, rather than drains, teachers and caregivers. It asks that teachers listen closely to the social and cultural questions embedded in children's play, and that they think carefully about how best to engage the children around those questions. It demands that teachers stay present to the children's developing understandings about the world and themselves in order to best support their learning. This is a far remove from scripted curricula and preplanned lessons; it is authentic teaching - and it is the kind of teaching our society urgently needs. We need teachers who are engaged and curious, who create in their classrooms cultures of deep listening, compassionate perspective-taking, and critical thinking. We need teachers who, in the words of Terry Tempest Williams, cultivate "democracy as a way of life: the right to be educated, to think, discuss, dissent, create, and act, acting in imaginative and revolutionary ways." ³

Our Work Extends Beyond the Classroom

When we embrace social justice and ecological teaching, we participate in changing history, "starting with the future of children." But the challenges we face and the vision we hold of just communities carry us beyond our teaching practices into the arena of broader activism.

We can resist and subvert assessment-driven, standards-based curricula in our daily teaching, but our individual efforts won't safeguard children's right to education that is anchored by their questions, passions, and pursuits. There is a growing movement to remake the government mandates that locate drills and tests at the heart of education; until recently, that movement hasn't much involved early childhood educators. Now, though, Head Start directors, community childcare leaders, administrators in state-funded preschools, and other early childhood educators are coming together with colleagues in elementary and secondary education to strengthen the movement against packaged curricula and assessments.

The push to create universal prekindergarten (UPK) programs offers another entry point for activism on behalf of children, families, and teachers. Universal prekindergarten is a movement to provide preschool programs to all 4-year-old children as preparation for the academic work that they'll encounter in kindergarten; it's a state-funded drive - each state legislates its own mandates for prekindergarten programs. Universal prekindergarten offers increased access to early education for low-income families, something to celebrate given the large numbers of children who currently aren't served by affordable, quality early childhood programs in their communities. Yet UPK classrooms typically adopt (often by the mandate of funding agencies) standardized curricula characterized by rote learning and skill-and-drill teaching. This compromises the assertion that these are top-quality programs. And it is especially problematic for low-income communities most deserving of education that fosters critical thinking and social awareness: as children's opportunities seem to be expanding because of the increased access that UPK offers, the type of education that they're offered is narrow and intellectually numbing. In addition to these contradictions, UPK threatens to disrupt community-based childcare programs, as families and teachers exit these programs to move into UPK classrooms. UPK is in its infancy; this is the time for concerned educators, parents, and community members to get involved in shaping how it unfolds.

Another challenge that carries us into action beyond our daily teaching arises from the ongoing discrimination that early childhood educators face. In the late 1970s, teachers and caregivers of young children began to organize in protest of the unliveable wages and lack of benefits that characterize early childhood education. They created the Child Care Employees Project, a national effort to draw attention to poor working conditions in early care and education and to jumpstart initiatives that would make early childhood education a sustainable career. The Child Care Employees Project gave rise to the Worthy Wage Campaign, as early childhood educators across the country took part in creative, bold acts of protest and challenge, and began to form and join unions in an effort to improve working conditions. That effort has been folded into the current Center for the Child Care Workforce, a project of the American Federation of Teachers. In the three decades since this movement began, important ground has been won - and new struggles have emerged. There is work for us to do beyond our classrooms, stepping into the terrain of broad social action aimed at transforming the working conditions for early childhood educators.

There is an even broader arena of social concerns to acknowledge. Inadequate health care, immobilizing poverty, unstable housing, lack of access to decent nutrition - the best early childhood programs that we can imagine won't fix these broader social conditions. There is much work to be done, and all of it is interconnected. Caring about young children means caring about - and taking action to improve - the social conditions that shape their lives and determine their opportunities.

When we embrace a vision of social justice and ecological teaching in early childhood education, we join a lineage of educators who are intent on changing history, participating in the "ongoing story of men and women, ideals intact," who understand that how we engage with the youngest children in our communities speaks volumes about the kind of society in which we hope to live.

References

1. Loris Malaguzzi. "When We Got the News," in Brick by Brick: The History of the XXV Aprile People's Nursery School of Villa Cella. Renzo Barazzoni, ed. Reggio Emilia, Italy. Reggio Children. pp. 14-15. 2000.

2. Dorrie Seavey. The Cost of Frontline Turnover in Long-Term Care. Washington, D.C. Institute for Future of Aging Services. 2004.

3. Terry Tempest Williams. The Open Space of Democracy. Great Barrington, Mass. The Orion Society. 2004.

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Embracing a Vision of Social Justice in Early Childhood Education

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By Ann Pelo Illustrator: David McLimans This essay is the introduction to Rethinking Early Childhood Education, edited by Ann Pelo, and published this month by Rethinking Schools.- editors There's a small town in Italy with an international reputation for its early childhood programs. The teaching and learning that happens in their schools is certainly compelling - but more compelling is the story of how the community came together to create an early childhood education system.

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Embedding Indigenous perspectives in ECE

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Embedding Indigenous perspectives in ECE

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Jessica Staines is a Wiradjuri Woman, early childhood teacher and Director of the Koori Curriculum. Jessica has worked in early childhood for fifteen years for a range of service providers in both urban and regional communities. Whilst working in early childhood, Jessica naturally found herself supporting educators to become more culturally aware and confident in embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in their program.

Why intentionally teaching about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is important

It is important to be sure on your 'why' and your teams collective 'why'. Why is it important to embed an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective in your program? Is it just important when you have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children attending the service or is it equally as important for non-Indigenous children as well?

When teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, contextualising the curriculum through culture is essential if we want to see them thrive in school and early education settings. Additionally, my 'why' is also linked to my understanding of how education is key in Closing the Gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australians. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to receive quality early learning programs, educators need to understand the trauma experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people historically in mainstream institutions and the important steps they need to take to create culturally inclusive environments and build trust.

I also believe that embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in early childhood education and care is equally as important for the benefit of non-Indigenous children, regardless of whether there are any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children attending your centre. In this context, my 'why' is centred around creating an anti-bias, anti-racist and inclusive curriculum. Additionally, it's about celebrating culture, education, historical acceptance, race relations and reconciliation.

Tips for embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives

For many educators embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in their curriculum is a daunting process. This can even be the case for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators as knowing about their culture and knowing how to translate it into an early learning context can be two separate things. Words like offensive, stereotypical and tokenistic when used in reference to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs can often have a debilitating effect. Educators are often so worried about doing the wrong thing that they tend to do nothing at all and suffer from a form of analysis paralysis.

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Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives through program and practice

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Jessica Staines is a Wiradjuri Woman, early childhood teacher and Director of the Koori Curriculum. Jessica has worked in early childhood for fifteen years for a range of service providers in both urban and regional communities.

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Download the article Observation, Documentation, and Reflection. Article - Observation Skills Download the activity, Individual Planning

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ACECQA- Supporting children to regulate behaviour 

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ACECQA- Supporting children to regulate behaviour 

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The child

is made of one hundred.

The child has

a hundred languages

a hundred hands

a hundred thoughts

a hundred ways of thinking

of playing, of speaking.

A hundred always a hundred

ways of listening

of marveling of loving

a hundred joys

for singing and understanding

a hundred worlds

to discover

a hundred worlds

to invent

a hundred worlds

to dream.

The child has

a hundred languages

(and a hundred hundred hundred more)

but they steal ninety-nine.

The school and the culture

separate the head from the body.

They tell the child:

to think without hands

to do without head

to listen and not to speak

to understand without joy

to love and to marvel

only at Easter and Christmas.

They tell the child:

to discover the world already there

and of the hundred

they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:

that work and play

reality and fantasy

science and imagination

sky and earth

reason and dream

are things

that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child

that the hundred is not there.

The child says:

No way. The hundred is there.

Loris Malaguzzi (translated by Lella Gandini)

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The child is made of one hundred. The child has a hundred languages a hundred hands a hundred thoughts a hundred ways of thinking of playing, of speaking.

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For many, art in a classroom is seen as a finished product made of paint, clay, or collage materials, but for others, art refers to spontaneous, open-ended, and often messy explorations with little to no direction from the teacher. At The Compass School, we use the word "art" to describe a lively process of engagement that is reflective, creative and deliberate and that deepens and extends the children's learning.

Through encounters with a wide range of media and materials, children become more comfortable and skilled and begin to use the materials to communicate or represent their understandings, emotions, discoveries, and interests. The schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy refer to this communication as " The Hundred languages ". Through these "hundred languages" of expression and representation, children have the opportunity to collaborate, realize new perspectives and deepen their relationships with each other.

At municipal schools in Reggio Emilia and The Compass School in Cincinnati, Ohio, there is a space called the atelier. This space has art supplies and various materials for children to work with (such as recyclable materials). In addition to the atelier, there is an Atelierista, whose goal is to support the hundred languages of our children by facilitating short and long-term art projects. Our Atelierista is Silivia Cattini, who is originally from Milan, Italy. She understands the power of art and how it can shape her practices with children. Silvia's teaching and learning are inspired by the pedagogy of the schools in Reggio Emilia and their emphasis on the "hundred languages". She takes advantage of opportunities to look closer at the role of art in the lives of our children and pays special attention to the ways that art invites children to look at things closely, ask questions, take on new perspectives, explore emotions, examine thinking, and communicate and listen to themselves and their peers.

Offering open-ended experiences

As parents and teachers, we should reconsider the art activities we offer our children. Rather than planning product-oriented art activities, that encourage "copycat" artwork, which can discourage a child's individual creativity, try offering an art medium such as watercolor paint and brushes, which allows the child to experience the process of creating art.

The goal of offering open-ended art experiences with various media is to emphasize the process of creation, rather than the goal of being a finished product. By introducing art media through open-ended full explorations, children come to fully understand a medium: how it behaves, how it can be used, how it feels on our bodies and what tools are needed to work with it. This knowledge provides the foundation for using art as a tool for thinking in the classroom.

When introducing various media, we suggest providing and modeling support about techniques for using art media to help build skills. Offering children repeated opportunities with a medium helps them become more fluent in the language of art. For example, offering tempera paint and brushes and inviting children to explore the paint with all their senses. Encouraging children to experience the paint with their hands and asking them how it feels, testing to see how the paint moves on rough paper vs. smooth paper, asking them to observe the marks the paint makes using a thick brush vs. a thin brush helps to foster the foundation for using art as a tool for thinking and allows the child to become fluent in various media.

Process vs. Product Art in Early Childhood Education

If our goal is to encourage children's creativity through developmentally appropriate art experiences we must understand the differences between process-focused art and product-focused art. Laurel Bongiorno, PhD and Dean of the Division of Education and Human Studies at Champlain College, shares a review of these differences in her article, "How Process Art Experiences Support Preschoolers".

