About 75 parents, educators and childcare workers came to Exploration and Discovery 2010 last Saturday to learn how to better understand and teach our young children.
The event at Chatelech Secondary School boasted 10 different workshops ranging from Kindergarten Readiness to Edible Gardening with Children, and all were well attended.
The day started with a poignant talk from pediatric occupational therapist Cris Rowan, titled Disconnect to Reconnect.
The purpose of the talk was to show how the overuse of technology is robbing our children of the natural experiences they need to learn and grow.
"There are three critical factors in the development of a child, based on my training as an occupational therapist. They are movement, touch and connection," Rowan said, going on to note television programs, computer programs and video games cannot meet these needs.
Participants heard startling statistics linking the overuse of technology with developmental delays, depression, mental illness, obesity, aggression and poor academic achievement.
Rowan encouraged parents to turn off the electronics and connect with their children, noting the average child spends 7.5 hours per day watching TV, playing video games or using the Internet. She also shared a stat that showed parents only spend an average of 3.5 minutes in meaningful conversation with their children each week.
She gave practical tips for curbing technology use in homes, such as one hour of screen time equals one hour of outside time.
"It's the energy in, energy out rule if a child is sitting in front of a screen and that energy isn't getting out, it will come out, all of a sudden, in a bad way," Rowan noted.
She has also created a game called Unplug'in that helps kids gain the confidence and skills needed to unplug, when it's a struggle.
She also has other learning tools available through her website at www.zonein.ca.
After Rowan's talk, attendees dispersed to different classrooms to take one of 10 workshops. Regardless of the workshop, all attendees left equipped to make some changes with the children in their lives.
"The feedback we got was that people felt they got a lot out of it and they were very happy to have attended," said Hilary Griffiths, Sunshine Coast Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR) program consultant.
The CCRR, along with Sunshine Coast Community Services, Capilano University and Success By 6, presented the conference Exploration and Discovery 2010.
"The reason we hold this conference every year is because the CCRR wants to provide professional development training for parents," Griffiths noted.
You can find out more about CCRR programs and services on their new website at www.coastccrr.ca.
