As a parent, you care deeply about your child’s education. You want them to succeed and thrive, both academically and emotionally.
Learning styles vary from child to child. Observe your child to learn about their strengths and preferences. Encourage them to develop an area of expertise in subjects that interest them.
Physical Development
Children’s physical growth and maturation are fundamental to a healthy learning environment. It includes the development of gross and fine motor skills, body control, and coordination. Children’s knowledge of body and health lays the foundation for self-care and healthy habits later in life.
Educators can support children’s physical development by encouraging indoor and outdoor physical activities, creating flexible development plans to track progress over time, and providing plenty of spaces and materials that encourage movement and motor skill development. They can also teach and model good hygiene and healthy eating practices, including covering the mouth when coughing or sneezing.
The cognitive, social-emotional and physical development of children is enhanced by a quality education that promotes curiosity, imagination, teamwork, and problem-solving. It also fosters awareness of different cultures and perspectives to prepare children for a globalized world. It’s important to remember that every child develops at a unique pace, but most will acquire motor skills along the age-by-age timeline shown below.
Social Development
Children’s social development reflects their growing abilities to interact with others and develop a sense of self. This includes forming attachments with caregivers, learning how to play together and understanding their role in the community. There are several theories of social development including Erikson’s psychosocial stages, Bandura’s social learning theory, Bowlby and Ainsworth’s Attachment Theory, and Kohlberg’s stages of moral development.
UNESCO works to improve children’s social development through education and other activities. This could include setting up classrooms for child refugees, providing education materials and training teachers. It can also involve ensuring that children are healthy and safe so they can fully benefit from their education. Educated individuals are healthier and more productive, which helps to break the cycle of poverty. They are also better able to advocate for their rights and drive innovation and economic progress. Educating girls, in particular, can help reduce child marriage and sexual exploitation. The result is a more inclusive and prosperous world for everyone.
Emotional Development
A child’s emotional development is the emergence, experience, expression and regulation of emotions. It takes place in the context of relationships and grows throughout early childhood. Children who have healthy emotional development are able to get along well with others, manage their own feelings and behavior and help other people feel better.
Infants begin social and emotional development from birth. They smile and cry to communicate with caregivers, form healthy attachment relationships and learn through their experiences. Their unique tendencies to experience particular emotions and the threshold they require before expressing them are often described as their temperament or characteristic emotionality.
By 3 years, a child is able to differentiate between reality and imagination in play. This is an important step in social-emotional development, as it helps them develop empathy and understand that other people have different responses to a situation. They also master sharing, turn-taking and cooperative play. They become more independent and start to develop their self-confidence and perseverance.
Language & Literacy
Language and literacy skills are essential to children’s development because they form the foundation for reading, writing, communicating and socialising. They start developing as babies and continue growing throughout childhood.
Effective childhood education encourages children to engage in activities that promote language and literacy development. These activities include:
Group projects and collaborative play foster teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills. Art and science activities support creativity, imagination and knowledge acquisition. Reading and storytelling enhance language and listening abilities, while music and dance help develop motor skills and rhythm. Technology games and apps help children build tech literacy, a necessary skill in the digital age.
Parents can support early language and literacy development by talking to their children, singing songs and reading books together. They can also hang different kinds of print around the home and label objects. They can also read stories to their children and tell them about everyday experiences. They should celebrate each child’s efforts and milestones to reinforce positive behaviour and encourage more progress.