 How well children will learn and develop and how well they will do
in school depends on a number of things, including the children's health
and physical well-being, their social and emotional preparation and
their language skills and general knowledge of the world. If you share
things with others, your child also will learn to be thoughtful of others'
feelings. Talk about the exciting things that he will do in kindergarten, such
as making art projects, singing and playing games. You don't have to be an
excellent reader for your child to enjoy reading aloud together.
Good Health and Physical Well-Being
Seeing to it that your preschool child has nutritious food, enough
exercise and regular medical care gives him1 a good start in life and
lessens the chances that he will have serious health problems or trouble
learning later on.
Food
Preschoolers require a healthy diet. After your child
is born, she requires nutritious food to keep her healthy. School-aged
children can concentrate better in class if they eat balanced meals that
include servings of breads and cereals; fruits and vegetables; meat,
poultry and fish and meat alternatives (such as eggs and dried beans and
peas); and milk, cheese and yogurt. You should see to it that your child
does not eat too many fatty foods and sweets. Children aged 2-5
generally can eat the same foods as adults but in smaller portions. Your
child's doctor or medical clinic adviser can provide you with advice on
what to feed a baby or a toddler who under the age of 2. If you need
food for your child, federal, state and local programs can help. For
example, the federal nutrition program, called the Special Supplemental
Food Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), distributes food to
low-income women and their children across the country. Food stamp
programs also are available. If you want more information or want to
find out if you are eligible for food stamps, call or visit your local
or state health department. Your local librarian can help you find
names, addresses and phone numbers.
Exercise
Preschoolers need opportunities to exercise. To learn
to control and coordinate the large muscles in his arms and legs, your
child needs to throw and catch balls, run, jump, climb and dance to
music. To learn to control and coordinate the small muscles in his hands
and fingers, he needs to color with crayons, put together puzzles, use
blunt-tipped-safety-scissors, zip his jacket and grasp small objects
such as coins. If you suspect that your child has a disability, see a
doctor as soon as possible. Early intervention can help your child to
develop to his full potential.
Medical Care
Preschoolers require regular medical checkups, immunizations and
dental care. It's important for you to find a doctor or a
clinic where your child can receive routine health care as well as
special treatment if she becomes sick or injured. Early immunizations
can help prevent a number of diseases including measles, mumps, German
measles (rubella), diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hib (Haemophilus
influenzae type b), polio and tuberculosis. These diseases can have
serious effects on your child's physical and mental development. Talk to
your doctor about the benefits and risks of immunization.2 Beginning by
the age of 3 at the latest, your child also should have regular dental
checkups.
Social and Emotional Preparation
Children start school with different degrees of social and emotional
maturity. These qualities take time and practice to learn. Give your
child opportunities at home to begin to develop the following positive
qualities. |
- Confidence: Children must
feel good about themselves and believe they can succeed. Confident
children are more willing to attempt new tasks-and try again if they
don't succeed the first time.
- Independence: Children must
learn to do things for themselves.
- Motivation: Children must
want to learn.
- Curiosity: Children are
naturally curious and must remain so to get the most out of learning
opportunities.
- Persistence: Children must
learn to finish what they start.
- Cooperation: Children must
be able to get along with others and learn to share and take turns.
- Self-control: Children must
learn that there are good and bad ways to express anger. They must
understand that some behaviors, such as hitting and biting, are not
acceptable.
- Empathy: Children must have
an interest in others and understand how others feel.
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| Here are some things that you can do to help your child develop
these qualities. |
- Show your child that you care about
him and that you are dependable. Children who feel loved
are more likely to be confident. Your child must believe that, no
matter what, someone will look out for him. Give your baby or
toddler plenty of attention, encouragement, hugs and lap time.
- Set a good example.
Children imitate what they see others do and what they hear others
say. When you exercise and eat nourishing food, your child is more
likely to do so as well. When you treat others with respect, your
child probably will, too. If you share things with others, your
child also will learn to be thoughtful of others' feelings.
- Provide opportunities for
repetition. It takes practice for a child to crawl,
pronounce new words or drink from a cup. Your child doesn't get
bored when she repeats things. Instead, by repeating things until
she learns them, your child builds the confidence she needs to try
new things.
- Use appropriate discipline.
All children need to have limits set for them. Children whose
parents give them firm but loving discipline generally develop
better social skills and do better in school than do children whose
parents set too few or too many limits. Here are some ideas.
-
Direct your child's activities, but don't be too bossy.
- Give
reasons when you ask your child to do something. Say, for example,
"Please move your truck from the stairs so no one falls over
it"-not, "Move it because I said so."
-
Listen to your child to find out how he feels and whether he needs
special support.
- Show
love and respect when you are angry with your child. Criticize your
child's behavior but not the child. Say, for example, "I love you,
but it's not okay for you to draw pictures on the walls. I get angry
when you do that."
- Help
your child make choices and work out problems. You might ask your
4-year-old, for example, "What can we do to keep your brother from
knocking over your blocks?"
- Be
positive and encouraging. Praise your child for a job well done.
Smiles and encouragement go much further to shape good behavior than
harsh punishment.
- Let your child do many things by herself. Young
children need to be watched closely. However, they learn to be
independent and to develop confidence by doing tasks such as
dressing themselves and putting their toys away. It's important to
let your child make choices, rather than deciding everything for
her.