PROCESS-FOCUSED ART VS PRODUCT-FOCUSED ART

Characteristics of Process-Focused Art Experiences

Characteristics of Product-Focused Art Experiences

There are no step-by-step instructions

Children have instructions to follow

There is no sample for children to follow

The teacher created a sample for the children to follow

There is no right or wrong way to explore and create

There's a right way and a wrong way to proceed

The art is focused on the experience and on exploration of techniques, tools, and materials

The children's finished art all looks the same

The art is unique and original

The teacher might "fix mistakes"

The experience is relaxing or calming. The art and experience is entirely a child's own

The whole class took part in an art project at the same time

Ideas are not readily available online

Patterns and examples are readily available online

Development from processed-focus art

The purpose of process-focused art in approaches toward learning is to include support and opportunities for children to take initiative, to be engaged and to be creative. Process art also supports the development and learning of the whole child in all content areas of the curriculum which include:

Social and emotional development - the children relax, focus, feel successful and can allow them to express their feelings

Language and literacy development Children may choose to discuss their art and add print to it (on their own or by dictating to a teacher)

Cognitive development Children compare, predict, plan, and problem solve

Physical development Children use small motor skills to paint, write, glue, use clay, and make collages.

Art in a Reggio environment should be an interpretation of an experience, not a copy of other's ideas or suggestions. Art should be treated as an expression of the child's current understandings, rather than a representation of an object. This perspective makes art a tool for making meaning. Art media is just that, a tool to help children make their ideas, thoughts, theories, and perspectives visible and to construct a new understanding of the subject.
click here for a tour of a school in your area! Resources:
How Process Art Experiences Support Preschoolers by Laurel Bongiorno, PhD in TEACHING YOUNG CHILDREN VOL. 7 NO. 3

The Language of Art: Inquiry -based Studio practices in Early Childhood Settings, by Ann Pelo, Red Leaf Press 2007.

More Than Painting, Preschool and Kindergarten: Exploring the Wonders of Art, by Sally Moomaw and Brenda Hieronymus, Red Leaf Press 1999.

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The Language of Art: Reggio Emilia Art Activities for the Classroom

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For many, art in a classroom is seen as a finished product made of paint, clay, or collage materials, but for others, art refers to spontaneous, open-ended, and often messy explorations with little to no direction from the teacher.

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You may already know that art is a great way to treat anxiety and stress in children. But did you know that it also positively impacts their cognitive and physical development? Keep reading to learn more about the amazing benefits of art!

Art plays a more important role in child development than you might think. Artistic activities help children learn other subjects such as reading and math. It also promotes visual, motor and social development.

Using art as a vehicle for expression is enriching because children can use it as a communication tool. Different types of art can reveal children's thoughts, feelings, and interests.

Lina Idárraga, educator and specialist in children's visual arts, believes that art allows children to externalize their feelings. Art can also be beneficial for people with disabilities.

Idárraga believes that children communicate ideas and feelings through music, dance, and bodily expression. If adults know how to interpret this language, they'll be able to better understand a child's inner world.

Psychologists also believe that art is positive at any age. Nevertheless, early childhood is the ideal stage to teach children all the different artistic disciplines. This is because, when they're young, their brains are like sponges and easily absorb information.

The importance of art for child development

1. Music

Making music and listening to it helps children develop their intellectual, auditory, sensory, speech, and motor skills.

The musical language is universal and small children who grow up listening to music learn to get along better with other children and relax. Music also stimulates their listening skills and emotional intelligence.

Children's music is a great teaching tool. The rhymes and repetitions, along with hand motions, are a fun way for kids to boost their vocabulary and better understand the meaning of words.

Singing songs with babies and listening to music with them not only produces changes on a physiological level, but it also encourages a strong emotional bond with the parents.

2. Literature

Educational psychologists specialized in early childhood education agree that it's difficult to develop a reading habit as an adult. In general, it's only possible to instill a love of reading in someone during their childhood.

Reading to children is one of the most enriching experiences in the world. It helps them develop cognitive skills such as memory, language, and imagination.

Children discover an incredible world in books. Sharing books and stories with children from a very young age makes them see it as entertainment, not homework. That makes it much easier to incorporate books into their games and free time later on.

Whether children start reading at school or not, this ability has to be reinforced at home for it to fully develop. Also, when you read with your children, you strengthen your bond with them.

3. Drawing and painting

Drawing and painting are two very beneficial activities. They help develop fine motor skills, writing, reading, creativity, and boost self-esteem, among other things.

Not only that, but drawing and painting are excellent ways for children to express their feelings and emotions. And if that weren't enough, they play a significant role in their personality development and psychological maturity.

If you want to encourage natural creativity, experts recommend offering children free drawing and painting opportunities. That way, the child can give free rein to their imagination and creative expression. Give them materials such as crayons, clay, fingerpaint, and watercolors. Let them experiment on chalkboards, cardboard, canvases, and even walls.

"The painter has the universe in his mind and hands."
-Leonardo da Vinci-

4. Theater
Getting involved in theater can help children learn important values such as respect and tolerance.
Children's theater allows children to put themselves in the shoes of characters that are very different from them. Thus, they learn to identify with characters by living their experiences. This helps them be more open-minded and empathetic.

Theater can also open the door to imagination and creativity.

5. Bodily expression

Movement and bodily expression positively impact physical development and healthy growth. Children learn to carry themselves with confidence and maintain their flexibility and natural ability to move, run, and jump. It also helps them with their balance, coordination, and bodily control.

In addition to these physical abilities, bodily expression through movement is beneficial for their emotional intelligence. It also positively benefits their social and creative abilities.

Using the arts to promote child development allows children to express themselves in whatever way they'd like. If you have a little one at home, the best thing you can do for them is to foster their artistic side.

"Imagination does not become great until human beings, given the courage and the strength, use it to create.
-Maria Montessori-

It might interest you...

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The Importance of Art for Child Development

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You may already know that art is a great way to treat anxiety and stress in children. But did you know that it also positively impacts their cognitive and physical development? Keep reading to learn more about the amazing benefits of art! Art plays a more important role in child development than you might think.

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The Environment as the Third Teacher explores spaces, places and relations that enable rich pedagogy and practices.

This full day workshop includes:

Big picture considerations - exploring the role of theories, principles and images, to provide a foundation for the exploration of environments in early childhood contexts.

Designs and dimensions of environments - examining architectural principles and case studies in local Australian contexts to provoke thinking and open possibilities.

Applications - to enable participants to make connections between theories, principles and practice to put in place possibilities (and consider missed opportunities) within educators' own contexts.

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The Environment as the Third Teacher explores spaces, places and relations that enable rich pedagogy and practices. This full day workshop includes: Big picture considerations - exploring the role of theories, principles and images, to provide a foundation for the exploration of environments in early childhood contexts.

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The school environment plays a central and essential role within a Reggio-Inspired early childhood program in successfully creating a Reggio environment. Loris Malaguzzi, the founder of the Reggio Emilia approach, describes how educators view the Reggio environment and classroom "as a living organism, a place of shared relationships among the children, the teachers, and the parents... (creating) a feeling of belonging in a world that is alive, welcoming and authentic." The environment plays such a significant role in creating a successful Reggio-Inspired program that it is often referred to as the "third teacher."

Reggio-Inspired programs give appropriate attention to the look and feel of the learning environment both within the classrooms as well as in the common spaces of the school. By giving consideration to how materials and documentation are displayed, the goal is to create an atmosphere that fosters creative exploration while also demonstrating respect for children's work.

Classroom Environmental Guidelines

Here are a few highlights of The Compass School's environmental guidelines:

Classroom environments should be a reflection of the children, parents, and teachers who live and learn there.

Items, objects & resources should be arranged in an enticing, imaginative, inviting, and/or thoughtful way- the environment should not feel cluttered or institutional.

Environmental emphasis on natural, every day, and "real life" materials.

Documentation should be interesting rather than decorative, serious (not cute), engaging (not entertaining).

Visible documentation should be present to reflect work currently in process. Focus of documentation on displaying the creativity and thinking of children as it happens, as opposed to viewing documentation as a finished product.

Parents entering The Compass School for the first time consistently comment that the look and feel of the school is unlike other preschools or child care centers that they have visited. By respecting our school environment as the "third teacher," The Compass School strives to offer children a uniquely warm, inviting and child-centered school environment in which to explore, discover, and grow.

"The space has to be a sort of aquarium that mirrors the ideas, values, attitudes, and cultures of the people who live in it."
Loris Malaguzzi, The Hundred Languages of Children

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The Reggio Emilia Classroom & Environment | The Compass School

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The school environment plays a central and essential role within a Reggio-Inspired early childhood program in successfully creating a Reggio environment. Loris Malaguzzi, the founder of the Reggio Emilia approach, describes how educators view the Reggio environment and classroom "as a living organism, a place of shared relationships among the children, the teachers, and the parents...

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Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University

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As early experiences shape the architecture of the developing brain, they also lay the foundations of sound early childhood mental health.

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STEM in Early Education: Empowering Problem-Solving

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Check out a recording of our latest webinar, STEM in Early Education: Empowering Problem-Solving.

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14 Conflict Resolution Skills to Use with Your Team and Your Customers

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As much as we'd all love to work in an organization that's free of disagreements and conflicts, that idea is simply unreasonable. Unfortunately, conflict is a major part of work and life, in general. Many of us might fear conflict. We want everyone to be satisfied and for every workday to be a breeze.

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Developing an emotionally intelligent team 

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Developing an emotionally intelligent team 

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DeakinCo. | Powering workplace performance

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What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence has been a buzz word in the workplace since the 1990s. Researchers John Mayer and Peter Salavoy define emotional intelligence as the ability to 'recognise, understand and influence the emotions of others'. So what exactly does this mean? In practical terms, it means to be aware that emotions can influence behaviour and learning how to control and manage these emotions, both in ourselves and others. An emotionally intelligent employee is one that can communicate and empathise well with others, think analytically and adapt quickly to change.

Why you need emotionally intelligent staff

Emotional intelligence is a desirable quality in employees for a number of reasons:

1. Improved communication

Tone and body language are a significant part of communication. An emotionally intelligent employee will be able to both read the tone and body language of others, and adapt theirs to what is needed in the circumstance before them. It's also easy for emotionally intelligent people to make social connections with their co-works.

The benefit of good communication in the workplace is increased productivity for your business. If your staff are able to communicate comfortably and effectively with one another, you'll be able to get the best ideas out of them.

2. Productivity

As analytical thinkers, emotionally intelligent employees are able to predict behaviours and understand the strengths and weaknesses of others. An emotionally intelligent leader will be able to divide work among co-workers based on the strengths of team members to get the job down as efficiently as possible.

3. Client-focus

Some clients aren't able to effectively explain their wants and needs and this can often lead to relationship breakdown. An emotionally intelligent employee will be able to read into a client's behaviour and language to understand what they want, even if they aren't able to verbalise it.

Signs of emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence isn't hard to spot if you know what to look for. Emotionally intelligent people will generally possess these key qualities:

1. Controlled reactions: Someone who is not emotionally intelligent will react immediately, without taking the time to weight up the positives and negatives of the situation before them.

