Coping Strategies Through After-School And Enrichment Programs
Close relationships with people are vital for the children's personality and social growth. Even newborns seem to appreciate the importance of people. They pay special attention to faces and voices, and social stimulation provokes greater interest and emotion than does interaction with objects.
Young children vary in their temperamental qualities. Inborn characteristics like mood, adaptability, activity level, and "soothability" affect the child's responses to situations, emotional tendencies, and tolerance of stress. This is the very reason why social and emotional learning is vital during the early school years of children.
Children begin to develop a more complex, balanced self-image in middle childhood. Grade-schoolers view themselves as unique people with distinct strengths and weaknesses in their different roles of family member, student, teammate, and friend. They also begin to perceive themselves as skilled in different domains-such as academic, social, athletic, and recreational-with capabilities and weaknesses in each. When asked to describe themselves, therefore, older children often provide perceptive judgments that closely match how they are viewed by others.
The social and cognitive achievements of middle childhood also provoke advances in moral development and altruistic behavior-behavior performed for the benefit of others without expectation of a reward. As American psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg theorized in the mid-1960s, children begin to perceive themselves as responsible to others because of the importance of getting along and of being a good citizen. They seek to act appropriately because people matter to them, not just to avoid punishment. This is the baseline of character education in K-5 after-school programs offered by Brilliant Minds.
After-school programs offered to Pembroke Pines, Hollywood, Broward County, and Dade County base their curriculum on the socio-emotional needs of young children. Social relationships during the early years have been known to influence the growth of self-awareness and self-understanding. A kid's awareness of the responses of other people contributes to a dawning sense of individuality. With such a philosophy, after-school programs need to be designed in such a way that it allows children to have new and meaningful experiences that will guide them with future experiences.
Tutoring programs can integrate lessons with SEL-related activities such as group-building games or volunteer work. Most summer camps have even added SEL to their program as a form of reinforcement to their counseling activities for troubled youths.
The success of any after-school program lies with not only the teachers and the tutors but also the parents and the community. It is a group effort that should aim to help the children learn and effectively cope with real and everyday experiences with their family, friends, ad peers.
Enroll your kids to Brilliant Minds and see how much more confident and independent they will be. The school offers both tutoring and enrichment programs for the areas of Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Dade, and Broward County, FL.