Canning Vale Family Day Care owner Leanne Dowsett will head to Melbourne later this month for the Excellence in Family Day Care Awards after winning the state award this week.
Ms Dowsett’s unique approach to day care won her the award.
She decided to develop early learning programs that focus on downtime and growing healthy minds.
She said one of the ways of achieving this was with yoga.
“The children love our yoga sessions and have gone home to show their parents and siblings some of the basic moves which has prompted the families to look into the program being used at home,” she said.
Leanne’s message to parents is that mental health is just as important as physical health.
“I was seeing more and more of the children coming into care suffering from mini-meltdowns from being run here and there,” she said.
“I have been trying to educate the families on the importance of letting children be children and not overwhelming them with all the extracurricular activities, particularly when they are still needing rest to help with their development.”
Family Day Care Australia chief executive Andrew Paterson said the national peak body received more than 2000 award nominations from parents this year.
“The overwhelming response from parents reflects the important role family day care is playing in the lives of working families around the country,” he said.
“Leanne is an incredibly passionate early childhood education and care professional, who values each and every child’s education and wellbeing.
“It is amazing to see educators like Leanne who are helping our future generations to blossom and thrive.”
Leanne will attend the 2016 Excellence in Family Day Care Awards gala dinner in Melbourne on November 26 where the national educator of the year will be announced.
