Relationship Between Parental Role And Early Childhood Education And Its’ Development
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Relationship Between Parental Role And Early Childhood Education And Its’ Development
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background for the Study
The first few years of life have a significant impact on a child’s quality of life and the contributions he or she makes to society as an adult. A child grows and changes dramatically between birth and the age of five.
If this time of life includes assistance for cognitive, verbal, motor, adaptive, and social-emotional development, the kid is more likely to succeed in school and subsequently make important contributions to society.
A good early childhood care and education program provides intervention programmes that support children’s survival, growth, development, and learning, such as health, nutrition, and hygiene, as well as cognitive, social, physical, and emotional development from birth to primary school entry in formal, informal, and non-formal settings (UNESCO, 2007).
According to Anyakogu (2005), early childhood education and development take place mostly at home. This is because the house is the child’s initial point of contact, allowing them to effectively engage with both parents and siblings.
The child’s learning begins at home. A place where children learn to respect their parents and to mimic and recognise those around them. Traditionally, child care in Nigeria, as in other parts of Africa, has been the responsibility of extended family and the community.
These members of society help to raise the child by giving him or her with a variety of stimulating contacts that will have a favourable impact on the child’s development, particularly in psychosocial terms.
In recent decades, growing urbanisation has destroyed this traditional child-care system. Hodges (2001) commented that “‘for the approximately one third of families who now live in the cities, the mutual support that was a prominent nature of rural life has given way to situation where each household is to a large extent responsible on its own for the care of children” .
Living in cities indicates that many moms spend the majority of their days working outside the home, which has implications for child rearing in the family (Adeleke, 2006).
This is because many parents’ love and burning desires for a paid work and monetary reward, in order to make the family more comfortable and pay other household costs, have taken precedence over their love and care for their children.
This has led to many parents abandoning their children in the hands of immature housekeepers and nannies, resulting in poor social and academic growth and development.
Parental involvement in early childhood development are diverse. The quality of care provided to early children influences their growth. Parents, particularly women, are responsible for feeding, household hygiene, and responding to illnesses in early children. For newborns, breast milk is the healthiest and most complete nutritional source.
Breast milk contains antibodies that can protect babies from sickness (Leon, 2005). Parents, particularly moms who work in normal employment, do not have time to give their babies with adequate breast milk.
Furthermore, due to education and civilisation, most moms assume that feeding their baby breast milk will alter their breasts, making them appear older than their actual ages. As a result, they do not feed their baby breast milk on time. This has resulted in poor growth and social development for the majority of children, as well as poor academic attainment.
According to Monde (2002), the early introduction of additional liquids and solids, particularly those prepared in unsanitary settings, increases the probability of infection, frequently leading in potentially fatal illnesses such as diarrhoea.
Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life is sufficient to support newborns’ growth and development, and this should be supplemented with high-quality foods until about 24 months of age to maintain the pace of growth.
Adequate care and nutrition provide a firm basis for healthy early infant development. This is because good nutrition promotes brain growth, which is required for a child’s intellectual, cognitive, and psychomotor development.
This development begins with the home. The child, who is normally helpless, relies on maternal stimulation for appropriate physical and physiological growth. This involves toileting, eating, and bathing (Ayo 2000).
Toileting, bathing, and feeding instruction for babies in their early years is critical and important for the child’s later years of life. Not only that, but this instills right confidence in the child in the greater society.
This is only possible if parents, particularly mothers, are available and have the time to fulfil their responsibilities during this critical period of the child’s development and growth.
The mother is the most essential person in a baby’s life. How mother treats the child is critical in building a sense of comfort and security. According to Esu (2000), “inadequate mother care is detrimental to growth during the early years of the child’s life.
It is the responsibility of both parents to guide their children through their early years, giving them with enough nutrition, stimulation, positive values, and healthy behaviours.
It is also a parental responsibility to educate children the language of their immediate surroundings. They should assist youngsters communicate with their families and peers (Amadi and Amadi, 2007).
This is because teaching children how to communicate with family members and peers at a young age or stage helps them develop or learn appropriate behaviours and healthy social adjustment in society and at school, even as they grow into teenagers and adults. For example, they would learn how to meet senior members of society and make requests.
Children learn at different periods. Often, by the age of twelve months, a kid can pronounce a few words, and by the age of five or six years, he or she can speak effectively. It is the responsibility of parents and carers to support language development, particularly in the early years, while the school will reinforce this later (Ayodeji, 2004).
This is because, when parents teach their children to speak good languages that are acceptable in society while avoiding bad languages that are frowned upon, they become excellent members of society who will grow and preserve a decent society or family structure.
Language acquisition is crucial because it determines personal and social identity. It also serves as a foundation for social interaction and cognitive development.
Parents have a specific interest in their children, which should be maximised for their best interests, particularly at home, in a conducive environment. This is because a suitable atmosphere promotes the child’s cognitive, affective, and psychomotor development (Ofo, 2006).
A requirement for early childhood care and development; they claim that ignorance of the law is not an acceptable justification. Thus, parental ignorance in their children’s upbringing is inappropriate because it can have a negative impact on their growth and development.
This supports Ogbonna’s (2000) remark 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 development”. As a result, early childhood care is necessary to grow the whole child.
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