Captivating children by Anna Rutten from Kidiwise Early Learning Centre

Shaping children into becoming complete adults is no mean feat.

Parents are given no formal education or training and do their best, often with added pressures brought about by personal and financial circumstances. The Government has recognised the need for help with the education of preschoolers with the 20 ECE hours and up to 30 hours per week of subsidised childcare.

A simple yet effective strategy to assist with children's upbringing is to keep clearly in our minds the philosopy ‘We are what we practice'. We are more likely to have happy, confident children if we fill them with contentment and thankfulness rather than fear and anger.

This strategy of positive reinforcement takes time and patience. Rather than punishing children for every misdemeanour, how about big praises for any little good thing and a little reprimand, or better still an explanation, for the big bad things. If we continue to do this regularly, over a period of time, children want to do the nice things to feel good about themselves. In this way we build happy, confident children who are a pleasure to be around.

Isn't it so much better when we ‘feel' good about ourselves today, rather than promising ourselves things will be better some time in the future, as is often the case. Children live for today yet grow into adults who live for tomorrow. Children are taught to save for tomorrow for fear of being poor, avoid risks for fear of getting hurt, keep clean - initially not for fear of getting dirty but for fear of reprimand from an angry parent. Small wonder the spontaneity, creative and impulsive actions children once enjoyed with contentment and confidence are eroded and replaced with fear. With the fear comes stress and with stress comes illness.

Let's start today to break the cycle. Practice makes perfect – with constant positive thoughts and actions, you will feel better about yourself and so will your children.