Preschool kids: Preschool – HealthyChildren.org

Helping Your Child Adjust to Preschool (for Parents)

Preschool lets kids be with peers and learn important life lessons such as how to share, take turns, and follow rules. It also can prepare them academically for kindergarten and beyond.

But going to preschool does come with some emotions, for both the parent and the child. For a child, being in a new preschool environment with unfamiliar teachers and kids can cause both anxiety and excitement. Parents might have mixed emotions about whether their child is ready for preschool.

Getting comfortable with your decision and the preschool setting can help you and your child feel ready.

Easing Your Child’s Fears

Talk with your child about preschool before it starts. In the months and weeks before school, gradually introduce your child to activities that often take place in a classroom. A child who’s used to scribbling with paper and crayons at home, for example, will find it comforting to know that there are crayons and paper in the preschool classroom.

Visit the preschool classroom with your child a few times before school starts. This can ease concerns about this new space. Visiting is also a chance to meet the teacher and ask questions about routines and common activities. You can introduce some of those routines and activities at home so they become familiar.

While you’re in the classroom, let your child explore and observe the class and choose whether to interact with other kids. This helps familiarize kids with the room and lets them explore the new toys they’ll play with when school starts.

You can also ask how the teacher handles the first tear-filled days. How will the first week be structured to make the change easier for your child?

As you support this important step your child is taking, don’t focus too much on the changes it brings. This could make any anxiety worse, and even young kids can pick up on their parents’ nonverbal cues. So while you might feel a little guilty or worried about leaving your child at preschool, be enthusiastic and talk about how fun it will be.  

The more calm and assured you are about your choice to send your child to preschool, the more confident your child will be.

The First Day

When you enter the classroom on the first day, calmly reintroduce the teacher to your child, then step back to allow the teacher to begin forming a relationship with your child. This will show your child that they will be happy and safe in the teacher’s care.

If your child clings to you or refuses to participate in the class, don’t get upset — this may only upset your child more. Always give a loving, consistent goodbye to your child, but once you do, leave promptly. Don’t sneak out. As tempting as it may be, leaving without saying goodbye can make kids feel abandoned. A long farewell, on the other hand, might only reinforce a child’s sense that preschool is a bad place.

A consistent and predictable farewell routine can make leaving easier. Some parents wave from outside the classroom window or make a funny goodbye face, while others have a special handshake before parting. Transitional objects — a family picture, a special doll, or a favorite blanket — can also help comfort a child. Also, keep in mind that most kids do well after their parents leave.

Whether your child is eager or reluctant to go to preschool, a school staff member should be ready to help with the transfer when you arrive. Some kids may jump right in with their classmates, while others might want a private cuddle from a caregiver before joining the group.

Many preschools begin with a daily ritual, such as circle time (when teachers and children talk about what they did the day before and the activities that are ahead for the day). Preschoolers tend to respond to this kind of predictability, and following a routine will help ease the move from home to school.

Reviewed by: Kathryn Hoffses, PhD

Date reviewed: August 2022

A new study finds preschool can be detrimental to children

United States | Preschool education

Feb 3rd 2022

FREE, UNIVERSAL preschool for three- and four-year-olds is a key component of the Democrats’ agenda. Proponents say pre-kindergarten, or pre-K, education can be transformative for children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. A new study seems to contradict this. It finds that children who attended a pre-K programme in Tennessee actually scored worse on a range of education and behavioural measures. Yet this might reflect general improvements in early education rather than the impact of one programme.

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Studies from the 1960s and 70s suggested that pre-K might be a silver bullet for improving the outcomes of poor children. In one striking example, those enrolled in the Perry Preschool Project, which targeted African-American children from low-income families, were by the age of five more than twice as likely to have an IQ above 90. As adults, they committed fewer crimes and earned more money. For every dollar spent, the programme generated nearly $13 in economic returns.

More recent results are far more nuanced (see chart). A meta-analysis of 22 experiments conducted between 1960 and 2016 shows that children who were enrolled in preschool were less likely to need special-education services or repeat years and graduated from high school at higher rates. But the improvements were small. One study published in 2021 of programmes in Boston found that attending preschool did not affect test scores in adolescence but did boost high-school graduation and college attendance.

The new study complicates the picture further. Researchers at Vanderbilt University followed nearly 3,000 disadvantaged Tennessee children, some of whom were randomly assigned places in a free pre-K programme. Like previous studies they found that attending preschool made children better-prepared for kindergarten. But the benefits ended there. Between third and sixth grade, the children who attended preschool did worse on standardised tests, had lower school attendance, racked up more disciplinary infractions and needed more special-education services.

The effects were small, however. The biggest differences were in sixth grade, where scores in reading and maths were between 1% and 4% lower than for children who were not given spots in the programmes. In the context of previous studies, this difference is modest.

