A Word From The Desk Of Heather Carboneau:  Childhood Resilience

Live from Center Stage Preschool here in Ashburn. We’re speaking today about this beautiful new word called resilience. I listened to a woman named Ann Marston, Dr. Ann Marston, I went to a symposium on mental health for children and young adults a few weekends ago here in Loudoun County and it was incredibly informative and enlightening and really amazing. Our keynote was Dr. Ann Marston. She did amazing research. They researched what it was for a child to have lost everything and still come up and take on their challenges of their life, what was the difference between these children?

They did their research back since World War II. Children who have lost everything, their families, their parents, their homes, their communities. What was it about these children who have lost everything but some were resilient and some did not thrive? They wanted to see what that was. Is it dependent on money or support or intelligence? They did all of this research for so long. I’m going to make this very short and capsulated as much as I can. What really stuck out to me, had everything to do with preschool and the importance of what we’re doing here at Center Stage Preschool.

What were the identifiers that said children would either thrive or not thrive and what were those mile markers, or those flags that were the indicators that would signal that a child, is going to make it? Dr. Ann Marston spoke for about 30 minutes and I was taking notes because she was an expert on young child development and you know that’s right up our alley. These magical markers, they say whether our children will be resilient within a school or not regardless of where they’ve come from.

What Can Help a Child Succeed In Preschool?

If our children can just learn these things, then they will be teachable and will be able to thrive outside of the home, in the schools and in their jobs. Are you ready? This is magical! The first one, can they pay attention and listen to the teacher? Secondly, can they control emotion and impulses? Thirdly, can they wait their turn and sit in a circle? Number four, can they follow instructions? And finally, number five, can they switch activities, can they transition well from one activity to the next? That’s it!

Here we are. These major things, she basically described preschool. I was so excited because here’s what’s happening, I’ve heard people say the preschool is the new kindergarten and kindergarten is the new first grade. Here’s what I say for Center Stage Preschool parents and for myself, we say no. Preschool is preschool. If you see somebody crazy thirsty and you throw water on them, you feel as though you’ve given them water, but have they really taken it in? That’s what I’m going to say to you today. Our children cannot learn effectively unless they have these five things down. Honestly, they’re not teachable at that point. We’re just managing children’s behavior.

Handing Our Children a Cup

If they learn these five things, then effectively we’re handing the children a cup, a cup that we can pour education into. Our children are thirsty, they’re active, they’re excited, they need a cup, they need to be able to sit and learn and listen. Preschool is giving children an effective cup with no leaks and no breaks, a huge cup that they can just fill in all their education. I do not want us to get the cart before the horse. We cannot throw curriculum at these children that they’re not ready for if they’re not able to absorb it. Our children have to be teachable, they need to be good citizens and learn how to be a good friend and work as the team. They need to listen and transition and sit on the line and line up when we ask them to.

All of these are markers for success, success for your child for the entirety of their life. That is the importance of preschool. Thank you guys, have a great day.

Are you looking for a unique approach to preschool? If you are interested in getting started in Center Stage Preschool or taking a tour, just schedule a time to come in! Center Stage is making a difference for our children! Also, check out our Facebook page for more amazing pictures!