2. Empathy: this is the ability to put yourself in someone else's shoes. An emotionally intelligent person will be able to feel what another person is experiencing.

3. Self-awareness: being able to understand yourself, recognise what stimuli you're facing, and prepare to manage it in a proactive manner, is a sign of self-awareness.

4. Analytical thinking: people who are able think deeply and analyse all new information that comes their way are considered to be analytical thinkers and highly emotionally intelligent.

5. Adaptability: an emotionally intelligent person will be able to adapt quickly to change, whether that means continuing on the same course, or making a change.

When hiring new staff it can often be a challenge to find people who fit your company culture. Here's what to look out for when interviewing for emotionally intelligent people:

Ask them to provide examples: when interviewing potential candidates, make sure to ask about how they've managed relationships with co-workers in the past. Did they have good relationships? How did they manage difficult people? Their reactions to others is a good indicator of their emotional intelligence.

Scenario-based questions: you should also include some hypothetical scenarios such as 'how would you deal with a client who's upset with a mistake made by the company?'. An emotionally intelligent person will be able to formulate a calm response and will talk time to empathise with and understand the client's perspective.

Ways to build an emotionally intelligent team

Your workforce will be made up of many different personalities, and not everyone will posses natural emotional intelligent. However, it is something that can be fostered. Setting out to create a positive, open and collaborative office is a great place to start and here's how:

1. Team-building exercises

Team building exercises are a really fun way to develop emotional intelligence within your team members. Team-building helps to break down emotional barriers between employees, encourage empathy by better understanding each other, and leads to better communication and collaboration. There are a number of improvisation games and exercises you can research online.

2. Encourage feedback

Giving feedback to your employees is a definite way to improve their emotional intelligence as it teaches them to accept criticism and encourages confidence when receiving positive feedback. But encouraging your staff to also give feedback to their leaders is equally beneficial to your business.

Performance feedback can be a daunting thing for many people and can cause them to become defensive. But the more frequently employees challenge each other and receive feedback, the quicker it becomes a normal part of the workplace. When feedback and ideas are regularly and openly bounced around in the office, it gives people the confidence to share their ideas, which will greatly benefit your business in the long run.

3. Reward initiative

Employees can feel isolated and emotionally closed off with each other if there is a fear of taking risks and failing. If this fear exists in your business, there will never be new ideas and your company risks stagnating. To increase the emotional intelligence in your team, try rewarding and acknowledging your staff whenever they try something new or different.

By creating a culture where taking initiative and thinking outside the box is rewarded (even if it is not successful), your employees will become more comfortable with one another and great ideas will start flowing.

4. Foster accountability

An emotionally intelligent person is self-aware and therefore able to take ownership of their actions - both when things go right, and when they go wrong. Companies with a strict top-down management structure fail to encourage accountability as the leader is blamed for all failures. In a flatter hierarchy, leaders encourage sharing of credit, decisions and responsibility, which helps build self-awareness in people.

5. Develop interpersonal understanding

Everyone is different. Your company will be made up of all types of personalities and learning to understand the different ways people operate is crucial for teamwork and communication. Introverts, for example, may not feel comfortable voicing their opinion in a group environment. Being an emotionally intelligent person means empathising with others. In this scenario, an emotionally intelligent person would make a conscious effort to make introverts feel comfortable voicing their opinion.

6. Choose the right leader

Creating a team where employees are able to empathise with each other and communicate well is greatly influenced by the leader they follow. It's important to choose a leader who exhibits emotional intelligence to ensure it flows down through the team. Emotionally intelligent leaders can cultivate the same quality in their direct reports by being able to clearly express their thoughts, being aware of what's going on around them, and being able to handle conflicts.

7. Empower your people

Workplaces are becoming increasingly interdependent. So many of our jobs are dependent on the help of other people. An easy way to empower your employees is to delegate authority. This demonstrates to your employees that you have confidence in them. When people feel empowered, they'll be motivated to strive for excellence and develop their emotional intelligence will develop as a result.

Is your team emotionally intelligent?

Encouraging and developing emotional intelligence in your business will take your employees from a group of individuals working together, to a collaborative, innovative and driven team.

If your business needs help enhancing the performance of employees, contact DeakinCo.

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How to build an emotionally intelligent team - DeakinCo. | Powering workplace performance

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Emotional intelligence has been a buzz word in the workplace since the 1990s. Researchers John Mayer and Peter Salavoy define emotional intelligence as the ability to 'recognise, understand and influence the emotions of others'. So what exactly does this mean?

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This page is current as of 1 October 2017.

Guiding children's behaviour is an important aspect of educating and caring for children. Positive strategies need to be developed to assist children to learn appropriate ways of behaving.

The term 'behaviour guidance' is used to reflect current thinking about the most positive and effective ways to help children gain understanding and learn skills that will help them to manage their own behaviour.

Corporal punishment and unreasonable discipline are not permitted in education and care services, not only because the child may be physically harmed, but also because it nearly always has detrimental effects on the child's self-esteem and feelings of security and belonging.

In Quality Area 5 of the National Quality Standard, Relationships with Children, Standard 5.2 explores how each child is supported to build and maintain sensitive and responsive relationships with other children and adults.

Elements of the National Quality Standard associated with Standard 5.2

Element 5.2.1: Each child is supported to work with, learn from and help others through collaborative learning opportunities.

Element 5.2.2: Each child is supported to manage their own behaviour, respond appropriately to the behaviour of others and communicate effectively to resolve conflicts, has a strong focus.

Element 5.2.3: The dignity and the rights of every child are maintained at all times.

Questions we may reflect upon:

How do we support children to learn from each other?

How do the behaviour management strategies we use help build positive relationships with the children?

Do the strategies we use help the child to control their own behaviour and learn self-discipline?

When/how do we include the children in discussions about feelings and about strategies used?

How have children been included in the journey of managing behavioural options and for managing highly emotive times?

How do we maintain the dignity and rights of the child?

There are important obligations for approved providers, nominated supervisors, staff members and family day care educators in relation to guiding children's behaviour including that they must:

ensure no child being educated and cared for by the service is subjected to any form of corporal punishment or any discipline that is unreasonable in the circumstances (section 166)

ensure that every reasonable precaution is taken to protect children from harm and from any hazard likely to cause injury (section 167)

All education and care services must:

take reasonable steps to ensure that education and care is provided to children in a way that gives each child positive guidance and encouragement toward acceptable behaviour (regulation 155).

have a policy and procedures about interactions with children (regulation 168(2)(j)), that includes procedures to ensure education and care is provided in a way that:

gives each child positive guidance and encouragement toward acceptable behaviour and encourage children to express themselves and their opinions

allows the children to undertake experiences that develop self-reliance and self-esteem

maintains at all times the dignity and rights of each child

has regard to the family and cultural values, age, and physical and intellectual development and abilities of each child being educated and cared for by the service

children being educated and cared for by the service have opportunities to interact and develop respectful and positive relationships with each other and with staff members and volunteers

considers the size and the composition of the groups in which children are being educated and cared for (regulations 155 and 156).

Behaviour guidance is an integral part of the educational program. The program that is planned and delivered to children must contribute to the following outcomes:

the child will have a strong sense of identity

the child will be connected with and contribute to his or her world

the child will have a strong sense of wellbeing

the child will be a confident and involved learner

the child will be an effective communicator (regulation 73).

Educators guide children's behaviour through their interactions and communication at all times. The service's approach to behaviour guidance in daily practice impacts on learning outcomes for children. Research indicates that quality learning environments and sensitive, nurturing adults are essential for achieving positive learning outcomes for children.

When educators adopt a positive and active approach to behaviour guidance, they reduce challenging behaviours and encourage children to achieve success, develop positive self-esteem and increase competence.

A positive, inclusive and active approach includes considering the reasons for children's challenging behaviour, not just dealing with the behaviour itself. The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) describes inclusive practice in the description of supportive learning environments as '... vibrant and flexible spaces that are responsive to the interests and abilities of each child. They cater for different learning capacities and learning styles and invite children and families to contribute ideas, interests and questions' .

Behaviour guidance consists of a variety of ways that adults help children learn to guide or 'self manage' their behaviour to learn acceptable behaviour. It encourages children to reflect on their actions and the impact those actions have on themselves, others and the environment around them.

This contrasts with the more traditional 'behaviour management' or 'discipline' approaches that generally imply an adult 'managing' children's behaviour or using punishment, or inappropriate discipline to control them. Behaviour guidance based on positive mutually respectful relationships between adults and children is most likely to influence behaviour in constructive ways.

The absence of a warm and trusting relationship with an adult will often result in the child resisting direction from that adult. Both the behaviour guidance practices and the educational program need to meet the developmental and individual needs of each child.

Behaviour guidance:

demonstrates respect for children

is based on knowledge of children's development and learning

is based on an understanding and knowledge of each child, including background, culture, community and family

is proactive and positive

recognises the child's strengths

does not use any form of corporal punishment or any discipline that is unreasonable in the circumstances

does not involve making judgements about children and families.

Children's behaviour, including challenging behaviour, may be an attempt to satisfy a valid need or express a want, or be an indication of their needs or interests not being met. Environmental conditions may also influence children's behaviour and generally with good environmental support, children thrive.

Children who feel valued and who observe and experience respectful and caring relationships between children and adults will generally learn to behave in respectful and caring ways with other children and adults. Adults who model positive attitudes, behaviour and appropriate use of language help children to learn socially acceptable ways of behaving and interacting with others. Children need support from the adults in their lives to interpret and express their needs in ways that are appropriate to the situation and environment.

When practices are based on respect, knowledge of children's backgrounds and communities, their self-esteem and confidence will improve and they become more skilled at managing their own behaviour. Some behaviours regarded as challenging are simply age appropriate behaviour. For instance; a two year old not being able to sit still, or an eight year old unable to contain their excitement and wait for their turn. Learning to communicate needs and wants in appropriate ways is one of the many challenges young children face.

Behaviour can be described as challenging when it:

interferes with the rights of others

causes harm or risk to the child, other children, adults or living things

damages the physical environment, equipment or materials

interferes with the child's learning and relationships with others

includes a child presenting as shy, withdrawn or excessively passive

is inappropriate to the child's age or developmental stage or background.

It may be appropriate, at times, to involve children in decision making and discussions about their behaviour. However, this must be done sensitively with careful forethought. Some examples of inappropriate conversations with young children regarding their behaviour include demanding answers to questions such as 'Why did you do that?' or insisting that children apologise for their behaviour.

It is important to discuss challenging behaviour with the child's parent/guardian. Families can provide educators with valuable information and insights about individual children's strengths, interests and needs and the strategies that will best assist them to participate fully in the program. When educators and families have mutually respectful relationships and communicate openly they are able to work together to plan a supportive and appropriate experience for each child.

Families vary considerably in child rearing practices and the ways each family manages challenging behaviour. The kinds of behaviour they accept may differ from those of the education and care service. This can cause confusion for the child and may not be helpful in assisting the child to change their behaviour.

