Developing Motor Skills - Brain Buzz Article

Developing Motor Skills 

by Ms. Patience 

Over the years, I’ve worked with pre-teens, and I have come to observe a few of them struggle with simple activities, which shouldn’t pose a challenge to them. Then I realized that their gross and fine motor skills were not developed early.

Early childhood development includes acquiring fine and gross motor skills. While both these skills involve movement, they do have differences.

 

So what are these skills?

Fine motor skills involve the movement of the smaller muscle group in children’s hands, fingers, and wrists while Gross motor skills involve the movement of the larger muscle group like the arms and legs. It’s these larger muscle groups that allow babies to sit up, turn over, crawl, and ultimately walk.

 

Both types of motor skills enable children to become more independent.

 

Fine motor skills are especially important because the ability to use the smaller muscles in the hand allows children to perform self-care tasks without assistance.

 

To help your child develop his/her gross and fine motor skills, there are activities you can schedule to build them developmentally. This is why schools have Early Years sections. Believe me, they are not ‘playing’, like most people think. Serious learning is taking place. A child’s development begins here.

 

Babies and toddlers develop fine and gross motor skills at their own pace. Some children develop some skills earlier than others and that’s perfectly normal. Children usually begin to attain these skills as early as one ore two months old and continue to learn additional skills through preschool and primary school.

 

According to early childhood development experts, the most important fine motor skills children need to develop include the following:

 

·      The Palmar Arches which allows the palms to curl inwards. Strengthening these helps coordinate the movement of the fingers, which is needed for writing, unbuttoning clothes, and gripping.

·      Wrist stability develops by early school years. It allows children to move their fingers with strength and control.

·      Skilled side of the hand is the index finger, and other fingers together for precision grasping

·      Bilateral hand skills permit the coordination of both hands at the same time

·      Scissor skill develops by age four and teaches hand strength and eye coordination.

 

It looked like past generations are tough and sturdy because of the activities they did growing up. Activities such as climbing trees, playing ten-ten, suwe (hopscotch), Ludo, rolling tires, cooking with flowers, playing with clay, catapulting, and even football. It didn’t seem like it but we were learning as we played. However, with the advent of the Internet, most kids today are stuck indoors, sitting for hours playing Fortnite or Tik Toking. Nothing wrong with these but access to the technology should be limited for children in growing years. Let children play, they learn in the process, thereby developing themselves.

 

For materials to help your child develop motor skills check Coco Resources @co2resources

 

Brain Buzz

COVID-19 and Online Learning

by Ms Patience

 

Limit your child’s cellphones and tablets until their schoolwork is done so that it can receive their undivided attention. Apps, games, and messaging features are fun, but they can also be distracting. Having a dedicated device is ideal for optimum online learning.

 

Children achieve their best work in a quiet, comfortable, and dedicate space. Avoid rooms where their games and TV are set up. Remember that children will make use of this space for many hours each day, so watch out for comfort and posture.

Online learning requires proper observation. Ensure they’re taking notes or asking questions at the end of a lesson. This may require a lot of effort as a parent but it’s important to confirm that your child is indeed learning. If there are any issues contact the teacher. 

Make sure your kids take plenty of breaks in order to get physical activity and time away from screens. Set alarms similar to those they would encounter at school and encourage them to get up, get some fresh air, go for a walk or bike ride, or have a snack so that they are not sedentary for the entire day.

In-person interaction is ideal for kids, so sit your children down for face-to-face conversations about screen time. To give them ownership, discuss how much time they think is reasonable to spend online and make a “contract” committing to goals for on-screen vs. off-screen hours.

Remember that you’re not alone on this journey. Check-in with other parents to see what they’ve found effective or to ask if they need help. Share your concerns and useful hints. If you need contact information for other parents or resources, reach out to the PTA or your child’s school. It is important that we all work together as a community for the good of our children and families.

Community Reports

Wuye Police Division Inaugurates Divisional Community Policing Advisory Committee (DCPAC)

 

The event held on the 24^th of July 2020, at the Divisional Police Station, Wuye. In attendance were the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Wuye, the Area Commander Metro (AC Metro), the Chairman Police Community Relations Commission (PCRC), Wuye, and community representatives that included Ethnic Representatives and residents of the community. 

 

The program started with a recital of the National Anthem and was followed by opening prayers from both the Christian and Muslim religions. This was immediately followed by a lecture delivered by SP Naomi Mathias on the overview of functions for the DCPAC.

 

In her speech, SP Naomi Mathias explained that the committee inaugurated would sit and select persons would serve as ‘special constable’. These are people of unquestionable character residents in the community, who are charged to keep the peace, promote safety and security awareness, settle the civil dispute, and petty crimes while overseeing the implementation, monitoring, and evaluating community policing at the grassroots.

