Chapter 8

Preschoolers’ Development

Gregorio Marrero

ESL Parenting

Author Note

Tips for Parenting regarding Preschoolers

Preschoolers’ Development

Every parent attempt to raise a healthy and kind child who has high self-confidence and admiration for others. They put all their efforts to make sure all their child’s needs, physical and emotional, are met and that they are raised in the way they should be raised. Parents are their children's first teachers so they need to know how to influence a child’s early learning days and what they can do to help them in every step along the way. Understanding the domains of childhood development can help parents to do just that. Think of these domains as the parts of a well-functioning mechanism that comes together to achieve the desired result. Every parent keeps these domains in his/her mind for their children, whether they are at under their watchful eye at home, away from them in a daycare institute, or enrolled in a pre-school program.

Domains of Preschoolers’ Development

There are several domains of preschoolers' development that need to be accounted for to raise a healthy child. Let us discuss them one-by-one CITATION Kri17 \l 1033 (Kristine L. Slentz, 2017). First comes the Gross Motor Skills. In this domain, children learn to crawl, walk, jump and climb. We are all happy by those first steps, and they all lead to bigger things for their children like kicking, biking and dancing. Second, comes the fine motor skills. Children learn how to direct exact muscle movements in their hands to figure out their fine motor skills. Some of these skills are learning Coloring, using scissors and ripping the paper. These activities, which support this development are an important phase in preschoolers’ development. Origami, Legos and drawing help keep their mind and hands involved as buddies, as the children grow-up. After both phases of motor skills comes the stage of learning the native language. This domain focuses on the child’s capability to speak, write, and read. It mainly includes phonetic and alphabetic learning. Talking and reading habitually with their child when they are young is very central in this stage, and the chats the parents continue to have with them improve their ability to express their wants, ideas and needs with others around them, especially their parents. Hearing their mother and father converse is the first experience children have to learn their language, and these family exchanges give them the skills necessary to live in the world later. Learning the basics like ABC, the courteous words like “please” and “thank you” are all major examples of this domain.

In the cognitive domain, children absorb reasoning and the “cause and effect” principle, as well as early counting and math skills. We all know what children love to do. They drop the spoon from their chair so Mother or Father pick it up. But when we participate in this activity, we’re teaching them the principle of “Cause and Effect”. In social and emotional domain, parents teach our children that ultimately, we are all a community. The above domains lead to the children’s understanding of the concept of self-help and moral values.

Impact of Culture on a Preschooler

Culture plays a very important part of the children’s ability to understand the world. A significant difference between a child’s learning and every artificial intelligence (AI) technical system is that technical systems can identify and shape information (as allowed by their programming), but cannot understand its meaning or purpose. Adoption of the appropriate cultural tools like meanings, symbols, goals and scripts of human activities are the first challenges of early learning.

Parents' support in the development of Preschoolers

Parents are a child’s first tutor. So, they should continue to be their best instructor during their life.  Working as a coach and guiding stone, the parents expose their child to appropriate challenges to inspire development that leads the child to explore their path and learn from engaging with their environment. Child Development experts have learned from their findings that, from birth, children are directed to learn from their experiences. Just as architects put scaffolding to support the basic structure of the building when it is being built, and gradually take it down when the building can stand on its own, parents need to deliver the support needed for their child to easily explore and learn from their surroundings.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Kristine L. Slentz, S. L. (2017). Early childhood development and its variations. Routledge.