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Why is early childhood education important?

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Early childhood education is usually for children between the ages of three and five. It is commonly referred to as pre-school, or play home or kindergarten. The main aim at this stage of education is to prepare children for primary school. Children learn best when they are not pushed too hard and when they are given space for creativity. And preschools generally give children a free rein to explore their environment and learn through play way methods. Another common misconception is that early childhood education is only focused on learning basic skills. It is in fact a lot more. It is a period when children learn critical social and emotional skills. It also lays the foundation for a firm bond between the child, their parents and the teacher. When this is done successfully, it paves the wave for this to continue throughout the child’s academic years.  Preschools give children the special attention they need before entering the formal education system and this foundation gi...
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English or Mother Tongue, What Do You Choose?

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Struggling with the mother tongue seems to be a common phenomenon among the urban population today. It’s also considered ‘fashionable’ ‘refined’ or socially superior if children are seen conversing in English rather than the mother tongue.  Parents also tend to speak to their children in English because they want to send them to English medium schools and don’t want them to lag behind in the class. So English becomes the primary language spoken at home and the mother tongue takes a backseat. Due to increasing globalization English, it is a fact that English has become a gateway to the world. But should we be adopting the English language at the cost of the mother tongue?    A child’s first understanding of the world, learning new concepts and skills comes from the first language that he or she is introduced to. Learning the mother tongue first allows them to frame their thinking and emotional behavior in the cultural milieu they are born into.   The mother...
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Importance of Encouragement

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Encouragement is one of the most powerful tools of motivation.  We all like praise and to have good things said about us. So encouraging children should be fairly simple, right? Well it turns out continuously praising a child can do more harm than good. The problem is children then tend to expect this sort of acknowledgement for everything they do and can get alarmed if they don’t get it. Also, they begin to rely heavily on external sources of encouragement rather than learning to develop a sense internal motivation and confidence in their own abilities. They do things not because they should or they can but only because it brings them recognition.  So, we have to understand that encouragement needs to be more than just a self-esteem booster. Here are a few tips to help you encourage your children positively. Be Sincere and Specific Yes, children can easily recognize when you are being sincere and when you are not.   When kids believe you are praising or enco...
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Parent Child Interactions – A Two way Street

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Although the days you spend with little kids can seem long, never-ending, and extremely exhausting, time actually flies, and the years go by very quickly. Every day brings new growth, new milestones, and new wonders, but the challenges of juggling our adult lives often prevent us from fully appreciating the nuances of childhood. The parent child bond is unique and it must be enjoyed and nurtured.  Healthy parent child interactions can help to keep a family together and happy. We have been told time and again that spending quality time with the child is important so most parents believe they need to take out an hour two and schedule time for their children. While it is good to make time for your children it’s important to remember that parent child interactions go beyond the scheduled two hours.  In fact quality interactions may happen when you are taking your child to school, or on the way to the dance class. Here are a few tips to help you in your interactions with your...
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Life skills – An integral aspect of childhood learning

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Have you thought about how independent your child is? Can he or she manage to be by themselves for a while without adult supervision? In an age where a two year old can navigate a smart phone, surely, children can learn how to butter toast or find their way to the house they live in. Yes your child is more capable than you think. But in today’s tech savvy, gadget driven world it can be easy for children to lose out on some practical skills. Also, as parents we tend to focus on the academic success of our children.  Teaching them basic tasks like doing the laundry, managing money, making a simple meal can be equally essential to their success. Without certain life skills even adults find themselves at a disadvantage. So how soon should you start teaching your children life skills? You can begin teaching a child age appropriate skills as early as two years. Before your child leaves home to go to pre -school, they must learn how to put away their toys, be able to feed themselves...
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Be a positive parent today!

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Are you struggling to get your kids to listen to you without having to yell or nag or lose control? Well you may not be the only one grappling with this issue. All parents at some point or have had to face tantrums, melt downs and power struggles with their children. The good news is that these issues can be addressed and they need not be stressful and they are far easier to handle than you think. Positive parenting is an approach focused on developing a strong, deeply committed relationship between parent and child based on communication and mutual respect. Here we teach a child just not what he/ she should be doing but also why he/she must do that.   The aim here is to discipline a child without breaking the spirit of the child. It involves training a child to learn self-control and giving them the tools they need to become thoughtful people. So how can you practice positive parenting? Think of your children as individuals and not as personal property . Acknowled...
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Ethical Behavior - Learning the Difference between Right and Wrong

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Teaching a child to be ethical is perhaps one of the many challenging tasks of parenthood. There comes a time when children lie or cheat and this is only human. It then falls upon the parent and the adults in the life of the child to instill a system or code of ethics that will help the child grow into an honest, caring, respectful adult. And this has to be done because children need to understand that ethical behavior is fundamental expectation of living in a peaceful society. Also children who learn to be empathetic and take care of others tend to develop strong interpersonal skills.   And research has shown that happy and successful people display a higher emotional quotient/ interpersonal skills.   Learning to collaborate, picking up the ability to take responsibility for oneself and others are all qualities that can be developed in early childhood. Here are a few guidelines on how to raise caring, respectful, ethical children: Focus your efforts on building a lovin...
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