Welcome to my blog.

Hi Everyone, 

I am Mel from Teacher Mel’s corner. I have been teaching for these last 26 years different ages from 2 to 6 years. Currently, I am teaching 2 year olds and loving every moment of it. My hubby is also a teacher and we are parents to our two amazing boys who are also autistic. 

I created this blog  specifically for parents and teachers, to find encouragement and to feel inspired, as I believe that collaboration and co-operative teaching between parents and teachers are incredibly important. 

Have fun and chat soon.

The importance of building relationships

One of the most important things that we as teachers and parents can do for our children is to build good relationships with them. By consistently spending time with our children and showing an interest in them, they will learn to trust us as parents and teachers, naturally respond more positively.  We generally think of discipline as being strict and having punishment options in place, but if we look at the original meaning of ‘discipline’, we will see that it refers to teaching, learning and guiding.

Through the years I have found that there are two key ways to build a relationship with a child:

·         Spend time together

Spending time together should be purposeful. There are many different activities that you can do together whether in class or at home. Try reading a story together, building blocks together or playing a game together. Spending quality time with a child will give them a sense of belonging and will increase your bond.

 

·         Show interest

Show interest in your child’s life - their likes and dislikes, their friends, their favorite stories and their dreams and concerns. When a child feels noticed, they are more likely to open up and share their lives and hearts more confidently.

 

Make the time to get to know your child and to see and appreciate who they really are. You will be surprised at the difference it will make in your lifelong relationship.

Why dummies and baby bottles need to be shortlived:

Did you know that from 18 months.....

 Sucking on a dummy or bottle during a large part of our toddlers ‘awake’ period can potentially lead to other challenges later in life.

·         Communication is vital at this age and being able to correctly form certain sounds is the foundation for developing clear speech patterns. Prolonged sucking on a dummy or bottle may hinder proper development of speech patterns and result in them struggling with pronunciation or breathing while speaking or cause them to develop a lisp.

·         As their teeth and jaws are still developing, constantly sucking on something can cause teeth problems or result in them developing an overbite. 

·         Although sucking helps babies to deal with overwhelming feelings, it is incredibly important for our children to develop other ways to self-regulate at this age, such as breathing exercises, asking for help, paging through a book and talking to someone, etc.

Importance of small children feeding themselves:

From around 12 months of age (or earlier), encourage your child to feed themselves with a spoon. 

Apart from it being an age appropriate life skill, it also assist them with developing pre-reading and pre-writing skills by crossing their midline, practicing hand-eye coordination and practicing pinch finger grip and wrist movements while holding the spoon.

Some of my absolute favorite teacher blogs that I follow are:

Dear Teacher Friends, you need some inspiration? Visit or Follow these blogs:

                                     Ashley Rives from Lovely Commotion: Lovely Commotion

Jackie Kops from Pocket of Preschool: Pocket of Preschool

Sheryl Cooper from  Teaching 2 to 3 year olds: Teaching 2 to 3 year olds

Sally Haughy from Fairydust Teaching:  Fairydust Teaching

Deborah Stewart from Teach Preschool: Teach Preschool

Jamie White from Play to Learn: Play To Learn

Jamie from Preschool STEAM: Preschool STEAM

Vanessa Levin from Pre K Pages: Pre K Pages

RAISING LITTLE PEOPLE - THE YOUNG, THE FIERCE AND THE STRONG

 

As our babies start to grow and explore their world, it is natural for them to test and attempt to shift boundaries. Parents generally want to raise confident and assertive adults, but if given the choice, might prefer it if these personality traits only appear later in their lives. It’s important to remember that in many respects our little ones already have their adult character and to these little adults the limitations being forced upon them can feel just as oppressive as to an adult. Here are four tips to help battle weary parents navigate the parenting journey with a fierce and strong willed little one.

 

Tip #1: Use positive words

 

How do you describe your child? Do you use words like stubborn, wild, exhausting, cry baby or irritated? Maybe change those words to active, energetic, lively, sensitive, gentle or persistent. The latter sounds more positive and are in fact wonderful characteristics that many parents hope to see in their child.

 

Make sure that you use positive words when talking about your child, especially in front of them, no matter how frustrated you feel. When your child hears you using positive words, they will try to live up to those words because they will feel valued. 💙

 

Tip #2: Choose the right time

 

As parents, we often have bad timing. We might take our child to the shops late in the afternoon, when they are hungry or after they have had a busy day and then we get mad if they throw a tantrum. Hunger and tiredness play a major role in the behavior of small children.

 

Tantrums are not always naughty. Sometimes it is just a little person that is feeling completely overwhelmed, exhausted and hungry. Children under the age of three have an unconscious absorbent mind, which means that they are absorbing everything around them and over stimulation can happen very quickly. Their conscious absorbent mind develops between ages three and six, giving them more control over what they absorb and generally reducing their tantrums.

 

Tip #3: Change your response

 

The best thing you can do when you find yourself in a battle with your little one is to STOP, take a deep breath and instead of becoming frustrated and wanting to discipline your child, take a step back, sit down and spend a little time focusing on your child’s needs. Feed them if they are hungry or give them something to drink if they are thirsty. Sit down and cuddle them, play, build a puzzle, read a book with them and just be calm together.

 

I know that as grownups we are often in a rush to get things done and that slowing down to spend those extra couple of minutes with your little one seems counter intuitive, but it will provide you with a more peaceful evening and strengthen your bond.

 

Tip #4: Be proactive

 

Try to identify when your little one seems to struggle the most. If it is generally around 5 pm, make sure that they have a snack before that time, let them have some quiet time or have an early bath. Instead of going to the shops at this time, rather read a book with them, sit and draw a picture together or build with blocks. Making this time scheduled downtime, might just make all the difference!

 

Raising fierce and strong little ones may not always be easy and inevitably we all make mistakes, but I hope that applying these four tips will help bring more joy and ease to your journey of raising your independent and assertive little adult. 

 

HOW DO I CHOOSE THE RIGHT SCHOOL FOR MY CHILD?

FIRSTLY remember that for each child there is a school and for each school there is a child. Just as our children are individuals, so are our schools. A school’s individuality is determined by their community, staff, size, age etc.

2) Visit the school’s website and Facebook page, ask other people what they know about the specific school, look at the school’s ethos and mission and see if you as a family and your values can and will resonate with it. If you see the word ‘tolerate’, be cautious, as that does not necessarily imply unconditional acceptance. It could mean that we accept, because we have too.

3) Attend one of the school’s social events. It is inevitable that attending parents will discuss elements of the school when they get together. You will soon hear how they are talking about the school and what they are saying. This will allow you to get a feel for the school’s environment.

4) Visit the school. Have a look at all the classrooms. Look for individuality in each classroom. If a teacher isn’t able to put her individual touch on her classroom, then it is highly unlikely that children’s individuality will be encouraged.

5) Ask how children are disciplined in each grade, as you most probably are choosing a school for the long term.

6) Ask different teachers how long they have been teaching and how they are finding it. You will quickly be able to distinguish between passionate teachers and the ones who are doing it just as a job.

7) Consider whether they are teaching 21^st century skills in their curriculums, such as social, communication, self-management, research and critical thinking skills.

8) Choose schools that encourages diversity and are inclusive.

FINALLY, trust your instinct as a parent. And remember that no school or teacher is perfect. Just like with any relationship problems or issues may arise, but how it is dealt with can make all the difference. Also try to keep an open mind when you have more than one child, consider their individuality, as you may find that they belong in different schools.

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