When there are differences in ways of responding to challenging behaviour and there are differences of opinion it is crucial for the parents and services to work together to come to an agreement that is in the best interests of the child.

When the child's behaviour does not fit with what is appropriate for the child's developmental level, and is frequent or extreme, it is important to try to discover the reasons for the behaviour.

Children's behaviour must be understood in the context of one's own expectations about what is 'challenging' whilst considering children's developmental level. For instance, a child may consistently hit other children. This behaviour although undesirable may not be outside of typical development, and needs to be guided accordingly.

This requires:

an understanding of the child in the context of the family, culture, community

knowledge of the child's developmental stage

understanding of the family dynamics

anything unusual that may be occurring within the family or influencing the child's behaviour.

This knowledge will assist the service in understanding the child's behaviour and help to develop effective individual strategies for that child. It is important for educators to look critically at the child's experience within the service to determine the extent to which it may be causing or contributing to the challenging behaviour.

Factors within the service:

1. Environment designed to foster children's learning and development - offer a range of challenges and experiences that reflect the breadth of ages, interests and capabilities of all children.

2. Educational program contributes to the learning outcomes and is based on the interests, ability and experiences of each of the children and is sensitive to individual differences

3. Educator and child relationships - when interactions between educators and children are positive, respectful, engaging, caring and supportive, children's confidence, abilities and self-esteem are enhanced

4. Consider the children's environment - for instance, would the child's behaviour be different if they were in another room with a smaller group or a mixed age group or does the child require more targeted intervention

5. Consistency in care - children need reliable and consistent adults who keep them physically and emotionally safe and know their individual needs to enable them to develop the skills necessary for self-regulation such as self-esteem, confidence and trust

6. Educators work in partnership with families to ensure that experiences planned for children are meaningful

7. Consider children's behaviour in the context of their culture, their community and their family and in relation to their individual stage of physical and intellectual development

8. Educator to child ratios need to be adequate to meet the particular needs of the children at the service.

External factors:

family relationships

changes to family circumstances

an event that has occurred in the community

limited social experiences

cultural expectations, experiences and child rearing practices

exposure to drugs, alcohol

the child's emotional development and temperament

presence of a disability that may impact on the child's social and emotional wellbeing.

A positive environment for learning and development will help reduce challenging behaviours. When a child displays challenging behaviour, it is important to consider how frequently the behaviour occurs, and what it may be in response to, in which settings it occurs and how extreme it is.

There may be times when a child displays challenging behaviour that is isolated or infrequent. In some situations the service may need to increase the educator to child ratios to meet the needs of children with challenging behaviour. The key to understanding children's behaviour is to aim to identify the reasons for the behaviour.

For a child under preschool age, assessments of their developmental needs, interests, experiences, progress against the learning outcomes and participation in the educational program; and for a child over preschool age, evaluations of the child's wellbeing, development and learning can be used to inform behaviour management strategies that may assist to minimise challenging behaviours at the education and care service.

For children over preschool age the aim is to empower them to make favourable choices, develop positive and respectful relationships and to reflect and act upon what is fair and equitable. Educators can assist and guide older children's capacity to interact with others in respectful and cooperative ways and to develop their independence and ability at self-regulation.

It is important to ensure that children's behaviour is observed and documented carefully and sensitively by educators and a holistic view of the child developed in the context of an understanding of the purpose of the behaviour.

Observations need to be recorded and information collated so that an informed decision can be made about whether individual behaviour guidance strategies are required or whether the behaviour can be addressed through the daily behaviour guidance practices of the service.

The educational program is:

based on an approved learning framework

delivered in a manner that accords with the approved learning framework

based on the developmental needs, interests and experiences of each child

designed to take into account the individual differences of each child (section 168).

children know that they are valued, respected, and that they can get help from adults when they need it

adults' interactions with children are based on respect, understanding and knowledge of child development and of each child

educators are deliberate and purposeful in the planning of the program ensuring all children's interests and needs are considered

children are known in the context of their cultures, communities and families and use this information to enhance relationships with children

educators communicate with families to ensure consistency in guiding behaviour and responding to challenging behaviour

educators respond to and address issues of boredom and unrest as they arise

children's behaviour is guided in a sensitive and caring manner, using positive acknowledgement

behaviour guidance practices are based on the service's statement of philosophy and are proactive and positive

the service has policies and procedures that articulate what is expected for educators with interactions with children and behaviour management

redirection, giving explanations, encouragement, giving help, collaborating to solve problems and helping children to understand the consequences and impact of their behaviour

children are supported by providing acceptable alternative behaviours when challenging behaviour occurs

appropriate behaviours are expressed in the positive and a focus on positive statements and the positive choices children make

limits are consistent, carried out in a calm, firm manner, followed through and that children are helped to behave within the limits . Collaborate with children on expectations of behaviour and develop behaviour limits and consequences for inappropriate behaviours

support is sought from other educators and use other professionals when necessary to help with behaviour guidance

educators role model and act in a manner that exemplifies respectful, kind and thoughtful behaviour

identify children's individual strengths, capabilities and interests and build on them

When observing and responding to a child's behaviour it is important to consider whether the behaviour is a developmentally appropriate response to a particular situation or behaviour that is challenging.

The term 'discipline' is often associated with punishment and may suggest inappropriate and damaging methods of attempting to control children in order to change their behaviour. It is critically important to guide children's behaviour in ways that support them to develop understandings and skills that assist them to manage their emotions and control their behaviour by themselves.

Discipline, or punishment, does not contribute to this aim. Using appropriate behaviour guidance helps children to regulate their own behaviour so that they do not always rely on adults to guide their behaviour, although they will still need assistance much of the time.

Older children are more able to negotiate their own rules and the consequences of not keeping to them, whilst younger children need clearer guidelines and boundaries. In recognition of their growing maturity and ability to take responsibility for their own behaviour older children may be provided with some privileges and increased freedom.

The approved provider of an education and care service must ensure that no child being educated and cared for by the service is subjected to any form of corporal punishment or any discipline that is unreasonable in the circumstances (section 166).

The following are some examples of corporal punishment and unreasonable discipline that are considered serious breaches of the Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 (National Law):

hitting, slapping, pinching

force feeding

isolating

yelling

humiliating or belittling a child

physically dragging a child

depriving a child of food or drink, (saying to a child 'if you don't eat your vegetables you can't have dessert").

Other examples of unacceptable practice include:

negative labelling

criticising

discouraging

blaming or shaming

making fun of or laughing at

using sarcastic or cruel humour

excessive use of negative language, such as, "no" "stop that!" "don't..." "you never..." .

'Time out' is defined as removing a child for a period of time to an alternative place and in isolation. Isolating the child not only has the potential to cause fear and/or humiliation, but it also is likely to increase negative behaviour at other times.

This practice focuses on the exclusion of the child from the group with no support or opportunity for reflection or consideration of other ways of behaving and it does not help children develop positive behaviour or feelings of self-worth.

All services are required to operate in a way which ensures that children are safe, that their developmental needs are being met and that they are adequately supervised at all times. Use of time out in this context is inappropriate and could be considered as unreasonable discipline (section 166).

In some situations it may be necessary to take a child to an alternative environment to support the child to calm down or regain self-control. Our aim should be to prompt and support children when children are experiencing frustration, anger or fear, to remove themselves from these situations and move to a space where they can gain composure and control over their emotions. Options for redirection to another activity and/or to a quiet, safe space may be provided to the child.

The educator must remain with the child, offering reassurance and support so the child can settle down and regain self-control. This strategy can be used as an opportunity for educators to help the child develop self-calming behaviours and gain composure and control.

This is viewed as a learning opportunity, not as punishment. However, this approach should only be used as part of a behaviour management plan and when there is an immediate danger of the child being hurt or hurting others and when other strategies to guide the child's behaviour have not worked.

An educator should always remain with the child. In the heat of highly emotive moments it can be challenging for children to think or talk about what went wrong. When the child has calmed down, educators may then provide support and assist the child to identify what happened and what they may have done differently.

Effective partnerships with educators, families and other professionals allows the sharing of information about the child's ongoing experiences and achievements and what works well for that child. When a child does not respond to daily behaviour guidance strategies, it is essential that educators consult with parents about developing specific behaviour guidance strategies. There may be times when additional professional assistance and external support are needed to help a child.

Parental consent is required where referral for intervention is requested by educators. When professionals from other support services become involved in assisting with a behaviour guidance program for a child, it is important that this is done in collaboration with educators and parents. This gives everyone the opportunity for input and information about the strategies and expectations that are developed.

The professional should also be made aware of the service's policy so that the behaviour guidance strategies that are developed are consistent with the policy. It is also important that all educators working with the child, even if only for a short period each day, are aware that there is a specific behaviour guidance program to be followed for that child. This is necessary so that all educators have a consistent approach to guiding children who are displaying challenging behaviour.

Children with diagnosed behavioural difficulties may require individual management plans and these must be developed in consultation with the family, professionals and/or support agencies.

Pre School Field Officer (PSFO) Program

The Preschool Field Officer Program (Department of Education and Training) is an early intervention outreach service that is universally available within State-funded preschools for any child with developmental concerns.

Inclusion and Professional Support Program (IPSP)

The Commonwealth Department of Education and Training provides the Inclusion and Professional Support Program (IPSP) to promote and maintain high quality, inclusive education and care, for all children, including those with ongoing high support needs. Education and care services approved for Child Care Benefit or those funded under the Budget Based Funded Program are eligible to access the Inclusion Support Subsidy (ISS). This subsidy may be used to contribute towards the costs associated with engaging an additional educator to increase the educator-to-child ratio when a child or children with ongoing high support needs are in care.

An approved provider must notify the Department within 7 days of any circumstances arising at the service that poses a risk to the health, safety and wellbeing of a child or children attending the service (section 174(2)(c), regulation 175(2)(c).

An approved provider must notify the Department within 7 days of any incident and/or allegations where there is a reasonable belief that physical abuse of a child or children has occurred or is occurring while being educated and cared for by the service (section 174(2)(c), regulation 175(2)(d) and 175(2)(e)).

An approved provider must notify the Department within 24 hours of a complaint alleging that a serious incident has occurred or is occurring while a child was or is being educated and cared for by the service, or that the National Law or National Regulations has been contravened.

Family day care educators must notify their approved provider about any complaint alleging a serious incident has occurred or is occurring at the service, or that the National Law or National Regulations has been contravened. There are no legislated timeframes for family day care educators to notify approved providers.

Further information is available, see Incidents and Complaints.

The Department receives notifications and complaints from services/members of the public where there may be a risk to the safety, health and wellbeing of the children. In some cases Victoria Police may also need to be notified. Services making a notification to the Department are encouraged, in the first instance, to also contact Victoria Police.

Incidents or suspected incidents of abuse occurring within the service itself are considered criminal offences and must be reported to Victoria Police - Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team (SOCIT). This can include a notification/complaint alleging that a staff member has hit or sexually assaulted a child while the child is being cared for or educated by the service.

