I remember the first day my son went to kindergarten class it was an especially meaningful event. It the first time he was out of the house for some official external education. We teach him a ton at home and he gets great use out of it, but this was the first time he was with a whole bunch of other excited little kids in a learning environment. I was a little sad but mostly prideful to see him there. It was a great experience for him and I’m glad he is continuing to do great.
However, at first it was little bit crazy because he would run all around the room and hug every single kid he could see because he just thought that’s what you do. After all, that’s what we do at home, we hug all the time, and we love each other. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that this wasn’t really to be translated into the classroom environment. That’s okay as this was a great learning situation for him. It’s part of his early childhood education at school.
The same applies for daycare centers in these type of educational settings, too. It gives them a little bit of controlled exposure to the external world. There are three main reasons this is important that I’d like to share with you today.
Social interaction
Being at home all the time with people that you know and love the most is very comforting and great for every kid. However, there is usually some concern that it doesn’t give them enough exposure to people outside of the home-world. There are infinite numbers of differing personalities out there that they need to be exposed to eventually. After all, they will handle life just a little bit differently and kids need to be exposed to that.
They need to be exposed to it all safely, with your supervision, and your controlling oversight. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean like a helicopter, but rather more like a watchtower. Remember that they don’t want you to hover, they just want you to respond. Sometimes they need to fall and sometime they need to learn from that fall.
Leadership Opportunities
When you get them out there in these external social situations, you’ll be surprised how it starts building their leadership opportunities. They start learning how to share, how to help other people solve problems, how to resolve any type of fights, and how to resolve issues that come along. Yeah, it may take some time but they’ll get there. They’ll learn that, ‘hey, we have to do this the right way and we have to help each other out if things are going to work in the end.
Seeing How the Outside World Works
Kids also get a great understanding of how the outside world works as far as people interactions, having fun, sharing, what to do, and what not to do. These are all very important things that aren’t as easy to teach at home when you only have one family dynamic to work with. It’s tougher for them to learn when they’re only exposed to one set of values and one set of things to consider.
But when they’re out there in the world, with your help, then they can really begin to understand some of these other possibilities that are out there. They can begin to see how the world works together and sometimes how it doesn’t work. The key is awareness and experience and they need these seeds planted early so they can nurture and make them right for their future growth.
Daycare is a Great Educational Start
It’s a great thing to work on your kids’ childhood education at school and daycare. It’s pretty easy as long as you understand that there are going to be some necessary social interactions, some great opportunities for leadership growth, and a general better understanding of how the outside world works.
These are all very important things that need to happen as long as you know that it should build your confidence and pride in seeing that you’re paving the way for a better future. A better future for us, for your kids, and for generations to come. Here are a few tools to help discover your own world a bit better, too.