The Gold Of Early Childhood Must Last Forever

The gold of early childhood must forever shine in the hearts of our children. Only then will they grow in freedom feeling safe and happy knowing that their roots were nurtured by the most sincere love, the warmest respect.

Despite knowing it, despite the fact that all mothers and fathers are fully aware of this fact, small details are often neglected that sometimes create great deficiencies.

Spending more time with our children, favoring moments of play or taking them by the hand so that discover the world at their own pace, and not by accelerating their capacities to adjust to a demanding society These are aspects that we should take care of every day so that early childhood shines forever in the memory of children.

We invite you to reflect on this and to integrate a series of guidelines that will favor that emotional legacy that we should all transmit to our children.

Comprehensive care in early childhood

The international community and organizations such as those reflected in the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” remind us of the importance of attending to early childhood in all areas that comprise it.

A child has the right not only to have a home and adequate food. Aspects such as emotional and psychological attention or the fact of respecting their maturation times are vital for the harmonious development of a child.

We have all heard the concept of “early childhood” often, but … do we really know what it means? Let’s see it in detail.

• The age between 0 and 6 years is when a child has the greatest need for his environment to survive. This is the moment when you will need us the most.

• María Montessori, for example, spoke of the sensitive periods of development, a few years when a child’s brain plasticity acquires its maximum expression and where the stimuli from the environment that surround him are key to his development.

• The parenting style and quality of affection you receive will have a direct impact on your cognitive and emotional development.

Let us now see which guidelines are the most appropriate to promote an integral development in early childhood of our children.

Parenting as a “continuum”

There is a very interesting book on parenting that can be very useful to us. It is “The Concept of Continuum” by Jean Liedloff. In it we are taught that to reach the optimal level of development in a child throughout that early childhood, we must understand that their development is not based on “stages” but rather is a continuous process,  in which, each child will have their own needs , which, we must know how to attend in the following way.

• We must promote that healthy attachment between mother and child where hugs, caresses and physical contact provide security to the child.

• Do not make judgments about the development of children. This is something that many families often do when comparing their children to other children.

• We have to understand that the child is a social creature. This implies that they will seek their way of discovering what surrounds them, that they must feel free to explore, manipulate, play, interact with other children … It is therefore vital that our children go beyond our comfort zone so that they acquire social and emotional skills .

Children need your time to feel safe

Early childhood is the most intimate time and where the quality of a bond will be established that, whether we want it or not, will transcend forever. It is those first 6 years where each word, each gesture and each image will have a permanent significance.

• Understand that the two main needs a child has are to feel loved and to feel safe. That is something that only we as mothers and fathers will be able to facilitate them, and for this, we need time to share with them.

• Love and security is demonstrated by a look that knows how to attend, words that have answers to all questions, a voice that speaks calmly and does not scream. Some hugs with which they will understand that “everything is fine, that there are no dangers and that he is a child loved enough to be able to walk on his own knowing that if he falls, he will be lifted up.”

A childhood full of mysteries to discover

If we look back right now to recover some moment of our early childhood, we will surely return to a key moment when we did something for ourselves, when our parents looked at us with a smile of admiration and pride when we finally gave them to understand all the things we could do.

• The golden childhood is the one in which we grew up feeling loved but also capable of moving through the world when we were not even 5 years old. They are the first discoveries, the first bike race, the first friends …

• Another interesting book to read and that will enrich our work as parents is “Educate in amazement” by Catherine L´Ecuyer, a pedagogue who reminds us of the need to “slow down” and to raise our children in daily discovery , in contact with nature, in favoring curiosity, passion for simple things, for laughter, games and interaction with their peers rather than with technology.

As you can see, they are simple strategies that we can apply on a day-to-day basis, but always being aware that there will be no more valuable, intense and decisive moment in the lives of our children like that early childhood. Let’s take care of it.