The preschool vs. no preschool statistics in Nevada are troubling. Last year, 1,272 four-year-old children in Nevada attended preschool. It is up to parents to start to close the preschool gap and send their children to school before kindergarten. There are plenty of benefits of early childhood education. Preschool will help your child during their first year of kindergarten, and also have long-term benefits of early childhood education.
Socialization
Children get to meet other children at preschool
It is important that children are given the chance to socialize and interact outside of the home in a safe environment. It is up to you as a parent to introduce your child to other children so that they can learn to create friendships. If your child tends to be shy, early socialization can help. Early socialization can also help your child gain self-confidence. If you wait too long to put your child in social situations, it can impede their social development. Preschool is the perfect social situation.
Learning Cooperation
Before children enter kindergarten, they are expected to understand cooperation concepts. This includes taking turns and sharing. If you only have one child, they’ve never had to share with siblings, so they need to learn this before kindergarten. Early childhood education programs offer a safe learning environment with trained professionals to help.
Learn Basic Skills
Preschool is more than a place for kids to play all day. There is a curriculum in preschool and real learning takes place. With one year of preschool, they understand numbers, letters, and shapes. Children who don’t attend preschool don’t have the benefit of this first year of school. This can put them behind when they start kindergarten. It is up to you to close the preschool achievement gap early. If your child is already behind in kindergarten, it will lead to frustration and low self-esteem.
Enthusiasm for Learning for a Lifetime
The love of education takes root when children are still in preschool. This is the place that they learn about reading, math, and nature among other things, in fun and exciting ways. Early childhood education is important because it encourages a child to want to learn. They are eager and enthusiastic when they are being taught in the right environment. Preschool is the right environment.
Learn Respect and Manners
Children are taught very early on to respect their parents. Most are also taught to say please and thank you. But, respect goes further than this. They need to learn to respect their belongings and other people’s belongings. They also need to learn to respect other people besides family and outside their normal environment. A preschool is a great place for your child to learn these lessons. This is an environment where everything is shared by all the children. In a hectic preschool class, respecting everyone, and the items in the school, is taught organically. It is not forced upon the children.
Teamwork
If a child is going to be social and employable when they get older, they need to be able to work as a team. This is why many preschool activities are centered around teamwork. Children with no siblings or whose siblings are much younger won’t have the chance to understand the concept of teamwork at home. It can be first learned while in preschool. Children should learn to respect opinions, cooperate, and listen before kindergarten.
Exposure to Diversity
Preschool exposes children to new experiences
It is very important for a child’s early development to value diversity in other people. When a child is at home with their family, they may not see diversity. It isn’t until they are in a preschool classroom that they will learn a person’s ethnicity, beliefs, or culture make them special. These are lessons which will not only help your child later in life, they will make society better as a whole.
Early childhood education is important because it prepares a child for kindergarten and the rest of their lives. As a parent, you need to bridge the preschool gap so your child is prepared for what is to come. If you want your child to reap the benefits of schooling, and you need to find a trustworthy preschool in Reno, contact us.