PEDALS- Positive Emotional Development and Learning Skills

One of the most powerful signs that children have truly mastered social-emotional skills? They start teaching others.

During circle time in a Darien Center classroom, a child began having a meltdown. Her teacher asked the rest of the class, “What do you think she should do?” Without hesitation, the children demonstrated belly breaths, breathing with their friend until she calmed down. The teacher didn’t need to fix the moment. The children had the tools, and they used them—not just for themselves, but for each other.

At a center in Amherst, a child came to her teacher visibly upset: “I am so mad. I told Andrew to look at my face so that he can see how mad I am but he won’t look at my face. How will he know how I feel if he doesn’t look at me?”

In another classroom, a parent shared this story: “Mia had her cousins over this week. She has not let up on telling everyone to take belly breaths and to name their feelings. She was in the middle of a huge meltdown over which bathing suit she wanted to wear and I raised my voice at her just so she could hear me over her own screaming. When I did that, she stopped screaming and told ME to put my hands on my belly and name my feelings. She did it right along with me.”

Role reversals like these happen when educators model skills consistently, when children practice in safe environments, and when the language of emotions becomes part of everyday conversation. Visit our website for more resources that help build this depth of understanding. https://pedalsprogram.org/

Western New York Child Care Action Team is sponsoring our Directors as Leaders luncheon series and making it free to our field. Please register early.

Let the Children Speak: Storytelling, Music and Movement
May 19 from 12 to 2 PM

Literacy starts with sound, rhythm, movement, and connection. This session brings that to life in a way that feels real and usable.

Featuring two powerful guest experiences:
• Tradition Keepers: Black Storytellers of WNY, sharing Black storytelling traditions
• Jama Jama! WAOW WAOW, with West African drumming and dance

Lunch is provided, -BIG thank you to Jack Rabbit! https://www.jackrabbitbuffalo.com/ and training certificates are available.

This is a good one. Hope you can join us.

Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScVCn00Se86xnXXApNTbDpn_TDXh6XbXV41Qj_6YFDPRwl9UQ/viewform

This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Week of the Young Child NAEYC, and we’re celebrating by making developmental screenings actually accessible. No hoops, no barriers, just answers.

Here’s what nobody tells you about early childhood development. Those warning signs parents worry about at 3am? They’re often visible months earlier. But visibility means nothing without action. And action requires access.

No appointments to schedule around work. No insurance questions first. No wondering if you’re overreacting. Show up, get answers, leave with a plan.

The early childhood years lay the foundation for success in school and later life. What we’re still figuring out as a sector is how to make that knowledge actionable for every family, not just the ones who already know how to work the system.

These pop-up screenings are proof that when you remove barriers, families show up. And when families show up early, outcomes change.