The benefits of starting education early
A surprising number of parents believe their babies are too young to derive the benefits of starting education early, and postpone nursery until they are toddlers. However, many child development experts disagree with this strategy!
Babies quickly start learning about their environment as soon as they are born and from there, they each develop at a different pace, according to the individual child and their environment. That said, by the time many toddlers reach two years of age, they already have a vocabulary of 150-300 words and their own distinctive personalities. They have also developed movement skills, much hand and finger coordination, social, emotional and some thinking skills.
By age three, this may well have grown to 900-1,000 words and further development of the above by the time they might start nursery. During the first three years of a child’s life, essential brain and neural development occurs, and for this reason, they can benefit hugely from starting preschool at an earlier age than two.
The benefits of starting education early extends to parents too!
The ideal scenario for many parents is to be around their children all the time during these important developmental years. However, the reality for most is a commitment to their working schedules and often a lack of knowledge about how to educate children at a young age to help their development to the fullest.
Another unfortunate reality is that, not only can children be negatively affected by not being educated at the very early ages, but the negative effects can sometimes reverberate through their school lives. A study conducted by the ABC Project evaluated two groups of children for an extended period of time, those with formal preschool education and those not receiving any formal education.
According to their findings, children with formal education scored higher on reading tests during subsequent school years. It was also shown that the children who did not receive any formal education in their nursery years were more likely to struggle with delinquent behaviours in their early adult years. It has also been shown that children can benefit from receiving education before the age of two, since children experience substantial brain development during these early years.
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