Early Childhood Education: More than Just Daycare- Dan with Primrose Schools
Early Childhood Education: More than Just Daycare
For over 25 years, Primrose has helped individuals achieve higher levels of success by providing them with an AdvancED® accredited, early child care services and education. Through an accelerated Balanced Learning® curriculum, Primrose Schools students are exposed to a widely diverse range of subject matter giving them a much greater opportunity to develop mentally, physically and socially. Dan has written a number of articles on topics varying from bilingual learning to teaching the importance of volunteering.
Single parents often work long hours at multiple jobs just to make ends meet. This unfortunate necessity often leads them to enroll their child in some form of daycare or some other form of childcare like friends and family. A quality daycare will provide a safe and nurturing environment for a toddler or preschooler, but is that enough? Should early childcare facilities provide more?
Some parents are fortunate enough to have friends and family who are willing to take on the responsibility of caring for a child while the parent is at work, but they must wonder if their child’s educational needs are being met. There is little doubt that the child is in a caring environment when left with friends and family. They are safe, and if entrusted to a doting Grandma, well fed, and smothered with hugs and kisses throughout the day. Unfortunately, in order to meet their full potential, children require more than just love and healthy snacks. They require constant stimulation in the form of educational activities designed to improve their cognitive function. These types of activities are not always available in traditional forms of childcare.
The Foundation Is Laid On Day One
Lawmakers have recently paid lip service to the necessity of early childhood development. “Every child will enter school ready to learn,” they cry during an election year, but no one ever seems to have a coherent plan to accomplish this goal. It has long been the position of long time educators and child development specialists that what occurs during the first five years of a child’s life has a lasting effect on how they will perform in school and throughout their lives.
Researchers have even posited that a child begins learning while still in the womb. They suggest that during the last trimester, playing music as well as talking to unborn children will prove beneficial. That is how impressionable the human brain is during the early stages of life. During the first five years of life, the human brain undergoes a period of rapid development. It can is said that a child’s life is shaped by what occurs during the first five years. Skills and traits such as ability with languages and math, social interaction, personality, are developed during this period. This is when the soft clay of the brain is molded into its final form.
The Benefits of Early Childhood Development Programs
Studies prove that as little as one year of participation in a certified preschool program that make use of age appropriate activities and games that facilitate cognitive development greatly improves a child’s chance of success upon entering kindergarten. Children who participate in these types of programs display superior reading, writing, mathematic, and social skills in comparison to children who did not have the same opportunity. Preschool programs lay a superb foundation for future success. The benefits of this type of early development program will truly last a lifetime. Children exposed to this type of early learning opportunity are much more likely to succeed as adults in the increasingly an increasingly cutthroat world.
Submitted by Dan Gilbert on behalf of Primrose Schools.
We are so excited to share with you a dear friend of ours as our Featured Guest Blogger this week…enjoy!
First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Phyllis Burnett. I’m a sales representative for “The DFW Kid’s Directory”. If you’ve been in a pediatrician’s office or OB office, you’ve probably seen one of these family resource guides lying around on a table or on a counter. We are celebrating 21 years in publication in May! We’re very proud of our little magazine and know we help moms, dads and grandparents all over the Dallas and Fort Worth areas for many of their family’s needs. The “DFW Kid’s Directory” holds a special place in my heart because 21 years ago, it gave me the opportunity to leave a fast paced, high pressure advertising sales job to be at home part-time with my then 5 year old daughter and 4 week old son. My prayers were surely answered when I was able to not only, no longer work 50 plus hours a week, but make friends with some wonderful people along the way!
When using a “Kid’s Directory”, you’ll find mom friendly, super helpful, lovely people working in all of the businesses! Business owners, such as Deb at “bedazzled”! Deb is a mother of 2 grown children and grandmother to 3 precious little ones. Deb and her staff are sweet, friendly and will give you personal service to insure you have that comfy, cozy, beautiful nursery that you and your baby will love spending time with each other in. I no longer consider Deb and her staff as business associates, but as great friends. I think you’re going to love them too! Also, you can find a copy of the current “Kid’s Directory” issue at bedazzled!
You can also find the latest issue online at www.dfwkidsdirectory.com . Be sure and check out our new coupon section! We’re adding more and more every week!
In closing, I hope I get to blog with you again, and I’ll leave you with the best bit of advice I was ever given as a mom: “When your kids are little, you talk to them about Jesus, and when your kids are big, you talk to Jesus about them.”
