This is part one of a two-part series that takes a look at the importance of early childhood development and the role it plays in shaping human beings who are equipped to navigate life as efficiently as possible.
At Kay-Dee Educare Centre and Daycare in Mowbray, we put early childhood development at the forefront of our programs, ensuring that your children are exposed to experiences that nurture their development rather than hinder it.
Many people think that education starts only when a child starts school, but the truth is that it should start at birth already. This doesn’t mean that you should try teaching your newborn the alphabet, but rather that you should create a safe and healthy learning environment for your child to grow up in. This includes nurturing their emotional development, as well as their intellectual, academic, and social development.
Here are 5 reasons why it’s important that parents and educators should be placing emphasis on early childhood development when raising and educating children:
Children learn more during their first 6 years of life than any other time in their lives. Their minds are truly like sponges during this phase, and they soak up all the information around them as they start to figure out how to navigate the world around them.
During their first 6 years of life, children’s brains are rapidly developing as new neurons are forming on a daily basis. What happens during this stage of their lives will ultimately determine how they efficiently they learn, absorb information, interact with others, and feel about themselves for the rest of their adult lives.
Everything that happens during a child’s life will affect them as adults. There is plenty of evidence that supports the fact that mental health issues in adults most commonly stem from their childhood experiences. When children grow up in unsafe, abusive environments, there is a lasting negative effect that stays with them throughout their entire lives.
Conversely, when children grow up in nurturing homes with parents who love them, tend to their needs, and support their growth from the beginning, the incidence of mental health issues is reduced. Furthermore, they grow up with self-confidence, healthy social skills, healthy coping skills, and well-developed learning abilities.
When parents and educators are fully involved in a child’s upbringing, it’s easier to identify any issues early on. Issues that may arise include difficulties with learning, communication, and basic motor skills to name a few. Whatever the issue may be, early identification is the key to finding the appropriate treatment options and the sooner we start treating issues, the more successful we can be in mitigating their negative consequences.
However, if a child’s caretakers are not present or focused on the child, these issues can easily be missed, giving them the opportunity to develop into a more permanent issue that becomes more difficult to treat as the years pass.
When parents are fully present for their children from an early age and throughout their upbringing, there is an unbreakable bond that forms between them. This bond helps to foster a positive outlook on life, it builds resilience and self-confidence, and reminds children that they are loved and supported. All of these are fundamental in raising a well-rounded individual who contributes positively to the world around them.
Moving through the stages of early childhood development will positively influence your child’s identity. It’s during these stages that children formulate their morals, principles, belief systems, and perceptions. When children are exposed to negative influences during their first few years of life, they become a product of these experiences and reforming their identity becomes extremely challenging, if not impossible.
We believe that early childhood development is the key to building a safe, economically sound society and it all starts with our children.
To find out more about our Educare and Daycare Centre in Mowbray, Cape Town, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Lastly, look out for part two of this series coming next month, where we will be sharing more reasons why early childhood development is so important.
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