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Relationship Between Parental Role And Early Childhood Education And Its’ Development
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Monde (2002) claims that the early introduction of other liquids and
solids if prepared in unhygienic conditions increases the likelihood of
infection, often resulting in potentially life threatening conditions
like diarrhea. Exclusive breast feeding in the first six months of life
is enough to support the growth and development of babies and this
should be complemented with high quality foods until about 24 months of
age to sustain the rate of growth. Adequate care and nutrition lays a
solid foundation for proper early childhood development. This is because
proper nutrition aids brain growth necessary for intellectual,
cognitive as well as psycho-motor development in the child.
The home
serves as the take-off point of this development. The child who is
usually helpless depends on maternal stimulation for the development of
proper physical and physiological functioning. This includes toileting,
feeding and bathing (Ayo, 2000). Toileting, bathing and feeding
training for the baby in the early life of the child is very crucial and
necessary for the child’s later years of life. Not only that, this
builds proper confidence in the child in the larger society. This can
only be made possible if parents, especially mothers are available and
have time to take their responsibilities at this crucial time of the
child’s development and growth.
The mother is the first important
person in a baby’s world. How she behaves to the child is crucial in
establishing a feeling of comfort and security. According to Esu (2000),
“insufficiency of maternal care is detrimental to development during
the early years as the child grows. It is the responsibility of both
parents to lead children through the early years, providing them with
adequate nutrition, stimulation, good values, and good health habits. It
is also a parental role to teach children the language of their
immediate environment. They should help children to communicate with the
family and with their peers (Amadi and Amadi, 2007). This is because,
if children are taught how to communicate with family members and peers
at the early age or stage, it help them to acquire or learn good
behaviours and positive social adjustment in the society and at school
even when they grow up as adolescents and adults. For instance, they
would learn how to respect the older members of the society in terms of
greeting, making requests etc.
Children learn at different times.
Often by the time a child is twelve months, he or she can pronounce a
few words, and by the time the child is five or six years, he/she can
communicate very well. It is the duty of parents and the home to ensure
language development, especially in the early years while the school
reinforces this later (Ayodeji, 2004). This is because, by the time
parents teach their children how to speak good languages that are
acceptable in the society and avoiding the bad languages that are
frowned at by the society, they become good members of the society that
would grow and maintain a decent society or family structure.
Language
acquisition is critical as it establishes personal and group identity.
It is also a basis for social interactions and for the development of
cognitive processes. Since parents have a special interest in their
children, it should be maximized for their best interests especially in
the home, in an atmosphere of conduciveness. This is because a conducive
environment stimulates cognitive, affective and psychomotor development
of the child (Ofo, 2006).
A necessity for early childhood care and
development; ignorance of the law, they say is not an admissible excuse.
Thus, ignorance on the part of parents in the upbringing of their
children is unacceptable, as it may affect children’s growth and
development negatively. This corroborates the observation of Ogbonna
(2000) which says that “where there is ignorance of the needs of the
child at the different stages of development, there is bound to occur
practices which are detrimental to the child’s personality developmentâ€.
Therefore, this calls for early childhood cares in order to develop the
total child.
Times are changing and parents should be dynamic enough
to move according to the times. There was a time when everyone in the
whole community took care of the child who does not even belong to them.
That time is gone. A child is now for most part of early childhood,
left in the care of parents who must be knowledgeable enough to handle
them. Parents therefore, should acquire the right methods of child
upbringing, whether traditional or modern. Parents should be made to
understand that harshness to children often breeds delinquency and thick
skin which may manifest later in the lives of these children (Adeduro,
2008).
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