Many blessings to you and your family,
Phyllis
Phyllis Burnett
Sales and Distribution, “DFW Kid’s Directory”
My Mourning Into Dancing
I am a sexy, daring 20-something living it up in Dallas!!! …Okay, not really… I’m actually a 20-something stay-at-home mother of two crazy and wonderful children in little ol’ Flower Mound 
And I LOVE it!
My story starts around 2005 when my husband and I had been married for a couple of years and we were ready to “start a family”. Like many of my friends and family I expected to get off the pill, take a little sexy vacay and BOOM… we’re pregnant with our first little rugrat! But, much to my dismay, we ended up trying for several years with no success. My husband and I are extremely healthy, young and active so this really turned our lives upside-down. Many tests and fertility treatments left us with the diagnosis of “unexplained infertility”.
During the years of our infertility our marriage and our faith was really put to the test. Thankfully God allowed my husband and I to grow closer to each other and learn to open up to each other more because of our mourning. God also allowed our faith to grow in Him… even through the suffering.
And now I can look back and say that God really did turn our mourning into dancing!!! In March of 2008 we decided to pursue adoption and on May 13th our perfect little Lilian Grace was born. As soon as we laid eyes on her we knew she was ours. It was the most amazing feeling in the world! Although my body had not taken a beating from birthing a child, my heart sure had. And finally getting to hold our precious daughter healed my aching and bruised soul. Thirteen (very short!) months later our son Jaxon David was born!! Lily and Jaxon are actually biological siblings because they have the same birth-mother and birth-father so they look exactly alike and have so many similar characteristics! Even though these two little angels didn’t come from my body or from my gene pool, they are very much OURS. They act like us, talk like us, laugh like us… and they are crazy like us
Infertility was an extremely painful process we went through, but in the end we are so thankful because we wouldn’t have Lily and Jaxon!!
So I’m sorry if you thought this was going to be a story about a young, sexy woman out on the town… but this is a baby blog after all. And I certainly still get to go dancing and be fun and daring. It’s just normally in my pajamas standing with my 2 year old and 1 year old on our coffee table dancing to Imagination Movers 
XOXO,
Shelby
With technology now days there seems to be a new “must read” blog popping up every minute and with children, who really has time to read them all? Well, The Bump has gone through and simplified a few things for us. They, after great study, alot of conversations and a great deal of time have narrowed down the best blogs for mom based on categories. They have the best Fertility blog, best Pregnancy blog, the best adoption blog and the list goes on and on. Click here to check out the full list of Must Read Blogs by the experts!
We, of course, what to know what you think? What are your thoughts on these blogs? Do you have a Must Read blog you want to share with other be-dazzled readers? Please leave a comment and share the love! We hope that you have a wonderful week!
~Your be-dazzled girls
“The Business of Being Mom”
I love what I do! I love being a mom and I love my job as a photographer. Both are full time jobs! I run my own business, based out of my home for now, and I stay at home with my kids during the week while my husband works outside of the home. Working from home. Who said it was supposed to be easy? I think that most work at home moms have been caught off guard by the challenges of working from home and/or running a business while also filling the role of “mom”. I’m pretty sure that when I first began this venture in working from home AND running a business that I thought it would be easy and wonderful to “work” while still being at home with my family…but there are definitely a few challenges that I did not anticipate and I am constantly re-grouping and trying new strategies around here to keep things in order. I would like to bring a few of these challenges to light and share a few tactics that I have found to be somewhat successful in keeping the peace around the house, while still keeping up with the workflow. I am in no way a perfect mom, wife or business owner, but I hope that I can offer some real, transparent insight into the life of a work at home mom.
My top three challenges would have to be:
1) Time Management – There are only 24 hours in a day…really???
2) Impatience – “For the hundredth time, you can NOT change your brother’s dirty diapers!”
3) Balance – Where do I start my day? Dishes, laundry, editing, e-mails…?
Time management. I think I feel compelled to list this one as number one on my list because this is my constant struggle and I feel like I am always trying to beat my own tendencies to procrastinate and prioritize wrongly. It is NOT uncommon for me to reach dinner time and realize that I have no clue where the time went or what I have accomplished(if anything!) during the day. I mean, sure, my kids are still functioning, their diapers aren’t too soggy and they have been fed, yet here I am at the end of the day wondering what is for dinner and feeling the sudden urge to clean up all of the toys and run the vacuum over the floors so that when my husband gets home he doesn’t look at me like I have done absolutely nothing all day (for the record, he has never given me a hard time if the house is not spic and span, but we women are wired a certain way and we seem to inflict guilt upon ourselves when we don’t meet certain “standards” that we feel we should). The part that always gets to me when I have days like this is that I feel like I have been busy all day long and haven’t accomplished anything visible! I still have these days, but when I do the following things, it makes my day run more smoothly and I feel more accomplished:
*Set my alarm to get up before the kids so that I can get dressed(but who still doesn’t enjoy a pajama day every once in awhile!), read my Bible, and make coffee. Just this small portion of time in the mornings makes the rest of my day go quite a bit better! Being awake and more refreshed when I first deal with my kids in the morning makes a world of difference!
