Early Childhood Development

The first few years of a child’s development are the most important. It is extremely critical that the right values are instilled in the child at this time. Parents must realize that the values that they instill in the child are critical. The child will learn from what he or she observes. It is during this time that the child learns how to deal with situations and circumstances and it will get its cues from you. Everything that you do during this time is extremely important and will be the basis for success or failure later on in the child’s life. This is the time that positive actions and values have to be reinforced to the fullest. This is the time that the child will learn how to deal with the outside world along with a sense of self esteem. It is critical that you reinforce positive values during this period in the child’s life. Learn to give positive praise. Also correct the child without criticizing. The child needs to learn from mistakes rather than to be punished for them. It needs to be built up at this time to help it to become a functioning adult. You must stretch every area of the child’s mind by offering different challenges for it to master and a wide variety of tasks to perform. The young child is naturally curious at this point of its young life and will tend to want to explore the outside world. I never try to dampen the exploratory spirit of a child but I will add limits to the things that it can do. I have a young grandson who I allow to play with my computer, set the controls on the TV, and cook in the microwave. I have the utmost confidence in his abilities because I have very carefully allowed him the freedom to use these gadgets but I have taught him the dos and donts at the same time. He knows exactly what he can and can’t do and he knows the reason why. I have seen parents grimace when their children attempts to touch something expensive, but I don’t because I know that he won’t mishandle expensive objects. This gives him a feeling of accomplishment because he can do those things that an adult can do but he also has a sense of responsibility because he realizes that he has to follow proper procedure when utilizing these items. He also knows how to clean, vacuum, and catch pan fish. He can go into a restaurant and order form the posted menu. He also knows the meaning of street signs and the responsibility of the driver when he or she approaches a sign, and he can navigate through most of the town that we live in. My next project is to teach him how to play chess. I have taught him a few basic moves but he is not quite ready to tie the movements of the different chess pieces together yet. He can also read a few words, write his name, and count to 100. I have attempted to stretch his mind in every direction. I feel that chess will teach him how to think ahead, analyze situations, and solve problems. Our children are such an important resource that we can’t take for granted. We need to push our children at this age and show them how to use every part of their problem solving ability. They need to develop cognitive skills and they need to begin to learn. In a sense training a child is like programming a computer. If you put garbage in you will get garbage out. Parents should not neglect this opportunity to train the child to be a responsible productive member of the society that we live in. Riceland Enterprises