Measuring the impact of pre-K is difficult. Many of the effects don’t emerge until later in life. And the effect of individual programmes is becoming harder to isolate. In the Tennessee study 18% of children in the control group enrolled in Head Start, a programme offering early education, nutrition and health care to children from low-income families. A further 16% attended private day-care centres. Parenting has also changed a lot since the 1960s: parents are more hands-on, and home-educational resources have vastly improved.

The quality of pre-K instruction may have deteriorated, too. Programmes have expanded. Teacher-student ratios in Tennessee were double those in the Perry project. And America has the third-lowest spending on early-childhood education among 36 mostly rich OECD countries.

Even if pre-K programmes are only as good as the alternatives, they help in other ways. They allow parents to return to work. A number of papers have found that the economic benefits of child-care or pre-K programmes vastly outweigh the costs. ■

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Wondering what’s best for the kids”

From the February 3rd 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

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Preschool age

Preschool age in developmental psychology is defined as the period from 3 to 7 years. At this time, the pace of development of the child is no longer as intense as in early childhood. However, this period is also important for the physical and mental development of the child.

Features of preschool children

Preschool age is a fairly long period during which a child consistently develops various neoplasms. In developmental psychology, it is customary to divide the preschool age into three main stages.

Younger preschool age

Younger preschool age is the period from 3 to 4 years of a baby’s life. At this time, the child moves from a joint position with parents to a separate “I”, but in many situations he still cannot do without the help of an adult. In turn, parents still see in their child a helpless baby who needs to be protected as much as possible from the dangers of the outside world. But by such a deprivation of independence, they can additionally provoke conflicts with him just because of the restriction of freedom. The orientation of the interests of the child of primary preschool age changes markedly. If earlier he was interested in the surrounding objects, now he wants to learn as much as possible about the interaction of people. He observes adults and peers, taking some of their actions as a model for his own activities. Ultimately, this is projected onto the emergence of the role-playing game as a reflection of human relationships and social contacts. A very important point in the development of children of primary preschool age is the emergence of the ability to establish complex causal relationships. Now the child not only masters new ways of action – he knows not only what and how to do, but also what the action he performs will lead to.

Average preschool age

Average preschool age – the period from 4 to 5 years. The physical skills of the child continue to improve, and that is why in the middle group of the kindergarten it is extremely important to provide the kids with reasonable physical activity. Mental development is also active, including the ability to establish social contacts, which can be seen in the way children unite in small groups during play and learn to act together. There is an active development of play activity, as well as other actions that are no less important for the development of the child – design, visual activity. In this regard, the development of perception plays an important role, which normally becomes able to single out separate parts in the object under study and establish a connection between them. The ability to establish such connections leads the child to understand the need to supplement the picture of the world based on the knowledge received from an adult, therefore, by the fifth year of life, parents should be ready to answer numerous “why”, “how” and “what for”. The readiness to conduct a dialogue with the child, to discuss even simple things seriously and on an equal footing will direct the child’s cognitive activity in the right direction, as well as provide closer emotional contact with an adult.

Senior preschool age

Senior preschool age is the period of a child’s development from 5 to 7 years. Both parents and caregivers can easily notice that a child at this age is no longer as open as before. He begins to understand who he is (based on knowledge and ideas about himself) and what he is (self-esteem). These are two sides of self-consciousness as a system of ideas, assessments and images that relate to a person, in this case, to a child of senior preschool age. By the age of 7, the child has a fairly adequate self-esteem, but it can differ and be either overestimated or underestimated. Preschool children with unreasonably high self-esteem are usually more relaxed, less receptive to their failures and are not aware of them, and react sharply to the lack of praise and criticism. On the contrary, children with low self-esteem are extremely insecure, not sociable, and do not like to take the initiative.

Development of preschool children

Development of preschool children affects all systems and functions of the body, while physical and mental development do not proceed separately, but are closely interconnected. At this time, all classes with the child are held exclusively in the form of a game, while the effect can be achieved only if the child is an active participant in the game process, and not just a passive observer. Physical development The growth of the baby during the preschool period increases significantly – by 20 or even 25 centimeters. By the age of 6-7 years, the child weighs twice as much compared to how much he weighed in a year.

In addition to height and weight, an important indicator is the ratio between head circumference and chest circumference; with age, the proportions of the child change, and the difference between these indicators should normally become larger. By the age of 7, the circumference of the chest should be equal to half the height of the child, including due to the fact that there is an increase in the size of the lungs. Height and weight gain rates are largely dependent on genetics and other factors, so parents who worry that their child is not growing well need to pay attention to whether he remains active. If the preschooler is active, there is no question of violations.

Excitation processes predominate in the central nervous system, due to which preschool children are often restless and cannot do monotonous work for a long time. The cardiovascular system is also developing; the mass of the heart increases while the heart rate decreases. The physical development of preschool children largely depends on their physical activity; and when participating in outdoor games, and while practicing various sports, children improve their ability to navigate in space, balance improves, and new motor skills appear. However, it is important to bear in mind that too complex tasks can easily cause fatigue in a child, so any load should be strictly metered. Neither the central nervous system, nor the heart, nor the lungs are ready for overload at preschool age, as everyone else is.

