Human beings are born to learn. Since every child is different in his/her own ways, we can’t just always go by the parameters which are universally defined to be ideal for a pre-school. Most of the pre-schools start the enrolment for the children in the age group from 2.5 years to 4 years old. There is no pre-defined best age as there are other factors apart from children’s age which determines the appropriate age to start pre-school for your kid like whether the child is physically, mentally and socially trained to attend the pre-school? Whether child is independent for some basic self-reliant skills for e.g. hand wash, locomotion, excretion, and communicate his/her hunger or sleeping needs etc. If the child is capable of carrying out all these activities without any assistance, then he is ready to explore his new world of education i.e. Pre-school.
Why Preschools are Important?
We often call kids ready for pre-school as toddlers. This stage plays a significant role in a child’s life in terms of personal, social, emotional and language development. Everything that happens to a toddler is meaningful. During the toddler stage, most children learn to walk, talk, relate to others and develop an identity. A toddler continuously learns to be independent with each passing day. An open but safe learning environment enhances their personality in a smoother way. It is pertinent to mention here that scientific studies reveal that 90% of brain size is developed till the age of 5. So, kids are more curious about everything happening around them and grab easily in early years of life.
Most Sensitive Age for Kids
Even the all-time great and eminent scholar, educationist, sociologist and economist Kautilya popularly Known as Acharya Chankya has described the early five years of age as the most sensitive where toddlers require love, care and attention, which lasts its impact on their personality throughout their life.
A child requires only love, care and attention till the first 5 years of age, guidance till 10, vigilance for indiscipline from 10 to15 and from the age of 16, the child should be treated as a friend.
Age When He/She Start Learning
Generally, an average toddler covers all the above-mentioned variables till the age of three. He/She starts to imbibe mental, social, emotional and physical growth. Today, there are more nuclear families where both the parents are working, kids suffer from attention crisis which also leads to identity crisis and can develop into behavioural issues and many other social or psychological complications in a child’s development. The child learns a lot from play groups and peer group, which is naturally provided in a pre-school and play school environment. For most of the kids today, play school or pre-school is the first place where they gain a sense of self, explore, play with their peers, and build confidence.
What is Perfect Age for Preschool?
By considering all the above described aspects and perusing all the rival contentions about a specific age for being ready for pre-school, we can conclude that there is no exact age which can be held appropriate to get admission in preschool. We can say that at large, toddlers between the age of 2.5 to 3.5 years of age are ready to grasp their share of learning by joining pre-school or play school. The endeavour of teachers dealing with toddlers and continuous support of parents will help the little ones to grow holistically in a structured environment.
Written By :- Ms. Tripti Sharma, EY Coordinator, MRIS-51, Gurugram
