Are You Prepared to Pay the Price

Nothing in life happens for free. As the saying goes, "behind every successful man is a woman.". What the saying does not do is tell you what sort of life the woman behind that successful man lives.

To be successful in daycare, you need to do two things. One is to set a goal. Your goal must be clear, realistic and achievable. There should also be a timeline to your goal. The second thing you need to do is to look at the goal you have just set and ask yourself what sort of things will you need to give up to achieve that goal.

Basically to achieve success, there is always a price to be paid. And most of the time, the price is either in the form of money or time. When you start up your business, you might require to invest a fair bit of money to start up. Some businesses require a huge investments whilst other can get away with little or no investment, such as an online business. To operate a daycare business, you'll definitely need to invest a fair bit of money into the centre, even if you are intending to operate a home day.

Other than money, you will be spending quite a bit of time building and managing your business. Most successful people work very long hours in the beginning - at least for 4-7 years. And that will definitely take a toll on one's family life. You will need to recognise that and be prepared for the sacrifices that you need to pay to achieve that goal and then go ahead and take action. As a daycare practitioner, you'll likely be spending a fair bit of time managing your daycare and ensuring that it remains profitable. Managing a daycare will require you to see to the day to day running of the day, invoicing and billing as well as payroll. And this could take up a substantial amount of time - long hours and possibly weekends.

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Why you MUST love being in daycare

It's interesting how many books and articles that I read about millionaires and successful individuals all talk about loving your job. It's very interesting because I've known of individals who stay on the job because "it pays the bills" and not because they love it. And strangely enough, these individuals are the ones that end up staying 10, 15 and even 20 years. And when I ask them what is it that they love about their jobs, their answers are "it pays the bills" or "i need to feed my family". Very seldom do I hear "because I absolutely love the job".

But looking back, these individuals are hardly successful. They stay at the job for many many years but by the time they retire, they become supervisors or at most a manager. To be at the top of the field, I do agree that loving your job is key. And how do you tell if you love your job. As Brian Tracy put it, if you were to strike a million dollars tomorrow, will you still stay at your job? And the litmus test to that questions is a yes. If a person loves his job, he will do it regardless of whether he is rich. He does it because he loves it and has a passion for that job. From a talk which I attended recently on entrepreneurship, the speaker who is a very successful entrepreneur himself said that to succeed as an entrepreneur, having passion is not enough. You need to have an obsessive passion!

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The Importance of Being Focused For Daycare Owners

Many a times we get so caught up in our tasks that we are always fire fighting instead of "functioning" Imagine this, you walk into your daycare centre with a cup of coffee and the minute you walk through the door, your staff comes running to you telling you that the cooker is not working and they are unable to prepare the children's lunch. And as you walk into your room, you see a note stuck to your computer telling you to return call to an angry parent whose child had fallen the day before in your daycare centre and another staff runs to you to hand you a checklist of the items to prepare for your daycare's open house over the weekend. All every important and needs your immediately attention so you get down to it immediately. And by the time you have solved all these problem, 2 hours have past and your coffee has turned cold. Sounds familiar?

Like I was sharing earlier, I began reading Brian Tracy's 21 Secrets of Success and in it, he shared the "law of single mindedness". The law of single mindedness advocates doing one task as a time. How often did we not try to do all the task at one time. In the scenario above, we would have looked at the checklist and try to call the repair man at the same time and immediately after, call the parent. What happens is because we were not focussed on the task at hand and is trying to juggle more than one task, we actually spend more time needing to go back to one of the task because we were unclear or it was incomplete. The law of single mindedness advocates that you should prioritise the tasks and complete one task at a time. Not only will the task be completed in a shorter time, the end result will be more thorough and less sceptible to mistakes.

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The ABCDE of Time Management For Daycare Owners

A few months back, I began listening to Brian Tracy's 21 Secrets of Success. And I must say, it is a wonderful CD. He makes complicated concepts a whole lot simpler by breaking the concept down into simpler and more manageable tasks / steps.

I would like to share with you one very useful takeway on time management from the CD. As entrepreneurs, we are always plagued by a lot of things to do. We need to look into the day to day management of the daycare centre, we need to think about the curriculum development of the daycare centre, we need to grapple with staffing issues and we need to handle difficult daycare parents and children. So many things to do and do little time, we tell ourselves that we must multi-task. Basically, try to do as many things as we can at the same time.

I was therefore an eye (or rather ear) opener to learn about the ABCDE method. Very interesting. Brian Tracy recommend that every day before you start your day (preferably the night before), spend a few minutes listing down the things that you need to do. And behind all the items, put an A,B,C,D or E next to it. A for those tasks you deem as very important, B for tasks which are important but not as important as A, etc. Then look at all the As and put a 1,2,3, etc beside it. The rule is that you must discipline yourself to finish your A1 task before you embark on your A2 task and you do not start your A3 task before you complete your A2 task, and so on. And he recommends that D tasks to be re-delegated for someone else to complete and E tasks to be eliminated.

