Whole Child Growth and Developmental Center

Early childhood wellness begins at home where children spend most of their time. Children learn to take care of themselves through observing adults and learning from them. Parents who live healthy lives pass these values onto their children. Parents and caregivers at home and in afterschool programs help children make decisions about food and activities. When these adults involve and value wellness, it can encourage young children to be healthy. Wellness can be considered as a bank account. It increases as deposits are made and it decreases once you withdraw things. In the process of depositing and withdrawing in our daily lives for multiple things, the results are ever changing—a wellness account balance. This approach helps in reaching goals as well as adapting to the challenges faced on the journey. Deposits to the wellness account could occur in multiple ways. When considering children as a priority, we know that high-quality interventions can make a difference. The basics wellness deposits would involve developing caring relationships and promoting wellness routines and practices.

Children need to feel free to stand and explore their interests in a particular space independently. In an environment that is very restricted, children can develop negative emotions such as being shy, frustrated, and depressed because they are unable to create their own territory or boundary. Comfort is a part of the experience of space. Comfort comes from memories that are created through music, garden (biophilia), appealing fragrance, or touch (warmth). A space for children should be designed to be as comfortable as possible (Burke & Grosvenor, 2015). Children’s spaces strive to evoke pleasant soothing responses, familiar shapes, or spaces. To achieve this in an interior space, there are few architectural elements which can be considered, such as scale of the space, ceiling height, lighting, color, material and finishes, color, presence of soft elements like pillows and carpet, and familiarity in shapes. Also, it is very crucial to provide children with private spaces and allow them to be alone when needed, creating a form of breathing space (Burke & Grosvenor, 2015).

The concept of transparency is connected to the visibility of the building elements in terms of availing the possibility to look through one space to another which is partially seen. While talking about transparency and space it’s important to mention about Reggio’s Approach. The Reggio Emilia Approach is that belief that children use many different ways to express and show their understanding through their thoughts and creativity. Sometimes when you look into a space it gives you a curiosity. Previewing a space before you enter or when you are passing by instils in us a sense of curiosity to go inside and find out what is happening inside the space.

Different spatial arrangements can affect how children interact socially. As children pass each other in circulation spaces, it is crucial to create spaces where they have a gathering point, and wherein they will stop and talk. Providing more open spaces rather than places secluded on the side is important.