Early Childhood Education Culture and Social Interaction

Question: Discuss about the Early Childhood Education Culture and Social Interaction. Answer: Play in early childhood The "play" is a crucial factor in children's daily life and early childhood learning. Many oppose the concept of play in early life education as it seems vague and invalid to them. However, play is an essential element in early childhood education program, and it is necessary to have a valid policy or thorough rationale for incorporating play into the indoor or outdoor environment (Johnson et al., 2013). As an early childhood professional, I have to educate the group of Singaporean parents who have no idea about the importance of children's play in the development of infants and toddlers. As parents have different perception and ideas about play, it is necessary to engage them in a conversation and educate them about cultural practices that may affect the play. Hence, the focus of this report is to explain the Singaporean parents about the importance of culture in play. It also highlights the five specific ways by which family practice can affect childrens play. Different concepts of play in early childhood There are different concepts of play in early life and their role in children development. Bretherton (2014) mentions that play activities that children in engaging in childhood center should be regarded as work activities because it gives a child the opportunity to explore and construct basic thought and get exposed to the most basic form of problem solving. This is because each activity in the early childcare center is included in the curriculum after analyzing it benefit on social, emotional and intellectual development. According to Piaget who proposed the theory of cognitive development in children, intellectual growth in children occurs through the process of assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration. Equilibrium is achieved in learning when a child's schema easily understands new information through the assimilation process (Shaffer Kipp, 2013).Hart, (2013) expanded Piagets view by stating that explorative and imitative play is response oriented which ease the assimilati on and accommodation process in children. Hence play helps a child to adapt to experience and learn along the process. Importance of culture in young childrens play Currently, with the rise of internet and other technology, parents are engaging children mostly in outdoor activities. Culture also plays an important role in childrens play, and parents seem to engage their infants and toddlers in different play activities according to their cultural preferences. The cultural norms and family values are also reflected in the type of play that a child engages in daily life (Greene, 2013). As a childhood professional, I can say that type of play can differ according to culture and socioeconomic status and hence parents must clearly analyze what aspects of the culture they want their child to acquire through early childhood play. The main advice for parents to understand the importance of culture in young children's play is to understand the dynamics of their culture and its influence on children's play. From the opinion of the group of Singaporean parents regarding children play, it is evident that the type of play differs according to culture and socioeconomic status of parents. People from the different culture may interpret children's play in different ways. Different cultures shape the personality of a person. For example, a person born in a nuclear family develops the attitude of individualism and such parents may engage children in lone play or expose them to computer games or latest gadgets so that they remain confined within themselves (Boyette, 2016). Hence, the cultural mindset of each individual will have an impact on the parent's approach and description of play phenomena. It is this mindset which helps parents interacts with children during play. On the other hand, a child born in an extended or multigenerational family is more likely to engage in participative play which influences their learning process in a different way altogether (Milteer et al., 2012). Hence influence of culture in children play will lead to a development of individual values and perception of autonomy in children. Therefore with the change in culture, the categories of childs play with differ and it will lead to different social maturity in children. It is necessary that parents understand the cultural dynamic in play to develop their child effectively in the early phase of life. Five ways by which cultural (including family) practices affect very young childrens play Young childrens play may be affected by cultural practices in many ways. These are as follows: Play gives the chance to recreate the cultural environment and values: Play has been an important part of every society, and different cultural values interfere differently with play. It gives the child the opportunity to recreate their cultural environment. This can be demonstrated through play activities in different cultural context. It also has the impact on the frequency and nature of children's play. For example in rural society, children play without any supervision and tend to engage in pretend play with stones and plants. On the other hand, urban children in cities tend to play more with manufactured toys or in small activities in kindergarten. The theme of play also tends to change for girls and boys according to the different culture. Many parents tend to classify the appropriateness of play for girls and boys according to different cultural preference and gender roles in society. Hence, social environment affects the frequency and the nature of play activities in children . Time spent in play differs according to different cultural context In low-income families; children spent less time in play activities compared to financially stable family. Less time in play affects the degree of realism in children. Children in the poor family are often exposed to the different age group of children during play activities. However, children in urban cities mainly get to interact with same age children in early child care center only. Hence, they have limited access to active and free play activities (Buckingham, 2013). Impact on parent-child bonding due to play: Play is critical to social, cognitive and physical development in very young children. It helps them to develop resilience and learn the ways of negotiating and cooperating with others. Play activities also expose a child to some form of challenges and let them develop the skill of overcoming challenges in life (Richter, 2015). It also gives the parents the opportunity to develop bonding with the child and to see the world according to the vision of the child. This may also help in identifying any negative thought process in child and removing those thoughts through play learning. A study investigating specifically on the importance of play in children in poverty showed that socioeconomic obstacles in parent's life impede such children of the chance to have adequate play time in life (Milteer et al., 2012). As a child care educator, I would advise all parents irrespective of their financial status to understand the importance of the life-long benefits of play and engage them in minim um play activities as far as possible (Dixon et al., 2014). The impact of cross-cultural perspectives on childrens play: Different culture interprets child's play in different ways. For example, ethnic culture families tend to separate play from academic activities, and they do not regard play as part of learning process. This kind of thinking pattern in parents means that children spent very little time in learning through play. On the other hand, in western culture families such as in Italy and US, little distinction is made between play and other activities of a child. Parents of such culture are of the opinion that experiences in play lead to an intellectual and physical development of the child and hence, it has the impact on acquiring other academic skills in life. Therefore a child born in such family is likely to engage more in learning through play and gaining new knowledge in the process (McBride, 2015). The impact of engaging in different nature of play according to cultural practices: Some parents and early child care settings often engage parents in digital play. The motive behind this differs according to cultural context. They are of the opinion that this kind of exposure to digital technology and video programs expose a child to the new way of perceiving and analyzing the activities in society. Child care center experts have demonstrated that video observations in children help in creating new demands and orient their thought according to the different situation. It helps in recollection of memories of thoughts and helps a child to distinguish between imaginary situation and real world situation. This gives the child the opportunity to develop concrete thoughts and idea (Fleer, 2014). On the other hand, outdoor play for children has been found to lead to the better expression of feelings and action in children. A parent who wants to their children to be socially interactive and develop good communication skill engages child in such play activities. By family p ractices, parents determine the safety and the level of supervision to be given to a child. Outdoor activities lead to the motor development and risk-taking attitude in children. Many parents also engage the child in outdoor activities to remove habits of excessive TV use in children and develop healthy habits (Sugiyama et al., 2012). References Boyette, A. H. (2016). Children's play and culture learning in an egalitarian foraging society.Child development,87(3), 759-769. Bretherton, I. (Ed.). (2014).Symbolic play: The development of social understanding. Academic Press. Buckingham, D. (2013).Beyond technology: Children's learning in the age of digital culture. John Wiley Sons. Dixon, S., Tronick, E., Keefer, C., Brazelton, T. B. (2014). Mother-infant interaction among the Gusii of Kenya.Culture and early interactions (psychology revivals), 149-169. Fleer, M. (2014). The demands and motives afforded through digital play in early childhood activity settings.Learning, Culture and Social Interaction,3(3), 202-209. Greene, S. (2013). 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