Preparing your little one for school is extremely important. Parents play a crucial role in supporting and promoting their child’s development to ensure they are ready physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually. Good preparation will help your child adapt smoothly to the new school environment and be happy.
Related Topics
- Essential skills for preschoolers
- Physical preparation
- Emotional and social preparation
- Intellectual preparation
- Activities that promote preschool child development
- Parents’ role in preparing their little ones
Essential Skills for Preschoolers
Preschoolers should have basic skills necessary for living and learning. These skills include:
- Communication: Ability to talk, express needs, and understand language spoken by others.
- Research by Hart & Risley (1995) found that children who are spoken to and read to from an early age develop better language skills than children who do not receive such stimulation.
- Communication is a crucial skill for socializing and learning. Children who can communicate well have more self-confidence and can adapt to others more easily.
- Self-help: Ability to perform daily routines independently, such as dressing, eating, and using the toilet.
- Training children to help themselves builds confidence and self-pride (Erikson, 1968).
- Children who can help themselves will have responsibility and self-reliance, which are important life skills.
- Motor skills: Ability to move their bodies skillfully, such as walking, running, and jumping.
- Exercise and free play help develop children’s movement skills (Gallahue & Ozmun, 2012).
- Good motor skills will help children perform various activities smoothly and maintain good health.
Social skills: Ability to play and coexist happily with others.
- Playing with friends helps children learn social skills such as sharing, waiting, and problem-solving (Piaget, 1962).
- Good social skills help children adapt to others and build good relationships with friends.
Thinking skills: Ability to solve problems and think logically.
- Playing games that require thinking, such as building blocks or role-play, helps develop children’s thinking skills (Vygotsky, 1978).
- Good thinking skills help children analyze problems and find reasonable solutions
Physical Preparation
Physical preparation is important to ensure your little one is healthy and ready to learn. Parents should take care of diet, ensuring their child receives complete nutrition, exercises regularly, and gets enough rest.
- Research from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University found that proper nutrition and regular exercise are important for a child’s brain development.
- Eating nutritious and complete meals helps children have strong bodies and sufficient energy for various activities.
- Regular exercise helps strengthen children’s muscles and bones.
- Getting enough rest helps children’s bodies and brains recover and be ready to learn new things.
Emotional and Social Preparation
Emotional and social preparation will help your little one adapt to the new school environment happily. Parents should teach their children to control emotions, share, and play with others.
- Studies by Denham (2006) found that children with good emotional and social skills are more likely to succeed in learning and life.
- Teaching children to control emotions helps them manage their feelings appropriately.
- Teaching children to share and play with others helps them build good relationships with friends and adapt to society.
Intellectual Preparation
Intellectual preparation will help your little one be ready to learn. Parents should encourage their children to learn new things through play, reading stories, and engaging in interesting activities.
- Reading to children from an early age helps develop language skills and imagination (Chomsky, 1965).
- Play is an important activity for children’s intellectual development. Play helps children learn new things and develop various skills such as problem-solving, creative thinking, and working with others.
Activities that Promote Preschool Child Development
There are many activities that parents can do with their little ones to promote various aspects of development, such as
- Play: Play is the most important activity for preschoolers. Parents should play with their children regularly.
- Reading stories: Reading stories to children helps develop language skills and imagination.
- Art activities: Art activities such as drawing and coloring help develop creativity.
- Music activities: Music activities such as singing and dancing help develop musical skills.
Parents' Role in Preparing Their Little Ones
Parents play an important role in preparing their little ones for preschool. Parents should provide love, warmth, and support to help their children learn and develop to their full potential.
Additional Advice
- Start early: Preparation for your little one should start early.
- Be consistent: Activities that promote your child’s development should be done regularly.
- Create a warm atmosphere: Creating a warm and safe atmosphere will help your little one be happy and ready to learn.
- Consult experts: If you have questions or need additional advice, consult experts such as teachers or child development specialists.
Preparing your little one for preschool is the greatest gift parents can give their child. Good preparation will help your little one be happy and successful in learning throughout life. 💕
References
- Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. (n.d.). The science of early childhood development: Closing the gap between what we know and what we do.
- Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the theory of syntax. MIT press.
- Denham, S. A. (2006). Social and emotional learning: A framework for promoting school readiness and early school success. Guilford Press.
- Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. WW Norton & Company.
- Gallahue, D. L., & Ozmun, J. C. (2012). Understanding motor development: Infants, children, adolescents, adults. McGraw-Hill.
- Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Brookes Publishing.
- Piaget, J. (1962). Play, dreams and imitation in childhood. WW Norton & Company.
- Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press1.
