Most parents could not wait for the first day of school.
Oh yeah, it has been the discussion since the smell of fireworks cleared.
“The teachers know what to do with them anyway,” is what some of them said.
I have a strong suspicion that most parents have left teachers to raise their children.
Of course, I could be wrong.
Or maybe the role and responsibility of each of us, in a child’s life, have not been defined properly.
But I think parenting involves taking responsibility seriously, taking advantage of every opportunity to enhance children’s learning, and providing children with challenges.
Children absorb life experiences indiscriminately and the first people they have access to, in most cases, are their parents and families.
To a large extent, these life experiences form children’s character, feelings and values, and they provide the window through which they will view the world.
On the other hand, it is only around the age of five that most children will be exposed to school life.
In Parents As First Teachers: Creating An Enriched Home Learning Environment, Dr Abelardo Villarreal says: “Parents who have been successful in their role as the first teachers of children share a similar philosophy about children’s learning.
“This philosophy is defined by eight key assertions about parenthood and learning (Bredekamp, 1987).
“The following outlines these major thoughts that are instrumental for parents to be successful as children’s first teachers.”
• Children are always ready to learn.
Whether we are aware of it or not, the little ones are absorbing every experience they have with the world.
And those experiences teach them how to deal with similar experiences in the future.
Turn as many everyday life experiences as possible into learning opportunities.
Model learning from everyday experiences.
Talk about the importance of learning as a self-initiated activity.
• Children have a curiosity for learning.
Children test the world.
That is why they touch the hot plate.
But that is also how they learn that it is hot!
“The responsibility of the parent is to teach the child that risks need to be calculated.
“Killing curiosity for learning will have serious consequences later in life,” says Villarreal.
• Children learn from their environment.
Children learn from all aspects of the environment, not just what you want them to see.
From TV to the internet, parents need to accept that they are not in control of every aspect.
Instead, prepare your child for the experiences they will have in your absence.
• Children thrive in an environment of love and respect.
“Children need to feel secure in order to take risks and take advantage of a learning experience,” he says.
There is a need to understand that we are all unique individuals whose feelings evolve from their experiences with other people and with the environment that surrounds them.
These feelings form the basis of children’s self-esteem – a love, an appreciation and an acknowledgment of one’s uniqueness.
So maybe the next time we want to question how teachers teach, we should question our responsibility to the growth of our children.
Because learning does not start or end in the classroom.
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