Friends Center for Children is an early childhood education center providing year-round, full-time care for children ages 3 months to 5 years. The Friends Center offers a child-centered, hands-on learning experience in a safe and nurturing environment. Read more.
The Blog @ Friends Center for Children
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Save the date and join us as we celebrate quality early childhood education & family-friendly resources.Organized by Alexis Hill Montessori School and Friends Center for Children, the Fair Haven Family Stroll brings community together for a day of family fun to raise awareness and funds in response to the urgent need for high-quality early education in New Haven.The day starts with a 1.5 mile walk along the Quinnipiac River—over the Ferry Street and Grand Avenue bridges, and through a historic district. The festival also includes many family-friendly activities: drums, parachute play, puppets, face painting, food vendors, ballet, bubbles, yoga, arts and crafts, and a whole lot of raffle prizes.For more information, visit fairhavenfamilystroll.org or our Facebook event page. See you in the park! -
The word comfort is defined as “a state of physical ease and freedom for pain or constraint”, but the word can take on different meanings for everyone. For some, comfort can come from a hug or a good book, time alone to think, or listening to happy music. We can bundle our children in warm coats, scarves and gloves to keep them comfortable, but we also need to tune into their emotional needs as well during these winter months.
Understanding emotional behavior is the cornerstone of our philosophy at the Friends Center for Children in New Haven. Our beliefs and curriculum provide our students the emotional resources to rely on their relationships, interactions and their own feelings for comfort. We believe that teaching coping mechanisms to young children will only enhance their emotional development.
As teachers we know that the needs of each child differ, particularly in terms of babies and toddlers. Every adult faces the dilemma of interpreting the state of a crying baby and must infer the root of the problem through body language and clues from their environment. When children are old enough to voice what is bothering them, it is our job to ensure that they can articulate their feelings in a constructive and effective way. Establishing routines or rituals will help children to make comfortable transitions throughout their day. Encouraging creative or fantasy play is essential, as it is an avenue that children can comfortably navigate in their own way and feel in control by “speaking their own language”.
