My hobby is gardening. That is why the season of rain, greenery brings more joy to me. I love watching plants grow. I feel joyful when around lush greens. When plants get best environmental conditions they grow and flourish well.
By profession, I am a preschool teacher, so I am always around lots of energy and positivity. I love watching toddlers grow and get ready for their formal schooling. Childhood is all about joy and happiness.
It is July, season of rain. Best time to plan, design, redesign, shift, your terrace, kitchen garden, balcony, front garden,back yard or any other place that you have. It is also best time for the Nursery owners and farmers to plan for upcoming season. It is July, also season for school admissions. Best time to plan admitting your 2-3 years old to his very first play school, shifting a 6 years old to a formal school, shifting a primary student to a middle school because you think the other school will do justice to your child, shifting a ninth grader to a school which provides better preparatory classes for tenth and higher studies, shifting your confused and still adjusting adolescent to coaching centres that produce a batch of adults with tired minds. It is also best time for parents to choose best subject for their eleventh grader, because, parents think their child is good at their choice of subject, and that very subject will decide the fate of your child. It is know fact, we, the parents know it all. We everytime know what is best for our child. We even know which are their choice of subjects.
Ok, let me not confuse you, with these long and complex sentences. Let’s just consider one part at a time.
Coming back to our gardeners, they put seeds first in green house, in seedling trays. They make the environment suitable for these seedlings, so they could grow properly.
Similarly, we admit our toddlers to a playschool or preprimary school setup. Yes, it is true that play schools and preprimary schools are places which are designed keeping in mind the learning requirements to this age group. It provides separate setup, separate set of teachers, who are smiling, motherly and most importantly soft spoken. The curriculum also gives these schools the liberty to do things at a pace which is not too tiring for the child. Just imagine if the gardener decides to put some of the seedlings in to the open garden area, within 15 days of their life. Nature is very kind, they will still grow. Gardener, might feel happy, that he has saved his time by shifting the seedlings early. But will this not put some stress to these seedlings? Gardener could have avoided that harsh Sun or heavy rains for few more days.
As parents, we have made plans for our child’s future, a timeline set for everything.
Some parents come to our school, trust us, follow the age criteria and admit their child accordingly.
Some parents come to us with better plans.
” Mam, my child is 2 and a half years old, but I know she is very active, so I request you to please admit her in a class higher than her age group.”
To this, we as teachers tell them, that it will just lead to alot of stress to your child. School will be a new place for her to adjust to. On top of that if she is admitted to a class where all the other children are one year elder to her, she will have to adjust and cope up with that batch. A batch which is physically and mentally one year elder to her.
Some parents agree, and some don’t.
This lengthy writeup is addressed to all those who do not agree to our request.
Trust me on this, at this early years of life, this difference in mental age counts.
Imagine this girl sitting in a class learning to hold a pencil in her grip, where everyone else has mastered the prewriting strokes. Oh! and this is not enough, she will be doing some extra effort at home to hold pencil and write, because, parents want her to catch-up with the class too.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE
Be the patient Gardener, give your child, his time to grow, than shift him to the next setup.
Don’t be the gardener who just wanted to shift his seedlings in hurry.
DON’T SAVE YOUR TIME, BY STRESSING A CHILD.
SAVE YOUR CHILD, BY STRETCHING HIS CHILDHOOD.
I wish this message reaches every parent. If you support this philosophy of extending childhood years, please like, share, comment and follow.
