Wilkes Circles of Care, Inc.

10/24/2025

Natasha will be hosting this wonderful event. Let's go show her lots of support.

10/24/2025

MAKE YOUR
OWN MONSTER
MASK!
TAUGHT BY NATOSHA MARTIN
Hair & Makeup Artist • UNC School of Arts Graduate SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2025
11 AM - 1 PM
NORTH WILKESBORO APPALACHIAN
REGIONAL LIBRARY
FREE for kids & adults! Learn how monsters are
made up — literally!
Create your own spooky or silly mask Come have fun, be creative, and
take home your own morster mask!

10/10/2025

Thank you Erica Sales Harper for a very helpful program tonight!

10/10/2025

A special thank you to Maggie Moore and her Bible Study Group for a delicious dinner tonight !

10/05/2025

13 Things Children Need More Of…

10/02/2025

Happy National Custodial Worker’s Day! We are truly thankful for our custodial staff and all they do to keep our schools safe, clean, and welcoming every day.

10/02/2025

Available formula!

10/02/2025

10/01/2025

ISO of bicycle or scooter for a Circle Leader trying to get back and forth to work. Thank you so much in advance. She has been walking to work and is a faithful employee. Please help.

09/27/2025

There is a growing pressure to push independence onto children at earlier and earlier ages. From infants left to “self-soothe,” to toddlers told to "calm down," to preschoolers expected to be “big kids” and handle separations without support, the same message repeats: self-sufficiency matters more than connection. Yet this expectation ignores what we know about child development and brain science.

Most adults struggle with emotional regulation even with a fully developed brain. The prefrontal cortex, which supports reasoning, planning, and self-control, does not fully mature until the mid-twenties. A toddler or preschooler does not have the neurological capacity to regulate themselves. What they do have is the innate drive to seek a caregiver’s calm presence. This process of co-regulation is not a weakness — it is the foundation of later self-regulation. Through repeated experiences of being soothed, children begin to internalize the ability to steady themselves.

Healthy independence emerges gradually and appropriately. In infancy, it may look like a baby turning away from stimulation, knowing comfort is close by. In toddlerhood, it looks like short bursts of trying things alone while returning for reassurance. In the preschool years, independence shows up as experimenting with problem-solving, making choices, and tolerating short separations — always with the anchor of a nearby adult. By school age, children extend this autonomy into longer stretches, but only because they have been given years of dependable co-regulation and secure attachment.

When we skip these stages and expect children to do what their brains cannot yet do, we do not create resilience. We create disconnection. Children may mask needs rather than express them, and this carries costs for emotional health, relationships, and resilience later in life. This matters because attachment research shows that only about 60–65% of infants are securely attached, leaving 35–40% in insecure categories (Ainsworth et al.; van IJzendoorn & Kroonenberg meta-analysis; NICHD Study of Early Child Care). Without secure attachment, children face higher risks of anxiety, depression, and chronic dysregulation.

Children and adults both deserve to feel joy in daily life, alongside challenges that are manageable and growth-building, not overwhelming. Development moves in sequence, not shortcuts. Co-dependence comes before independence. Co-regulation comes before self-regulation. When we honor that order, we set children up not only to cope, but to thrive.

Shared by We Skoolhouse

09/26/2025

We had a wonderful time with Melanie Parrish at our last meeting-learning to live with intention💙