There is nothing quite so magical as watching toddlers explore their world.
There are times when it almost seems that we can hear their brains whirring as they learn new things, they investigate their environment, and they seek to understand the world around them.
And yet, as magical as this is, one thing is certain: there are no magic answers to making it happen. There is only the magic of doing an awful lot of things right – as parents, as caregivers, as educators, and as a community.
It is then that we see the magic that comes in creating children whose cognitive development prepares them for what lies ahead in their lives. That’s why it is crucial that however we contribute to a child’s upbringing, we should begin with a seminal fact: there is no single button to push that ensures the healthy development of a child and there is no panacea that unlocks a bright future for every child. Rather, there is only the dedicated work every day of being a loving, nurturing parent and city.
We’ve been thinking about this lately because early childhood development seems to be on everyone’s radar at the local, state, and federal levels. As sometimes happens, rhetoric outruns reality and magical thinking overruns the research on early childhood development, so as you hear more, remember, it takes a latticework of things to develop children to their fullest.
For example, Pre-K matters. The more Memphis children who attend, the better. It is indisputable that what is needed in our community is not a high-performing K-12 educational system, but a Pre-K-12 educational system. Now, children are five and six years old when they enter the classroom, but by then, their brains have grown to 80 percent of their adult sizes and events, experiences, and environment have already produced vital learning for them – both positive and negative.
In the past, Pre-K has been seen as an educational luxury. Fortunately, it is more and more being seen as a necessity if we want to close the achievement gap and give every child a fair start in life. And yet, it is unrealistic to expect that our schools and our teachers should bear the brunt of the responsibility for the development of our children.
Often, the lessons of the classroom fade in the harsh realities of toxic stress in the family, lack of parental involvement, overly harsh discipline, neglect, and abuse. We frequently say that parents are a child’s first teacher and homes are his first classroom. We should add, parents are a child’s most important teacher and home is the most important classroom.
It is simple math. A child spends three times as many hours away from the classroom as in it, and the lessons that are taking place in those non-school hours are every bit as important as those inside a school. The lessons that a child learns at home can negate – or strengthen – all that she’s learning in a positive school environment.
More to the point, it is the months from conception to the child’s third birthday that are pivotal to optimal brain development, and that’s before he even enters pre-K. It’s as if there is a pre-pre-K and the only teachers are parents and caregivers, and it comes at a time when the brain development of a child at the end of these 45 months is nothing short of astounding – but only if the parents and caregivers do their jobs well.
We remember a friend who had a baby and said that as she was being discharged from the hospital, she was thinking, “Surely, they’re not going to let me have that baby to take with me.” She was overwhelmed by the importance that she would play in that newborn’s life and by the understanding that she would in large measure be responsible for how her new daughter turned out. It’s the kind of seriousness that every parent needs if Pre-K and proven interventions are to have their best opportunities for success.
Our youngest children experience the world through relationships that wrap them like a blanket – intellectually, socially, emotionally, physically, behaviorally, and morally. It is the quality and stability of these relationships that lay the foundation for the development that will come later. When it is done well, it is seen in self-confidence, ability to avoid unnecessary conflict and control emotions, and knowing the difference between right and wrong.
Put simply, relationships are the threads that bind together children’s lives, and it is why when we say there is no substitute for healthy brain development, we also say quickly, there is no substitute for caring adults in every child’s life.
Previously published as The Urban Child Institute’s Perceptions column. You can sign up here to receive it.
I hope the Pres is able to push through the gun tax that will help fund the important and much-needed Pre-K programs.
Guns are protected against by the 2nd Amendment, if you want more tax revenue find something else to tax.
There is only so much children can learn before age 5? Even government studies show that Head Start programs — preschool for underprivileged children, has no detectable impact on student outcomes by the 3rd grade.
Why doesn’t anyone care about secondary education? Why aren’t we doing a better job in high school to either prepare students for careers or prepare them for college? Is this more about child care, or education?
Actually, there is no substitute for loving parents. Neither the government nor its schools can replace a loving mom and dad.
Anon 8:34 -based on your comment, I see that you too may be the victim of an underfunded or non existant early childhood education program. No one said anything about taking away your right to own firearms, but please note: no where in the 2nd amendment does it say that the government cannot tax the stew out of firearm sales. They do it with smoking based on the burden that vice places on society, I see no reason we should not do the same with firearm sales. By the way, the study to which you refer did no such thing. I would recommend using sources other than the Heritage Foundation as your basis for comments.
Muskets are protected by the Second Amendment. It’s hard to wrap the Founding Fathers’ understanding of the Second Amendment into justifications for assault weapons, giant ammunition magazines, etc. We too hope the president can push through a gun tax. It’s time for guns to leave the land of the sacred and be treated like other things we use in our lives (like cars, which have much stricter standards and requlations).
As for parents, it’s not either Pre-K or loving parents. Every child needs a web of nurturing and support that contributes to brain development.
The research is unequivocal. Before the age of 5, children are a sponge and their brains are developing to 80% of their adult sizes. Synapses begin to get pruned if they are not connected and they are only connected by programs and parents who understand that they are preparing their children for a lifetime of learning and positive social behavior.
.