The basis for education is empowerment; children and toddlers are also not exempted from this kind of empowerment. This enables them to discover their passion and raise their confidence in everything they do. Professionally trained teachers are made to understand this concept. Empowering toddlers to enjoy learning is critical because discouragement both at home and at school affects one’s self esteem. A toddler’s independence can not be excluded from learning experiences whose effects are generally derived from the child’s environment. A developmentally suitable environment is thus a necessity for a growing toddler as it has direct and indirect impact to the toddler. A positive teacher- parent relationship is also for the benefit of your toddler in overcoming obstacles. Encouraging positive thinking early helps in taming the emotional aspect of the child and they grow up understanding that they have a place in the society as well as the world.
A classroom can serve as a developmentally appropriate environment for learning if it supports toddlers, exploration, investigation, observation and experimentation. Appropriate risks should also be allowed within boundaries. The role of a teacher in such an environment is to foster an intellectual engagement and promote a responsive child’s learning and development. A toddler develops self concept, self confidence and becomes a socially competent individual. Such an environment should contain areas in which children can select and plan their activities, have quiet and social interactions. It should not over-stimulate toddler’s behavior such as being over emotional and moody which essentially is a bad trait.
Good toys at this age will range from containers filled with blocks to pull toys as trolley cars and containers that can allow stacking. They may also need soft object that may be grabbed and hit such as balloons and cribs. This therefore demands enough crawl space when taking these growing steps. Most toddlers will prefer to play alone and good organization of the room is a necessity because toddlers are generally explorative. Despite their silence, they are exploring new grounds for learning and memory.
“Modeling acts as the primary way of impacting knowledge to a child, thus from the time of infancy they watch and mimics parents and teachers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p 86). Thus, toddlers learn much more from what they see and hear. So, when a toddler makes a mistake the first time and you correct him and then does the right thing the second time, he or she should be congratulated. Always encourage them to do some things by themselves provided it’s not harmful to them. Both adult A and B do a kind of modeling in which he shows some kind of discontentment with the act and persists till the toddler gets to understand the concept of a right from wrong acts. This will help the child to develop with the right kind of behavior.
An actively enriched explorative environment is a pre requisite for the toddler to develop fully and engage with the surroundings. The primary mode of learning is via senses; hence the caregivers should offer most activities that involve the use of the five senses. Senses create self directed hands on experience learning mode; teachers influence only sets a ground for learning. Toddlers possess variant areas of interests; they will prefer different playing environments and tools such as different types of toys. Regular supportive interaction also elates their spirit for participation and involvement enhancing their creativity. This is a kind of empowerment that engages a toddler to creativity and excellence. Appreciating their little efforts make them fill recognized and respected. When adult A hugs and kisses the toddler “Olivia’. It signifies affection towards the child which the child easily understands now that she does not talk but has the feelings.
Control for Olivia and the rest of the students is vital as it enables a care giver to create a balance between active movements and quiet movements. It should be noted that toddlers have short concentration cycles of which they pay attention. Hence, alternating activities that require active involvement and those that require less physical engagement is the best methodology. A class room should therefore accommodate room for playing, time for play and resources for both. Above all, choice of the toddler should be given priority; she should be allowed to select her own interested choices so long as they are within the set objectives and safety. All this should be closely monitored to check on their response and performance.
Toddlers are very explorative and their quests needs to be regulated carefully in order not to make them fill intimidated. Areas such as language should be regulated as they learn within meaningful contexts and the choice of words is important. Use of TV, video and computer is not recommended with toddlers and their exposure to this electronic devices should be limited and alternative activities be provided to them. Wrong action they are likely to express or indicate should be substituted with the right options to help them develop long lasting positive attitude and life long learning.
Special family centered programmes exist to offer parents guidance on the nature and extent of upbringing of a child. Many operate in partnership with religious institutions where they foster discipline and parental guidance. They are provided with choices for them to identify what they perceive to be the best for their toddlers. “Teacher and professional care givers have also taken a special role in educating the parents” (Gonezalez, 2009, p 123). However, this has been a great challenge with little fruits because they are poorly attended by the parents. They shy from attending due to need to be involved in decision making.
References List
Gonezalez, M. J. (2009). Child, family, and community: Family-centered early care and education. (5th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Vygotsky, L. (1978), Interaction between Learning and Development. In Mind in Society (Cole, T. M.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.