Every developmental stage and need is a block in life, it is those blocks stacked upon each other that help set the mark from one stage to the next. At times the tower may fall down. That is the time for us, as parents, to help place the tower back together and reach a higher level. Jen's job as a teacher is to be the leaning stick for that tower and to guide it in the right direction. Furthermore,she helps them to establish a strong base to keep their tower standing strong. She does this by making sure their needs are being met while they are in her care. For the stronger their self esteem is the more they will learn and be able to make the proper decisions as events arise in life. Play is the most important avenue they have to learn these executive functions and practice these newly learned life skills. Executive Functioning is a neuroscience term that refers to a person's ability to organize thoughts, plan behaviors, say no to impulses, and manage between what the child is feeling and what he/she does. Executive functions are skills they will use throughout their entire life.

They learn these skills through various interactions with children each moment of every day. Learning these skills early on is very important when it comes to making wise and practical decisions later in life. The reason Jen stresses her focus on life skills is that academics and life skills go hand in hand; one ultimately affects the other. The stronger their life skills are, the more effectively they will be able to process the vast amount of information they will learn in school, utilizing as they do projects and other assignments. Furthermore, these life skills help your child understand the importance of asking the questions needed for obtaining this knowledge and having the confidence while asking. This is where home centers strive in excellence for they have smaller group sizes and therefore have more time to devote to helping your child learn and develop these life skills. Affirming yourchild with the knowledge that the home provider {Jen} can truly be there for them when they need it.

Jen's daycare center will foster this development by giving the children a large amount of time to play with each other, allowing them to create these skills with this type of interaction. Jen wants your child to have ownership and be able to initiate problem solving with their own life events­ play allows them to figure out different things in their world, whether new or challenging.

Furthermore, Jen will be there to help your child learn how to communicate with others. She will involve him/ her in the process of solving various issues by asking them questions such as “ how do you think we could solve this issue.” Once again, Jen's goal is to teach your child to solve issues independently, encouraging him/her through the process, so your child is able to go to the other child on their own, feeling confident in communicating with their words and using nice actions.

When it comes to the academic side and prepping for school, that may be different for each child. Jen will plan some group activities during the day but your children will have time to work on different learning activities with her as well as on their own, this will vary depending on his/her level. She prepares many homemade games for each child and utlilzes her center games and toys to focus on different skills. Jen develops her focus skills from child observations and parent discussions and requests. Furthermore, she has writing paper and various art supplies to incorporate into her individual and group activities. However, Jen is am a firm believer that a lot of learning occurs throughout the day just by how you may present different situations. For example, “I love your pink sweater or look at the dog, what sound does he make? What is the sound outside, is it loud or soft? What do you think will happen next? ” Jen likes to use events that life presents to teach as many aspects to each child as possible.

Jen encourages your child to reach higher levels of thinking by providing challenging activities such as various types of puzzles or other problem solving activities that take time to do but she is confident that he/she can do it. As Jen is engaging with your child in these different activities, she will ask them critical thinking questions so he/she can help solve their answer. When doing a puzzle, she might ask them to look at a part of it and then look at the other parts of the puzzle, “where do you think it will fit best? ”. Jen doesn't like to give your child the answer directly without trying to get them to think through it themselves first, being there for them and encouraging as they are going through this process.

A small group of children, gives her the time to spend with each child; fostering and encouraging this type of thinking. She doesn't have the cleaning and other deadlines that the group centers have. This allows her to focus on the children in her care, and help them to growinto a healthy individual; who is able to problem solve, and ask the questions that will get them the answer they want.