When you think of early learning, what comes to mind? Games? Blocks? Colourful classrooms?
These are all important aspects of early child care and education, but there’s one element that trumps them all: communication.
Communication—one of the early learning goals—is the foundation upon which all other learning is built. It’s essential for developing social and emotional skills, problem-solving, and executive functioning.
In other words, without strong communication skills, it’s difficult for children to thrive in school and life. Here, you can see 5 reasons communication is an important part of early learning.
With these in mind, you can create activities and conversations effectively.
1. Develops Social and Emotional Skills
The first aspect of communication is its ability to help children develop social and emotional skills. In fact, why does anyone need to communicate well? The number one reason would be to build meaningful relationships. It’s the same with adults and with children.
It is also essential in developing important character traits as well as many other abilities. You will mainly see its impact when they start going to school. Have you ever seen a kid struggling to make friends? The main reason behind it is the lack of communication skills. So parents and teachers may take extra care of those children and help them overcome it through effective communication training. It will be helpful to them all their lives.
When children are able to communicate effectively, they are better able to understand and express their emotions. They can also develop stronger relationships with their peers and adults. All of these things are much needed for success in life.
2. Promotes Problem Solving
If there is one skill that’s important in both school and the real world, it is problem-solving. Children who can communicate effectively are better at solving problems independently.
Children grow more resilient when they address challenges independently or in groups. This helps them learn to look at challenges from different angles. As a result, they will grow to be better capable of taking measured risks.
Not only that, but they are also better able to work collaboratively with others to find solutions.
3. Supports Executive Functioning
Executive functioning skills allow children to sift through information, make decisions, and plan accordingly. These skills are important not only in school but also in everyday life.
Strong communication skills are a must for developing strong executive functioning skills. When children can communicate their thoughts and feelings, they can better organise their thoughts and make decisions.
And this is not something that can be learned all at once when you are twenty or thirty years old. It must be imbibed from early childhood.
4. Builds Confidence
Confidence is another important aspect of life. Nothing is possible without confidence.
When children feel confident in their ability to communicate, they are more likely to take risks and try new things. They are also less likely to feel anxious or overwhelmed by challenging tasks or situations.
Strong communication skills provide children with the foundation they need to build confidence and succeed both academically and socially.
5. Language Skills
Language allows people to think and communicate with one another. Language can be spoken and unspoken forms—-for example, English and sign language, respectively.
Language skills cannot be traded for anything else, and communication is essential in honing this skill. In children, this can be differentiated as receptive language and expressive language.
Receptive language refers to a child’s comprehension of words, phrases, and sentences. Expressive language is a child’s ability to use words, phrases, and sentences to communicate with others.
Communication plays a huge role in developing this skill set.
Ways to Enhance Communication in Early Learning
Now that we have understood what communication means for children let’s also see some ways in which you can enhance it.
- Speak with your child, and also listen to them. It makes your child happy, and it makes them engage in more conversations with you.
- Sometimes, you can also communicate through expressive gestures. No matter how young your child is, respond to their gestures, looks, and noises. For example, when your child reaches out his arms, your response of smiling and taking him up demonstrates that his feelings are valued.
- Encourage your child to use full sentences to express their ideas and feelings about their experiences.
- Teach them the use of past, present, and future tenses and make them fun.
- Read stories to them and teach them the new vocabulary they come across. Show them how it can be used in conversations and encourage them to use it.
- Arrange playdates with their friends and help them to work collaboratively. Communication is key when working with others.
So, you can help your child become a better communicator with these simple, thoughtful activities.
Conclusion
These are a few reasons communication is an important part of early learning. If you want your child to succeed in school and life, make sure you emphasise the importance of communication from an early age.
And what stimulates such exceptional communication skills in children? Nothing more than a responsive family and teachers!
If you google “early learning near me or preschool near me,” you will find many choices. But even if you find the best childcare centre in Mascot, make sure you do your part of communication as parents at home.
Kids are more open to communicating when parents are more involved.
