“Conversations with KIDCARECANADA”
Our Shaw TV series “Conversations with KIDCARECANADA” is airing now through to December. Hosted by Estelle Paget, Executive Director of KIDCARECANADA, we hope you enjoy the insights this series provides.
The knowledgeable guests focus on how early life experiences have a life-long impact on children, families and society, providing key messages for healthy development.
Episode 1 “Early Nurturing”
1. “ Early Nurturing” featured Dr. Andrew Macnab, pediatrician, and Shelley Cardinal, National Indigenous Advisor for the Canadian Red Cross
The topic was nurturing and how it contributes to social and emotional development.
If you have been unable to watch this episode on Channel 4, lower Vancouver Island, you can now view it on YouTube – available to all!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzvaVjPA0N4
Our experts have much more to share and we will be posting information from them over the next weeks and months:
We will start with some additional information from Dr. Andrew Macnab:
“The mind of a child once expanded by a new experience never returns to its original dimension” Oliver Wendell Holmes
Background:
Early childhood is a time when we have the greatest chance to make positive contributions to a child’s development.
Early childhood is the period that begins before birth (the time when a baby’s body and brain are being formed), continues through early infancy (when important social relationships are established and developmental milestones reached), and includes the preschool years and the transition into school.
Early childhood is a time when our children may not seem to be learning, but it is in fact when we as parents are offered the greatest opportunities we have to make a positive impact on their development.
Why does early childhood development matter?
Research confirms what every parent observes; that this is a period when our babies change and experience rapid physical and mental growth. They learn to move, communicate, and interact with us and the world around them, and begin to develop their personal and cultural identity. So while early childhood offers us great opportunities to be a positive influence in their development, it is also a time when our children are vulnerable to negative influences. This is why it is important for us to be reminded: it is the everyday efforts we make to help our infants and children feel good and feel secure that give them the best chance to grow, learn and become physically and mentally healthy.
How can I improve my child’s early development?
Not all of us have experienced positive parenting but we can all learn tips and things we can do that will help promote our child’s development. Trusted family members, care givers and information sources can all help. And these “SHAW TV Conversations with KidCareCanada” will enable viewers to gain helpful information and valuable experience from a number of contributors who have collaborated to develop the KidCareCanada educational materials that we share with parents and caregivers.
Positive interventions in early childhood work best when they bring together a variety of factors and approaches; these include support for parents and provision of knowledge about nutrition, health, and education. Research conclusively demonstrates the benefits when parents learn in this way and add simple everyday actions to what they do with their children.
By learning the importance of early childhood, we are also respecting the rights of our children. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child seeks to ensure appropriate support for every young child’s development, recognizing that a positive early childhood is both every child’s entitlement and an investment for the future.
Quotes
“It is hard to believe, but the simple everyday acts and interactions that we have with our babies and toddlers do so much to give them the best chance to become happy and effective adults”
“One sadness for me as a children’s doctor is when I hear parents say that they do not enjoy their babies”.
“There are things we can all learn to do that help us to feel good about our babies and also benefit their wellbeing and development”
“The first years of life are when doing things like talking to your baby, singing, reading or even playing with them in the bath all have a positive impact on how they learn, how they interact with us and with others later, and even their future health, AND learning to do these things can give us enjoyment as well!
Babies benefit from us doing these things because this is how they learn and develop; what they see, hear, feel and experience in their early years sows the seeds of who they will become,
Importantly all parents can learn everyday ways to give their child an enjoyable and healthy start in life and contribute to his or her development”.
And here is a link to more about Dr. Macnab:
https://kidcarecanada.org/media/introducing-dr-andrew-macnab-lead-pediatrician-kidcarecanada-society
KIDCARECANADA wants to thank Shaw TV South Island and their Community Access Program for all the work that was required to get our series "Conversations with KIDCARECANADA" to air.
https://www.shaw.ca/shawtv/victoria/shows/goisland/
Future episodes include:
“Postpartum Depression” with the guest Carolyn Solomon, Manager Maternal and Women’s Health, Ministry of Health
“A Community of Support” with guest Colleen Hobson, Executive Director, Saanich Neighbourhood Place
“Protecting our Kids” with Dr. Dee Hoyano, Medical Health Officer, Island Health Authority and Dr. Enid Elliot, Early Childhood Educator
“Today’s Families” with father of 3, Dave Gamble and mother of a child with profound hearing loss, Amy Ho
“Why read to kids” with Daphne Macnaughton