Father’s Role in Child Development

Research indicates that fathers are important for healthy child development. Physicians, teachers and educators should make efforts to involve fathers in the care of children and provide role modeling where possible.

A small learning activity generates stimulation among children and fathers. This stimulation creates further curiosity in raising questions and finding the answers.  These sorts of activities helps children feel secured physically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually.

Therefore, its important for educators, community mobilizers, field motivators to engage fathers in small activities with their children.  It will bring joy in working together, sharing and solving problems together. When this happens, fathers can play a significant role in their children’s development.

Effective Learning and Materials 

Materials play a meaningful role in learning and developing of children in their early years of life.  The advanced countries have materials in the form of school supplies but the developing countries generally lack this important aspects of children needs.  The way, food is the basic need, similarly, learning materials are also essential parts of chid development. For example, toys, books, audio and video DVDs play a significant part in helping children to learn effectively.  Similarly,, children also need learning materials, where they can manipulate, measure the size and textures, counts, add, double the numbers, and divide, differentiate the colors and shapes etc.

Its obvious that parents from developing countries, cannot afford to buy toys, books and other learning materials. Therefore, teacher educators and teachers need to demonstrate creative ways of making resources with low cost materials such as  making shapes, numbers, alphabets, and stories from  empty cartons, bottle tapes, and paper boxes etc.  

When children get these opportunities, it helps them to explore and make meaning for themselves. It also helps them to  think critically, analyze and solve problems. Therefore, these small steps generate a big impact in making a difference in children social, emotional and cognitive development.   

Informed Parents: Successful Children  

Informed parents are critical to make their children successful in their societies and beyond. They need information and resources where they can gain information regarding early childhood education and implement that learning with their children.

Parents from rural communities need more attention to get information because they do not have access to information and resources.

Our experience with mothers remained quite interesting when mothers attended the parents’ sessions at the centers regularly and applied their learning at home with their children. They also brought their children to the center to give them an access to play with toys, listen to stories, sing nursery rhymes, make friends and play together. Mother issued story books to read them for their children at home.  

It was a moving experience, when they noticed the changes in their children’s active learning and positive behavior.  One mother sharing her experience with her child said, “My son always pushes me to bring him to the center” She further explained, One day, when she was busy with some guests at home and could not manage to bring him to the center, her son cried, did not eat and slept. So she felt bad that she could not take him to the center.

It indicates, the more parents get information and access to resources, child care becomes more productive and children become more successful.

Grandmothers’ Role in Child Care

Grandparents’ role is a key aspect in child nurturing in many cultures.  Working mothers prefer their mothers or mother- in -laws in looking after their children because they believe they have a soft corner for their grandchildren.

Some of the Asian communities, where the concept of baby sitting is missing, it become very difficult for working parents for their children’s wellbeing and better nurturing.  Therefore, parents find it a better option to keep the family connected by involving grandmothers in their children’s development.  Interestingly, it also empowers grandmothers to take responsibility in nurturing their grandchildren as well as demonstrate their maternal love.

Our experiences indicated that grandmothers enjoyed their involvement in their grandparents’ care.  One of the grandmothers shared her feelings this way. She said, “Its good to work with these kids because we learn English elephants, names of animals, vegetables and numbers (1, 2, 3, …..) etc. that we had never experiences in our life (grandmothers’ Interview in 2009)  

Keeping, this experience in view, it reflects that in extended families, grandmothers need to be involved so they can enjoy their learning and sharing their experiences with their grandchildren. This can make the learning enjoyable, valuable, productive and healthy for grandchildren children in their development.

For further research findings, please, read the following articles:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181364/CWRC-00083-2011.pdf

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/585680?uid=3739832&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102309860497

Enhancing Love among Siblings  

"The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom."
-- Henry Ward Beecher

Mothers have a special place in each culture, religion and society. A loving mother makes the nurturing of children more meaningful, respectful and loving.   

It’s quite common that siblings feel jealousy among each other. They are more possessive about their mothers. When they see her love for a new born, they feel hurt and demonstrate negative behavior that leads them to disciplinary issues in the process. 

In order, to minimize jealousy among children, mothers need to keep the following in mind;  

·         Create love for the new born baby from the prenatal stages by asking the older children to kiss the baby in his/her mom’s tummy

·         Talk to the baby by touching their mom’s tummy.  

·         Involve him/her in buying stuff for the new baby

·         Always talk politely and friendly so the child can feel secure emotionally   

·         The mothers must also show a respectful and loving behavior for  newborn

    

Ultimately, it will allow the older children to get prepared for the baby because it’s like to have a guest coming home. If you are ready, you feel good but if not, it creates tension.

So as parents, its important to keep a balance between the ones they have and the one that will have. If this happens, it will automatically minimize jealousy and create love for each other among siblings.