Strengthening the Spirit of the Child
by Charlotte Rice


At Innovations In Education, we empower children with the essential skills to embrace life with a sense of wonder, confidence and optimism. With the advent of rapid technological, societal, cultural, and academic pressures many children lack the skills necessary to navigate successfully in our rapidly changing world.

In order to stay competitive in a global world, our society has pushed downed academic achievement, even to our youngest children. Educators and parents feel pressured to ensure that children excel academically. That pressure is then transferred to our children who lack the emotional intelligence to process the pressure they are feeling. Our children live in a world of stress and chaos with too much information to process. We can, however, equip our children with the ability to successfully navigate through our rapidly changing world. We can ensure that all children are taught social, emotional, and resiliency skills. We believe that it is vital to be intentional when we teach children these essential skills. When we empower children with these skills, they learn; self-regulation, conflict resolution, cooperation, compassion, optimism, resiliency, creativity, and develop a positive sense of self.

Often, we shelter our children from the stress and chaos that surrounds us when in fact we can use those times as learning opportunities. We have heard that “children are resilient” time and time again. That is true however, when we empower them with the skills needed to be resilient. We can talk to our children in terms that they can understand and also teach them coping techniques and relaxation exercises. These are just a few of the things we can all do to better equip our children for

  1. Help children identify their feelings. Strengthen their feelings vocabulary; happy, sad, angry, jealous, shy, embarrassed.
  2. Ask questions and listen. This helps develop problem solving skills and can provide a safe way to express feelings and emotions.
  3. Give children choices when possible. Making choices is a necessary skill and teaches problem solving.
  4. Embrace mistakes. Mistakes allow us to learn new skills. Show children that adults make mistakes too.
  5. Give children appropriate responsibilities. This gives them a sense of belonging and promotes self-confidence. “I can do it!”
  6. Talk to children. Help them learn to process information instead of trying to shelter them from life’s inevitable events. This will help give them a sense of security and optimism.

It is through the essential life skills that they we can prepare children for success and strengthen the spirit of the child. “Research in brain-based learning suggests that emotional health is fundamental to effective learning.” “Emotional Intelligence has proven a better predictor of future success than traditional methods like the GPA, IQ, and standardized test scores.” (Daniel Goldman Emotional Intelligence) By strengthening the spirit of the child, we empower them to confidently and joyfully participate in life!

Innovations In Education provides research-based consulting, curriculum, workshops and school-wide programs to promote and teach the essential skills for life success.

As a Director of a NAEYC accredited program for 10 years, Charlotte Rice observed a significant increase in the social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in young children. With a BA in psychology, twenty years in early childhood education and the study of childhood resiliency, Charlotte is a dynamic speaker, educator and child advocate. Charlotte is a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the Learning and The Brain Society, and the National Association of Play Therapy. For more information on Innovations In Education visit contact Charlotte at crice@innovationsinedu.com or 407-625-5257

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." Ralph Waldo Emerson.