Far too many parents underestimate the importance of being actively involved in their child's preschool education. After all, it's nothing more than a group of three- and four-year-old children playing with toys all day, right? Wrong. While it may look like your child is simply playing, they are actually learning social and academic skills that will be vital to their success throughout life. Below you will learn more about how your involvement in this process can help to benefit both you and your child.
Bridging The Gap
The change in structure between home and school can be difficult for many children. For instance, while it may be acceptable for your child to claim ownership over their toys at home, this behavior is not acceptable when sharing toys with a group of classmates. Grasping this concept can be hard for many children, especially if the toys at school are similar to the ones they have at home. This same problem is also present when it comes to other differences in classroom rules and household rules.
By working together with your child's educator to present a united front to your child, you will be to ease the transition between home and school. This is because, rather than viewing school as an activity that takes place solely outside of the home, your child will learn to view school as an extension of what they do at home, including the need to answer to you for any disciplinary problems they may have during the school day.
Raising The Bar
Young children will often aim to meet or exceed the expectations that their parents put forth for them. The problem is, while many parents are quite vocal about their desire for their child to do well in school, they never take the time to truly show the child exactly what this means. Do they expect them to get good grades? Do they expect them to behave well? Without the answers to these questions, children can be left with a poor understanding of exactly what their parents and teachers want from them.
Taking the time to be physically present in your child's preschool years can help to make your expectations clear and ensure your child understands these expectations. For instance, volunteering in your child's classroom once a week will allow you to immediately correct behaviors that do not live up to your expectations. When this is done, research shows that children will perform better academically and have fewer discipline problems throughout their academic career.
For more information about preschool and its benefits, check out websites like http://www.kidscountry.net.
Share20 February 2015
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