What should preschoolers learn?

There are so many dangers in letting children learn too early, and everywhere is actively promoting “zero-start teaching”, which means that children do not have to learn anything before they start school. However, brain science also tells us that “zero start” does not mean “zero preparation” and that school readiness needs to be taken seriously. When a child enters first grade, he or she begins to receive a formal, structured education, and it is important that he or she is ready for school. School readiness refers to the key characteristics or a foundational conditions that preschoolers need to have in order to benefit from the formal schooling they will soon begin, i.e., the expectations of the level of development that children should reach when they enter school, or the level and state of physical and mental development that will allow them to adapt to the demands of their new learning environment and tasks. Kapitsa, the 1978 Nobel Prize winner in physics, was asked by a reporter, “At which university and in which laboratory did you learn what you consider to be the main thing?” Surprisingly, the gray-haired old man replied, “It was in kindergarten. Give half of your things to your buddies, don’t take things that are not your own, put things away neatly, wash your hands before eating, and apologize for doing something wrong. You have to rest after lunch, you have to think more when you study, and you have to observe nature carefully. Essentially, that’s all I’ve learned.” Moms, dads, and teachers, preschoolers, let them learn the following: Numerous studies have shown that a child’s level of school readiness is predictive of later academic achievement and school adjustment, and that the level of school readiness directly affects his or her subsequent level. But school readiness is not early learning of elementary school content, and school readiness should not be mistakenly equated with literacy and numeracy. One study found that the better a child’s early language skills (such as letter recognition and phonological sensitivity), the higher his or her later academic ability. Therefore, it is important to develop phonological sensitivity in children from 0-6 years old, but not in the sense of making children more literate and write, but in the sense of allowing children to hear various sounds and languages, encouraging children to sing and recite songs and retell stories, developing phonological awareness and the ability to pronounce words correctly, and developing the child’s ability to understand language, especially in speaking and listening. From the perspective of math learning, it is not about how hard a child can count addition and subtraction or how many topics he or she can do, but about providing children with a wealth of toys and activities to help them learn through play and master simple math knowledge in life, such as knowledge and understanding of numbers, quantities and shapes. Good habits are vital to the physical and mental health of young children, the acquisition of knowledge, the cultivation of abilities, the cultivation of character and the formation of personality, and will accompany young children throughout their lives and benefit them for life. Family education should consciously promote children’s habits of living, learning, thinking, interpersonal interaction and other behaviors. The family should put forward clear and reasonable requirements according to the age characteristics of young children, paying attention to specific and clear content and simple and concise language. The requirements proposed are gradually increased according to the ability of young children. In particular, the child transitions from a play-based kindergarten life to a learning-based learning life, in which the purpose of learning is different, the educational approach and requirements are different, and the lifestyle is different. Therefore, children need to have good behavioral habits, a certain sense of independence and task awareness (to understand the task requirements, to be able to complete a task from start to finish), to follow rules, etc. The development of these qualities and abilities will provide sufficient momentum for the child’s subsequent development. Some studies have found that starting school without friends is worse than poor grades, and children who are rejected are prone to social maladjustment, psychological disorders, and poor academic performance. Therefore, school readiness is important and needs to be brought to the attention and focus of parents. Curiosity is an internal motivation for people to actively observe the world and think creatively, an important source of motivation for children to learn, and an important characteristic of creative people. Stimulating children’s curiosity in their daily life learning is an indispensable way to make it easy for young children to accept new things and learn new knowledge. Children’s curiosity is infantile, contextual, broad and exploratory. Curious children are attentive, questioning and exploring when they are exposed to new things. Parents should be reasonable in dealing with all kinds of questions from their children and answer them in a realistic and appropriate way. Parents should be kind to their children’s “destructive behavior” such as taking apart toys to meet their children’s active exploration and encourage their curiosity and attention to new and unknown things. In early childhood, children begin to develop a sense of autonomy, show some independence, and begin to make some decisions and actions on their own. 3-4 years old children’s behavioral independence develops rapidly, laying the foundation for their future emotional and cognitive independence. 4-5 years old children, with the development of a sense of morality and self-evaluation skills, gradually understand that random tantrums and other behaviors are incorrect, learn to regulate and control their emotions. The level of cognitive independence of 3-5 year olds has been increasing, and they begin to think by virtue of concrete images of things and have their own opinions and ideas. Therefore, parents can create a relaxed environment according to the developmental characteristics of their children’s independence, so that they can play happily, communicate freely, make their own decisions, do what they can, and think independently to solve problems. Parents can let their children read Chinese characters and feel mathematics and use mathematics to solve problems in daily life and games, and choose books with rich content and close to life, mainly with pictures and text, and develop children’s interest and habit of reading through storytelling and parent-child reading together. At the same time, you can play and play to develop children’s drawing, music and sports skills. And the use of pictures, pictorials and other visual images to strengthen children’s understanding of dangerous situations and the causes and consequences of accidents, to enhance children’s awareness of safety precautions and learn to protect themselves. In addition, good peer relationships help children acquire successful social skills, provide children with a sense of security and belonging, and facilitate the acquisition of social values and the development of cognitive and healthy personalities. Therefore, parents should encourage interaction with peers while guiding children to learn to cooperate and share, handle peer conflicts, learn social skills and develop friendships.