I was a little skeptical at first but surprisingly, I loved it. Not only did I become more productive, I found myself like a little girl, happily cancelling off tasks which I had completed and I know I wouldn't need to look at again. It was a great morale booster.

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For tips and info on daycare mgmt, visit http://www.setupadaycare.com/

Appreciating The Different Modes of Learning In Daycare Children

There are 3 main types of learners. The auditory learner, the visual learner and the kinetic learner.

Auditory Learner
An auditory learner learns best through listening. They are the ones in class to enjoy listening to the teacher tell a story. They derive knowledge and meaning by listening to the teacher talk about the topic or participate in discussions, with a small or large group, about the topic. To help them learn better, music without words can be played in the background.

Visual Learner
A visual learner learns best through seeing. They are the ones who examine the pictures in the story book during a story session. They derive knowledge and meaning by seeing the content, either in word or graphical format or watching a demonstration. To help them to learn better, present the content in a graph, picture, diagram or video.

Kinesthetic Learner
A kinesthetic learner learns best through a hands-on approach. They are the one who are easily distracted and find it hard to sit still for long periods of time during storytelling. They need to be constantly on the move. They derive knowledge and meaning by moving, doing or touching the object. To help them to learn better, they need to be able to explore the content, either via field trips or physically manipulate an object related to the content.

Role of a Daycare Teacher
So what does that mean for a daycare teacher? Should the daycare teacher involve all three elements of learning styles in their teaching? That is, enable to child to be able to touch, see and “feel” the content. The answer is no. The daycare teacher should focus on the content’s best mode of delivery rather than the child’s. Therefore, it is imperative that the teacher think carefully which mode of presentation, be it auditory, visual or kinesthetic, will help the child to understand the content best.

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For tips and info on daycare mgmt, visit http://www.setupadaycare.com/

Helping Daycare Teachers Understand The Types of Learning Styles

There are 3 main types of learners. The auditory learner, the visual learner and the kinesthetic learner.

The Auditory Learner
An auditory learns best through listening. They are the ones in class that enjoy listening to the daycare teacher during storytime. They derive knowledge and meaning by listening to the daycare teacher talk about the topic or participate in discussions, with a small or large group, about the topic. To help them learn better, music without words can be played in the background.

The Visual Learner
A visual learning learns best through seeing. They are the ones who examine the pictures in the storybook during a story session. They derive knowledge and meaning by seeing the content, either in word or graphical format or watching a demonstration. To help them to learn better, the daycare teacher can present the content in a graph, picture, diagram or video.

The Kinesthetic Learner
The last type of learner is the kinesthetic learner. A kinesthetic learner learns best through a hands-on approach. They are the one who are easily distracted and find it hard to sit still for long periods of time, especially during storytelling. They need to be constantly on the move. They derive knowledge and meaning by moving, doing or touching the object. To help them to learn better, they need to be able to explore the content, either via field trips or physically touch or manipulate an object related to the content.

Role of a Daycare Teacher
So what does that mean for a daycare teacher? Should the daycare teacher involve all three elements of learning styles in their teaching? That is, enable the children to be able to touch, see and “feel” the content at every juncture. The answer is no. Whilst it is important for the daycare teacher to know and understand the different learning styles a child possesses, it is more important for the daycare teacher to be able to appreciate the different learning styles. The daycare teacher should focus on the content’s best mode of delivery rather than the child’s. That means that the daycare teacher think carefully which mode of presentation, be it auditory, visual or kinesthetic, will help the child to understand the content best. Some content or knowledge are better understood when a child listens to it, some content are better understood via pictures whilst some content are best understood when a child adopts a hands on approach.

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For tips and info on daycare mgmt, visit http://www.setupadaycare.com/

How Daycare Teachers Can Help Children Solve Problems Using Prior Knowledge

In trying to solve a problem, especially one that is new or slightly more complex, a child usually gets frustrated and becomes upset. One very important role a daycare teacher plays in that situation is helping the child cope with the challenge. And as daycare teacher or parents, many a times we will rush in and “rescue” them by showing show them how it should be done, in a bid to help them to learn as well as to overcome that obstacle. In doing so, we might have increased the child’s exposure to how the problem can be overcome but fail to develop a child’s problem solving skills to its potential.

