It is an embarrassing scene. The old lady standing behind you in the grocery store check out line asks your young son how old he is. He responds, "Jon!" You wonder how you missed teaching him that one. The truth is that you are not an expert at early childhood education and your home is not a child development center. While it seems like a cruel joke that you have quit your demanding job in order to be home with him more, the reality is that he still needs the experience of a good early child development center. If a child is engaged in a learning environment as young as three and four years old, he has the benefit of a solid foundation for his future years of education. While it may seem trivial to you, who knows the alphabet proficiently, it is not trivial to him. In a prekindergarten program, a child learns his letters and the sounds that they make. Reading will come so much easier to him. He will learn to count, his foundation for math skills. The classroom setting can be intimidating for a first time kindergartner, who has never had experience with a structured learning environment. The transition into school will be much easier for the child who is coming from a child development center where he was used to being in a classroom setting. Socialization is a very important aspect of early childhood development. This isn't just about being nice and sharing toys, though, those things should be practiced, it is also about the ability to trust a teacher and cope with separation anxieties. Child development centers are helpful to youngsters in coping with these issues. A child will draw upon his experiences from the past and feel more secure about entering kindergarten. Without the distraction of separation anxieties, the child will perform much better in school.
