Early childhood generally encompasses the first eight years in the life of an individual. The education given during these years of a child’s life plays a very important role and helps in proper development of children. Early childhood education can be fundamentally termed as “Learning through play”. Recent research have shown that early eight years in any children life are crucial time because during this phase their brain develops and much of its ‘wiring’ is laid down. The education experiences and relationships a child has along with nutrition can actually affect child mental growth enormously. While good early childhood education helps the brain to develop in healthy ways, improper education or study without play on other hand may affect brain development in different manner. So the experiences and the learning of a child in early years can support them in their entire life.Recent studies of early childhood education have even shown some remarkable success. It resulting effects on child motivation and learning power last for a long time. Today where education has become very important role to play in a society, it is not right to postpone investing in children education until they become adults, nor wait till they reach school age. In fact early childhood is a vital phase of life in terms of a child’s intellectual, emotional and social development. Besides this, the most important point to know is that the growth of mental abilities is at an astounding rate and high proportion of learning takes place during this period.It is very important for every parent to understand that a child spends first eight years in realization of his or her own identity. These are very crucial years when children gain a sense of self and learn to associate themselves with the people around them. They develop an understanding and behavior to a certain extent. For this reason it is suggested that early childhood education during these years should be more focused on teaching children about the world around them through play and establish the links. Moreover, many child development experts also agree that play is very important in the learning and emotional development of children. A play can be multi-facet and often helps in educating different skills in children. In addition to this, education through play also helps them learn social skills, and develop values and ethics.Certainly, today it won’t be wrong to say that early childhood education is the key element that helps in building a god foundation for child’s educational success. Every child learns habit and form patterns that are not easily changed in later years. If parents and educators can develop productive early education patterns for the children in their charge, those children will be on their way to achieving great educational success. The lack of parental interaction during early childhood can negatively impact a child’s development. Ultimately it is the equal responsibility of the parents and tutors to assure the children have a good early childhood education that can further help them develop their personalities.
Parents Play the Most Central, Yet Vulnerable Roles in Children’s Music Education
The three basic parties who take part in children’s music education are the child, the teacher (or teachers) and the parents.To best understand how the young musician will regard music lessons, we must ask: “How should parents plan for the musical education of their children and what they know about it?” As a rule, there are two main things to consider: the choice and cost of the instrument, auxiliary materials and lessons; and the search for a good teacher. After that, the preparation for the child’s musical training is largely complete. However, buying the instrument and paying for lessons are not the most complex part of music education, although many parents think so and believe that the rest is up to the teacher and the child, who is obliged to frequent music lessons on a regular basis and do the homework. In fact, to parents, it all seems very easy! “Did you do your homework today? Have you practiced that piece enough? Have you learned the fingers in an etude? Come on, play the piece you had to memorize!”Here’s the simple truth: The reasons behind one’s success in music education as well as the loss of interest creep in absolutely imperceptibly, and often during quite a long period of time. First, then, let’s discuss what happens when a child loses interest. Again, parents are the most integral and important parts of the equation when it comes to their children’s success or loss of interest in musical education. When a child gets bored with his or her lessons, the parents, who by that point are exhausted by battles with the child to practice and often feel financially pinched from the costs of the instrument and the lessons, must then face the difficult decision of whether to terminate the lessons.While preparing the materials for my book, Voices of our Children, I talked to parents and teachers and asked them what they considered to be the prime reason behind the child’s loss of interest. Can you guess who a whopping 80 percent considered to be at fault? The child! It was he/she who did not want to continue the education! What’s more important is that after terminating the lessons, very few parents asked themselves why their child lost interest. Let’s look the perspective of each participant in this scenario:The child. He is happy! His “tortures” have finally ended. He no longer has to hear unpleasant things about his careless attitude toward music lessons. No one will ever force him to learn music against his will! Now he is free from tiresome lessons and can spend time doing things he likes!The teacher. Not every teacher, especially not those who often lose students, will search for the real reasons behind a child’s loss of interest in music lessons. It is easier for some teachers to accuse or blame the student than to admit to their own mistakes.In this case, what does the teacher do? He quickly forgets about former students and places an ad to get new ones – he has to earn a living. It’s just a job.Parents. Believe it or not, but I think that when the child quits musical training, the parents suffer the most – not only because they have invested in this venture materially, but because along with the termination of music education they must part with their own dreams, hopes, and an opportunity to discover and develop their child’s true talent that might not have been obvious.Now, when the child quits music lessons, he can quickly redirect his attention to new interests. The teacher, who has lost the student, can compensate for his loss by finding a replacement. But the parents do suffer the most – they cannot “move on” – they cannot replace own child with another!Therefore, to avoid this problem before it hits home, I strongly believe parents should prepare for their children’s music education ahead of time. They should know beforehand what awaits them in the future, and should be ready for possible hardships.
A Special Education Teacher Is Also Your Partner in Learning
If your child suffers from a learning disability, he or she may thrive more in a special education class. A special education teacher is trained to handle a group of children who each learn in a different way. When you want to create a positive learning environment for your child, you need to work with your child’s special education teacher to become partners in learning.Hold an official meeting that you and your child’s teacher can go over everything that you want your child to learn from the classes in that school year. The more you work together, the more successful your child will be. If you work with your teacher to determine how and what your child will be taught then you can enhance the lessons in the home during the evenings.When a child suffers from a learning disability he or she can still learn but in a different way. There are many learning techniques that can be used in order to improve your child’s education. For example, if your child is learning to count to ten, most teachers will use a simple method of counting out loud and writing down the numbers on the board however if a child has a learning disability, it may be necessary to teach the child by placing a visual in your child’s hand so the receptors that run to the brain can carry the images from the eyes to the brain and comprehend and confirm the number. If your child sees one red teddy bear in his hand, he relates the number one to the one object in his or her hand. When the child gets home, he or she can further learn how to count by you and him or her sitting down at the table with one cup of cereal and one empty cup. Teach your child to count as they pick up the pieces of cereal one at a time and place them into the empty cup.There are other ways to work with your special education teacher in order to help your child learn. Visit your child’s class one day a week and volunteer in order to show your child that learning is a positive thing. When your child sees you interacting in the same way that he or she is made to then it won’t be such a bad place to be.Sometimes a child who has trouble learning feels that their environment is also negative and they set their minds to the fact that they cannot learn like that. When this happens it takes more energy to get turn this negative into a positive then it does to reinforce a positive environment from the beginning. This will take a constant working relationship between parent, teacher, and student. When you meet with the teacher, include your child in the meeting as well so they feel as though they are a part of the team and not a project for the team.Be sure to ask your child’s opinion on many things along the way. When your child learns something, acknowledge it and show him or her praise so they know that you are proud of them.