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This page is current as of 1 October 2017. Guiding children's behaviour is an important aspect of educating and caring for children. Positive strategies need to be developed to assist children to learn appropriate ways of behaving.

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Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms

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Humanism vs Behaviorism

Humanism and behaviorism are important schools in the field of psychology, as such, knowing the difference between humanism and behaviorism is essential for anyone interested in psychology. Psychology, the scientific study of the human mental processes and behavior, has a number of approaches that are also considered as schools of psychology. These have been essential for the development of the field of psychology. Two such schools are humanism and behaviorism. Each approach presents a unique way of understanding the human mind and behavior. Simply defined, behaviorism pays attention to the external behavior of humans and ignores the mental processes which are unobservable. Humanism, on the other hand, looks at the individual as a whole. The main difference between humanism and behaviorism, the two schools of thought, is hence the change of direction from external behavior to the entire being. This article will attempt to describe these two approaches and highlight the differences.

What is Behaviorism?

Behaviorism is a school of thought that emerged in the 1920s. Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson and B.F Skinner are some prominent figures who were responsible for the growth of behaviorism . It was concerned about the external behaviour of individuals and ignored the significance of the mind as it could not be observed. They believed behavior to be objective, observable and as a response of an organism to stimuli that paved way for the understanding of human psychology. Behaviourists gave prominence to laboratory research and were focused on empiricism. Behaviorism is based on the main assumptions of determinism, experimentalism, optimism, anti-mentalism and the idea of nurture against nature.

When speaking of behaviorism the theories of classical conditioning by Pavlov and Operant conditioning of Skinner are significant. Classical conditioning explains that some learning can be due to involuntary emotional and psychological responses. Operant conditioning, on the other hand, involves the conditioning of voluntary, controllable behaviours. The behaviourists highlight that human behaviour is learnt and can be changed through reinforcement and punishment.

What is Humanism?

Unlike behaviorism humanism uses a different approach to psychology where they look at the individual as a whole. They believed that all humans are unique and are free agents who have the ability to achieve their innate potential to the fullest. When looking at the individual, they prefer to adopt the point of view of the person within the situation rather than the point of view of the observer. In counselling, this is also referred to as empathy that is where the observer would get into the perspective of the person who is facing the situation.

Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow are some of the prominent figures in this school of thought and have made a massive contribution to its development. Specifically Maslow's hierarchy of needs presents an image of the individual as having the ability to reach a level of self-actualization that is the highest form that an individual can achieve. However, in order to get to this, humans have to acquire certain needs, namely, biological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, self-esteem needs and finally self-actualization . Another significant theory is the person-centred theory by Carl Rogers, that is used in counselling. It presents an image of the individual as an innately positive person. The theory explains of a concept of self that is made up of the individual's real self and ideal self. Rogers believes that when these two selves are close to one another and are in congruence, it creates a positive condition for self-development . As you can see, the focus of humanism is different from that of behaviorism

What is the difference Humanism and Behaviorism?

* Behaviorism is the school of thought that focuses on the external behavior of individuals whereas humanism focuses on the individual as a whole.

* Behaviorism has a very scientific basis and uses experimentation as a means of understanding behavior

* Humanism, on the other hand, is rather subjective and does not have a very scientific basis as behaviorism.

* Humanism goes beyond behavior and also focuses on the emotions of human beings.

* Humanism rejects the behaviorists' assumption of determinism and believes that humans are agents of free will.
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Difference Between Humanism and Behaviorism | Compare the Difference Between Similar Terms

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Humanism and behaviorism are important schools in the field of psychology, as such, knowing the difference between humanism and behaviorism is essential for anyone interested in psychology. Psychology, the scientific study of the human mental processes and behavior, has a number of approaches that are also considered as schools of psychology.

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An international agreement for child rights

Thirty years ago, world leaders made a historic commitment to the world's children by adopting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - an international agreement on childhood.

It's become the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history and has helped transform children's lives around the world.
Learn more about the Convention on the Rights of the Child with our simplified guide:

Article 1 Everyone under 18 years of age has all the rights in this Convention.

Article 2 The Convention applies to everyone whatever their race, religion, abilities, whatever they think or say, whatever type of family they come from.

Article 3 All organisations concerned with children should work towards what is best for each child.

Article 4 Governments should make these rights available to children.

Article 5 Governments should respect the rights and responsibilities of families to guide their children so that, as they grow up, they learn to use their rights properly.

Article 6 Children have the right to live a full life. Governments should ensure that children survive and develop healthily.

Article 7 Children have the right to a legally registered name and nationality. Children also have the right to know their parents and, as far as possible, to be cared for by them.

Article 8 Governments should respect a child's right to a name, a nationality and family ties.

Article 9 Children should not be separated from their parents unless it is for their own good. For example, if a parent is mistreating or neglecting a child. Children whose parents have separated have the right to stay in contact with both parents, unless this might harm the child.

Article 10 Families who live in different countries should be allowed to move between those countries so that parents and children can stay in contact, or get back together as a family.

Article 11 Governments should take steps to stop children being taken out of their own country illegally.

Article 12 Children have the right to say what they think should happen when adults are making decisions that affect them and to have their opinions taken into account.

Article 13 Children have the right to get and to share information, as long as the information is not damaging to them or to others.

Article 14 Children have the right to think and believe what they want and to practise their religion, as long as they are not stopping other people from enjoying their rights. Parents should guide children on these matters.

Article 15 Children have the right to meet with other children and young people and to join groups and organisations, as long as this does not stop other people from enjoying their rights.

Article 16 Children have the right to privacy. The law should protect them from attacks against their way of life, their good name, their family and their home.

Article 17 Children have the right to reliable information from the media. Mass media such as television, radio and newspapers should provide information that children can understand and should not promote materials that could harm children.

Article 18 Both parents share responsibility for bringing up their children and should always consider what is best for each child. Governments should help parents by providing services to support them, especially if both parents work.

Article 19 Governments should ensure that children are properly cared for and protect them from violence, abuse and neglect by their parents, or anyone else who looks after them.

Article 20 Children who cannot be looked after by their own family must be looked after properly by people who respect their religion, culture and language.

Article 21 When children are adopted the first concern must be what is best for them. The same rules should apply whether children are adopted in the country of their birth or if they are taken to live in another country.

Article 22 Children who come into a country as refugees should have the same rights as children who are born in that country.

Article 23 Children who have any kind of disability should receive special care and support so that they can live a full and independent life.

Article 24 Children have the right to good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food and a clean environment so that they will stay healthy. Richer countries should help poorer countries achieve this.

Article 25 Children who are looked after by their local authority rather than their parents should have their situation reviewed regularly.

Article 26 The Government should provide extra money for the children of families in need.

Article 27 Children have the right to a standard of living that is good enough to meet their physical and mental needs. The government should help families who cannot afford to provide this.

Article 28 Children have the right to an education. Discipline in schools should respect children's human dignity. Primary education should be free. Wealthier countries should help poorer countries achieve this.

Article 29 Education should develop each child's personality and talents to the full. It should encourage children to respect their parents, their cultures and other cultures.

Article 30 Children have the right to learn and use the language and customs of their families, whether or not these are shared by the majority of the people in the country where they live, as long as this does not harm others.

Article 31 Children have the right to relax, play and to join in a wide range of leisure activities.

Article 32 Governments should protect children from work that is dangerous or that might harm their health or education.

Article 33 Governments should provide ways of protecting children from dangerous drugs.

Article 34 Governments should protect children from sexual abuse.

Article 35 Governments should make sure that children are not abducted or sold.

Article 36 Children should be protected from any activities that could harm their development.

Article 37 Children who break the law should not be treated cruelly. They should not be put in a prison with adults and should be able to keep in contact with their family.

Article 38 Governments should not allow children under 15 to join the army. Children in war zones should receive special protection.

Article 39 Children who have been neglected or abused should receive special help to restore their self-respect.

Article 40 Children who are accused of breaking the law should receive legal help. Prison sentences for children should only be used for the most serious offences.

Article 41 If the laws of a particular country protects children better than the articles of the Convention, then those laws should override the Convention.

Article 42 Governments should make the Convention known to all parents and children.

The full Convention on the Rights of the Child has 54 articles in all. Articles 43-54 are about how adults and governments should work together to make sure that all children get all their rights.

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United Nations convention on the rights of the child

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Thirty years ago, world leaders made a historic commitment to the world's children by adopting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - an international agreement on childhood. It's become the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history and has helped transform children's lives around the world.

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SNAICC - National Voice for our Children

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We work to see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children grow up healthy, happy and safe, connected to culture and Community.

Who We Are

Every child deserves a solid foundation in life. Our dedication to Early Childhood Development plays an important role in ensuring that all of our children receive the best possible start for lifelong learning and success.

Early Childhood Development

Safeguarding the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is of the utmost importance. We work to establish secure environments for children and families, creating communities where they can thrive.

Child & Family Wellbeing

We are committed to bridging educational and opportunity gaps for our children. By addressing systemic inequalities, all future generations will have access to culturally appropriate education and will not be over-represented in the child welfare system.

Closing the Gap

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Early Years Support is an early childhood education and care program aimed at strengthening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled early years services, enabling them to offer high-quality, responsive and culturally strong resources for our children, families and communities.

Early Years Support

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Our programs, practices and campaigns provide a strong National Voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, proactively supporting their safety, development and wellbeing.

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SNAICC - National Voice for our Children

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SNAICC is the National Voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. Learn more about our organisation.

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Child development theories focus on explaining how children change and grow over the course of childhood. These developmental theories center on various aspects of growth, including social, emotional, and cognitive development.

The study of human development is a rich and varied subject. We all have personal experience with development, but it is sometimes difficult to understand how and why people grow, learn, and act as they do.

Why do children behave in certain ways? Is their behavior related to their age, family relationships, or individual temperaments? Developmental psychologists strive to answer such questions as well as to understand, explain, and predict behaviors that occur throughout the lifespan.

In order to understand human development, a number of different theories of child development have arisen to explain various aspects of human growth.

History of Developmental Theories

Child development that occurs from birth to adulthood was largely ignored throughout much of human history. Children were often viewed simply as small versions of adults and little attention was paid to the many advances in cognitive abilities, language usage, and physical growth that occur during childhood and adolescence.

Interest in the field of child development finally began to emerge early in the 20th century, but it tended to focus on abnormal behavior. Eventually, researchers became increasingly interested in other topics including typical child development as well as the influences on development.

More recent theories outline the developmental stages of children and identify the typical ages at which these growth milestones occur.

Why Developmental Theories are Important

Developmental theories provide a framework for thinking about human growth and learning. But why do we study development? What can we learn from psychological theories of development? If you have ever wondered about what motivates human thought and behavior, understanding these theories can provide useful insight into individuals and society.

An understanding of child development is essential because it allows us to fully appreciate the cognitive, emotional, physical, social, and educational growth that children go through from birth and into early adulthood.

