The world is changing its perception, its pathways of learning, its form of knowledge and the understanding of the world at large. This said, a small part of this large world is our children, and the change we are talking about is bought about by them.
The new age diversities lead us to a new understanding about how our children are growing up in this environment of factual learning. This learning can well be compared to be like ‘Galaxy Dust’, that has the potential of embedding itself in these young minds to mark an evolution of thoughts towards the birth of a new planet of knowledge
The emotional, social and physical development of young children has a direct effect on their overall development and on the adult they will become. That is why understanding the need to invest in very young children is so important, so as to maximize their future well-being.
Parenting these new evolved minds is not an easy task. The anxiety on the path which is “JUST RIGHT” still works like the sound of hammers working on a nail. The energy with which it hits decides how deep the knowledge embeds itself but it is the right direction of the hit that decides whether the nail bends or is set right on its core strength. Parents thus need to understand that, the school no doubt plays a massive role in embedding knowledge and learning into these young minds, but it is when they bring school home where the nurturing of this knowledge begins.
Neurological research shows that the early years play a key role in children’s brain development. Babies begin to learn about the world around them from a very early age – including during the prenatal, perinatal (immediately before and after birth) and postnatal period.
Formal schooling is a lot of literary work for the children of today. Parents need to realize that with every decade a new methodology of learning emerges. So it is important for the parents to engulf the new flavours of learning and teaching. A child that spends 6 to 8 hours at school is already over flowing with new terminologies and overwhelmed with something new he/she has discovered at school. This sparkling light in the child is impatiently waiting to shine into the world and the world for him are his parents.
There is so much diversification of study and boards today that it is has been observed that parents are stressed and obsessed with it!! They are so busy being a competitor to make their child compete with every other child around that they forget the fact that no one is actually listening to the child. The curriculum is so important that the true form of learning is fading away. As parents we have to understand that the child is already competing enough at school and what he/she is bringing back home is knowledge that needs to be given a womb in which they can grow up to be beautiful individuals of the future.
It is important for parents to give a listening ear to whatever the child says. In the hustle of the new age where we are working hard to make ends meet, we tend to forget what children need most from us is our attention. Schools are working hard behind children to bring them up in the social strata, but what we need to understand is how, we as parents are going to participate in our child’s life? Are we going to be those set of parents who believe that bringing school home means only the amount of homework allotted? Or – are we those, who are not satisfied with just homework, so studying post homework hours is mandatory? Or – are we those who say “hey champ! How was school?” and if the reply is “lunch was great!” then we are more than happy to acknowledge this fact and even make lunch a fun form of learning?? The choice stands forth.
Children’s early experiences – the bonds they form with their parents and their first learning experiences
deeply affect their future physical, cognitive, emotional and social development. Optimizing the early years of children’s lives is the best investment we can make as a society in ensuring their future success.
We can quantify and analyse the effect of early year’s experiences by looking back on our own childhood. The behavioural patterns, the traits that we as individuals carry and how we portray them are clear signs of our physical, cognitive, emotional and social development that we experienced during our childhood. For eg. If a habit of talking loud has been a common practice in a household, it invariably is passed on to the children of the house as immersive learning. Also if exercising every morning is a practice of all in the household it is invariably imbibed in the children. The way one respects the other in a household in perspective of work or gender is all being observed consciously and subconsciously by the children as the neurons are highly receptive in their formative years. So the different values of respect, being humble, empathy etc., all are prospects of deep immersive learning that no parent should ignore and practice the same as an individual.
At the beginning of this article there was a mention of a path that was “JUST RIGHT”. Why we say that the path is just right because just like our children are learning life on an everyday basis, parenting too is a learning “EVERYDAY”. So, when we are planning and charting and deciding what is right or wrong for our children, we are balancing our scales and to do this the decisions are always difficult. Thus, when we average it out they tend to fall not in the absolute right category nor in the absolute wrong category – its “JUST ABOUT RIGHT”.
This average can be bought only when we believe that learning is not just school and subjects. It is when the child comes home and is ready to tell you all about his learning at school, irrespective of it being curricular or co-curricular, it is on us how we make it a form of fun, importance and knowledge for them. Books technology and exams make them literate but understanding, values and knowledge comprehension makes them truly EDUCATED. The journey of which begins only after the child brings his school home every day in the form of tasty food at lunch, a fight with a friend, an appreciation from the teacher or a new word in his dictionary of knowledge. All of this needs to be acknowledged and engulfed by us, only then the term Holistic learning will hold its true meaning in this fast changing world.
This is where we – LIFE as an organisation stand tall and are formed to support children on a holistic learning path. Our belief is that every child is born intelligent and through education every child’s learning process can be enhanced. Our Purpose is to make every school have the opportunity to reach their full potential.