We are doing a 2 part series on “Why Pay for Quality Preschool”. We did Part 1 in Feb 2020, however due to scheduled newsletters, Info articles and then the Corona crisis, we couldn’t share part 2. During the last few weeks we shared a lot of activities to do at home. However this week we will take a break from activities and talk a bit about the part 2 of our article.
In Part 1: How do we define Quality Preschool
In Part 2: We discuss why preschool age (1.4 to 6 years) is very important
Lets look at the factors that affect this age and then talk about why this is the most important phase of your child’s life.
90% brain developed by 6 years
Brain develops 90% by age 6
We all know that about 90% of our brain physically develops by the age 6. Along with brain’s physical growth, it needs neural connections to help the body coordinate movements, help in cognitive abilities and help in emotional management. These neural connections are made when the hands and body respond to the command centre (the brain) and accomplish certain tasks. Purposeful activities help form new neural connections that foster brain development during this age. At this age, children should be given purposeful activities to help their brain development.
Image source: https://www.firstthingsfirst.org/early-childhood-matters/brain-development/
Personality Development
Albert Bandura’s coined the concept of learning by imitation through his Social learning theory. Summarising his theory- children at this age have a habit of observing Model People around them. These can be older siblings, parents or even neighbours. They observe how these people react in situations and imitate them. The imitation actually turns into internalisation meaning that becomes part of the child’s personality. They observe and adopt values, ideas and standards from model people around them. This is how personality is formed in children during the preschool years which stays for rest of their lives.
Child’s personality is shaped during the preschool years
We learn ON what we know
This statement is a bit paradoxical because “learn” means internalising a skill we do not posses. Dr. Leon F. Seltzer talks about this concept in his popular blog Evolution of Self. In this he explains that humans only learn based on past experiences or connections about a new topic. For example, I start teaching about numbers 1,2,3,4 to children, they will not understand anything. However if I count 4 chocolates or apples then they understand the meaning of 4 and how 2 chocolates are less than 4 chocolates. Dr. Leon also states that humans can only learn if they can link with their existing learning. Now in the preschool years if the experiences are poor and the child is not exposed, the ability to understand, learn and grasp is severely affected during the school years.
These are a few reasons why preschool years are very important to overall development of the child. Hence we say why parents must pay for quality preschool. Do share your thoughts and comments about this article. Please share this with anyone you feel will benefit from this article. Appreciate your help.
Learning from what we are exposed to helps not only kids but also adult to understand better. So pedagogy plays crucial role. Well said mam.