Your child is likely your pride and joy. Whether you carried them for 9 months in your belly, had your wife or a surrogate carry them, or you adopted them, your child is probably one of the most important things in your life. At such a young age, their minds are like a sponge and everything that happens has a great impact on who they become as an adult. One great way to make sure that their mind is molded in such a way that they’ll be prepared for the real world as an adult is by enrolling them in a childhood learning center.
These centers have a few different names, and if the one we just used doesn’t ring a bell there’s a good chance that you’ve heard them referred to as preschools or childhood learning centers. Regardless of the name that you’ve heard them called, they have a lot of great benefits for both you and your child that will help both of you both in the short term and in the long term. Child psychologists and pediatricians alike agree that there are many things that these programs help with, but what exactly are they? Let’s look at what we consider the be the top seven benefits of enrolling your child in such a program.
Table of Contents
Teach Your Child Social Skills Early
Nearly everything that we do in this world requires some sort of interpersonal relationship. Everything ranging from the shortest term relationships such as checking out at the supermarket to longer-term relationships like friendships, romances, and even co-worker relationships. Social skills are something that almost everyone uses on a nearly day-to-day basis. By enrolling your child into a preschool program, you give them the opportunity to not only learn how to socialize with adults but also children who are in the same or at least similar developmental stages to them. That allows them the ability to navigate complex social situations on their own, which gives them all of the tools they need to succeed later in life.
Prepare Your Child for Their Upcoming Academic Career
Let’s face it, school is difficult. It’s especially difficult when you’ve spent the first few years of your life spending time with your family and being catered to on hand and foot. Going from that to the rigid structure of school can cause a lot of stress in children, which can make the transition more difficult. Now, not every preschool has a rigid learning structure, but every good preschool has something in common. Educational enrichment that ensures that your child is learning the things that they need to learn to be prepared for kindergarten and onward.
The first few years of school are arguably the most challenging for many students simply because they’re starting to learn subjects from scratch while still dealing with a mind that is changing and developing more and more every day. Preschool gives your child a chance to go over the fundamentals before needing to know them. That means that by the time the information is needed, they’ll already have a grasp on the concept and this will have a much easier time. In fact, many child psychologists agree that preschool is an excellent resource for children and oftentimes leads to them having a much more successful academic career from kindergarten to grad school.
Have Some Peace of Mind Knowing Your Child is Taken Care of While You’re Busy
While your child is probably your world, you probably also have other things that you need to take care of. Whether that’s work, school, or even a sickly family member. It can be stressful to try to balance finding childcare while taking care of your responsibilities and you can’t really slack off on either. Your child is important and has a lot of needs but that doesn’t stop the bills from piling up. Childhood education programs allow you to put your child into a program that teaches them a lot of useful skills, which means that you know that they’re safe and being well taken care of while you’re off at work or doing whatever else it is you need to do.
Jumpstart Your Child’s Immune System
As we all know, children are harbingers of germs. They don’t have very strong immune systems because they haven’t been exposed to a lot of germs yet, and they likely haven’t learned common courtesies such as not sneezing directly into someone’s face yet. That’s actually one of the biggest advantages of a preschool program. By allowing your child to interact with other children, you’re also allowing them to interact with new germs that their body hasn’t had a chance to see yet. Yes, they’re more likely to get sick. That’s a good thing because of the way that our immune systems work, and the more often they get sick as a child the less often they’ll get sick when they’re old and grey.
Give Your Child the Opportunity to Learn Problem Solving Skills
Most good preschools are set up in such a way that your child has ample opportunities to pick up on some great problem-solving skills. One of the best and most common examples has to do with playtime, and what we’re about to cover is actually a pretty simple thing that is done by most teachers. The toys for the students are kept in a place that doesn’t need any adult intervention whatsoever. That means that the children are able to get into the toys themselves, but they have to figure out how to get into them. Maybe the toys are simply stored in a drawer in a cubby, meaning that all they need to do is open the drawer. Maybe there’s a small key that they need to use to access the toys. Regardless of the teacher’s approach, this allows some training into problem-solving skills that your child will use for the rest of their life.
Help Yourself and Your Child Overcome Separation Anxiety
Separation anxiety is a natural part of being a parent. Most parents have to deal with it both in themselves and in their children. It’s far from an easy thing to overcome, especially if you’re accustomed to spending a lot of time with your child. Putting your child into preschool is a great way to deal with that before it’s time to send them off to kindergarten, which is another way that it helps them through their academic career. It also helps you because you’ll already be used to them being out in the world and operating as their own person by the time you send them off to school.
Teach Your Child Independence at a Young Age
When you send your child to preschool, there’s a good chance that they won’t know anyone. That means that they’ll need to think on their feet and learn to solve their own problems without your intervening. That’s great for them because it teaches them how to be independent. As much as you may or may not like it, you won’t always be there to hold their hand through the hard parts, and when they become a teenager they might not want you to anyway. That means that giving them an early start on learning how to be independent can help them be sure to stay on the straight and narrow even if they end up not wanting your help.
Give Your Child a Fighting Chance
The world can be a difficult place to live in, and going through schooling doesn’t make it any easier. Giving your child an environment where they’re encouraged to learn, laugh, play, and grow will help them be prepared for the life they have to come. Many preschool programs are based on scientific reviews that allow them to be sure that their curriculum will help your child be the best equipped for their academic career and beyond. Whether your child is destined to become the next president or would be more happy mowing lawns, they deserve to get the skills they need to navigate any interpersonal communication that they need to in the future.