Psychological features of preschool age

At preschool age, the development of the child’s psyche leads to an essential desire for independence, inclusion in adult life. The main neoplasms of preschool age are: The beginning of the formation of a worldview based on the child’s attempt to arrange all the observed objects and phenomena into a single system, as well as their relationships. Ethical and moral assessments that determine how the child will relate to this or that person. Motivation for action based on understanding the relationship between people. The arbitrariness of behavior that arises on the basis of images that initially exist in a specific form, and only then turning into a generalized one. The emergence of self-awareness and self-esteem, the definition of one’s own position in relation to an adult.

At preschool age, the entire psychological life of the child is significantly rebuilt, so certain problems cannot be ruled out. In particular, this applies to two age crises, because preschool development begins with one of them and ends with the second.

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Features of the development of preschool children

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• Features of the development of preschool children

Preschool is a key period that has a huge impact on a child’s development. It is at this moment that the formation of the personality of the child takes place. That is why parents should put in enough effort to ensure that he develops important skills necessary for later life. The emphasis is on intellectual, emotional and moral development.

How old are preschoolers

Features of the development of preschool children are directly related to how old the child is. It is customary to distinguish three main age periods:

1. 3-4 years old – junior preschool age.
2. 4-5 years – average preschool age.
3. 5-7 years old – senior preschool age.

Each of these periods has its own characteristics that allow you to characterize a child of a particular age.

The development of preschoolers at different ages

It is worth looking into this issue in more detail. Both the physical and mental development of the child has its own characteristics. Each parent will be able to make sure from personal experience that each age period through which their babies go has both advantages and disadvantages.

Children 3 years old

You should start from the age of three, which is the period that is the youngest preschool age. The kid is actively exploring his own personality, looking for what he likes or, on the contrary, is completely unpleasant.

Main features of the age of three:

• Social and emotional development . The child actively shares his things, exchanges toys. He does not refuse to communicate with adults, on occasion he tries to help them in order to be useful.
• Motor . Without difficulty, kids at this age catch the ball, calmly go down the stairs. They are not characterized by loss of balance when riding on a swing. Able to combine cubes up to 9 pieces and hold pencils with fingers.
• Visual and motor coordination . The child is able to reproduce various shapes of figures, circle drawings along the contour.
• Subject-game activity . It will not be difficult for a kid to disassemble the nesting doll and find the right hole for the figure. Able to put two or three component puzzles.
• Speech . Develops actively. The child can pick up words denoting specific objects, textures, tastes and colors. Learns to perceive time, to distinguish between degrees of increase or decrease.

Also, a three-year-old child understands the speech of adults, responds correctly to their requests and suggestions. Easily copes with the implementation of simple instructions.

Children 4 years old

The circle of a child’s skills is actively expanding by the age of four. He tries to fulfill the instructions of adults well in order to receive praise in return. It is worth focusing in more detail on the key features of this period:

• Object-game activity . It is not difficult for a kid to assemble a nesting doll or a pyramid. For this purpose, visual correlation of objects is involved. The same goes for collecting small puzzles.
• Memory . Children memorize and carry out assignments, which consist of 2-3 actions. They can remember up to 5 words.
• Speech . The kid actively uses common words, names objects, animals, professions. Can retell your favorite story.
• Mathematics . An understanding of the meanings of “one” and “many” appears, the child distinguishes between geometric shapes. Can tell what time of day it is.
• Motor . Able to draw shapes, simple shapes and lines. Schematic objects appear in fine arts, for example, cars or houses. The child can string large beads on the wire, throws up and catches the ball well. Learning to sculpt with plasticine. For him, self-lacing shoes ceases to be a problem.

A four-year-old child continues to develop actively, which is facilitated by constant help in this matter from parents and close relatives.

Children 5-6 years old

This is the senior preschool age. A very important period for the intellectual, cognitive and personal development of the baby. Right now, the formation of his character traits is taking place.

What can be said about the features of this age:

• Motor . The child confidently jumps and runs, does not experience problems with balance. Learns to ride a bike and skate.
• Coordination . Now it is not difficult for the kid to accurately write letters and numbers, as well as cut out various shapes from paper.
• Speech . Begins to use synonyms and antonyms for familiar words, can name objects around him. Understands how to break words into syllables, identify sounds. Also distinguishes between vowels and consonants.
• Mathematics . Knows how to write numbers, correlate the number of objects and numbers. There is an understanding of how to use mathematical signs. Freely draws geometric shapes. The child is familiar with the seasons and days of the week.

It is interesting to know that it is at the senior preschool age that children best remember and assimilate new information. They actively absorb new knowledge, and their horizons are rapidly expanding.

In order to achieve success in the development of a preschooler, it is necessary to gradually complicate game tasks, make them intellectual and logical. Then the child will continue to develop and by this age will be fully ready to attend school. Special aids and educational toys help to cope with this task, which you can buy in our online store at the most affordable price. This is the best solution for parents and educators who are involved in the development of preschoolers.

03/23/2022

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