Aanganchaura

For more than one year now, every discussion across all forums has been driven by one common factor – the pandemic. And education is no different. Instead, it is one of the most affected sectors that still has a lot of uncertainty looming around it. While the world has found its way through the concept of online learning, all of us are aware of the cons associated with it. But aren’t we forced to live with those?

While the older children know the concept of schooling and can be made comfortable with it, it’s the opposite for the generation that is yet to even know who teachers are and what a school is. The pandemic has brought along the biggest concerns for parents of these toddlers who were forced to stay indoors when they deserved to explore the world around them. So, how are we going to introduce the concept of education to these children? The answer to this is certainly not the virtual sessions as they are too young to even sit in a spot for longer durations.

These young minds are curious and are always happy to learn. We just need to find the right ways to do that. We need to introduce them to learning in creative ways so that they don’t feel the burden or stress of doing something forcefully. They should rather enjoy the time parents spend to make them learn new things.
To do that, here are a few tips that will set you up for play-cum-learning time with your little ones that both of you will look forward to:

Make a schedule: Children are usually in a good mood and have high energy levels in the mornings, so make good use of that. Rather than waiting for afternoon or evening time when going out to for a stroll in the park would be a better option for kids, indulge them in the activities that you have planned for the day right in the morning. Help your children get into a schedule so that they get into the habit of studying or doing certain activities with you every day.

Do what you want your child to do: Like all of us know, it’s easier to get kids to do things that elders around them do. So, when you wish to indulge them in something, create a lively and playful environment for them and start doing it yourself. They will come around. While in some cases, it may work on the very first day for one kid but may not work at all for another. But keep practicing it and make them understand what it means and what they need to do, they will eventually show interest seeing you do it.

Rather than pointing out mistakes, point out the right ways to do things: Most parents often make the mistake of repeatedly telling children they are doing things the wrong way. While that’s not completely wrong, it’s also true that this approach makes children focus on what’s not right in their approach. Rather, talk about how they should be doing things. For example: Rather than saying the letters they have written are too big and going out of the grid, say the letters need to be smaller and stay inside the grid.

Prepare for these sessions in advance: Just like the teachers need to prepare to conduct their classes, parents need to be prepared too. Otherwise, they’ll easily lose the time at hand. Because ultimately, it’s all about keeping the child interested and if a parent keeps the material, worksheets or anything else required to teach something on a particular day ready, they can make good use of the time they have.

As home schooling is still a concept not everyone is acquainted well with, parents need to try everything they can to educate their children and most importantly keep them aware of things they should be knowing at their age if not more. Isn’t that what we as parents are worried about – that due to the ongoing scenario our children might miss out on what they learn in schools, not just academically but also emotionally and socially.

And we need to understand that home schooling kids that are very young is not a thing of just today, but of future too because we need to be cautious of how we shape these young minds and what all we expose them to.