Why is it important to study how children grow, learn, and change? An understanding of child development is essential because it allows us to fully appreciate the cognitive, emotional, physical, social, and educational growth that children go through from birth and into early adulthood.

7 Best-Known Developmental Theories

There are many child development theories that have been proposed by theorists and researchers. Some of the major theories of child development are known as grand theories; they attempt to describe every aspect of development, often using a stage approach. Others are known as mini-theories; they instead focus only on a fairly limited aspect of development such as cognitive or social growth.

Freud's Psychosexual Developmental Theory

Psychoanalytic theory originated with the work of Sigmund Freud. Through his clinical work with patients suffering from mental illness, Freud came to believe that childhood experiences and unconscious desires influenced behavior.

According to Freud, conflicts that occur during each of these stages can have a lifelong influence on personality and behavior. Freud proposed one of the best-known grand theories of child development.

According to Freud's psychosexual theory, child development occurs in a series of stages focused on different pleasure areas of the body. During each stage, the child encounters conflicts that play a significant role in the course of development.

His theory suggested that the energy of the libido was focused on different erogenous zones at specific stages. Failure to progress through a stage can result in fixation at that point in development, which Freud believed could have an influence on adult behavior.

So what happens as children complete each stage? And what might result if a child does poorly during a particular point in development? Successfully completing each stage leads to the development of a healthy adult personality.

Failing to resolve the conflicts of a particular stage can result in fixations that can then have an influence on adult behavior.

While some other child development theories suggest that personality continues to change and grow over the entire lifetime, Freud believed that it was early experiences that played the greatest role in shaping development. According to Freud, personality is largely set in stone by the age of five.

Erikson's Psychosocial Developmental Theory

Psychoanalytic theory was an enormously influential force during the first half of the twentieth century. Those inspired and influenced by Freud went on to expand upon Freud's ideas and develop theories of their own. Of these neo-Freudians, Erik Erikson's ideas have become perhaps the best known.

Erikson's eight-stage theory of psychosocial development describes growth and change throughout life, focusing on social interaction and conflicts that arise during different stages of development.

While Erikson's theory of psychosocial development shared some similarities with Freud's, it is dramatically different in many ways. Rather than focusing on sexual interest as a driving force in development, Erikson believed that social interaction and experience played decisive roles.

His eight-stage theory of human development described this process from infancy through death. During each stage, people are faced with a developmental conflict that impacts later functioning and further growth.

Unlike many other developmental theories, Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory focuses on development across the entire lifespan. At each stage, children and adults face a developmental crisis that serves as a major turning point.

Successfully managing the challenges of each stage leads to the emergence of a lifelong psychological virtue.

Behavioral Child Development Theories

During the first half of the twentieth century, a new school of thought known as behaviorism rose to become a dominant force within psychology. Behaviorists believed that psychology needed to focus only on observable and quantifiable behaviors in order to become a more scientific discipline.

According to the behavioral perspective, all human behavior can be described in terms of environmental influences. Some behaviorists, such as John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner, insisted that learning occurs purely through processes of association and reinforcement.

Behavioral theories of child development focus on how environmental interaction influences behavior and is based on the theories of theorists such as John B. Watson, Ivan Pavlov, and B. F. Skinner. These theories deal only with observable behaviors. Development is considered a reaction to rewards, punishments, stimuli, and reinforcement.

This theory differs considerably from other child development theories because it gives no consideration to internal thoughts or feelings. Instead, it focuses purely on how experience shapes who we are.

Two important types of learning that emerged from this approach to development are classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning involves learning by pairing a naturally occurring stimulus with a previously neutral stimulus. Operant conditioning utilizes reinforcement and punishment to modify behaviors.

Piaget's Cognitive Developmental Theory

Cognitive theory is concerned with the development of a person's thought processes. It also looks at how these thought processes influence how we understand and interact with the world.

Theorist Jean Piaget proposed one of the most influential theories of cognitive development.

Piaget proposed an idea that seems obvious now, but helped revolutionize how we think about child development: Children think differently than adults.﻿﻿

His cognitive theory seeks to describe and explain the development of thought processes and mental states. It also looks at how these thought processes influence the way we understand and interact with the world.

Piaget then proposed a theory of cognitive development to account for the steps and sequence of children's intellectual development.

Sensorimotor Stage: A period of time between birth and age two during which an infant's knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory perceptions and motor activities. Behaviors are limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli.

Pre-Operational Stage: A period between ages 2 and 6 during which a child learns to use language. During this stage, children do not yet understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information, and are unable to take the point of view of other people.

Concrete Operational Stage: A period between ages 7 and 11 during which children gain a better understanding of mental operations. Children begin thinking logically about concrete events but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.

Formal Operational Stage: A period between age 12 to adulthood when people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts. Skills such as logical thought, deductive reasoning, and systematic planning also emerge during this stage.

Bowlby's Attachment Theory

There is a great deal of research on the social development of children. John Bowbly proposed one of the earliest theories of social development. Bowlby believed that early relationships with caregivers play a major role in child development and continue to influence social relationships throughout life.

Bowlby's attachment theory suggested that children are born with an innate need to form attachments. Such attachments aid in survival by ensuring that the child receives care and protection. Not only that but these attachments are characterized by clear behavioral and motivational patterns.

In other words, both children and caregivers engage in behaviors designed to ensure proximity. Children strive to stay close and connected to their caregivers who in turn provide a safe haven and a secure base for exploration.

Researchers have also expanded upon Bowlby's original work and have suggested that a number of different attachment styles exist. Children who receive consistent support and care are more likely to develop a secure attachment style, while those who receive less reliable care may develop an ambivalent, avoidant, or disorganized style.

Bandura's Social Learning Theory

Social learning theory is based on the work of psychologist Albert Bandura. Bandura believed that the conditioning and reinforcement process could not sufficiently explain all of human learning.

For example, how can the conditioning process account for learned behaviors that have not been reinforced through classical conditioning or operant conditioning According to social learning theory, behaviors can also be learned through observation and modeling.

By observing the actions of others, including parents and peers, children develop new skills and acquire new information.

Bandura's child development theory suggests that observation plays a critical role in learning, but this observation does not necessarily need to take the form of watching a live model.﻿﻿

Instead, people can also learn by listening to verbal instructions about how to perform a behavior as well as through observing either real or fictional characters displaying behaviors in books or films.

Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory

Another psychologist named Lev Vygotsky proposed a seminal learning theory that has gone on to become very influential, especially in the field of education. Like Piaget, Vygotsky believed that children learn actively and through hands-on experiences.

His sociocultural theory also suggested that parents, caregivers, peers, and the culture at large were responsible for developing higher-order functions. In Vygotsky's view, learning is an inherently social process. Through interacting with others, learning becomes integrated into an individual's understanding of the world.

This child development theory also introduced the concept of the zone of proximal development, which is the gap between what a person can do with help and what they can do on their own. It is with the help of more knowledgeable others that people are able to progressively learn and increase their skills and scope of understanding.

A Word From Verywell

As you can see, some of psychology's best-known thinkers have developed theories to help explore and explain different aspects of child development. While not all of these theories are fully accepted today, they all had an important influence on our understanding of child development.

Today, contemporary psychologists often draw on a variety of theories and perspectives in order to understand how kids grow, behave, and think. These theories represent just a few of the different ways of thinking about child development.

In reality, fully understanding how children change and grow over the course of childhood requires looking at many different factors that influence physical and psychological growth. Genes, the environment, and the interactions between these two forces determine how kids grow physically as well as mentally.

Additional Reading

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Influential Theories About How Children Grow and Develop

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There are many development theories. Learn some of the best-known child development theories as offered by Freud, Erickson, Piaget, and other famous psychologists.

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The National Quality Standard (NQS) sets a high national benchmark for early childhood education and care and outside school hours care services in Australia.

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Under the National Law, services must deliver an educational program to all children being educated and cared for that is:

delivered in accordance with that approved learning framework

based on the developmental needs, interests and experiences of each child

designed to take into account the individual differences of each child.

National approved learning frameworks

There have been 2 national approved learning frameworks in operation under the NQF since 2012, which outline principles, practices and learning outcomes that guide educational leaders and educators in their curriculum decision-making, and assist them in planning, delivering and evaluating quality programs in early childhood and school age settings.

Following a process to refresh the national frameworks, updated versions of both national approved learning frameworks were released in early 2023.

Approved providers and their services are now encouraged to begin familiarising themselves with the updated learning frameworks and adjusting relevant aspects of their educational program and practice where needed to reflect new or amended aspects of the frameworks.

The original national learning frameworks will remain in operation alongside the updated Frameworks, until early 2024, to enable approved providers and their services time to transition to the updated learning frameworks.

Purchase hard copies of the Approved Learning Frameworks on our secure online payment portal.
Other state and territory frameworks
There are also the following approved learning frameworks specific to Victoria:

Resources to support implementation of EYLF V2.0 and MTOP V2.0

New information sheets on elements of the EYLF V2.0 and MTOP V2.0

Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework My Time, Our Place: Framework for School Age Care

What's changed in the national approved learning frameworks?

The updates to both frameworks are the results of a robust process to assess options and provide recommendations for change. This included reviewing contemporary research, comprehensive stakeholder engagement nationally, and piloting of proposed changes across a range of education and care settings.

The changes you will find in both framework documents comprise a mix of clarifications and expanded explanations across parts of the original Approved Learning Frameworks, and a smaller number of more substantial changes, including the addition of 3 new principles and updated practices across all relevant aspects of V2.0 of both national Frameworks.

The main differences you will see are a stronger connection between the frameworks and the National Quality Standard in areas such as transitions, sustainability, theoretical approaches, critical reflection, the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of being, knowing and doing, inclusion and the addition of 3 new principles.

Vision

Strengthening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives throughout the frameworks including the vision, principles, practices and outcomes

Pedagogy and educator's professional practice

Strengthening the link between the vision and planning cycle

Principles

Strengthening the principle of ongoing learning and reflective practice

Introducing a new principle promoting collaborative leadership

Introducing a new sustainability principle

Strengthening the principle of high expectations and equity

Updating the principle of secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships to include relational pedagogy

Strengthening partnerships to include other professionals

Practices

Clarifying the meaning of holistic approaches

Strengthening the connection between play-based learning and intentionality

Replacing cultural competence with cultural responsiveness

Aligning assessment and evaluation for learning development and wellbeing

Learning outcomes

Expanding and strengthening guidance to support the Outcomes

In 2020, Education Ministers commissioned an update of the 2 national approved learning frameworks.

Both frameworks have proved integral to the success of the National Quality Framework for close to a decade. The purpose of this update was to ensure they continue to reflect contemporary developments in practice and knowledge, while supporting all educators to promote the wellbeing, learning and development of each child.

After more than a decade in use, it was agreed that it's important they remain current and support effective foundations for high quality education and care, and relationships across the early childhood and school age service system.

A national Consortium led by a partnership between Macquarie University, Queensland University of Technology and Edith Cowan University was engaged by ACECQA, on behalf of all governments, to deliver the 2021 National Quality Framework (NQF) Approved Learning Frameworks Update project.

