Training toddlers at home
It is quite natural for a toddler to develop and grow into a curious and inquisitive child, whether she is in a creche or is always taken care at home until pre-school age. However, what is important to you is how best to prepare your toddler for pre-school and put her on a path that will lead to the next phase of learning.
While school is invaluable, you are aware that real learning often begins at home, as mom and dad are the ultimate role models for children. Both the parents are in a unique position to model behaviour for their child and trigger the learning process. So the question really is, can parents plan for pre-school at home?
Even as you’re thinking about preschool readiness, at this age the most important thing your child will be doing is playing. Making sure that there’s plenty of opportunities for your baby to just be a baby. It’s how children learn best!
Big benefits of learning at home
Understandably, some parents want to enrol their toddler in a pre-school as early as 8 months, while others feel more comfortable to start pre-school when the child is between 2 to 4 years of age. Either way, parents will be anxious and wary about the outcome.
Their basic objective however remains the same. They would like to lay the foundation for increased academic achievement at home. There is nothing wrong with this perspective, but remember the primary benefit of a pre-school is mostly related to child’s social emotional development. And this normally happens when there is play, interactions and love available in abundance.
Getting ready for pre-school activities
While cognitive skills, such as recognizing and articulating shapes, colours, and alphabets are among the first steps to involving toddlers in play activities, learning to share, learning to take turns, learning to stick to routines will help build other more complex socio-emotional skills like independence, resilience and socializing.
Which is why, giving your child a head start by preparing the child for play and developing social skills at home and then sending her on to a pre-school will set her up for success. Pre-school will then become a real-life and real-time experience that will reinforce and build on her early learnings that happened at home. This will benefit the child immensely.
Learning to be social and being an active member of a playgroup are the biggest benefits of going to a pre-school. Also note that schooling these days, has become increasingly rigorous. Even a pre-school is so much more academic focused than it used to be.
So choosing and preparing for the right pre-school will be a critical decision. Find this out for yourself sooner than later. Always put your child’s interest first, before you consider anything else.
Moving forward, make the time and visit My Gym together with your child. A one-on-one interaction with experienced care givers will reveal several hidden insights. Seeing for yourself how other toddlers behave and handle themselves in a My Gym session will be a big eyeopener.
Give us a call or email to schedule a visit. It will bring down whatever earlier barriers that might exist in your mind. Help you continue to focus on the critical role you already play. More insights into how you can go about preparing your child for pre-school will only make it easier for you to do the thing you need to do on your own and at home.