A mother's musings

Early years education officially spans over the first five years of life before formal schooling begins, whether this will be home education or school led. 

I personally dislike bringing age into it because then it becomes a race, with a tight goal. Innate pressure to perform and the world of competition begins, taking away the joy. 

There exists a tick box if you will. However, every child should be given the space to explore this half a decade at their own pace. 

Some children will need more time than others, and having had a couple of children with a myriad of special needs, I became very aware of the tight time frames given for every skill. They didn't sit up or walk or talk at the right age, so they were a failure in the eyes of professionals. Their successes were never appreciated or celebrated by the powers at be, they just consistently failed their tickboxes.

This negativity can really bring you down as a parent. I finally broke free from this world and mindset and took the information away of what needed to be achieved. They hit every marker in their own time, when it was the right time for them.

Early years spans every part of children's development, academic skills are just one section with this. 

We are helping them to lay the foundation stones of learning.

There is a journey of discovery for every transferable skill or piece of knowledge and you can visualise it as a path of stepping stones or as a wall being built brick by brick. The foundation needs to be solid before you can build and grow. 

Thus rushing should not be an option. Not every child will be a hare. Some will be the tortoise. 

Play is fundamentally the centre of this learning. Every skill set should be set within fun, movement and joy. 

Within the UK we tend to lose the last two years of early years because they start school, which increases the pressure to tick the boxes before that time. 

Children are sometimes not ready to embrace the academic side of early years until aged three or four by which stage they're starting school shortly after without the tool and knowledge set which is an invaluable game changer within a classroom. 

Early years has become very rushed and has lost its importance for many, swept up in the life of survival many of us live in. We are all fighting to keep a roof over our heads, our stomachs full and bills paid. Add the pandemic on top of this, and it is easy to see how this crucial educational section of a child's life is losing significance for some families.

Early years doesn't have to take hours of your time a day. Just taking a few minutes at a time, every so often throughout the day makes a tremendous difference in cementing that foundation. Consistency, regularity, repetition, over years, forms absolute golden nuggets of learning time. 

It's meant to be an amazing bonding journey for all involved and the extra beauty of it is whilst parents should ideally lead this path, your family support network can hopefully be on hand to join in the fun.

The more groundwork we put in at this stage, the easier it is for the children once they start school. The faster they will hopefully soar within formal academic life, with the added bonus you've massively helped the over stretched teachers and their aids. Teamwork, using your village to raise your child.