The Skills Children Should Know


Certain skills and knowledge are essential to lead struggle-free life.children’s skills and abilities will be their most valuable asset throughout their lives. Skills are behaviors that we can learn and improve through practice. At the Regional Thematic Consultation on Education, participants shared their opinions which are the important skills children should be learning

Urvashi Sahni,

                                                                   


   “Children should be thinking critically about who they are and how they relate to their world around them, in a social and political perspective with a focus on peace, equity and sustainable development. They must be learning how to be literate and numerate, be problem solvers and be resilient.”

Sikander Sabeer

Firstly, they need to learn about culture – culture is a kind of glue, it keeps us together. It’s like tea with sugar – it creates flavour and the colour we need. Secondly, values and respect. Do we respect our parents and elders enough? Are the gaps here increasing? We need to keep in mind that education comes from home – our families are the first “teachers” in our lives. They are crucial to us so respect and values are important. Thirdly, history – we should know our past so we can improve our future.”

Govind Sungh,

Vutha Lay

“They need soft skills to be good citizens, vocational skills for employment and basic education to equip them with knowledge.”

 For a child to work across a huge spectrum of life, they will need life skills, core values and the opportunity to unlock the treasure within.”



Getting along with others is a skill that is developed in early childhood. Much of the current research on the importance of social-emotional learning points to the pre-school years as the sensitive period for social development. The awareness of self and others, Having their first social interactions inside and outside the home is on of the most important factors in a successful, strong and healthy relationship between home and school. Therefore, these skills that these people are suggesting are part of the early childhood curriculum and environment. What do you think?

Teaching pre-school children about 

The rationale for environmental education during the early childhood years is based on two major premises. First, children must develop a sense of respect and caring for the natural environment during their first few years of life or be at risk for never developing such attitudes. Second, positive interactions with the natural environment are an important part of healthy child development, and these interactions enhance learning and the quality of life over the span of one's lifetime.
Children who are close to nature relate to it as a source of wonder, joy, and awe. Wonder -- rather than books, words, or learning all the facts -- provides the direction and impetus for environmental education in early childhood. Environmental education during the early years should be based on this sense of wonder and the joy of discovery. Because young children learn about the environment by interacting with it, educators and other adults must attend to the frequency, nature, and quality of child-environment interactions during the early years. Many young children have limited opportunities for these experiences. In fact, regardless of where they live, young children spend most of their time in settings or doing activities that keep them essentially isolated from the natural world. Recreation tends to be indoors (such as watching TV); transportation tends to be by car or other motor vehicle rather than walking; and early childhood centers -- where many children spend most of their waking hours -- tend to be oriented more toward the classroom than the outdoors. The result is that many young children are at risk of never developing positive attitudes and feelings toward the natural environment or never achieving a healthy degree of familiarity with their environment.

               Earth Day is April 22, 2013
 


 Here are some ideas to celebrate Earth Day with the Children:

1) Make a nature collage

2). Clean up the garden, backyard or the sidewalk.

3). Turn off the lights for  a while and read a story with a flashlight. (conserve energy).

4). Read the LLorax ( MY Favorite).  Ask the children to draw what they may think the Onceler may look like. ( You only see his hand in the book and in the original Dr. Seuss cartoon).

5.) Visit a park, talk about what you see.




Children's Rights are Human Rights

Did you know that the rights of children was recognized after World War 1? And thanks to the United Nations the recognition of these rights was adopted in the Declaration of Children's Right in 1959. The recognition of the child’s interest and his rights becomes real on 20 November 1989 with the adoption of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child which is the first international legally binding text recognizing all the fundamental rights of the child.




 Many children still do not have access to education. Factors linked to poverty such as unemployment, illness and the illiteracy of parents, multiply the risk of non-schooling and the drop-out rate of a child by 2.

Undeniably, many children from disadvantaged backgrounds are forced to abandon their education due to health problems related to malnutrition or in order to work and provide support for the family. Many countries do not allocate the monies for schools and fail in training teachers also. Quality education between boys and girls still remain unbalanced. In some countries girls still do not have access to an education.