Early Childhood Development: Why Is It Important?

 

Have you ever wondered what your child's development should look like, or why they learn one skill before another? This can be explained and explored through the understanding of early childhood development. As educators and adults alike begin to meet, support and build a relationship with your child, it is important that they have an understanding of how children develop and how to best support them. The Kindergarten program that we analyzed at the beginning of this blog was created and focused around early childhood development and has a strong emphasis on how to best teach and support children in the learning environment as they progress through their development. Luckily for us, children are always growing, learning and developing which provides teachers and parents alike with so many opportunities to support them!

When you think back to how your child started to grow and develop, you can remember that she learned to sit before walking, she babbled before she talked and she learned how to scribble before drawing a smiley face. This is exactly what childhood development is, learning one skill at a time before learning a new emerging skill. By knowing what comes before and next , this knowledge helps teachers determine what experiences and support your child will need within the classroom and at home.

Another important factor in teachers knowing how your child develops, is by having a strong understanding of how the child interacts with the world around them, from within the school, in the community and with you as a parent and family. Each child's development rate is different and is shaped by each child's family, their culture, daily experiences and socio-economic status. To say and think that all children in kindergarten are at the same development level is false. Every student that walks into the classroom will be entering at a different developmental level and have a variety of different experiences so it is okay if your child is still learning a skill or working really hard at learning their numbers, with time and support they will progress through their development at the right time. 

So stop comparing your child to your nephew Tommy or that kid from the park! 

Every family and child experiences things differently and will progress in their development in their own time!

References: 

Best Start Expert Panel on Early Learning . (2007). Early Learning for Every Child Today: A framework for Ontario early childhood settings. Retrieved from https://lms.brocku.ca/access/content/group/f6bb4b50-0aeb-4f5d-a34e-b867e8ccbe9d/Course%20 Materials/ELECT.pdf.