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Home , Eldwick, Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds City Museum, Northcliffe Park

Excited for school by Lucy Blyth and Jane Courtney Mumby 1. Let’s make friends and talk

As parents we all want the best for our children, and we know that young children age 0 to 4 learn best when they have one to one care with a kind, patient, nurturing adult, and are gradually socialised with others. This helps them become confident and independent enough to attend a Nursery or pre school without us part time with one adult to 4 children when they are two years old, then one adult to 13 children when they are three years old, and then school for full days when they are four. However we also know that reality for most young families is that both parents are working as soon as they can after the birth of the child, and juggling children between private day care, family and friends.

We are both mothers, and full time Early Years practitioners, and understand the pressure parents are under, and have written this to remind us all of a few simple things we can do to support our children that will help them become well rounded, sociable, confident, resilient individuals with healthy attitudes to and appetites for learning and to have made the progress necessary for them to be ready for the changes outlined above at the ages they are required to do them.

In this first blog we are focusing on social skills and communication.

Socialising our children is a long term project, and starts at birth, and in its simplest form is very similar to socialising a puppy. In the first year of a baby’s life it should be our mission to introduce them to as many people and different environments as we can. This includes other babies, older children, adults our own age, and older people, with us there to contain any anxiety they may feel in these different situations. Once they can walk, every new place we take them to is like a new playground and alights their sense of adventure (although these will still need to be in short spells, and still with the comfort of knowing that we are close by). As they approach two and then three years old, they have heard us many times name their feelings, and our own, and are developing an understanding of their own emotions, know when they are safe and secure, and are developing confidence to venture away from us for longer periods and make their own decisions when it is appropriate.

As we said in the introduction, we often have to go to work when they are very young, and a lot of our time with our children is hurried, as we have to cram many things into evenings and weekends.

When our children go to a good day care provider, the group of children and adults that they spend their days with become a second family to them, and it is reassuring for us that they are safe, fed, cleaned, and comforted when necessary. All day care settings also take their responsibility to educate children in line with the Early Years Foundation stage curriculum very seriously, and work hard to provide experiences to promote children’s learning. They also provide young children with routine, which is very important in helping them to feel secure.

There are some learning experiences however that can only be enabled when the child has one adult’s undivided attention, and we are therefore urging all of you to accept our challenge outlined below and dedicate some regular times in the evening or at weekends to take part in activities with your child where you or your partner can give your child your undivided uninterrupted attention.

The challenge is, if you choose to accept it, is that you go on two activities a week to help your child develop their personal and social, and communication and language skills by introducing them to one new person or animal a week, and one new place each week, this must be a place where it is necessary for the two of you to interact with each other, and there is an opportunity to learn that it is necessary to behave differently depending on the places. Whenever possible, we encourage you to let them take photos of the people they have met and places they have been (but not at the expense of enjoying your time together) or collect items that will help them remember such as leaflets, leaves etc. and encourage them to show these pictures to another adult when they return home and talk about where they’ve been and who they’ve met. It would also help your child look forward to these outings if they happen on the same day and time each week (remember they love routine) and after a few outings it would help to develop their self confidence if you could let them be involved in making choices about where you go and who you meet by offering two choices.

Please also remember that wherever you go, and whatever you do, it is their special time, and is best taken at their pace. Enjoy the closeness of holding hands, make eye contact with them when you and they speak, and really listen to what they say, enjoy just being together. If they want to jump in a pile of leaves, don’t just let them, but join in, smile, let them see that you are enjoying being there too.

Some places that will promote opportunities for a variety of interactions are:

• Lode pit Lane (off Sherriff Lane) when its been raining there are great puddles here to splash in when you’re wearing wellies, and you can usually see sheep and / lambs in the fields • Play pooh sticks – find decorate and race your pooh sticks – any bridge over any river • Fly a kite – in any open space • Blow some bubbles and play with them – in any open space • Visit a café • Visit a friend or relative that has child friendly pets that you don’t have at home • Visit an allotment • Visit and indoor or outdoor market – , and all have indoor markets • A supermarket – not to shop, just to look and talk about whatever interests them • library • A ride on a bus • A ride on a train • Visit a Pet shop • Visit a bike and car parts shop • 5 rise locks – Bingley • A walk along the canal – anywhere between Bingley and children can feed the ducks, geese and swans • park • Bingley moor • Eldwick park – say hello to the horses in the adjoining fields • Shipley Glen – rocks to climb on, and can walk through the woods, and to the river • moor – to see the views from the top • Prince of Wales Park • Myrtle Park – Bingley • Roberts Park – Saltaire • – Shipley (there is a sit on miniature railway here once a month) • – Bradford • St Ives- Woods, duck pond, and play area • Cottingley woods – can be accessed from The Malt shovel Road or Cottingley • Goitstock Waterfall – Hallas Lane • • Park • Haworth steam railway • Penistone Hill Country Park – Haworth Moor • Ogden Water – Ogden on the way to Halifax • Eureka children’s museum – Halifax- £12.95 each so a bit of a treat • Park • Cononley park • Sutton Park • Park • The cow and calf rocks – Ilkley • – from Dick Hudsons there is a path that goes all the way to Ilkley (which is a bit too far for them to walk all the way, but nice to see the views, with ground nesting birds) • Skipton Park • Billy bob’s Ice cream parlour – Skipton – There is a restriction that you have to eat in the diner here before you are allowed to enter the play barn • Swinsty and Fewston reservoirs • Bolton Abbey – the only downside is the £8 parking fee • Burnsall – cheaper to park than Bolton Abbey and nice walks along the river • Hesketh Farm park - Adults £5.50 children £6.00 • Yeadon Tarn – Yeadon (see the aeroplanes taking off and landing at , and cycle or scooter around the boating lake) • The multi flight Centre – right turn just after Murgatroyds when heading towards Leeds Bradford airport (costs £1 to park) where you can see passenger planes, light aircraft, and helicopters up close, and some taking off and landing • park • Otley Chevin • Otley Chevin forest • Park - Bradford • The colour museum -Bradford • The Film and Photography museum -Bradford • Cliffe Castle -Keighley • • • Golden Acre park – Leeds • Roundhay park – Leeds • Tropical World – Leeds – Adults £5, under 5’s free • Meanwood Valley urban farm – Leeds - £2 adults, 50p for children • Farm – Leeds - Adult £3.70, child £2.40 • Go swimming together – local public pools are - Bingley pool (adult £4.50 child £2.25), Shipley pool, Keighley, Ilkley lido • Thornton Hall Farm • , House and Museum So go out there and have some fun together, and if you find any other interesting places please let us know, and we’ll add them to our list.