8 Questions All Parents Should Ask

Your child is born with so much natural ability and curiosity. It is important in these early learning years to provide an environment that supports developing these gifts so that this cleverness and love of creativity will not get lost.  

It is too often that we see children come from a nursery where a child was encouraged to “color inside the lines,” and wasn’t given any raw materials to create their own story from start to finish. When these children then transition into an environment where they have creative freedom and more raw materials to work with, they get overwhelmed and shut down. 

When the child has regular opportunities to draw, paint or make things with just crayons or watercolors and blank materials, their creativity and talents grow more quickly. Their brain becomes more flexible, more intuitive and more efficient. 

Here’s an example: A 3 ½ year old boy in our kindergarten is drawing a picture of a character from a children’s musical. The character in this play is a “noisemaker.” How do you “draw” a noisy character? He drew a person with wild and uncoordinated circles on it. For uncreative people it looks like doodles. But no! He was expressing that it was really loud! How creative is that?!

These creative abilities are what everyone is searching for in their businesses today. It doesn’t work to just learn by memory – we have to be intuitive and creative to stand out. 

Did you know that if your child listens to an educator singing fun songs of high quality, your child learns to sing in the correct tone as well? And when taught young, this is a life skill. Therefore, we sing with the children as much as possible! Every morning for the last 16 years, we sing a specific song: “Every morning, the sun rises in the woods’ wonderful surroundings.” Even if the little ones are not able to sing yet, their ears and brains are activated!

To sing in the correct tone is like learning another language. Your brain never forgets this skill, and have this skill for your whole life. Unfortunately, this has the reverse effect if children hear singing in a bad tone. 

Your child is so smart that if they hear singing in the wrong tone, they will learn this as well, and it will stick with them for the rest of their life. And probably the grandparents, or parents, will blame this bad singing on each other. We now know that often the reason for bad singing is due to a former educator!

This is why it is so important that educators know and understand the value of good singing. 

Singing and music is so important that we require that our educator know at least 10, 20 or even 50 songs. This supports the learning and love of language, as well as has so many additional benefits for brain function and creativity. 

It is one of our favorite times of the day to see and listen to children in the morning circle as each child has an opportunity to show their friends their favorite toy, or share something fun that they did on the weekend. This is, in fact, the start of public speaking – playful and fun, where the child can present something personal that they love. 

At MIS, this “show and tell” is spoken one morning in French, and the next day in English, as perfectly as a two-year-old child is capable of. 

The game of peekaboo is a universal language, and there is way more to it than you might now. 

Laughing supports a baby’s first social interactions, though nonverbal. The back-and-forth, call-and-response, are the beginnings of conversational skills. Make sure to visit the nursery to see if it’s an environment that supports giggling throughout the day. 

These outdoor adventures ensure that the children get enough sunlight and to practice moving in different situations outside in changing environments, as well as learning about nature and the world around them. Studies show that children will be more resistant to illnesses such as the common cold if they are outside for at least 2 hours a day. (In Finland, children go outside for at least 4 hours in all weather.) 

 Our nursery group goes out each and every day, even if it’s raining or cloudy outside. “There is no bad weather, only bad clothing.”

 At least once a week the group goes on a special adventure like a farm, forest or park. Children get inspired by new places. The educator is also able to engage with the children to support creativity such as “Look! The clouds look like dinosaurs!”  This also gives the children a chance to become self-confident and independent in new environments. You will see how many new wooden sticks your child brings home!

A nursery should have a routine schedule.This gives your child security. If the children know their daily routine, they learn every day to do more on their own like eating independently, cleaning their face and hands, dressing up, putting on their boots, tidying up toys used, setting the table, clearing the table, helping friends, sharing toys, preparing his nap time place, etc. Even if this is not done perfectly, your child will be so proud of themself. “I can do that alone.” We give them the opportunity to be strong and confident, and practice their fine motor skills. 

And the most important question…

Oftentimes you may hear politicians on TV speak English in a strange accent or poor grammar. Why is it like this? A young child has the capacity to learn and absorb all sounds and melodies of all languages. It’s as if the sound overlays their skin.  

This is a gift of early learning and development, when our brains still have this ability, but this opportunity diminishes the older we get. If a child is only learning from individuals with poor pronunciations versus certified educators and mother tongue speakers, they may learn bad habits that are much more difficult to correct later in life. 

 Even if you learn a language before 5 years of age, and then don’t speak it for some time, you have a greater opportunity to revisit this language down the road, as your brain will still recognize the sounds later. 

 On a personal level, I experienced this with one of my own sons. I was speaking Spanish with him for the first 1 ½ years of his life, and then I was not speaking Spanish consistently. When he was age 16 he went as an exchange student to South America. His guest-mother called and told me that in just over two month’s time, he had become one of the quickest learners in Spanish that she had ever had as an exchange student, including his conversational skills and accent. (In addition, he also caught on very fast to the South American accent!)

It is very valuable to provide these resources at an early age, so that the particular language sounds can support creative conversations as well. The children do this naturally! They don’t even realize they are learning so much!

Another little story that happened to one of our families years ago that has stuck with me…

 Previously in one of our other MIS schools, a foreign mother of two students was waiting for her children after school. She had another younger child with her about 3 years old. I asked if this young child was visiting the family, as I did not recognize him. She responded that this was, in fact, her youngest. 

 I was curious if she has enrolled her child in a local day care in order to learn the local language. She had. I promised her that if she sent her son to our Reception class, he would not only learn the local language, but English as well!

 He was then enrolled in our preschool. After three months the mother and I met again. She shared that her son was learning the local language, and that he was speaking like a local child with a correct accent. But, the mother said, with the English language your promise did not work out. 

I then asked an English educator on our team to involve the boy in a conversation the boy answered in perfect English. After only three months, the young boy had learned practically TWO languages on a 3-year old speaking level. 

The family stayed for more than 10 years in our school and all three of their children spoke their mother tongue, English and the local language. This skill will benefit them for their entire life.