So many articles and studies have shown that early childhood education is vital for kids age 2-4. I would go a step further and argue that learning begins from birth. Parents should cultivate an atmosphere of learning early on in a child’s life. From my personal experience, incorporating an atmosphere of education creates a family culture that promotes a life-long love of learning.
seIf I was to define my family’s culture, it would be faith, family, open communication, and education. When parents create a family culture rooted in their core values, then children easily adapt to tho values. In our home, learning is a daily activity. In the same way, that prayer, communication, playing, and eating are all part of our daily living.
Through my research and experience, I found the following benefits to early childhood education. These benefits helped us establish an early childhood education strategy.
Enthusiasm for Lifetime Learning
Enthusiasm for learning is either a natural behavior or learned behavior. Making learning a fun experience from an early age removes the idea of “work” from the child’s perspective and replaces it with fun activities.
We should inspire enthusiasm for learning by encouraging the playful and fun characteristics of our kids. For example, to help my daughter begin learning her colors, I used the following process.
- I purchased construction paper, safety scissors, and glue dots
- I took five primary colors out of the pack of construction papers
- Sat down with my daughter and we traced her hands on each of the construction paper.
- We created a handprint for blue, yellow, red, white and black
- We then used the safety scissors to cut out the hands
- Placed glue dots on the back of each hand
- Put the cutouts on our refrigerator
Every time she did something awesome, my husband and I would yell, “give Bre’s blue hand a high five” or “give Bre 2 high fives.” We also made shapes from construction paper and used glue dots to paste shapes on the refrigerator and used it as fun exercises.
Concentration
Early structure for learning helps children to improve their concentration skills. While learning should be fun, as the kids get older, introduce structure. The slow introduction of structure helps kids to recognize the difference in learning for fun and learning for substance.
Starting at age two, we introduced “homework time” to our kids. We start with 10-15 minutes of seating down and learning. Work on coloring, tracing, cutting, puzzles, to get the kids comfortable with sitting down and learning.
We have had great success with this; as our kids get older and schoolwork becomes more intense, homework time is easy. They follow their schedule, sit through homework time without complaints, and it has helped a busy working family to balance life and work.
Love of Reading
I read to my kids when they are in the womb. Then from birth, we read to them every night at bedtime. From an early age, our kids enjoy reading, and it has become a natural routine for them.
My four- year old reads so well now, reading above the kindergarten level and enjoys it, because it is a family norm that he has adopted.
Confidence and Self-esteem
When an expert is asked to speak on their knowledge and expertise, they speak confidently and with boldness because they are confident in their understanding of the information they are presenting.
The same applies to a child with information and knowledge. When a child is exposed to information and an ability to acquire knowledge, it creates optimism and a boost in self-esteem. Over time, this behavior will encourage the child to explore their talents, skills, and interests more confidently.
A strong sense of self builds character for a child and helps the adults in their lives be more attentive and more open to the child’s natural abilities. Positive self-esteem gives a child the confidence to speak up for themselves and promote healthy interaction with others.
Support for Parents
When it was announced that we had to adapt a distance learning model, the thought of “teaching” our kids was somewhat unsettling. But as we began the virtual learning process, it wasn’t as daunting as we anticipated. The first two weeks were challenging and overwhelming, but once the school determined a clear process, we then used our “homeschool process” and it was easy.
We realized that our years of disciplined home learning practices had prepared us for the distance learning process. A benefit of early childhood education is that it provides support for parents as the kids get older.
My husband and I realized that all of the hours we spent instilling discipline and the importance of learning was a tremendous help for distance learning. Our kids were disciplined, attentive, and completed their work as instructed without my husband or me having to remind, or force them to be focused.
Conclusion
I can list so many benefits to early childhood education, most important in my mind is instilling the love of learning and generating information.
Thanks for exploring this topic with me.
Idara Joy.
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13 Comments
Akshaya
Thank you so much for sharing the importance of education !
It should be essential that we engage in different skills !
Nishtha
Great post! As an educator I totally agree that early childhood education is very imp and a key in building future success. Learning is a lifelong skill and the earlier you start the more benefits you see
Nkem
A beautiful post and reminder that the love of learning can come at an early age and be carried on into adulthood!
Antoinette
I don’t have children yet but this post is quite informative for women planning to have one in general. Early childhood education is so important, it will make or break the child’s character. Thanks for sharing
Jen @ JENRON DESIGNS
Early Childhood education is so important these are all great tips to give the little ones a head start.
Phylecia M
Great piece. I agree, developing a child’s mind is important. I’m pretty sure my love of reading stems from my early education.
Heather
Early childhood education is incredibly important! Thank you for sharing this information and tips. This year I will be doing preschool with my older son. We’ve done stricter time already so I think it’ll be an easy transition for him and I.
Crystal | Sauced and Lost
Early childhood education is definitely important. I am working on reading with my 5 yr old now and I try my best to stay consistent. It gets difficult as I also have a small toddler.
Kelsey
Great post on the benefits of education for little ones early on in life! I will save this for future reference 🙂
Tracy @ Cleland Clan
You can really see the difference in young children who have been exposed to education vs those who haven’t. Their focus is often longer, and they are more willing to try new things.
Puja Kumari
I completely agree with you early education is important for the overall growth of the kid. Great post!
Kait
Education is so important, right from the beginning! I learned to read very young, and I am sure that made me into the lifelong learner I am as an adult.
Luke Smith
It’s great that you talked about how early childhood education is vital for kids aged 2-4. Our daughter is now 2 years old and I think she could start learning soon. I heard there are even early childhood development establishments now, so maybe we should look into that too.