- Encourage your child to play with other children
and to be with adults who are not family members. Preschoolers need
social opportunities to learn to see the point of view of others.
Young children are more likely to get along with teachers and
classmates if they have had experiences with different adults and
children.
- Show a positive attitude toward learning and
toward school. Children come into this world with a powerful need to
discover and to explore. If your child is to keep her curiosity, you
need to encourage it. Showing enthusiasm for what your child does
("You've drawn a great picture!") helps to make her proud of her
achievements.
|
Children also become excited about starting school when their parents
show excitement about this big step. As your child gets ready to enter
kindergarten, talk to him about school. Talk about the exciting things
that he will do in kindergarten, such as making art projects, singing
and playing games. Be enthusiastic as you describe all the important
things that he will learn from his teacher-how to read, how to how to
count and how to measure and weigh things.
Language and General Knowledge
Children can develop language skills only if they have many
opportunities to talk, listen and use language to solve problems and
learn about the world.
Long before your child enters school, you can do many things to help her
develop language. You can: |
- Give your child opportunities to play. Play is
how children learn. It is the natural way for them to explore, to
become creative, to learn to make up and tell stories and to develop
social skills. Play also helps children learn to solve problems-for
example, if her wagon tips over, a child must figure out how to get
it upright again. When they stack up blocks, children learn about
colors, numbers, geometry, shapes and balance. Playing with others
helps children learn how to negotiate.
- Support and guide your child as she learns a new
activity. Parents can help children learn how to do new things by
"scaffolding," or guiding their efforts. For example, you as you and
your toddler put together a puzzle, you might point to a piece and
say, "I think that this is the piece we need for this space. Why
don't you try it?" Then have the child piece up the piece and place
it correctly. As the child becomes more aware of how the pieces fit
into the puzzle, you can gradually withdraw your support.
- Talk to your child, beginning at birth. Your
baby needs to hear your voice. Voices from a television or radio
can't take the place of your voice, because they don't respond to
your baby's coos and babbles. Your child needs to know that when he
makes a certain sound, for example, "mamamamamama,"
that his mother will respond—she will smile and talk back to him. The
more you talk to your baby, the more he will learn and the more he will
have to talk about as he gets older.
|
| Everyday activities provide opportunities to talk, sometimes in detail,
about what's happening around him. As you give your child a bath, for
example, you might say, "First let's stick the plug in the drain. Now
let's turn on the water. Do you want your rubber duck? That's a good
idea. Look, the duck is yellow, just like the rubber duck we saw on
'Sesame Street.'" (See “Baby Talk”.) |
- Listen to your child. Children have their own
special thoughts and feelings, joys and sorrows, hopes and fears. As
your child's language skills develop, encourage her to talk about
her thoughts and feelings. Listening is the best way to learn what's
on her mind and to discover what she knows and doesn't know and how
she thinks and learns. It also shows your child that her feelings
and thoughts are valuable.
- Ask your child questions, particularly questions
that require him to give more than a "yes" or "no" response. If, as
you walk with your toddler in a park, he stops to pick up leaves,
you might point out how the leaves are the same and how they are
different. With an older child, you might ask, "What else grows on
trees?"
- Answer your child's questions. Asking questions
is a good way for your child to learn to compare and to classify
things-different kinds of dogs, different foods and so forth. Answer
your child's questions thoughtfully and, whenever possible,
encourage her to answer her own questions. If you don't know the
answer to a question, say so. Together with your child, try to find
the answer.
- Read aloud to your child every day. Children of
all ages love to be read to-even babies as young as six weeks.
Although your child doesn't understand the story or poem that you
read, reading together gives her a chance to learn about language
and enjoy the sound of your voice. You don't have to be an excellent
reader for your child to enjoy reading aloud together. Just by
allowing her to connect reading with the warm experiences of being
with you, you can create in her a lifelong love of reading. (See
“Read to Me!”.)
- Be aware of your child's television viewing.
Good television programs can introduce children to new worlds and
promote learning, but poor programs or too much TV watching can be
harmful. It's up to you to decide how much TV and what kinds of
shows your child should watch. (See Taking Charge of TV.)
- Be realistic about your child's abilities and
interests. Set high standards and encourage our child to try new
things. Children who aren't challenged become bored. But children
who are pushed along too quickly or who are asked to do things that
don't interest them can become frustrated and unhappy.
- Provide opportunities for your child to do and
see new things. The more varied the experiences that she has, the
more she will learn about the world. No matter where you live, your
community can provide new experiences. Go for walks in your
neighborhood or go places on the bus. Visit museums, libraries, zoos
and other places of interest.
|
Children who aren't challenged become bored. But children who are pushed
along too quickly or who are asked to do that don't interest them can be
frustrated and unhappy.
If you live in the city, spend a day in the country. If you live in the
country, spend a day in the city. Let your child hear and make music,
dance and paint. Let her participate in activities that help to develop
her imaginations and let her express her ideas and feelings. The
activities in the next section of this booklet can provide your children
with these opportunities.
Please Note: In this book, we refer to a child as “him” in some places
and “her” in others. We do this to make the book easier to read. Please
understand, however, that every point that we make is the same for girls
and boys.
Please Note: Some parents and doctors do not agree that immunizations
are important. Others have objections to them based on religious and
cultural teachings.
Information source: U.S. Department of Education - Helping Your Preschool Child |
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