The sweet tooth I inherited from my dad had to be controlled (I loved popsicles and ice cream!), birthday parties and school lunches would be very different. I never ate poorly as a child, thanks to my mom’s love for home-cooking and her studies of being a nutritionist in college, I learned that I could never eat the same way. The day I was diagnosed, I was sent to the hospital for a week of training and education. This disease is not life threatening if treated properly, though there is currently no cure. Insulin is one of the 8 hormones produced in the body that regulates blood sugar. Without a functioning pancreas, Insulin cannot be produced. Only 5% of people with diabetes have this form, Type 1 – formally known as juvenile diabetes.

That afternoon, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes– a chronic autoimmune disease in which the child’s pancreas stops producing insulin, either due to hereditary disposition or a virus that initiates the attack on the pancreas. And on December 6th, she picked me up from school, took me to my doctor, and stood by my side as my life changed forever. My mom had been so concerned that I wasn’t eating, or that something very serious was happening to me.

I was constantly thirsty my complexion was muted I had no energy and despite my consistent hunger, I’d lost about 15 pounds in two weeks. Little 11-year-old me had been sick for nearly a month. I will never forget the afternoon of December 6, 2001. You can check out more blogs like this from a team of 51 other bloggers at the #Blogger52Project, brought to you by The Quinntessential Mommy.By: Lindsay Dawson, Choosy Kids Social Media Account Manager Listen to samples of well-conceived, fun-filled songs that encourage active learning. So music and movement can not only build vocabulary and motor skills, they can also lay the very necessary foundation for school readiness and school success.Ĭhoosy Kids is a company devoted to early learning through music and movement. Music and Movement - Instrumental in Language Development, ). “Developmentally appropriate music activities involve the whole child-the child's desire for language, the body's urge to move, the brain's attention to patterns, the ear's lead in initiating communication, the voice's response to sounds, as well as the eye-hand coordination associated with playing musical instruments.” (Harman, M.A. When childhood songs encourage movements that use both sides of the body and incorporate healthy messages, a powerful double whammy learning experience is taking place inside the child. Music stimulates both sides of the brain. Movement and music have been shown to influence and enhance the healthy development of the brains and bodies of young children. When young children hear music, they naturally respond by moving their bodies. There are rich vocabulary words to be experienced by moving and exploring.Ĭombining music with deliberate movement has even greater impact on early learning.

During early childhood, children learn a lot with their bodies and about their bodies. Babies think and communicate with their bodies before they actually think with words, so your day to day playful interactions can be very meaningful for learning as well as for building bonds of trust and love. While you are at it, add words to your playtime. Another very important but easy way to build vocabulary, and at the same time encourage a love of books, is bedtime reading.

And be intentional about introducing new and unusual words so that your child’s vocabulary expands. With preschool children, ask questions and have conversations about everything from what they might see in nature to their preferences for activities or foods. In the youngest toddlers, describe what they are doing as they explore and experiment. How can busy parents support and enhance this significant stage of child development? Probably the easiest way is to talk to children as much as possible. By the age of six, they have acquired nearly 10,000 words! This highlights the significant role we have during the first five years of life to lay the foundation for expanding vocabulary as well as using language for learning and communicating. By age three, most children have acquired around 1,000 words.

Choosy kids songs