 

Thereafter the AC Metro, ACP Nuruddeen A. Sabo, gave the inauguration speech where he charged committee nominees which comprise of people drawn from different fields with experiences from various sectors including security, business amongst others to bring all hands on deck to ensure positive results as regards discharging the duties as members of DCPAC. In addendum, he commended the nominees for their courage and sacrifice for accepting this great task, as he wished them God’s guidance in the cause of duty discharge.

 

The DPO Wuye Division acknowledged the Inspector General (IG) of Police for the DCPAC inauguration through the AC Metro and stressed that the members of the committees would be vetted with Nigerian Police to make sure none of the members is a felon.

 

The Chairman PCRC Wuye Division gave the vote of thanks. He also commended the IG, as he pledged to work with the committee to bring about peace, security, and development to the Wuye community. 

 

The DCPAC would consist of traditional rulers, religious organizations, town unions, Ministry of Health, Social Welfare..etc, Vigilante, professional unions, Hoteliers, and the physically challenged.

Featured Article

Brain Buzz

HELP! 

by Ms. Patience 

Growing up as a child in Lagos, I had a neighbor whom I believed was the most beautiful girl ever. She was dark and lovely. However, she had challenges academically. In fact, she was labeled dumb because she couldn’t read. She also believed God did not give her intelligence. Naysayers made it worse by insinuating that her family ‘used her head’ to make the family business prosper. Eventually, she dropped out of school and joined the family business. And she really prospered. 

So, over the years, I’ve wondered: would life had been somewhat different for her if the teachers were equipped enough to discover she may have had Dyslexia? 

Dyslexia is a combination of strengths and difficulties that may affect learning, reading, writing, spelling, and word finding. It is a spectrum that includes children of all abilities. It's thought to affect about ten percent of the population. 

Often one of the first signs that a child may have dyslexia is when you notice a big difference between that child's general intelligence and their poor performance in reading and writing tasks. This discrepancy can seem surprising or hard to explain. 

In our next edition, we will find out the signs to look out for in a child who may be struggling with dyslexia. 

Business Feature - #ChopBox

Business Feature

#ChopBox

#ChopBox is a catering service covering a wide range of food production, including local and intercontinental dishes. We cater primarily to people who may not have the luxury of time to prepare a homemade meal.

 

As a mobile kitchen, we take orders from our customers on a daily basis, making it easy and convenient for them to carry on with their daily activities without any worries.

 

At the moment, #ChopBox is very mobile. There are a couple of kitchens we operate from. These are just kitchens, not a restaurant where people can come and eat. At the moment we take orders and deliver that food to your location. We take orders from 6 am to 12noon every day. After 12noon the orders are for the next day. We also cater for outdoor events. So we are strictly on orders for now. We also cater for outdoor events.

 

We strive to make customers eat healthily, so we are always incorporating a balanced diet. If you are subscribed as a single, we supply food twice a week (e.g. breakfast and dinner). A typical selection would have carbohydrates, protein (of choice), vegetables, and fruits. We also do customer-specific menus including grilling, barbecue, and many more. Some costumers could order just a meal serving say breakfast, lunch, or dinner, but our orders are also in bulk; 3 or 4 liters of soups, stews, and salads are available to order.

 

Pricing mostly depends on the protein (meat/fish). Some customers like exotic protein like prawns, crabs, etc. a 3 liter of soup for example is N7,000 and a 1 liter is N2500. A typical monthly subscription is N30,000. With this subscription, the customer can have the food come 3 times a week or as the customers want. On the subscription package, customers can choose when ordering the soups/stews to have the carbohydrate (swallow; fufu/poundo/garri, sometimes rice) made or not. With as low as N15,000 customers can have food supplied three times in the week.

 

We are a very small establishment at the moment and so far our team has been so efficient. The team of six has chefs and delivery persons. As the business grows we would the staff would definitely grow. Ordering is limited to Abuja for now, but when it comes to event catering we do some major cities in Nigeria.

 

We have developed our own menu recipes. These are our signature recipes. As we expand new chefs would learn these recipes to keep our taste.

 

#ChopBox – Eat healthily; Eat more

Brain Buzz

DYSLEXIA?

By Ms Patience

Growing up as a child in Lagos, I had a neighbor whom I believed was the most beautiful girl ever. She was dark and lovely. However, she had challenges academically. In fact, she was labeled dumb because she couldn’t read. She also believed God did not give her intelligence. Naysayers made it worse by insinuating that her family ‘used her head’ to make the family business prosper. Eventually, she dropped out of school and joined the family business. And she really prospered.

So, over the years, I’ve wondered: would life had been somewhat different for her if the teachers were equipped enough to discover she may have had Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a combination of strengths and difficulties that may affect learning, reading, writing, spelling, and word finding. It is a spectrum, which includes children of all abilities. It's thought to affect about ten percent of the population.

Often one of the first signs that a child may have dyslexia is when you notice a big difference between that child's general intelligence and their poor performance in reading and writing tasks. This discrepancy can seem surprising or hard to explain.

In subsequent editions, we will find out the signs to look out for in a child who may be struggling with dyslexia.