Using Prior Knowledge in Problem Solving
To ensure that a child capitalise on the problem solving opportunity, the daycare teacher can assist the child to see how the new problem relates back to some knowledge which he already possess (prior knowledge) or is familiar with. Then, help him to think about how he can leverage on that prior knowledge to solve the new problem.

Limitation of Using Prior Knowledge in Problem Solving
However, whilst the use of prior knowledge is key to problem solving, it is important for the daycare teacher to note that, sometimes prior knowledge can also stand in the way of the acquisition of new knowledge.

A daycare teacher should be aware that in certain situations, the solution to solving a problem can conflict with the solution of a problem of a similar nature. For example, the mathematical rule for natural numbers cannot be applied to fractions. Although this issue seems more prevalent in problems of mathematical and scientific nature, it can also occur in problems of all subject areas.

Overcoming the Limitations of Prior Knowledge
The daycare teacher must facilitate the child’s problem solving skills in those situations by acknowledging the prior knowledge that they currently possess and build up on that knowledge to restructure or re-address the problem. The child should be provided with ample opportunities to explore and better understand the conflict. The process of having the child understand the conflicting problem and reconcile the prior knowledge with the new knowledge that he has gathered could take time and therefore provision must be made to allow that additional leadtime, else it could lead to confusion for the child.

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For tips and info on daycare mgmt, visit http://www.setupadaycare.com/

Developing Problem Solving Skills Amongst Daycare Children

It was very interesting to learn that children are naturally curious creatures and will capitalise on any opportunity to expand their knowledge and enhance their skill sets. They enjoy being in an environment where they are able to challenge their own problem skills - attempting to solve problems presented to them by learning from past mistakes and building upon past successes. Daycare teachers should take advantage of this trait and cultivate their motivation to explore, succeed, understand (Piaget, 1978) and harness knowledge.

Role of A Daycare Teacher
We know that a child enjoys solving problems as part of his learning but how does a daycare teacher take advantage of that fascination to motivate and enrich a child’s learning?

By providing a very complex problem in the hope that the child will reach a higher level of learning is definitely not realistic. It’ll not only frustrate the child, the child will deem learning as an impossible task and dread it rather than as a challenge to be overcome.

A daycare teacher can aid the child to maximise a problem solving situation by providing the child with the appropriate support or scaffolds. The daycare teacher should aim to provide the child with interesting and challenging but age appropriate problems for the child to solve. The problem should generate interest in the child about the activity whilst at the same time, maintaining the element of challenge in the task.

The daycare teacher should also be prepared to manage a child’s frustration or emotion which he may exhibit in trying to complete the task. To aid the child, the daycare teacher can try to simplify the tasks required and/or encourage him to explore the “ideal” path / process towards solving the problem.

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For tips and info on daycare mgmt, visit http://www.setupadaycare.com/

Role of Social Interaction in Daycare Learning

I’ve always learnt that what a child learns in the first 6 years of his life is very important and I believe that it is probably common knowledge to all. But it was interesting to find out from an article that a child’s learning should not be done in isolation. In fact, the adult-child relationship also play a very important role in the learning process.

Research has indicated that social participation is the main activity through which learning occurs and children are more motivated to learn in an environment where social interaction is high. Parents and daycare teacher should therefore make provision to engage in age appropriate activities with their children, both to facilitate their learning as well as to encourage learning. Many key skills such as language skills and cognitive skills require a relatively high level of communication and interaction with adults. And such communications are important as it will lay the foundation for the child’s early learning abilities.

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Encourage Self Directed Learning in Daycare Children

Research have shown that most children are self directed learners. They demonstrate a desire to engage themselves in situations where they can enrich their knowledge and enhance their skill sets. So what exactly is self directed learning? According to Abdullah (2001), self directed learners are “owners and managers of their own learning process”. What does that mean for a daycare teacher or an educator? To inculcate self directed learning, a daycare teacher need to offload some of the responsibilities for learning from themselves to the learner (student).

Too Teacher-Directive Is Bad
Studies have shown that too much teacher-directed activity undermines a young child’s self confidence and motivation to learn. Children are more likely to benefit from an environment where the educational activity supports their own interests and ideas. When a child chooses his own activity, learning becomes enjoyable for him because it is based on his own interest and it gives him a sense of competence. And according to White, 1959; Yarrow and Messer, 1983; Dichter-Blancher et al., 1997, learning thrives best when there is no external pressure to improve and no feedback or reward other than pure satisfaction--sometimes called achievement or competence motivation.

How To Promote Self Directed Learning?
So how can a daycare environment encourage self directed learning? One way is to set up a few activity corners within the centre such as reading, drawing, art and craft, music and drama, etc and encourage the children to select their own corner and engage themselves in the activities with minimal supervision.

