Sample content for a pre-school chain

Preschool Children and Independence

The expression of independence and the assertion of individuality are 2 of the most prominent qualities demonstrated by children right from their infancy up to the onset of schooling. If we park aside scientific facts for a moment, the unborn child kicking from inside the womb can perhaps be viewed as an early expression of independence, of the longing to be unbound, or even of communicating its likes and dislikes!

Plainly speaking, preschool is the period before schooling. It is the time when the new-born grows up from its state of acute dependence to a child which begins to explore and express its ability to do things on its own. Here, we could possibly sit back and visualize a replay on the blank wall opposite to us, of all things that made parenthood worthwhile!

Fifty to sixty years ago, newborn babies would not even open their eyes for weeks on end. No wonder then that the youngest child that went to school in those days was some 42 to 48 months old. The child would then spend a year at the Nursery section, and move on to formal school education when it started Class One.

In contrast today, newborns are posing happily for a selfie with their proud mothers just a day after taking birth, looking into the camera with their shiny eyes wide open. Precocious, isn’t it? It is therefore not a surprise that they are given marching orders much, much earlier.

Technically then, preschool is not just the period when the child rules the home; it is now common to see children over 2 ½ years of age leave home and attend some form of daily engagement where they ‘learn’ or ‘receive’ something different from home.

Most Governments have made primary schooling (from Class 1) compulsory and Govt. school fees affordable, with the intention of surmounting enrollment challenges to a significant extent. Pre-school, however, was initially sought more for the convenience it offered to parents– with both of them often working outside the home – and guardians, rather than the benefits it offered to the child. As preschool services are offered by Government and private entities alike, affordability remains a significant decisive factor in providing early education.

Accordingly there are many options within this space, carrying different labels and offering varied benefits. There are instances where 3 to 5-month old infants have been handed over to informal caretakers, operating mostly out of their homes and calling themselves as ‘babysitters’. Few other titles we come across are crèche, daycare, play home/group and child care agency.

Preschool children could sometimes spend as little as 2-3 hours away from home. Despite the short duration, this outing trains them in a few vital ways, ranging from basic hand-to-mouth coordination to taking care of themselves (such as opening their lunchboxes, eating & drinking without creating a mess, and storing away their belongings), interacting with others, learning to speak (including many new words) and sing, toilet training as in informing the caretaker of their need to visit the washroom, wishing elders and peers, offering help & support, and other such things. It acts as a preparation to formal schooling that is imminent in the near future.

Preschool is the term commonly used in the UK & the USA for an institution that fulfills the educational requirements of infants in their early childhood, i.e., children of age between 3 and 5 years. Also called the kindergarten or nursery school in other places, it is the establishment that provides for the learning needs of children before they move on to primary school.

In fact, given the faster evolution that is observed in the newborns and infants today, coupled with the urban/semi-urban phenomenon of single-child nuclear families, parents often tend to give up on controlling or disciplining their wards very early on and quite often have to resort to cajoling them.

This being the situation, the pre-school becomes an important – and in a few cases – the first-ever place where (or the first instance when) the child receives an instruction (or a set of instructions), which the child, removed as it is from the familiar and reassuring surroundings & faces at home, instinctively recognizes and comprehends as non-negotiable. It is simply to be followed or complied with, however gently the instruction may have been given.

Pre-school thus becomes an important place where the child learns that compliance plays a significant role in being accepted and appreciated; it is a very valuable lesson in social behavior that is being reinforced at this stage.

Could it be a coincidence that when fish swim as a group, maintaining comfortable distances between each other, and yet pursuing a common direction – perhaps an objective as well – it is referred to as Schooling!

While this is happening, there is an equal and opposite reaction welling up inside the child: resistance. The need to break away from regimentation, the necessity of self-expression, the yearning for independence.

Just as humans are innately inquisitive, children too are supremely intelligent at an instinctive level. They can make out when they are being led into a situation which they do not relish – they rebel. It is perfectly human to rebel against authority and restrictions.

All this is not universal, however, as every child is unique. Some children could be naturally docile and consistently earn compliments like ‘good’ and ‘nice’ from the elders. Perhaps at some level, they have construed that this is the only or ideal way to earn brownie points, which can then be redeemed for goodies of their choice. On their part, parents too may be concerned about possible physical harm to the child and its attendant stress on their resources. Hence, they may try to condition the child to remain ‘good’ and ‘nice’.

However, a considerable number of children view it differently. To them, independence is of paramount importance. There may not be much clarity at this point about whether they seek to be free from control or even supervision. Yet, they recognize that compliance comes very handy in negotiating independence of whatever degree with the elders! Obey first, and the associated rewards can be worked out later. Thus, their obedience is governed by an objective!

This discussion could, in fact, set us thinking, we are talking about children who are less than 5 years old…. how important is independence to preschool children? What if it is not given? The very next instance, it occurs to us that the denial of independence – or call it freedom, liberty, autonomy – quite simply impacts the self-confidence of the child. How would we like it if the child continually seeks help, looks for guidance, waits for an instruction or expects approval all the time, before & after every activity? Rather than being obedient, the child is now subservient.

