My wife and I live about 15,000 kilometres from my in-laws. We have great ways to stay connected. We phone, we Skype (note, this is now a verb), we follow each other on Instagram and Facebook. But my sister-in-law also uses Tinybeans, a closed sharing network designed primarily for parents to share moments in a child’s life with family and friends who can’t be along for the ride at every moment. It is also marketed as a means of capturing the story of your child’s ‘growing up’.
‘Canadian’ Uncle Peter and Auntie think it’s wonderful! While I was catching up on previous posts early this morning, there was a video ‘starring’ my 2 1/2 year old nephew. Here he is, as is pretty typical for a toddler, playing with buckets of water. He’s filling them; he’s dumping them. Sometimes, he’s watering the plants with them. He’s asking questions. He’s wondering things out loud. And, this morning, HE’S COUNTING THEM. OUT LOUD. AND WONDERING IF THERE ARE ANY MORE. Although this activity isn’t prompted, it’s immediately supported by his Mum.
I capitalized this interaction because it is a terrific example of the perfect blend of play and learning. It’s self-directed but supported. It’s interactive and social. Mother and child are talking about water and buckets. But it could be anything. When my son was my nephew’s age, it was hubcaps.
My brother-in-law and sister-in-law, along with their friends and family – both near and far 🙂 are a wonderful, knowledgeable support network. They will foster learning in this child (as well as his younger sibling and soon-to-arrive cousin) because they all recognize the importance of social interaction as part of learning.
But not all children have this network. Not all children are surrounded by an accessible, knowledgeable and supportive adult group. And not all parents or caregivers have this knowledge base nor have the opportunity to spend this kind of quality time with their child(ren).
This raised some questions in my mind. Questions to which I wish I had answers.
So I leave it to you… Please comment, question, ponder or even answer some of these in the comments section.
- If the above-mentioned kind of ‘pre-school’ learning is important, what role can public education play to support a child’s early learning?
- How can educators get out into communities to work with new parents?
- How can education or early learning systems get to where they are most needed?
- Will a fostering of life-long learning in schools impact the next generation of children as these ‘life-long learners’ become parents and/or caregivers?
- When I go back into a school as a principal, is there something I/we can do to support the early learners in our community before they get to school?
Or add your own.
Principal Learning 
Thinking out loud here – I wonder if having a session for local home daycare providers would be helpful. Often the larger daycare centres are staffed by trained ECEs but home day cares, although sometimes, often are not. Would be helpful for home daycare providers to have an understanding of inquiry learning at the Preschool level and how they can support developing pre-school skills.
Thinking out loud is always a great idea. Worked well for Ed Sheehan, anyways! 🙂 I would think liaising with home day care providers would be a great start. ECEs who work in schools and in larger day care settings have such a wealth of knowledge in early child learning & development. Hopefully, they could support these conversations. I always wonder (& worry) about children who do not find themselves in any pre-school social learning (e.g., day care, play group, organized activities,…) at all. I don’t know how we help there. Or even if we are able to.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Shannon!