REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER Dee’s Message
21 October 2022
Dear Parents and Caregivers, The term has started off in a positive, warm and affirming manner in the ELS, with the children straight back into their routines after the short break. Their happy sounds permeated the building this past week, and it was another reminder of how important it is that the children have a space in which they can feel content and cared for. We are all emotional beings. It is this which allows us to feel loved, safe and understood – and to show the same to others. It is the bedrock of every relationship and of our very being. From the earliest stages of our lives, as we try to make sense of the complexity of everything around us, our emotions play a fundamental role in shaping the person we become. Just as our emotions can be positive and affirming, so too we know that all too often they are also confusing and potentially destructive.
For this reason, it is all the more important that we assist our children to navigate their way through the often-confusing tangle of emotions they will face. In their earliest days, long before selfregulation of emotions and behaviour is possible, babies and young children rely heavily on what has been termed coregulation. The ‘scaffolding’ provided by parents, teachers and other significant adults at this stage of a child’s life is critical, as it helps to establish a solid foundation on which future emotional and social development can be built. Co-regulation can be regarded as “The ability to regulate through the comfort of another” and the “warm and responsive interactions that provide the support, coaching and modelling to children to understand, express and modulate their thoughts, feelings and behaviours.”
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
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