Values of a Great Preschool

I was amazed when I studied the values of Early Year Foundation Stage. Have never thought how democracy and liberty would matter for these little tadpoles. Yes, the very first value of EYFS is Democracy. In simple words, it means to treat everyone equally and rightly. Democracy in early years means to teach children that their opinions matter and their thoughts and feelings should be listened and valued. It also means to teach children that sometimes they also get the power to make choices and decisions as an individual or as a group. Taking turns and sharing also come under Democracy. This is an essential aspect of Personal, Social and Emotional development and can touch other learning areas like communication and physical, depending on the type of activity we choose for them.

You may have this question in mind that how practically this could be applied. Let me put some examples.

Daily activity board: Children can be given options to select activities which they would like to play during their morning sessions like, they could have choice between role play or play in sand area. They could have choice when they play 'what goes in water' such as water animals, elephant or dinosaur etc.

Song Board: Display cards of different rhymes on the floor and allow them to pick the one which they would like to sing.

Snack time: They could be given choices if they would like to eat a banana or an orange.

Taking Turns and sharing: This could be done in different ways, taking turns in games, activities, and play, this could be practiced for all scenarios where we have limited resources.

Understanding emotions: We should help children to identify their emotions and  understand the reason behind those emotions. This will help them to learn how to manage emotions.

The second value is Rule of law, which is about learning to manage our own feelings and behavior. Basically, it’s about setting rules, when we make them to learn the basics of dealings. This could be as simple as:

• Sharing not only means give and take, it also means to take turns.
• Sharing also means to leave enough for others.
• Listen carefully if someone speaks to you.
• Giving chance to others to speak too.
• Speaking clearly, but not too loudly.
• Not to bump in other’s play, we can join them by asking ‘May I play with you?'
• Not to talk while eating.
• Burp or Fart should be followed by ‘Excuse me’.
• Don’t keep your belongings on the seat next to you, someone may want to sit on it.
• Don’t keep your feet on the other sofa, leaving it dirty and not appropriate for others to sit.
• Good sports, don’t cheat.
• Help others, if someone is loaded with a lot of stuff then we can ask to carry something for them.
• If someone gives you a ride, then we can say ‘Thank you for having us’.
• Say please, if you are asking for something or if you need help, ‘Please give me a bowl of soup’ or ‘Please bring the ball for me’.
• Say thank you, when someone helps you or provides you with something.

There’s still a long list, I tried to clarify the basics which I have learned in this journey. This also comes under Personal, Social and Emotional development area.

The third value is Individual liberty, we need to help children to develop a positive sense of themselves. Like, we can provide children with opportunities to gather flowers they like, to color leaves with whatever color they want. This increases their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-awareness and this value covers multiple learning areas which are Personal, social and emotional development, physical development and World around us.

We need to allow children to take risks indoors and outdoors, like climbing a frame outdoor, peeling peas and not worrying for the moth/caterpillar which may pops out or using a juicer machine. The key is ‘to do things with kids and not for them’. This will boost their self-confidence.

It is also very necessary to make them aware with the use of tools (knife, scissor, and hammer) so they could learn the proper way to hold them. It would always be better to tackle these topics instead of ignoring them. We can get kid's tool set, so they could learn the way to use the tools and their benefits and sometimes we could make them to use the actual ones with us. Like, my little one uses spatula for flipping the egg and that’s fine for both of us. He knows that the pan is hot, and MAMA will do the rest of cooking but he would get his share when it comes peeling, mixing and flipping.So, to a great extend the level of desired risk that can be taken, remains in our control. Here, I don't mean that we should not be protective, the only point is that we should not be over protective. We should ask ourselves that what is logical and realistic and should be happy with the way we are raising our bold tadpoles.

The last value is Mutual Respect and tolerance, this also comes under the areas of Personal, Social and Emotional development, communication and language , and understanding the world around us.  We need to make children to learn to treat others as we want to be treated. We need to explain them how to be a part of community, how to manage our feelings and behaviors and form relationship with others. Here, tolerance plays a key role in learning how to value the similarities and differences between views, faiths, cultures and races.

Play dates could be an excellent example for this. Children and parents both get an opportunity to learn sharing and respect other’s opinions. When children see adults giving value to other’s culture, religion and opinions then this will have a positive impact on their behavior and overall development.

We need to make them learn how to be tolerant, this may seem to be a tougher part but setting examples will ultimately help. We can make them understand that at times we can feel upset, cross, or sad and that’s fine to have bad emotions sometimes, but we need to learn tricks to manage those bad emotions like:

• Taking a deep breath and start counting from 1 to 10
• Distracting ourselves by reading a book or singing a song or doing something which we like to do.

This study has changed my perspectives for different matters and my dealings in different scenarios. Hope, this will also benefit you. I would be writing shortly about principles of  EYFS, stay tuned!