However, the expression of freedom or independence by a child is not dependent on whether it attends preschool or not! The question, ‘What if it is not given?’ is purely an adult premise. In the minds of children, there is no such need for gaining independence. It is theirs; that is why it is called as a birthright. So children will take it, assume it.

In this context, the teacher has to assume the accountability for managing the independence expressed differently by each child in such a way that no confrontation occurs amongst them. Children must be made to comprehend that Independence comes with an innate responsibility to display, practice and imbibe civil behavior.

While children’s natural tendencies are not to be curbed entirely, it may not be practical to allow their free expression either. The teacher may have to use suggestions and gentle persuasion to channel and guide their attention & energy in a positive direction. To the layman, the Montessori system of education seems to be a very efficient method of managing the sense of independence expressed by preschool children.

We could perhaps put things in perspective by borrowing a few of Kahlil Gibran’s words from ‘The Prophet’. Speaking about Children, he says,

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

I have cherished a fond thought over many years. Just as they say that God could not be present everywhere so he created mothers, it is also a fact that one cannot repay his/her parents’ debt completely during their lifetimes – a realization that probably dawns a trifle late for many of us – and that is why God gave children. Whatever you provide, you owe it to them.

These last few words may seem a tad philosophical in the here-and-now world that believes in tangible things to a great extent. But then, in the name of experience, do we let the child burn its fingers in a fire?

An assignment I wrote in 2011.

Fire in the workplace, run, run, run!

 

Action-packed computer games and fire safety, two seemingly opposite ends, came together to complete the circle of experiential learning when scientists doing research at Durham University experimented on how to use these games to bring about awareness on fire safety among people who work in factories and office buildings, besides helping them learn how to avoid or minimize fatalities as well.

 

Building upon the base programs of games now sold in the market like Doom 3 and Half Life 2 and creating entirely unreal universes consisting of almost real structures, Durham experts explained that these could be used to teach fire drills to office goers and factory workers alike, which could potentially help to get buildings cleared of people during fire accidents.

 

It took one software developer all of 3 weeks to replicate a present-day structure in third dimension, add fire and smoke effects to create the semblance of a fire in the building and show 3 different possibilities of moving people to safety during such an emergency. Durham scientists opine this time frame is remarkably shorter and this option much more economical to use than what it would take to develop an all-new program or continue using the virtual reality presentations now being employed.

 

An article put out by the Fire Safety Journal about these studies explained how fire scenarios could be recreated in a virtual structure to pinpoint the potential fire challenges inherent in the building plan, make people aware of best practices in fighting a fire and develop their confidence about saving themselves and others during a fire.

TEACH ME HOW TO WRITE

A couple of days back, a colleague of ours who works closely with our MD, came to our workplace and said, ‘you guys are the Corporate Communications team, teach me how to write’. After the initial bantering about him trying to take away our jobs, we said sure, why not.

Then I asked him, ‘what do you want to write about?’ He said, ‘whatever you guys do often… you know, communicating within the office and to outsiders as well’. I surmised that his interest was in writing brief letters, mails and perhaps minutes for meetings.

So I told him, ‘great, we can start right away. For today, I’ll give you 2 points.  These are the most fundamental things which you need to internalize. So keep them with you and look at that note now & then, till it’s gotten inside you. It’ll form the basis of all that you may write in the future’.

He pulled out his mobile to make a note and I told him this:

1.       Everything has a story.

2.       Every communication must sell.

Sounds simple isn’t it? Indeed it is, because everything we write has to comply with these 2 things to start with, and the finer aspects can come later.

However my friend was not too sure so I had to explain this a little bit more in detail.

First of all the ‘story’ part. By that I meant, the communication must have a definite structure. You have a beginning & an end, and a pithy part in the middle, which is rightly called the body. To anyone who comes to me with a request, I usually ask this: give me the beginning – meaning, the background for this particular situation or let’s say the history, and the context, or, the part that tells you ‘who is saying to whom & why’ – and also the end – meaning, what is the core communication that you want to pass on, or, what is the action that you want to initiate. The rest I can take care, which is why you have come to me.

So I gave him the example of a movie. It starts at some point in Time when certain things have already occurred and set the stage for this tale to unwrap. Then there is drama, a lot of it. And finally there is the climax, after which you go away with some message. This is what any other communication is also supposed to do.

Then comes the ‘selling’ part. This is perhaps easier to understand and accept because we have already seen in the previous section that you take away a message with you: that message is the product which has been ‘sold’ to you! 

Thus, indeed, every communication must sell what was intended to be conveyed. Now, ‘buying’ does not happen by coercion, it is voluntary. Hence we are to understand that the communication should be so effective & compelling that the reader agrees to ‘buy’ it, or go along with it. We could say, this deals with the presentation aspect, or the manner in which the message is placed before the reader, ultimately prompting him to take the action intended by us.

Our friend bought this story and went away happily.