The project commenced in 2021 and was delivered over 3 stages.

In Stages 1 and 2, the  Literature Review, surveys and stakeholder feedback on the  Discussion Paper  highlighted the strengths of the original national Approved Learning Frameworks and identified areas where they could be improved.

Potential areas for improving the original frameworks were explored in the Discussion Paper, aiming to strengthen the connection between the frameworks and the National Quality Standard in areas such as transitions, sustainability, theoretical approaches, critical reflection, the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of being, knowing and doing, and inclusion.

During Stage 3, the Consortium piloted the potential updates to the 2 national Frameworks in 16 ECEC and OSHC services across Australia to inform their recommendations to governments and ACECQA on areas for improvement, and how any changes are best implemented.

The pilot sites included a diverse range of service types across jurisdictions.
Throughout the pilot, service leaders and educators provided feedback to the Consortium on the clarity, useability and efficacy of the potential updates. They also shared their insights on opportunities for further improvement and on implementation.

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Under the National Law and Regulations, services are required to base their educational program on an approved learning framework.

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The Education and Care Services National Regulations (National Regulations) support the National Law by providing detail on a range of operational requirements for an education and care service including:

the National Quality Standard (schedule 1)

application processes for provider and service approval

setting out the rating scale

the process for the rating and assessment of services against the National Quality Standard

minimum requirements relating to the operation of education and care services organised around each of the seven quality areas

staffing arrangements and qualifications

fees for a range of transactions.

jurisdiction-specific provisions

To purchase a hard copy of the regulations from The Information Management Group (TIMG):

You can contact TIMG directly at NSWLegislation@timg.com or via 02 9210 5920

Download the Western Australian Education and Care Services National Regulations.

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The Education and Care Services National Regulations (National Regulations) support the National Law by providing detail on a range of operational requirements for an education and care service including: the National Quality Standard (schedule 1) application processes for provider and service approval setting out the rating scale the process for the rating and assessment of services against the National Quality Standard minimum requirements relating to the operation of education and care services organised around each of the seven quality areas staffing arrangements and qualifications fees for a range of transactions.

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An evidence-based approach to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children in the classroom, school and home environments. Choose the implementation option to suit your school.

For a limited time, Australian primary schools can apply for a funded place and receive the Primary School Program at no direct cost to the school.

Smiling Mind is Australia's leading digital-led, prevention focussed mental health not-for-profit. Smiling Mind has been helping minds thrive for over 10 years and are the innovators behind Australia's most trusted mental wellbeing app. Our evidence-based tools support people to learn the skills to maintain their mental health in fun and interactive ways.

If you'd like to support our work, you can make a donation. Every contribution, however large or small makes a difference and we're so grateful for your support.

The Australian Mental Wellbeing Index provides a snapshot insight into the everyday mental wellbeing of Australia. It explores the factors that contribute to mental wellbeing and aims to generate a national conversation about how Australians can take a proactive approach to support mental wellbeing.

We've recently released the second annual report exploring the data collected across 2022-2023. The latest report shows young Australians aged 18-24, are experiencing poorer mental wellbeing than older age groups and poorer levels of focus and concentration may be a key driver of this.

A daily mindfulness and meditation guide at your fingertips

#1 Apple Health & Wellbeing App 2018 - Australia

Trusted by over 7.8M people

100% evidence based

FREE Programs for children and adults

We suggest 10 minutes a day

What are you waiting for?

DOWNLOAD THE APP NOW AND SEE FOR YOURSELF!

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Smiling Mind is a non-for-profit web and app-based meditation program developed by psychologists and educators to help bring mindfulness into your life.

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Our wellbeing can change moment to moment, day to day, year to year, and can be influenced by what's happening in a specific moment and the actions that we take.

As an educator, your wellbeing is important. Looking after your wellbeing puts you in a better position to support others in your care.

There is a wide range of online apps and resources that you can use to support your mental health and wellbeing. This collection of online resources offer guidance and practical strategies for educators.

You may also find these tools useful to pass on to other members of your learning community, including colleagues, children and young people, and their families.

Your wellbeing practice

Online resources can help you practise the thoughts, feelings and behaviours of good mental health. This can include:

using apps for developing skills such as mindfulness

online courses to manage challenges such as anxiety or depression

tracking your progress on the things that may positively impact your mental health (for example, exercise, nutrition and mood).

Useful resources and apps include:

This resource will help you to consider strategies and resources you can use to promote and protect your wellbeing at and outside work, and address the unique challenges you may experience as an educator.

This plan is designed to help education and early childhood students support their own mental health and wellbeing while studying, and address the challenges they may experience during their career as an educator.

This link is for an online flipbook for early learning educators. This resource will support educators to reflect on their stressors, as well as provide information on how to engage in conversations with colleagues and support wellbeing in their learning community.

Suggested activities, guidance and inspiration to help you find the balance in all areas of your life while navigating the ups and downs.

Collection of quizzes for self-assessment and apps to help with mild to moderate conditions.

The My Compass program supports you to track your wellbeing over time.

Smiling Mind is a free app designed by psychologists to support you in adopting a mindfulness practice. There are programs for stress, sleep, attention and concentration, and wellbeing among other topics.

Developed with funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, these online courses have been clinically proven to lessen anxiety and depression.

Information about mental health and wellbeing

The online space offers a wealth of information, which can make it challenging to find and interpret the best evidence-based information to build your knowledge of mental health and wellbeing.

These resources and apps help you to explore your understanding of wellbeing and mental health, and find the best strategies for you.

Information and resources on how to achieve and maintain a state of wellbeing.

Information on what a healthy work/life balance looks like and how to establish this.

This link provides tips and advice on strategies you can implement to maintain good mental health.

Head to Health is a national government directory of digital mental health resources and supports. This page provides information and resources specific to people living in rural and remote areas.

Practical information and resources to help you understand mental health and support you to manage stress in the workplace.

The Australian Indigenous Health Info Net has information and resources specific to Indigenous Australian social and emotional wellbeing.

A not-for-profit network of people and organisations committed to developing individual and community wellbeing, especially in education.

Tools for communication

Technology can help you to connect with others, share your thoughts and reach out for the support you need when you need it.

Online communication support tools include forums, phone and online chats and email, as well as crisis support. You can also find translation services online, and where to go for help for people who have a hearing or speech impairment. Use mental health and wellbeing communication tools to:

gain access to trained mental healthcare professionals

connect with others through online forums, and express your thoughts and ideas

be guided in how to have conversations in your learning community about looking after mental health and wellbeing.

Here are some useful resources and apps that provide opportunities for communicating about mental health and wellbeing.

An online community open to anyone residing in Australia with forums on topics related to mental health and wellbeing.

Access a range of free supports seven days a week. All calls and chats are one-on-one with a counsellor.

24/7 crisis support and counselling service for people affected by suicide.

MensLine is an online counselling and telephone service for all men in Australia looking for support with their wellbeing.

Life is a telephone and web chat service for members of the LGBTI community across Australia, available from 3pm - midnight every day.

RU OK? every day resources
Downloadable free resources to help you meaningfully connect with people around you and support anyone struggling with life.

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As an educator, it's important to pay attention to your own wellbeing and to seek additional support when you need it.

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National Education Leader, Rhonda Livingstone encourages you to consider your own wellbeing, and the role it plays in your work with children, families and colleagues.
'Wellbeing incorporates both physical and psychological aspects and is central to belonging, being and becoming. Without a strong sense of wellbeing, it is difficult to have a sense of belonging, to trust others and feel confident in being, and to optimistically engage in experiences that contribute to becoming'. (EYLF. Pg.33 & MTOP pg. 30)

The approved learning frameworks encourage educators to develop programs and practices which build children's strong sense of wellbeing.

In this blog, I invite you to consider your own wellbeing, and that of others within your service, and the role wellbeing plays in your important work with children, families and colleagues.

Recent international research shows that some educators have a low sense of wellbeing. Some educators report feeling worn out and feeling devalued as professionals who play an important role in providing quality education and care (Jena-Crottet, 2017).
What does educator wellbeing mean?
We know that the role of an educator in quality children's education and care is complex and multifaceted. It requires the use of specialised knowledge, a commitment to continuous improvement, and a willingness to take on the many challenges faced each day. It's a rewarding and busy job that can sometimes seem never-ending.

It is important to understand the elements that can influence an educator's sense of wellbeing. The concept of wellbeing is holistic and involves both psychological and physiological components. To experience a strong state of wellbeing, educators need to be supported to be both mentally and physically healthy. They need to experience a sense of belonging.
Developing educator wellbeing enhances quality practices
These elements of wellbeing are influenced significantly by the context of their service as well as the broader social and political landscape of Australia. A positive organisational culture assists educators to meet the demands and expectations of their role and provides a supportive environment to critically reflect on and develop quality practice.

Educator wellbeing is appearing more and more in academic research and literature as a professional responsibility for everyone within children's education and care services (Cumming & Wong, 2018).

Recent Australian studies have suggested that an educator's health and wellbeing reflects their level of professional satisfaction, including whether or not they like their job and the individual tasks within their role (Jones, Hadley & Johnstone, 2017).

These studies also identify that without effective ongoing supports in place, educators' own wellbeing can be impacted, and this contributes to high rates of educator stress, emotional exhaustion, and educators leaving the profession (Jones, Hadley & Johnstone, 2017).

Service leaders have a role to play in observing and monitoring the level of professional satisfaction of their educators, to better understand their staff and to build a well and effective team.

Contemporary research indicates that when educators are well, they can be more responsive, thoughtful and respectful as they interact and build relationships with every child (Cassidy, King, Wang, Lower & Kinterner-Duffy, 2017).
When educators have a strong sense of wellbeing they are better equipped to:
Well educators are also better positioned to meet the emotional needs of children, supporting them in self-regulation and developing resilience. These capacities are essential for building secure relationships with children ( Quality Area 5).

be responsive to every child

develop rich, respectful relationships with each child

encourage children to explore their environment and engage in play and learning

develop a deeper understanding of each child, promoting their ability to plan extensions of children's learning and development

support children to develop confidence in their ability to express themselves, work through differences, engage in new experiences, and take on challenges in play and learning.

The complex nature of educator wellbeing requires that all parties take responsibility. This includes educators, educational leaders, nominated supervisors, service leaders and approved providers.
Reflective questions to make educator wellbeing a part of the everyday
It is only through a collaborative approach that wellbeing will become a priority and an important part of practice in all children's education and care services in Australia.
Resources to build your understanding of Educator Wellbeing References

How do we encourage educators to take responsibility for ensuring, maintaining and building their own wellbeing?

When do we critically reflect on our educators' wellbeing and how can we improve it?

How do we work collaboratively with our teams to create safe and healthy learning and work environment for our educators?

What design elements in our learning spaces support educator wellbeing?

What opportunities exist for our educators and service leaders to discuss the team's wellbeing?

How do we actively create a positive workplace culture?

