Organized Chaos Child Care

Practicing eating a packed lunch before school begins is a GREAT idea!! 👏

🌈 Julie New Harbaugh

Well it’s official, I’m RETIRED!

I made it 25 years of doing direct child care, either day home (16 years), day care, preschool, managing day cares, working as a substitute preschool teacher or subbing as an Educational Aide.

I’ve also worked with many amazing fellow ECE’s along the way…again most I’ve stayed friends with.

I’ve had many children in my care, and had many amazing families, some of which have stayed family friends over the years. Just in doing day home for the past 16 years I’ve had 37 kids in my care!

My kids have made many friends as well. I’m sad but excited for what the future will bring. Thanks again to all of the kids and families I’ve had the pleasure of working with & caring for.

Kids I’ve had in my day home in 16 years:

Jayden P, Olivia, Dylan, Jayden W, Chad, Corbin, Kaitlyn, Cadence, Carmen, Blythe, Charlotte, Allison, Cole, Noah, Victoria , Grace, McLaren, Zac, Max, Abigail, Lennox, Deghlan, Fionn, Lucas, Alex, Kaylee, Praise David, Liam, Joey, Ava, Owen, Evren, Nolan, Brodie, Gavin, Wesley, Skye

I wish everyone a fantabulous summer! I will be relaxing and focusing on my health & family!

It is important to ensure your children are educated in these areas...

The joy of childhood 💚

Parents of young children!

I am so excited! I knew they were making a tv show based on the book ‘Not Quite Narwhal’ and it is now out on Netflix! My day home kidlets were very interested in it too!

It’s about a Narwhal that discovers he’s an unicorn. But in reality he doesn’t quite fit into either species. Great way to introduce & talk about fitting in, standing out, and the all-encompassing love of family.

Teach your kids.

🌟These sometimes subtle early signs of dysregulation can be easily missed. Often they can be misinterpreted as a child “acting out” (especially by people other than you), when in fact it’s their nervous system heading into a fight/flight/freeze state of dysregulation.

❓Has your child ever had a meltdown or become dysregulated and you think "Wow that came out of no where!" (I have!) Guess what, chances are it didn't!

💫There is always some kind of preceding trigger, stressor, or a build up of over stimulation that led them to that point. It may have been something that happened minutes, hours or even a build up of a few days that led them to that point.

➡️Then later after everyone is regulated you think "Wait a minute I should have seen that coming.” I find this usually happens when I am distracted, dysregulated myself, or tired and I am not fully attuning to my child’s needs.

⭐️Attunement is the ability to be responsive, present and aware of someone's emotions. It is vital in the coregulation process. By attuning to your children and to yourselves we can begin to recognize the subtle changes in their level of arousal that are leading to dysregulation.

🎯Dysregulation can take
on many different looks and it presents differently in everyone. When you begin to attune to your child that's when you notice the little shifts in their level of arousal.

➡️When you start to notice those signs and see them drifting out of the "Just Right" or optimal level of arousal that's when you can step in and coregulate before it gets to a full fight, flight, freeze response often leading to a meltdown. That's when sensory strategies can be best used!

😊Don't beat yourself up if you miss some of the signs, we all do. Take note of it, so next time you will know how to respond, it’s a constant learning process!

🙋🏻‍♀️Are your child’s signs of dysregulation sometimes misinterpreted by others? Let me know in the comments!

Give this a share if this resonates with you and as a reminder for others!

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And THIS is why I don’t teach children to ‘share’! Their brains are not mature enough to out these two concepts together. I do however teach them to take turns. Ask their friend if they can have the toy when their friend is done with it. Usually if the friend is asked, they will give it up right away vs when they are told to ‘share’ they will hold onto it forever!

drvanessalapointe on TikTok Expanding on why we can't expect a 4 year old to share 💗