*Make a to-do list. Prioritize the list. Stick to the list. My lists often include mom duties and work duties. At the end of the day, if I feel like I have not accomplished much, I can look at my list and see what I have crossed off and THEN I can see where my time went and how much I have actually completed.
*Pick up toys and clutter a few times throughout the day. I don’t know if my kids are the only ones that rival the effect of a tornado, but toys seem to come out of the woodwork throughout the day! When I pick up at certain intervals during the day, it makes the end of the day much easier and less stressful.
Impatience. Somehow, I don’t think I am the only mom that gets impatient from time to time. This challenge is only emphasized by mixing work with the mom role. The second I sit down to work, is almost always the exact time that my toddler decides to get the olive oil and pour it on the carpet, paint her own fingernails, change his own diaper, pull the cats tail, hit his sister…and the list goes on. That is just how kids work. When mommy is busy, they see it as their perfect opportunity to do that exact thing that they have been thinking of but afraid to do all day long. How do I combat this?
*Prayer. Lots of it.
*5-minute time outs. For mommy.
*Story breaks. My kids love for me to read to them. It makes a world of difference when I stop my work to sit down and read them a story! A few minutes of story time goes a long way in our house.
*Breathe. Hug. Cuddle. No one ever said that working at home requires you to stick to a rigid work schedule, in fact it should free you to sit on the couch and watch a movie with the kids! Take some cuddle time. It is good for you and the kids.
Balance. Well, we have to have it. If I do laundry all day one day, I might get behind and more stressed about a work project. If I spend all day working, my kids get cranky, laundry stays dirty and the kitchen looks awful. So, how do we achieve some sort of balance so that everything falls into place where it should?
*Prioritize. *Make lists. Just like managing our time, we can manage our responsibilities by laying it out for us to see.
*Work in time blocks(but be flexible because kids are unpredictable!). Perhaps, naptime is laundry time each day(a load a day, right?). Maybe naptime is phone/e-mail time since it is quiet or maybe for you, when Dora the Explorer comes on at 8am, that is the perfect time for you to throw in a load of laundry and you know that during naptime you can get more done while the kids are asleep. Whatever works for you, go with it, but find your own system that works! If it doesn’t work out, keep trying and you will eventually find your perfect balance.
I still struggle with all of these issues and I don’t anticipate any of these leaving me magically overnight, although that would be nice! Being a work at home mom is a job that is constantly evolving and constantly requires me to evaluate how I am doing! Family outings, time with my husband, playing with my kids…none of that can go to the back burner for my business. When it does(and it has before!), I tend to break down easier and every aspect of my life suffers. I am first and foremost a mom and wife before I am a photographer and business owner. That being said, we will all still have our days, you know the days, when nothing is as it seems it should be and we cannot wait until bedtime so that we can move on to a brand new day. That is called life. In the meantime, I hope that we can all (me included!) learn to slow down and enjoy the parts of life that we so often disregard in the name of “work”. Whether we work from home, outside the home or don’t work – lets remember to make time for cuddling, stories, and whatever other little joys come our way. May we not let those moments pass us by!
~by Stephania Whitfield Owner of Stephania Whitfield Photography
We are pleased to share the story of a real life working mom. Here she tells be-dazzled of her life, love, struggles and victories.
Here is my life story by Lottie Fowler:
I was just thinking the other day about how much I used to say “kids just are not my thing”. I wasn’t sure about much as a young woman but one thing was certain, I did not want children. I envisioned my life as one with constant mixers and mingling with my fellow socialites as we tore up the scene in our minis and pumps. I wanted great success as a business professional and wanted to be taken seriously as an independent business owner and entrepreneur. My name is Lottie Fowler and I am the owner of Couture Events by Lottie. We are a Dallas based event planning company. I started this business in late 2008 after finishing up my own fairytale wedding. I never get tired of what I do. I pride myself in great service, great weddings and knowing great people.
