Halloween Life Lessons

Conversing in Lynn’s office the topic landed on Halloween.  “There are so many life lessons in Halloween,” Lynn declared, and started off on a brainstorming marathon.  I couldn’t resist joining the fun. Here is our list. 

1.  Delayed gratification:  A common question we are asked is, how much candy do we let the kids have?  It reminded both of us of the famous “marshmallow experiment” in which a researcher brought 4 year- old children into a room by themselves, positioning a marshmallow right in front them.  He then explained that if they waited 15 minutes to eat it he would return and give them another one, so that they could have two instead of just one.  Only 1 out of 3 children successfully resisted.  Following up 14 years later the researchers discovered that the children who delayed withstood the challenge had the highest high school grades, clear life plans and healthy relationships with others.  So consider dumping out that candy, allowing your child to select 7 pieces to eat and then give him the choice – eat them all immediately – or parcel them out and have one piece every day for an entire week and earn a bonus of three more!

2.  Mathematical concepts:  Candy doesn’t just have to be for eating; it can also be a tool for learning mathematical concepts like sorting, by color, size and shape.   You can also classify by type, like chocolate or not chocolate. Then all you have to do is convince the kids that chocolate of any kind is really yucky and that you would be willing to take it off their hands. Being a magnanimous person, though, you will allow them to have all of the DELICIOUS non-chocolate treats.  They can also match pieces, count and group.  Graphs could be drawn.  And then of course there is the art of negotiation.  I’ll give you one Snicker for 2 KitKats.

3.  Creative thinking:  Costumes and masks can actually be frightening to young children, as well as expensive to buy.  So why not use this as an opportunity to be creative.  Go through your old clothing.  Pull out the unused cosmetics you were convinced to buy by that great salesperson and never used again.  Create your own costumes – heck this can go on for weeks and turn into writing a play. 

Teachable moments surround us.  Enjoy! 

The Importance of Sleep

Dear Dr. Mary and Lynn:

I am a child care provider who recently heard you speak about the importance of sleep.  Presently we are waking our preschoolers after one hour of nap at parents’ requests.  Should we be doing this? 

Chelsea

Dear Chelsea:

We are so glad you wrote.  This is a very frequent question.  The parents’ concern of course is the fear that if the children nap longer they won’t fall asleep until late at night, which is a problem for everyone.  It is possible however to allow a full nap and still have an early bedtime. 

Preschoolers need on average 12 hours of sleep, so our recommendation is that you begin naptime at 12:30 PM that will allow them then to complete a full sleep cycle which is about 1.5 to 2 hours in length.  They’ll be awake at the latest by 3:30, alert and happy rather than groggy and cranky as we suspect they may be when woken after an hour which is in the middle of a sleep cycle.   Then help parents to identify their child’s “window” for nighttime sleep.  If the children awaken at 6:00 AM and nap for 1.5 hours, they still need 10.5 hours at night, which leads us to a sleep time of 7:30 PM. The bedtime routine would then begin by 7:00 PM so that they would be completely ready for sleep at 7:30. 

It’s easy to assume that if children have napped they won’t need to go to sleep until 8:00 or later and with busy schedules that’s what often ends up happening.  But by 8:00 their window for sleep has been missed and it is much more difficult for them to fall asleep.  Leading parents to assume the nap is causing the problem when the real culprit is a bedtime that is too late. 

It is really important to protect children’s sleep.  Research demonstrates that adequate sleep leads to:

¨  Higher grade point averages

¨  Better mathematical skills

¨  Higher reading scores

¨  Improved focus and attention

¨  Less conflict

¨  Fewer accidents

¨  Stronger immune systems and thus less illness

¨  Fewer cavities and gum disease

¨  Lower susceptibility to obesity

So we highly recommend letting them nap for a full sleep cycle.  Help the parents in your program understand how much sleep preschoolers really need and how important it is to maximize their growth and development.  Sleep is just as vital for our well-being as food.  We would never withhold food, let’s not withhold sleep.