The ABC of Child Care: W is for…

…the Whole Child

Each child is an individual with unique interests and abilities, strengths and weaknesses. It is therefore important that the child care learning program provides a place for all children to learn, across all areas of their development. It should be clear to parents how a centre provides for children’s learning within each of the following developmental areas;

Cognitive: developing thinking and reasoning skills

Language: speaking and listening development, and all areas of literacy

Physical: experiences which develop both gross motor skills involving large body muscles and movements (e.g. kicking, running, hopping) and fine motor skills involving small movements of the fingers, hands, wrists in co-ordination with the eyes (e.g. drawing, threading, sewing)

Creativity: a wide range of creative experiences representing art, music, dance and drama

Social: supporting children of all ages in their development of self as a member of a community

Emotional: learning to recognise and express emotions in socially acceptable ways.

In appreciating the individuality of each child, educators should recognise that there is not one way, but indeed many ways, for an individual to achieve learning outcomes, and as such show awareness of and sensitivity to the;

  • Developmental stage,
  • Knowledge, skills and interests,
  • Strengths and areas of need,
  • Family and cultural background,
  • Motivations and experiences, and
  • Values and beliefs

… of each child within their care. Each child as an individual and equipped with limitless learning potential.

The ABC of Child Care series of posts aims to illustrate for parents what quality child care looks like in practice as both a tool for parents looking for child care for the first time and as a resource for all parents with children in care. As someone who ran a high quality centre for many years, I believe we all share a responsibility to ask questions and expect results when it comes to the environment and people caring for and educating our youngest and most impressionable citizens.

Find the other posts in the ABC of Child Care series here.

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3 Comments

  1. something you may have already thought of but your ABCs have the making of a small book/booklet you could self publish as a guide for parents (all ABC posts in one document with suitable images and maybe other tips re child care from the point of view of a child care worker/now parent eg what to pack, ways to keep communication open with staff, settling a child in to care, trouble shooting common probs in care, suitable meals to pack, what to expect etc)

    Just thinking out loud

  2. something you may have already thought of but your ABCs have the making of a small book/booklet you could self publish as a guide for parents (all ABC posts in one document with suitable images and maybe other tips re child care from the point of view of a child care worker/now parent eg what to pack, ways to keep communication open with staff, settling a child in to care, trouble shooting common probs in care, suitable meals to pack, what to expect etc)

    Just thinking out loud

  3. Anonymous says:

    Love Michele's idea. We have posted links to each of your ABCs posts in our weekly e-zine, Parenting News You Can Use. W is for Whole Child will be in the July 13th issue. Your readers may subscribe to Parenting News for free at http://www.WholeHeartedParenting.com.

    Thanks –
    Maggie Macaulay, MS Ed

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