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For tips and info on daycare mgmt, visit http://www.setupadaycare.com/

Helping Children in Daycare Appreciate the Value of Knowledge

Whilst reading up on how a child learn, I came across this really interesting article. And according to the article, children have their own perceptions of how they view learning and intelligence, which will impact the way in which they learn.

Entity vs Incremental Theory
In the article, it is highlighted that children subscribe to either an entity theorist approach or an incremental theorist approach. Entity theorists are individuals who prefer to stay within their comfort zone to continue receiving positive judgements of their competence. They strive to perform well and tend to avoid situations / challenges which can or will put them in a poor light. They show little persistence in the face of failure. Incremental theorists, in contrast, demonstrate a high level of persistence and seek to increase their competence through overcoming challenges. They believe that intelligence can be improved by effort and will.

However, it is highly unlikely that a child is an extreme entity theorist or extreme incremental theorist in all learning situations. It's more likely that the child may simultaneously demonstrate traits of both theories in different learning situations or for different subject matters e.g. an incremental theorist in science and an entity theorists in mathematics.

Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Motivation
I found another reading on a similar theory - extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. In the reading, it states that an extrinsically motivated child looks to positive reward such as praise, high grades, etc as motivation to learn (entity theorist) whilst an intrinsically motivated child do so without any rewards, thereby demonstrating a better appreciation of the value of learning (incremental theorist).

Both articles seems to suggest that a child should learn to appreciate the value of learning and be motivated by the sheer knowledge that the activity will enhance his intelligence and competence (intrinsic motivation / incremental theorist). That form of attitude encourages self directed learning, and if I could add, towards a lifelong learning attitude, which is probably the goal of most parents and daycare teachers as it is a skill which will serve them well throughout their lives.

Role of A Daycare Teacher
Both articles also highlighted the key role a daycare teacher plays in a child’s learning. The way a child learns and his attitude towards learning is largely dependent on what he is exposed to on a day to day basis.

A daycare teacher can inculcate a more intrinsic learning attitude by leveraging on the child’s need to develop his problem solving skills and providing interesting and challenging but age appropriate problems for the child to solve, recognising the child’s achievement and attributing it to an internal attribute such as the child’s effort or intelligence, helping the child believe in himself by offering praises and encouragement of a job well done, refraining from grouping children with similar abilities together and promoting co-operative/ collaborative rather than competitive learning as competitive learning seems to steer towards the development of an extrinsically motivated child.

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For tips and info on daycare mgmt, visit http://www.setupadaycare.com/

Promoting Learning Through Play in Daycare

When I was pregnant my son, I remembered asking a friend of mine who had sent her 30 month old son to daycare what her son does her 2 1/2 year old does in school. She thought for a moment and answered "All they do is play all day". When my son was a little older, I remembered watching him and was amazed at how purposeful he played. Every block he stacks with a purpose. Even rolling his toy car across the carpet seemed purposeful. He'd imagine lanes and traffic lights as his toy cars zipped across carpet, only to have all of them congregate at one corner of the room as that was the car park where all the cars were suppoed to be parked. It was then that I truly appreciated the role of play in a pre-schoolers life.

There are so many reasons why he needed to play. He uses play to practise his motor skills, to build on his imagination, to develop ideas about how the world around him works and even critical thinking skills. Play is basically how they learn and it is important for educators to recognise the role of play in a pre-schoolers learning journey and the effectiveness of learning through play.

Learning Through Play
But is learning through play effective? Well.... let's try this. Try to recall a song we really love. Whenever we hear that song and it will bring back certain memories and elicit a certain response from us, either feelings of anger, fear, sadness or happiness. We have somewhat been "conditioned" to associate that particular song with a certain memory and therefore it elicits a certain reaction. In psychology, that is called classical conditioning.

Therefore, in learning through play, a child learns to associate the act of learning with something positive, and for pre-schoolers and toddlers, nothing is more positive than playing and having fun.

Role of A Daycare Teacher
To teach through play, the daycare teacher needs to be able to respond to a child at play and enhance and guide his learning. For example, when a child is playing with his favourite toy truck, the daycare teacher should take the opportunity to introduce new words or concepts associated with the truck e.g.
* increase the child's vocabulary by teaching him new words associated with the truck
* teach him about the world around him by sharing with him about the various functions of a truck
* encourage his imagination by asking him to create a story or a song related about the truck

Learning through play requires the daycare teacher to look beyond learning outcomes, i.e. not pegging a child's development to how much they have learnt, and focus on moulding learning attitudes.

Not only must daycare teachers be educated about the benefits of learning through play, the school should also be responsible for educating the parents about the positive benefits of learning through play and seek to mould a generation of lifelong learners.

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For tips and info on daycare mgmt, visit http://www.setupadaycare.com/