Our Philosophy

We believe that the first years of a child’s life is the most important, helping to lay the foundation for all intellectual and emotional development. Through nurturing and individualized attention, we take great care to provide a warm, friendly, and fun environment for your child. We strive to nurture your child’s ideas and imagination, acknowledge each child’s individuality, and validate each personality. Our goal is to provide a place where children know that they are loved by helping to instill in each child a strong sense of self-worth and purpose. Our job is to make sure that each child has numerous positive experiences and interactions throughout each day. It is our goal that when the day is done, and children go home, they feel happy and proud of themselves; eager to express the happenings of their busy day.

Each day we feel privileged to have the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of a child, to join in their laughter, and to be included in their games. Therefore, our mission is to build your trust by being professional, dependable, honest, and informative, most importantly caring for your child and family the same way we would want our own children and family to be cared for and treated. The entire staff views our chosen profession as a career, not as just a job. Therefore, we look forward to keeping children smiling, learning and safe for many years to come.

Learning through play

In many early childhood programs the climate lately has been towards more education and skills training. However, young children also need plenty of time to play, to explore their world, and to learn social skills. We offer this for your child, by providing a balance between structured and unstructured activities and by recognizing that all children are born with a desire to explore, discover, and learn. The most effective means of accomplishing this is through their play, because we believe that it is through play, that children learn best. Play is critical to the healthy growth and development of children. Children develop socially, emotionally, cognitively, and physically through play. Children learn through play, because they are engaged in what they are doing. When children are having fun they are interested and open to new ideas and thoughts. As children play, they learn to solve problems, to get along with others and take turns, negotiate, and to develop the fine and gross motor skills needed to grow and learn. Play is how children experience their world and bring meaning to it. It models the social framework that builds relationships for life and inspires imagination.

In play, children can experiment freely, they can pretend to be different people and take on new roles (like mommy, or daddy, fire fighter, or even their favorite animal). Because play gives children the opportunity to pretend, it gives them the ability to see the world from different perspectives. In play, children can sort and organize all kinds of materials and use objects at hand to represent other objects. How many times have you heard your child hold up an object and say, “Pretend this is (an airplane, a flower, a doggie, etc.)?” The ability to make believe with objects is important in the development of children’s thinking. Play is also one of the most powerful tools children have to express their thoughts and feelings.

The Ponds Child Care Center is successful in part because children learn through play….pretend play, playing games, and active playing. We do not under estimate the importance of play-time on a growing child’s mind, body and spirit. Therefore, the children under our care receive lots of both free-play and structured-play throughout each day. During structured-play we primarily have only select groups of toys or activity out at a time in order to allow the children to concentrate fully on each thing they do. Age appropriate activities are scheduled with the flexibility allowed to respond to the needs of each individual child and their various developmental stages.

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