One thing that I have learned as a parent and a teacher is how important it is to give your child language. And by that I mean the words to say, the knowledge of when to speak, the tones to use, and the confidence to express what they want to say. Speaking up is an art that needs to be learned and sharpened as they grow so it becomes a useful and helpful tool in their belt. It all starts by setting the example and modeling the listening and speaking action to your children. A great age to start….is as soon as possible!

When children are infants it is so important to talk to them. Read to them and emerge them in language. Give them the basics by showing expression when you talk and teaching about tone of voice. Toddlers is great time to continue with tone and introducing how to express emotions and their needs through language. Talk to them about what you need and expect and they will learn to express what they need and expect in that manner. Children learn language and expression of language through repetition and copying what they see and hear from you. With preschoolers you can start teaching about eye contact and taking turns in a conversation.

Improving listening skills and beginning to relate and be empathetic to others through conversation. The best way to teach this is to actually sit down and converse with your child. Ask about their day. Tell them about yours. Share feelings, ideas, and thoughts. Talk about mistakes you both have made and how to correct them. Talk about the successes you had during the day and how all of it makes you feel. Don’t be afraid of big words. Sometimes that is the only way to explain what you are talking about and you will be surprised how easy it becomes for them to understand and expand on their vocabulary. As school-age children, it is just as important to continue these conversations. In doing so it will build their confidence and their sense of worth. Giving them the opportunity to talk about things with you where they are safe and can trust in your support and truth will get the whole family through any situation.

The most important thing about giving children the ability to communicate is that it gives them a platform to advocate for themselves. They can express feelings and needs in a manner so that others can listen and participate with them to find solutions to problems, and find mutual understanding. Starting young gives them the confidence to speak up for themselves and others when they are adults. They learn quickly that their feelings and ideas are just as important as everyone else’s. They learn how to debate, how to argue, how to understand others, and best of all how to communicate in a positive and effective way.

It is so difficult to adjust and learn communication skills when you are an adult. Communication becomes an instinctual skill that you do without thinking about so it is so important that you teach and practice it every day with your children as they grow. As a parent of grown-up children, I feel that it was the best gift I have given them. So are so much better than I and I have seen them succeed in so much because they know how to speak up for themselves and for others.

Ms. Dotty
NAEYC Coordinator
Lead Pre-Kindergarten Teacher

Can I share a story with you all that you might not know about?

Can I share just a small piece of the Young Scholars story.

Young Scholars Academy was officially labeled in 2000 with its original founders Jane and Geoff Germano. Geoff was a Lt. Colonel in the United States Air Force and Jane a college graduate with a background in teaching. These two had the crazy idea to start a childcare program since children of their own were not doable.

In 2001, Jenn Winters (my mom) came with all 3 of us kids in tow into Young Scholars and as you guessed it, the rest is history. Jenn moved up from a teacher’s aide to classroom teacher, to assistant Director, and then Director. I remember getting ice cream money from Mr. Geoff and trying to protest in front of Ms. Jane’s office about how I didn’t like the afternoon snack or the planned field trips for summer. (I know, the nerve.)

The Germanos & Winters worked side by side to grow the business and eventually even built the freestanding building we’re in now, we used to be in a strip mall! Can you believe that? We moved into this building in 2008- recession year, great idea, right?

(For those of you who are history nerds, our old location is now an appliance store off Austin Bluffs!)
Here’s the thing and why today is such a big piece is YSA history.

10 years ago today one of Young Scholars original founders Mr. Geoff passed away. He had been fighting medical issues for years and was finally able to live in peace. I was just a teenager, but I remember the day vividly.
Jane was devastated, he was gone too soon.

Jenn was stressed and sad. The recession was still very clearly impacting small businesses. I remember during those days she would come home and say she needed 20 minutes before she could “mom.” Looking back on it now I also see why she was mad I forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer.

I went to work at 16 and finished high school online. The family was stressed, and I was that kid that just had to help even if it was working as a teacher’s aide in one of the classrooms.

With the passing of Mr. Geoff taking, its toll, I remember Jane asking my mom to lunch one day. Jane wanted to close Young Scholars for good. The finances were an array, the stress was too much and obviously, Jane struggled to run a business she had originally founded with her husband. She talked about severance packages, how she planned to do it, and the timeframe.

Jenn begged. Begged for the opportunity and freedom to turn things around. After buying in and becoming an official partner of the company a fire had been lit under her.

I quickly finished high school online and got my group leader status as quickly as I could finish the classes. I had to come in and help keep the family business alive. Then the rest of my family followed, my dad quit his job of 20 years to help, my siblings also came and worked when their schedules allowed it. It took all of us to keep the doors open. There was a long road ahead.

The only way we could stay afloat was to get more children and we had the opportunity to do so with army childcare (Child Care Aware.) However, we could only accept this program and the grants that came along with it if we were NAEYC accredited. (National Association of The Education of Young Children) say that ten times fast. Jenn requested a meeting with the rep many times, and she was turned down. Turned down, dismissed until one day we weren’t. (Thanks Ms. Judy!)

Now we still had to get accredited, and we did, like scored 98% overall on our accreditation visit. That’s major, props to 2014-year-old us!

The fire that was lit went far beyond making a paycheck. Not only did Young Scholars keep their doors open, but we’re also actually able to impact families and this community. All of this happened because Geoff took a chance on a little teacher’s aide with a couple of kids.

I like to think that he looks down and smiles at the impact one idea has had on a community. I don’t know about you all but I just can’t imagine a life without Young Scholars in it.

I wonder what these kids would be like if they didn’t grow up here. Would they be a little less spicy? Possibly (ha) but I absolutely love that this is their home. Would their lights have been dimmed if there weren’t given the opportunity to fully shine? I love that they feel so comfortable being who they were meant to be.

I’m bawling and can’t believe it’s been ten years. Cheers to you, thank you so much for changing the lives of so many families.

Ms. Jordan
Young Scholars Academy “Lifer” (seriously, I’ve been here since I was 4!)