May you have a sweet New Year!

As many of you might have heard this year the Tot congregants at Temple Emanu-El of Tucson got to share Yom Kippur with Adam Sandler.  This was a pleasant surprise.  Sitting in the Tot service I was surrounded by many young children and their families.  Rabbi Holtz called up two children to open the ark.  I watched as these two children excitingly had a part in the service and parents proudly took videos and pictures on their phones.  I looked over at one proud dad and thought, "that looks like Adam Sandler."  Turns out; it was.
He later went into the Strauss ECE classrooms where he talked with our teachers and played with his children.  Our teachers, who were trying to stay cool were awe strucked; while the children just went on playing.  The truth is, to children teachers are the 'movie stars.'  Sometimes I am fortunate enough to teach one of the classroom while a teacher is out on vacation.  My daughter is so excited and proud that I am a teacher.  She is excited to tell everyone (when I am in the office, it does not count).  What a role model our teachers are for our children.  I am extremely proud of the teachers we have at the Strauss ECE.  Sandler also told the teachers what a hard job they had and was very appreciative of them.  I think that there are times that parents are 'movie stars' too in their child's eye.  Parents are also wonderful examples for their children. 
I wish everyone a sweet and happy new year.  I hope that in a child's eye you are 'movie star' even if it is just a moment.

Rainy day activities

Josie feeding cake to the dinosaur.

This week I got to spend some time in Egooanot; our three year classroom.  I always love when I get to be in the classroom!  First we had circle time, then snack and then they were playing at the different centers.  At the beginning this playing was going great; then I could see the children were starting to get restless.  I then pulled out the floam.  That stuff is magical.  Slowly, one by one the whole class came to the table and was playing with the floam.  Piper, Bella and Eloise were making ice cream, Josie fed a dinosaur cake that Ilana and Jana helped her to make.  Marshall pretended to put cotton balls in a cup for his mother (I had to promise to take a picture to show her when it came time to clean up) and Jack and Sam were driving cars over it the floam like it was a road.  I enjoyed watching the children in their play.  They went and gathered items from all over the room to help with what they were doing.  I think they would have been content playing with the floam for hours.  But, sure enough it was Egooanot's classroom turn to go outside so we cleaned up.

The red cup is the cotton balls for Marshall's mommy.

This activity seemed like a great rainy day activity and with monsoon season still here I thought I might share a few more ideas with you.  

1.  Keep a stash a never seen objects (party favors are great to stash away).  An object that has never been played with can occupy a child for a while.

2.  See how long you can keep a balloon in the air or toss it around depending on the age.

3.  Playdough is another good one.

4.  Have a dance party and dance to music.

5.  Cook something together. 

The more books the better!

My husband constantly tells me, "don't we have enough books!"  My answer is always, "No!"  It is true we have many, many, many children's books in our house, and I will confess that I do have a book compulsion; but in terms of books I don't think you can have too many.
Each one of our classrooms is full of books.  There is a reading center as well as related books in every center.  These books are also rotated out from our very own library.  We are very fortunate to have some of our books donated by families when their children has out grown some books, or from when families buy books from scholastic book orders and as well as when they our bought off of a classroom wish list from our annual book fair.  We have also gotten a good bulk of our books from Makeway For Books.  It is a great organization who came into our school and looked at what books we needed and brought in some fabulous books to our center at no cost to us.  Their website is also a great resource about reading books to young children http://makewayforbooks.org/.   I am always happy see lots and lots of reading going on in our school thanks to all our many books and our wonderful teachers.
When talking to someone about my book compulsion they said me, "how are children going to learn to read without having books around?"  I realize that children will probably learn to read if they aren't surrounded by books, but I think it comes more natural when those books are around you and apart of your daily routine.  There are some great ways to fill your house with books without spending a great deal of money.
1.  Did you know that PJ Library is another great organization that your child can receive some fabulous Jewish books.  There are some great programming that goes along with this.  Both my children look forward to every month when they receive their book in the mail and we look forward to reading it that night.  This is a grant funded program, so the books are free to you for two years.   Check them out here and sign up  http://www.pjlibrary.org/communities/southern-arizona. 
2.  Have your checked out the scholastic book orders?  You can find the book orders in your child's mailbox.  There are some great books for reasonable prices.  There is a $1 book in every book order.  Check it out.
3.  When I take my children to the pediatrician they always receive a book there through another organization called Reach Out and Read. http://www.reachoutandread.org/
4.  You can always borrow books from our classrooms or school library.
5.  There is always the our public library!
6.  There are the bargain sections at books stores as well as bookmans.
I feel so happy that there are so many organizations that feel books our important in young children's hands. So I will continue to fill my house with books and as well as our classrooms.

