What is common among positive early childhood experiences for any of us? A Rock-Solid Adult!
For over 2 years now, I have been on a journey of defining and implementing positive change in Early Childhood Education.
Everyday, I attempt to answer the question — What is meaningful learning for a child who is 3 or 4 years old?
Naturally, the immediate response is language and math and we then embark upon the race to find the most effective ways to deliver this to children in developmentally appropriate, fun ways that cater to their learning styles and drown ourselves in classroom practices and teacher practices and student assessments — the spiral is never ending!
Earlier today, I took a moment to think of what really impacted my early childhood experiences and in turn had an effect on my learning curve so to speak. I’m going with the assumption that positive experiences that we hold on to until today has had meaningful impact on our development and growth.
One of my earliest vivid memories is my first day in LKG. My mom dropped me off, I was quite happy about it since I had a new bag, new uniform, new water bottle, new BASKET [key player in this narrative] — It was like this giant reward that you get for starting school! My mom [over enthusiastic parent as she was] had already taught me all the content that I would learn in the first two years of school! I could rattle off alphabets, numbers, spell four letter words — like major child prodigy stuff in those days! What I could not do however was deal with the situation when my class teacher asked me to hold up my arm and proceeded to give me a strong rap on the knuckles because I refused to keep my basket in the back of the class where it is ‘supposed to be’. I was not equipped to deal with the confusion and emotions that came with that situation.
I went back home with a strong resolve never to come back to this awful place. I feigned illness, deliberately rolled down three stairs [that’s a big deal for a four year old ok?], tried to vomit breakfast until I finally had to tell my family the truth. They made me go back of course!
This is how it went:
My father came with me to school. Upon my insistence, he even sat in class with me for the first two hours. [It was quite a sight to see a grown man sitting on a bench that was half the height of his knee but how I loved him for being there]
When he left, my teacher of course gave me a public berating before she took my basket AGAIN!! [Today, I’m thinking maybe she wasn’t sure how to deal with it or this method probably worked for her for years! But I don’t think I like her very much even now]
I went home and cried. This time, my mother who is usually a no-nonsense ‘go to school quietly types’, listened to me and did the most surprising this. She came to school the next day and had my section switched. [I don’t know if this is right or wrong but again, how I loved her for doing that!]
Miss Mary [My new teacher] was the most amazing woman in the world. Not because she taught English and math with fun activities [I actually have no memory of learning alphabets or numbers in the early years] but because she was kind. She smiled a lot, wore quirky little animal buttons on her dress everyday and most importantly — let me keep my basket with me [I finally let it go a month later].
Miss Mary encouraged me to make friends, helped me speak to other children [not just speak/recite in English]. She waited with us until the last of us was picked up after school. She had a front bench reserved for the child who was unwell on any particular day so she could be closer to them. Most importantly, she made me like school for everything that it was — this amazing place where I met other children, played, solved conflicts, dealt with new situations and also learned some alphabets and numbers.
I didn’t go to a fancy school with a special curriculum. We studied the usual rote-based stuff and recited the same rhymes in a class of 60 students! No activity based learning or anything special but we had Miss Mary — who helped us work on our own social and emotional awareness just because of who she was [she probably didn’t even know she was doing it]
So now I’m thinking, what does this mean?
It brings me to something I heard in a conversation this week — What is common among positive early childhood experiences for any of us? A Rock-Solid Adult! Not someone with a strong foundation in play based teaching [Doesn’t hurt to have it though] but someone with a positive mindset! An adult, who has a belief that children must feel safe, loved and cared for in order for them to learn/develop. This is what I believe we need to solve for.
I had the privilege of having supportive — Rock-Solid adults at home and in school. They listened and they helped me deal with stresses that were new to me and I can’t thank them enough for that. If we look back, I believe most of us will be able to find that one adult who understood that helping us learn to deal with the world, as a whole was far more important than the classwork we had to complete. That person is the beginning of meaningful learning in Early Childhood.
I write this in the hope that every early childhood educator takes a moment to reflect on their work and contemplate of it is truly geared towards creating a shift in the behaviour/mindset of adults to be that Rock-Solid foundation upon whom the child can rely.
About the Author:
Swetha Guhan is the Co-Founder at Key Education Foundation . She has worked for 7+ years in the education space with children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. She takes a keen interest in child development and social and emotional development in the early years. When she isn’t working with children, teachers and parents, she spends her time bird watching, reading, cooking or making art.
