Working with children is always a pleasurable task. They are extremely friendly and cute! However, working with children has also proven to be difficult without training since children are still in the process of learning how to communicate transparently. Teachers, caretakers, babysitters, and mothers require adequate exercise to provide for their children efficiently.
Young children, especially between ages 5 – 12, pose some challenges as they are in a transitory phase of learning and exploration. In such cases, caretakers and mothers are offered what many call a child care course. Australia has over 4.5 million children, out of which 80% of them are enrolled in schools to get the best. Not just this, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are around 13,750 authorised child care services in Australia, which consist of both daycare services and outside school hours care services.
What is child care?
Child care is a sensitive topic that psychologists have dealt with for decades. Being a parent, one must attend to their child’s needs at all times. Children in the age group 5 – 12 usually tend to be inquisitive and ask many questions. Answering them satisfactorily and urging the child to ask and learn more is of fundamental importance!
While being an attentive parent and providing everything the child needs is necessary for child care, this might prove to be a difficult task for first-time parents. There are many guidance counsellors, courses, training classes for pregnant mothers that one can avail to learn from others’ experiences.
Child care involves more than providing timely food and shelter for the child. Proper child care ensures that the child grows healthily and follows a positive trajectory for personality development. Furthermore, adequate child care helps the child to remain motivated and learn better.
Child care at home
With the pandemic in place, many of the bonding activities that parents undertake with children have also been greatly restricted. So one needs to up their game at home! There are several steps that a parent can individually take to tailor their interaction with their children. There are also certain activities that parents and relatives can plan together to ensure fun-filled child care! Here are a few tips and tricks:
- Being attentive is the first skill that one needs to strengthen. Child care gets optimised only when parents readily attend to their child’s needs instead of stalling for time or engaging in other tasks.
- If one is a first-time parent, they can avail themselves of a child care course as offered by many schools and institutions. These courses can be taken by teachers, paediatricians, mothers, etc., anybody who will be closely associated with a child.
- If the child has working parents and their caretaker is going to be a daycare instructor or a nanny, ensure that the professional has taken enough vocational training to be able to support the child fruitfully.
- Follow a set schedule for the child. Be it food habits, eating habits or toilet habits, ensure that there is a routine that the child follows so that their bodies can be implicitly wired to perform tasks utilising the right time.
- Diligently plan games for you and your child. Parents who engage with their child in games that promote learning, like ABACUS or other educational toys, have been shown to promote better child care than other parents. This also serves to be a motivation for the child to learn better and quicker.
