Parent As Educator: An Integral Component To Childhood Development - Essay Example

Parent As Educator: An Integral Component To Childhood Development In today’s modern world of busy parents overwhelmed with work and home responsibilities, parents find it almost impossible to spend a carefully and enriching time with their children. As an integral element of good parenting habits and healthy child development, it is important that parents spend their spare time with their young ones. Children need time with their parents so as to enable them relax and play. Having time to play with children helps in the building of strong parent-child bonds, while also offering a unique opportunity for parents to understand the uniqueness of their children, and provides a mechanism for relieving stress for parents who are over-burdened with work related responsibilities. Play is understood as a free choice activity that is non-literal, enjoyable, process oriented and self motivated. The children playing design all the rules of the play activity use of materials and role of participants in a play. Play contributes to, social, physical and emotional well- being of a child. It offers a great opportunity for members of the family to engage their children fully. Play can engage the family members especially parents with their children in different ways. For instance, parents need an opportunity to see their children playing so that they may be able to see their child vantage point. Parents should join their children in play to achieve this. When this happens, children can freely interact with their parents. This engagement help the children build a strong relationship with their parents. Parents who are able to glimpse into their children‘s world of play get the opportunity to effectively communicate with their children. By so doing they can offer effective guidance to their children. Some children are not verbal. The act of play can make them express their views, anger, frustration and even experiences. This enables the parent to learn more about their children and understand them better[Bod05]. Play is important in children since it provide an opportunity for the child to develop fully his/her potential. It is also important in developing the child imagination, cognitive and emotional strength. For a healthy brain development, children need some time to play. Child development research has indicated that huge percentage of child development accounting to seventy five percent of the total child’s developmental processes takes place after birth. Therefore the role of play has been emphasized as a contributor to that process by through brain stimulation processes as a result of enhanced nerve cells connectivity. In result this process is attributed to improving the development of a child’s gross and fine motor skills, while also contributing to language development and socialization ability [Gin07]. Play is also essential in allowing children to learn to communicate with their emotions, thinking process, creativity and their ability to solve problems. It is through the play that children can interact with the world around them. Play help children master their world and this can enable them conquer their fears and practice adult role. As they do this, they develop competencies that enhance their confidence and resiliency. It can also make children be able to work in-group, negotiate and even resolving conflict amongst themselves. Play increase physical activity level in children and this can help to prevent some illness like obesity[McD93]. It also enhances self-advocacy skill in children. Moreover, play influences young children development and learning in a number of ways. Firstly, through playing children can make their own decision at their own capacity and this can enable them pursue their passion fully. Secondly, in academic environment, play helps children to adjust to the school settings. It also enhances children learning behavior and learning readiness. Academic learning goes together with social emotional learning. This is important when some of the forces that enhance the ability of the child to learn rise at the expense of others. When children are given less free time and minimal physical outlet in school, then it may interfere with the child ability to store the learnt information since it depends with the cognitive capacity of the child and change in activity. Bailey argues that teachers should learn the child’s cognitive ability in class so that not so much information reaches into child’s brain that is not in line with the child’s level of development. Change of topic or subject during class room learning does not change the cognitive ability of the child. Neither does it offer physical release. So as a teacher it is important to give the child recess break that would enhance brain development. When a child grows fast and takes adult role, then it means that less time is given to exploratory play. This may have direct influence on the child ability to explore the world even at older age. You find that an adult may present some childish behavior simply because she/he never exploited the childhood stage. Highly engaged children are performing better in school; some may react to this by showing signs of stress and anxiety, which might continue to adult age[Bai06]. My suggestion is that family engagement is important in the support of early child development and learning. This is because it gives the child sense of belonging. In addition, family engagement of children in things like video, computer programs books and toys may stimulate a child adequately for academic excellence. Children should get enrichment after school through engagement in activities like gym. This will help to refresh their mind so that they may boost their cognitive ability when they sit in class the next day. Conclusion Up to this far, it is important that should also engage in the support of their children development and learning. Consequently, parents need to create adequate time to play with their children. This process should start when the child is still an infant, through smiling back at the baby. Play should be directed by the child and the rewards associated with it are intrinsic. Above all play is essential as it helps the child develop motor skills, social abilities and cognitive development. Works cited Bod05: , (Bodrova and Leong), Gin07: , (Ginsburg), McD93: , (Mc Donald), Bai06: , (Bailey), Read More