REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
Dee’s Message
17 June 2022
Dear Parents and Caregivers, It is probably true that most of us prefer a degree of predictability and routine to our lives. While there is always room for spontaneity and the excitement of stepping out beyond our daily tasks, there is no doubt that structure and routine gives our lives a solid framework from which to launch our daily activities. This is no less so for young children, who can often find change overwhelming, especially as they are still in the process of making sense of a complex world. The Early Years Learning Framework has as its first outcome the focus on a “sense of identity” for children and listed right at the top of how we might help them achieve this is that they should feel “safe, secure and supported”. One way of doing this is to “use effective routines to help make predicted transitions smoothly”.
Most parents can think of a moment where one of these “predicted transitions” hasn’t gone all that smoothly for their child – breaking away from play to have a bath, or leaving a friend’s house to return home, or getting into the car early in the morning to go to school. Being able to move from one activity to another can often create tension and unhappiness, and as such, using routines can be a useful form of scaffolding to help children through these moments of transition in their daily activities. Routines and rituals are part of all of our lives, so much so that most of us don’t even notice them anymore. However, these still have to be learned by children. They are, as one person has said, “a powerful way of using gestures, actions and behaviour to bring positive energy and intention to our daily rhythms.”
REDDAM EARLY LEARNING SCHOOL | WOOLLAHRA NEWSLETTER
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