For us parents, giving our child the best education is our number 1 priority. Best education is the most expensive school right? Or is it the school that my friend’s children attend? It is a tough question to answer. There are so many factors to think about, but think we must and fast because by 3 years of age the schools start accepting admissions for children.
So we shift all our focus on getting selected by the best school and don’t pay too much attention to preschool education or playschools. Playschool anyway is for learning soft skills like social skills, gross and fine motor skills, and some rhymes. No real academic learning happens here right? So we help our child to prepare for that most important school interview. And our efforts are paid off when our child gets selected in the best school. Yes! Our job as parents has been done well. Right?
Since we opened Savi Montessori Preschool last month, we have received numerous calls from parents of children who are in school and are facing tough time reading, concentrating in school and understanding basic mathematical concepts. Parents want to address this immediately. If these concerns are not corrected early, children will struggle later on in Algebra, Geometry, Language and Sciences. Moreover children start hating or developing fear of certain subjects. Math being very popular as a hated subject.
What we need to do as parents is embrace the idea of holistic development from playschool itself. Early years 1.5 to 4 are critical in terms of physiological, psychological and overall development of the child. Dr Maria Montessori observed that children have certain sensitive periods in their life, where they have an instinctive inclination to acquire certain skills. For every child, language is an instinctive urge from birth. Every child tries to repeat, say and understand the language spoken at home. By the time the child is 3 years, he has already mastered the oral language spoken at home including grammar and syntax. The below chart describes the various sensitive periods till the age of 6. You can click here to know more about sensitive periods in your child’s life.
As this is such a crucial formative period in our child’s life, choosing the right play school is very important. Children should have ample opportunities to develop holistically at this age. Holistic development happens through multi-sensory, child-led and exploratory learning. Holistic development refers to development of 5 skills Academic (Cognitive), Physical, Social, Emotional and Character. Focus should be on all 5 not only academic.
With holistic development starting from early childhood, children learn four essential skills for their success in life not just school. Holistic development helps children learn Collaboration, Critical thinking, Creativity and Communication. These are 21st century skills required by our children to succeed in the future.
If we give our child the holistic education from early years that focusses on 21st Century skills, we don’t have to worry later. Because we know our child will find a way to be successful in life. That to me is Good Parenting!