How do we develop a professional learning community that builds educators skills and knowledge?

What strategies can we develop to retain educators to best meet the needs of children and their families?

Cassidy, D. J. King, E. K., Wang, Y. C., Lower, J. K. & Kinterner-Duffy, V. L. (2017). Teacher work environments are toddler learning environments: Teacher professional well-being, classroom emotional support and toddlers' emotional expressions and behaviours, Early Childhood Development and Care, 187(11), 1666-1678. doi:10.1080/03004430.2016.1180516

Cumming, T. & Wong, S. (2018). Towards a holistic conception of early childhood educators' work-related wellbeing. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 1(1), 1-17 doi:10.1177/1463949118772573

Jena-Crottet, A. (2017). Early childhood teachers' emotional labour. NZ International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 20(2), 19- 33. Retrieved from: https://search-informit-com-au.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/fullText;dn=675313221536539;res=IELFSC

Jones, C., Hadley, F. & Johnstone, M. (2017). Retaining early childhood teachers: What factors contribute to high job satisfaction in early childhood settings in Australia. New Zealand International Research in Early Childhood Education Journal, 20(2), 1-18. Retrieved from: https://search-informit-com-au.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/fullText;dn=675331854507798;res=IELFSC

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ACECQA's National Education Leader, Rhonda Livingstone encourages you to consider your own wellbeing, and the role it plays in your work with children, families and colleagues. 'Wellbeing incorporates both physical and psychological aspects and is central to belonging, being and becoming. Without a strong sense of wellbeing, it is difficult to have a sense of belonging,...

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TAPS NQS PLP - Exploring reconciliation in early childhood practice Part 1 of 2

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Pinterest - Loose Parts -Nature & recycled

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Pinterest - Loose Parts -Nature & recycled

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Observing Practice Series NQS PLP - Inspired to draw - a visit to the art gallery

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Creating worldwide change isn't done with just one person; it has to involve everyone. In order to involve more people in the efforts to help the environment, it's important to get younger generations involved in the effort. By fostering a concern for the environment and sustainable habits early, parents can raise children who will be more aware of environmental issues. Though schools will teach a bit about sustainability, the real work starts much earlier at home.

By establishing good habits like recycling at a young age, those habits are more likely to stick with kids as they get older. Younger generations are already becoming more conscious consumers, and instilling environmental values at a young age will help. Encouraging an interest in the outdoors will allow them to appreciate what they love about the environment. Children are our future, so it's important to teach them about environmental issues so they can continue to help create change together.

Establishing Good Habits

It's a lot easier to establish a habit in children than to teach them a new habit as they get older. Though some green living habits won't come into play until a child gets older, there are plenty of habits for them to learn and witness in their parents. Teach them about recycling and which items go into which bin. Teach them about littering, keeping lights off, and turning off the water when they brush their teeth. If you use reusable bags to grocery shop, they will interpret that as the normal way of shopping and are more likely to do the same as an adult.

In your child's early years, try to focus on social-emotional learning in order to help them adopt a conscientious mindset. In the words of childcare experts at Kindercare, "The vast majority of brain development happens between the ages of zero to three - the perfect time for children to build the positive social-emotional skills they'll need." During these formative years, focus on teaching them foundational skills required for critical thinking, social interactions, and creativity. Later in life, these skills will enable them to analyze environmental issues, communicate those ideas to peers, and ultimately find solutions.

There are also plenty of online tools that can help to explain some of the more complex ideas behind environmental issues as your child gets older. As they age and ask more questions about the habits you teach them, these tools can help answer some of their questions in a way that your children can understand.

Raising Environmentally Conscious Consumers

Becoming environmentally conscious from a consumer standpoint was something learned for many adults. For older generations, paying attention to your own role as a consumer and how that affects the environment wasn't something many people thought about. However, parents today can change that for their children. This means focusing on recycled items, buying sustainably sourced food, finding energy-efficient appliances, and using biodegradable cleaning products. Even a few sustainable choices make a huge impact, and children tend to emulate these purchasing decisions as adults.

Being an environmentally conscious consumer is more than what you purchase; it's who you purchase from. The evolution of sustainability from government initiatives to social change and corporate leaders making sustainable products has been happening for decades. However, many companies still operate without the environment in mind. Teaching your children about researching their purchases and giving their money to companies that value environmental issues will help them to continue that practice as they get older.

Encouraging an Interest in the Outdoors

It's easier for people to care about an issue if it hits close to home for them. An emotional investment in an issue is hard to break, which is why encouraging an interest in the outdoors can be helpful for your child's future interest in environmental issues. Lead by example and provide them with activities. Take them on walks, hikes, and outings to the lake or ocean. Allow them to climb trees, look at bugs, and admire wildlife. Encourage their interest and questions and foster their appreciation. By providing them with more outdoor experiences, they will begin to associate their environment with interest and happiness.

Not only will a love for the outdoors help them to have an emotional connection to environmental issues, it'll also help them to be even more sustainable. They may be more interested in walking or biking instead of driving as they get older. They may adopt more outdoor hobbies like gardening. Not only that, but the outdoors encourage us to move more and stay healthier overall.

Children Are the Future

Each generation needs to be better than the last. Children need to learn how to protect their environment, be kind to each other, and make decisions that benefit the world as a whole. Environmental education and conservancy has been a public virtue since the 19th century, but in recent decades it's been a hotly debated topic tied to political interest and financial gain instead of science. Because of this, it's even more important to teach children about the environment and sustainability at home. Without action, the environment will suffer - and each generation along with it.

No one needs to be perfect in order to teach children about the environment. Each small, sustainable change makes an impact. It's one fewer piece of plastic in a landfill, one fewer marine animal in peril, or one fewer dollar spent on oil. Teaching children that they can make a difference will help to raise a generation of adults who are more aware and environmentally conscious than the generation before them.

It's important to teach your children about the environment at an early age because these teachings will become their normal. The environmental habits they learn, the environmentally conscious consumer choices they see, and the time they spend learning to love and appreciate the outdoors will shape them into the future of environmental sustainability.

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Children And The Environment: Why It's Important To Teach Them Young

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Creating worldwide change isn't done with just one person; it has to involve everyone. In order to involve more people in the efforts to help the environment, it's important to get younger generations involved in the effort. By fostering a concern for the environment and sustainable habits early, parents can raise children who will be more aware of environmental issues.

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Aboriginal Culture & Sustainable Practice 

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Aboriginal Culture & Sustainable Practice 

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Aboriginal Culture - Sustainable practices

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You've come to the right place. And you're not alone. Many want to learn more about Aboriginal culture, sometimes for the first time.

Creative Spirits is an extensive resource for students, teachers and those hungry to know what they weren't taught-the truth.

I've distilled hundreds of sources into in-depth articles, an ebook, infographics and multimedia for you to explore.

Start by checking if you still believe the myths you have been told. Get your free list now!

Get the myths list

Thanks for spreading the word-and thank you for your cultural sensitivity.
- Laura, Wamba Wamba people

Archived by Pandora, Australia's Web Archive, est. by the National Library of Australia.

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Helping you learn and teach about Aboriginal culture

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Creative Spirits: Learn about Aboriginal culture and browse teacher & student resources like infographics, films and music.

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Our early-STEM professional development program offers affordable, face-to-face and online workshops for early childhood educators and teachers.

The program is designed to promote confidence in facilitating STEM* learning and empower those working with children aged 3-6 years to implement playful, inquiry-based experiences in educational programs.

Our engaging play-based workshops are designed with you, the teacher, in mind and previous STEM knowledge is not required.

The workshops will provide you with a solid understanding and confidence in planning and implementing STEM learning in your service.
* STEM: science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

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Early STEM Professional Development & Workshops - Little Scientists

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Our early-STEM professional development program offers affordable, face-to-face and online workshops for early childhood educators and teachers. The program is designed to promote confidence in facilitating STEM* learning and empower those working with children aged 3-6 years to implement playful, inquiry-based experiences in educational programs. Our engaging play-based workshops are designed with you, the teacher, in mind and previous STEM knowledge is not required.

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Here's something really simple you can do to improve your child's chance of future health and success: make sure he spends plenty of time playing outside.

There are many ways in which this generation's childhood is different from that of the last generation, but one of the most abrupt contrasts is the degree to which it is being spent indoors. There are lots of reasons, including the marked increase in time spent interacting with electronic devices, the emphasis on scheduled activities and achievements, concerns about sun exposure - and, for many families, the lack of safe outdoor places to play. It's not just children; adults are spending less time outdoors as well.

Here are six crucial ways playing outside helps children:

1. Sunshine. Yes, sun exposure - especially sunburns - can increase the risk of skin cancer. But it turns out that our bodies need sun. We need sun exposure to make vitamin D, a vitamin that plays a crucial role in many body processes, from bone development to our immune system. Sun exposure also plays a role our immune system in other ways, as well as in healthy sleep - and in our mood. Our bodies work best when they get some sunshine every day.

2. Exercise. Children should be active for an hour every day, and getting outside to play is one way to be sure that happens. They can certainly exercise indoors, but sending them outdoors - especially with something like a ball or a bike - encourages active play, which is really the best exercise for children.

3. Executive function. These are the skills that help us plan, prioritize, troubleshoot, negotiate, and multitask; they are crucial for our success. Creativity falls in here, too, and using our imagination to problem-solve and entertain ourselves. These are skills that must be learned and practiced - and to do this, children need unstructured time. They need time alone and with other children, and to be allowed (perhaps forced) to make up their own games, figure things out, and amuse themselves. Being outside gives them opportunities to practice these important life skills.

4. Taking risks. Children need to take some risks. As parents, this makes us anxious; we want our children to be safe. But if we keep them in bubbles and never let them take any risks, they won't know what they can do - and they may not have the confidence and bravery to face life's inevitable risks. Yes, you can break an arm from climbing a tree - and yes, you can be humiliated when you try to make a friend and get rejected. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try; the lessons we learn from failure are just as important as those we learn from success.

5. Socialization. Children need to learn how to work together. They need to learn to make friends, how to share and cooperate, how to treat other people. If they only interact in very structured settings, such as school or sports teams, they won't - they can't - learn everything they need to know.

6. Appreciation of nature. So much of our world is changing, and not for the better. If a child grows up never walking in the woods, digging in soil, seeing animals in their habitat, climbing a mountain, playing in a stream, or staring at the endless horizon of an ocean, they may never really understand what there is to be lost. The future of our planet depends on our children; they need to learn to appreciate it.

So try it. Do what our parents did: send your children outside. Even better, go with them. And do everything you can to be sure that every child can do the same.

Follow me on Twitter @drClaire

About the Author

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6 reasons children need to play outside - Harvard Health

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Red Nose Australia - Safe Sleeping Practices for Newborns

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Latest research and information on safe sleeping for babies and young children and reducing the risk of sudden unexpected death in infancy.

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View current and previous NQF Snapshots, which provide an overview of the Australian children's education and care sector, including the progress and results of quality assessment and rating against the National Quality Standard (NQS).