In The Car

It is no secret that we do not live real close to the school.  In fact, we drive 30 minutes to school and then back every day.  I feel like I am always in the car!  There was a point when my oldest was a baby (and all the way until she learned to talk) when riding in the car was torture because all she did was cry the whole way.  When most babies loved the car; she hated it!  I would sing songs or do whatever I could to block it out because I knew she was ok and there was not much I could do.  We have no choice, we have to go from here to there.
Those days are behind us and now I actually enjoy being in the car.  My youngest thankfully does not mind the car and my oldest has come to enjoy the ride.  Our rides are spent with stories, songs and games.  Here are a few suggestions to make a longer car ride with young children manageable:
1.  Have familiar songs/ Cd's in the car.  You could play the same CD over and over again so it becomes more familiar to them.  Don't be afraid to sing-a-long with them
2.  Have a basket of toys and rotate them out on occasion.  I try to stick to only what fits in the baskets or toys can take over my car. (a book, two toy animals or people; two, so they can play together, a magnetic drawing board, something cuddly, a toy phone are some good suggestions)
3.  Have a water cup and a small snack.
4.  A mirror for an infant is helpful; especially when they are at the age where they like to see themselves.
5.  If your child uses a pacifier; have it available where they can reach it.  A binky leash is always good.
6.  If at all possible for an infant, have them feed and changed before getting in the car.
7.  We like to change the words to songs and sing them.  For example; we sing BINGO, but change the name of the dog to any dog we know.  It gets to be pretty silly and fun.
8.  I also like talking to my daughter about her day or what we are going to do.  We also like to reminisce about things she has done in the past or when she was a baby.
9.  Play Eye spy.  You might have to change it a little for example; I say, "I spy with my little eye something that is real tall, it is brown on the bottom and green on top."
10. For an infant, a toy that rattles and one that they can chew on are helpful to have when they are old enough to play or grasp.
Although I really do enjoy interacting with my children.  Sometimes I just enjoy the silence in the car when Ellie is zoned out and Nate is sleeping and I can just think in peace.  Sometimes I even get to have a turn listening to my own music; pony music we call it.
 

Parenting Styles

When I was little I always wanted to be a 'mommy.' I also had idea of how I wanted to parent.  Ohh...how quickly my ideas changed as I acaully become a mother.  And even parenting beliefs I had with my first child have changed with the second.
Why are things so different?  I am the same person.  Have a compromised anything making these changes?  Is my first child better off than my second?  Is my friend's child going to be a more well rounded than mine?  Of course not!  Every child is different and our lives are constantly changing.  We need to make choices based on our children's individual needs as well as what works best for our family.  As our children change and our family's lifestyle change; we should accommodate our parenting style accordingly. 
 We have all kinds of parenting styles at the Strauss ECE; neither good nor bad; just different.  When becoming a parent, I have gained appreciation for the different styles.  I realize that different things work for different families.
Today I gave a tour  to a prospective family where a parent asked if we would honor her parenting style and beliefs.  This got me thinking about how much we are constantly thinking about parenting.  Truly we are just guessing our way through each stage and each phase and hoping we are making good choices for our children.  We might read articles and blogs, talk with other parents and teachers or even our mothers.  Then we take this information we have learned and go with our gut.  We always want to do what we feel is right for our children and truly; in the end, if they are happy; we have succeeded.
The Strauss ECE will always support you in your  parenting beliefs.  We enjoy collaborating with you in helping your child succeed.