In this journey to being a business owner, something in my being began to change. My husband and I had been married for two years and he had begun talking about starting a family. The initial idea of it was BONKERS. Much of what he said I dodged or avoided until I gave the whole idea much consideration. It stayed with me for quite some while and grew into an idea that I really wanted to consider exploring. I love my husband; he is my perfect match so… why wouldn’t I want to share a family with the wonderful person? So the fun part began. We tried and tried. Then tried some more. Nothing… Countless false alarms led to a doctor’s visit. There I was told that I would have difficulty conceiving our child. I sat and thought about what I had just been told and in that split moment, all remaining doubt of having a child (if any left) was gone. My world, my success, my everything came crashing down into emotions beginning with hurt and ending in anger. That once young woman who had the world at her fingertips would throw all the success and achievement away just to make my life, my “real life” whole with a family of my very own. My husband and I talked it over and decided that we would put off the baby idea and continue though with education that I still needed to complete. From there, my life continued on business as usual and I prepared myself to graduate from college. Three weeks before my commencement ceremony, I found out that some symptoms I was having was no sickness. Yup! I was preggers.
I truly could not believe it. I was “by the book” new mommy until she arrived. I took off from the wedding business for most of the 9 months carrying her. I just wanted to focus on doing all the right things to prepare myself. The wedding magazines that had always been strewn around our house became American Baby and books on parenting. I thought about this baby, which I later found out was a little girl, all the time. What will she look like? Will she be funny like her daddy? Or cackle when she laughs like her mommy? My event skills played a huge role in baby shower planning and prepping her nursery with sweet touches of vintage charm. Pressing fast forward to today… My Saylor Rue was born, happy and healthy, on 08/09/10. She is the apple of mommy’s eye and has daddy wrapped around her little finger. She has taught me how to love and live for all the right reasons. Although I am back to work on my many weddings, she is always the priority of my day. The truth is and what I didn’t realize as a young woman is that you can be an awesomely fabulous business woman, wife and mother. You can still rock your pumps; just add a matching diaper bag. It’s all in the balance of an amazing woman. We can do it! We were born for this job! My Saylor Rue is my sidekick. She is my biggest fan. A girl can have it all.
Here are a few photos from Saylor’s baby shower and new room!
Hi Moms,
DFW Kid’s Directory passed this opportunity on to us so we wanted to share it with all of you:
New Products Survey
Schlesinger Associates, a marketing research firm in the Galleria area, is conducting a group discussion with Mothers of children under 10 months old and First-time mothers in your area to talk about New Products. It’s an opportunity to hear new ideas, and to have some influence on new developments.
This is not a sales presentation, and you will not be asked to buy anything.
Our project is a 90 min discussion conducted by a professional market research moderator. All responses are confidential and your full name and contact information is never passed on to our clients. All participants will be compensated for their time.
Below is specific information about our research study:
TOPIC: New Products
DATE: Monday February 21st
TIMES: 90 minute discussion, scheduled at a convenient time
LOCATION: Our office in North Dallas
INCENTIVE: $100
INFORMATION: Participation is by reservation only.
Please call our office at 972-503-3121 at your earliest convenience to answer a short series of qualifying questions.
Ask to speak to Amanda at extension 422.
Thank you for your interest in our study!
Member of Marketing Research Association, American Marketing Association, Council of American Survey Research Centers
We are so excited about our latest find in Bump it Up! Owned by Amy Tara Koch, Bump it Up is a way to transform your pregnancy into the ultimate style statement! Amy goes through and addresses how to stay chic, trendy and comfortable no matter what stage of your pregnancy (or post pregnancy) you are in. She shares Tips & Tricks from her book on each trimester. To see more on Amy’s site please visit www.bumpitupstyle.com or check out her blog at www.bumpitupstyle.com/bumpitup/blog/. You are sure to find some great ways to look great and feel better. This is one of those ‘bookmark sites’ for the hour before the major event and you are feeling completely lost and don’t know where to wear moments. Let Amy bail you out!
We are so excited to be in the new CRAVE Dallas book! If you have not checked out this book of women entrepreneurs and their fabulous businesses, swing by the store next week to grab your copy! So many great stores and so many great owners! We are so proud to be a part of such an amazing group of women! Here is a sneak peak for you.
Check out more about CRAVE by visiting the CRAVE book site. CRAVE can also be found on Facebook.
be-dazzled baby blog is the hippest baby & children’s boutique in Dallas! We are located in The Village at Fairview near Allen. Offering custom design bedding, furniture, hand painted art by an on site artist, gifts and more. be-dazzled is sure to fulfill your child’s every need.
It is out with the old and in with the new. We are saying goodbye to 2010 designs and getting ready to bring in the 2011 ones. What does this mean? All the 2010 fabulous designs are available to you at up to 50% off. Clothing, bedding, furniture and much more are all up for grabs at great discounts starting January 14th- 16th. Now is the time to prepare for your new little one coming this year! For more details please call the store at 972.549.2111 We look forward to seeing you!
