Early child development: advantages and disadvantages

In the topic of early childhood development, as in any other fundamental issue, there are two extremes. Some parents are literally involved in the baby's development process from birth: they attend classes for mothers and children, use newfangled techniques, take them to a thousand circles, even if the teachers modestly hint that it's still too early. Others withdraw from the child's development, assigning this function to kindergarten teachers, and later to teachers. They say, why deprive a child of childhood, the time will come — he will learn everything.

What is the early development of a child, how to find a middle ground in this matter, and are the results worth the resources and efforts spent? Earlier development — good or evil?

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Pros and cons of early development for childrenConsider the positive and negative consequences of early child development. 

Positive aspects

✓ Educational games and classes promote closer communication between parents and the child.

The more new knowledge a kid gets at an early age, the higher the level of his curiosity is a good foundation for studying in the future.

✓ Intellectual loads train the brain, help it to perceive, remember and process information more quickly.

✓ Educational games affect the child in a complex way: on his intelligence, fine motor skills, cognitive function of the brain, etc. 

✓ Early development trains perseverance, attentiveness, persistent interest in the topic of the lesson.

✓ Successes and achievements in the process of developing activities increase the self-esteem of the child, motivates further learning. 

✓ By trying different types of productive play activities, the child reveals his abilities and talents. By school, parents already know the range of his interests, as well as areas that are still worth working with.

✓ Earlier developed child can be practiced at home.

Negative sides✓ Parents often do not see measures in the number and duration of developing classes, and also do not know how to choose activities by age, they want to cover as many areas as possible.

✓ Regular classes require strength. Sometimes parents interpret banal fatigue as unwillingness to study. And this is the first step towards imposing and forcing to do what the child does not want.

✓ Sometimes parents choose directions for development on the advice of friends or in accordance with personal preferences. This does not always resonate with the baby. The maximum is that he will obey the will of his relatives, but not experience real pleasure from classes. 

The desire of parents to have a child prodigy is expressed in the choice of directions for early development that the baby is not yet able to master.

Kinks with the early start of developing activities and the intensity of classes can discourage a child from learning. From a smart kid, he risks turning into a schoolboy-loafer.The danger of an early start

The biggest risk in the topic of early child development is associated with parents' vanity.

As soon as you notice the desire to see the makings of genius in the baby — stop! According to the research of geneticist V. P. Efroimson, only 1 person out of 1,000 demonstrates above-average mental abilities. And outstanding abilities are one in 1,000,000. Geniuses are even less — a maximum of 1 in 10,000,000 people. Therefore, the probability that it is your child who will stand in line with Socrates, Dostoevsky, Hugo, etc. is minimal.

But the inevitable disappointment from unrealized parental ambitions is very likely.

But even if you do not plan to raise a child genius, the correlation of early development with success in the future has not been proven.

Another French writer Diderot said: "Geniuses fall from the sky. And for every time he meets the gates of the palace, there are a hundred thousand cases when he falls by." That is, far from every gifted child will find a use for their talents in the future — you need to understand and soberly assess the need for the path along which you will lead your child.

Another danger is demotivation. Active development at a younger age can lead to the fact that the child will be significantly superior to his peers in intellectual terms. This may cause problems in communication, socialization. He can become a black sheep in the team, apathy, isolation will appear. And, as a result, a decrease in interest in learning.

The child's self-esteem may suffer. After all, he was used to being the first, the best, the winner from infancy. And even the smallest failure is extremely painful. 

Therefore, it is very important for parents to set the right goals for themselves:Yes

No

✓ An active, inquisitive child.

✓ Classes are fun. 

✓ Selection of activities according to the interests of the baby.

✓ Compliance of the load with age and abilities.

✓ Change of activities if necessary or at the request of the child.

✓ Mental or physical overload.

✓ Classes from under the stick, coercion.

✓ Development of skills that are uncharacteristic of the child's temperament and preferences.

✓ Intensive training ahead of the physiological and mental capabilities of the baby. 

✓ No alternative choice of types of activities.

Tips for early child developmentIf, after weighing all the pros and cons, you have decided in favor of early development, use our list of methods for teaching children from birth to primary school age.

Any of them can be adapted to the interests of your baby, apply several techniques in a complex.

MontessoriAccording to the training system developed by the Italian teacher-defectologist Maria Montessori, it is worth starting the development of the baby with the study of objects with different textures.

It is tactile perception that is able to introduce a child to concepts such as size, texture, hard-soft, pleasant-unpleasant to the touch. 

Montessori classes are aimed at developing fine motor skills — purposeful, precise movements of the fingers. The initiative, imagination, and independence of the baby in the learning process are encouraged. 

Waldorf PedagogyIts founder was the philosopher and educator Rudolf Steiner.

His kindergarten, opened at the Waldorf-Astoria factory, became a pioneer in the field of early childhood development. The emphasis in this pedagogical methodology is on the natural inclinations of the baby. Namely: the intellect, emotions and individuality of children are inherent from birth, and the task of parents is not to interfere with the natural development of personality. 

The Waldorf education system is based on creative activities, dancing, finger games. An important place is given to the acquaintance of children with folklore, the development of creative thinking. The technique can be used from birth. 

DomanThe reading training system from the American physiotherapist Glen Doman is suitable for children from 3-6 months.

It is based on the associative perception of images on cards. In addition to the drawing of the object, there is a signature on the card in large bright letters. Parents show it to the child, name the object, describe its properties. And the kid remembers the word that is depicted on the card.

Children with whom they actively studied using Doman's cards demonstrate a high level of encyclopedic knowledge, good memory, logical thinking and steady attention.

There is also an improved version of Doman's methodology. It was developed by the Russian teacher and psychologist Andrey Manichenko. He divided the thematic cards by age groups, adapted them for teaching in Russian, created thematic sets with game elements. 

Zaitsev CubesCreated by Nikolai Zaitsev, a teacher from St. Petersburg, the method of early learning to read (suitable for children from 2 years old) is based on the idea of decomposing words not into letters / sounds, but into syllables.

Accordingly, children learn to compose words from syllables at once. To help them — ordinary cubes, on the edges of which the most popular syllables are applied. 

For children 2-3 years old, they arrange games with cubes, sing syllables, clap their hands, etc. Zaitsev also developed arithmetic tables, according to which children can learn to count after 3-5 classes. 

Masaru IbukaA popular technique in Japan is described in the book "After three it's too late."

It follows from its content that the rapid development of the baby occurs before the age of 3. And during this period, you need to load his brain as much as possible. 

The author of the training system — one of the founders of Sony — advises teaching the child in the game, using the method of rewards and punishments, and after a year to give the child complete freedom of action and choice. In his opinion, children in the game are able to learn much more knowledge than adults, even after putting a lot of work to memorize. So why not use this potential to the fullest?

NikitinsThe Nikitins developed their own system of development and training in the 60-80 years of the last century.

Its concept is based on the stimulation of natural reflexes of self-development in children. To do this, different types of activities are combined within one lesson. For example, sports and drawing. This helps to switch the child's attention if he is tired.

According to the Nikitins, one cannot count on intellectual development without physical culture. Therefore, their methodological recommendations include a lot of outdoor games, hardening, etc. 

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It can take a long time to list the features of each of the methods of early development. All of them are effective and time-tested. Just choose the one that your baby likes. If you cannot choose for yourself, then consult a child psychologist for advice on the early development of children. Good luck!