Take your toddler to school

Brenda Kageni

What to do with your baby while you at work is a decision most working moms agonise about. The ideal condition would be for a child to stay at home in the care of its mother, but economic realities mean mums have to spend, at most times, the entire day away from their children.

The natural choice for many is to get a nanny or house girl with whom to leave the baby, or a relative or neighbour who can be trusted. Another would be to work from home or take time off and be a stay-at-home mom or dad, at least until the children are old enough to go to school.

Leaving the children at day care centres is another common alternative. However, a yet-not-so-explored option is taking the infant to school.

Teachers at Jacana School train pre-schoolers on eating skills. [PHOTO: EVANS HABIL/STANDARD]

One’s choice depends on their particular circumstances, and their principles and beliefs on parenting. One parent, Thelma Mbodze, found she had to go to work irrespective of her "new mummy" status.

Her choice to take her seven-month-old baby to school turned out to be a blessing she had not expected. Ms Mbodze, who was also teaching in the British curriculum in England, saw the attention given to her toddler at the school and the daily strategies to make her child better, and it blew her mind off.

"I saw a well-planned system of education right from the day care centre. I knew Kenyan children didn’t have such a foundation. The idea was perfect for busy parents and it would make life easier for Kenyan children," she says.

Ideal school

After teaching in England for eight years, Mbodze returned and the desire to offer the same high quality education to children irrespective of their age was overwhelming. That is when she came across Carol Nanjala, who had been teaching the British curriculum for the last 17 years, and whose dream had always been to start her own kindergarten.

"At some point you want to make the expertise you have work for you to help your people," says Nanjala.

The result has been Jacana School, the only one of its kind, for the moment an infant and nursery school catering for children ages zero to six. The dream of the two has been to provide an ideal school for pupils, teachers and parents.

"Children stay at home too long. When they get to school, the pressure to learn all the skills formally becomes overwhelming. With our system, by the time the children are four, they are ready for formal learning."

These two teaching gurus say it is important to take your child to school as early as possible, and take them to one that can produce an all round child.

"The early years are critical in children’s development. It is a time they are developing at an amazing rate — physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially. The foundation stage is bout developing key learning skills such as listening, speaking, concentration, persistence and learning to work together as children. It is also about learning early communication, literacy and numerical skills," says Nanjala.

Essential tools

According to experts, the pre-school years are crucial because 90 per cent of a child’s brain develops by age three, and their fundamental personality is set by age five. US’ National Institute for Early Education Research says pre-school helps children learn how to respect and cooperate with other children and is advantageous in their well-being and successes as they progress in life.

The aim of such education is to give children the essential tools for learning while letting them experience the joy of discovery, solving problems, being creative in writing, art and music. It also allows them to develop self-confidence as learners and mature socially and emotionally.

"So many children are staying at home with ayahs when they can come to school at that early age and receive the stimulation they can only get in a school environment," says Mbodze.

Children at age zero to two do a lot of singing and construction, free painting, modelling, playing in the sand, slides, potty training, feeding training, learning to speak and learning social skills like sharing. The aim is to give the children a curriculum that is relevant and that builds on their interests and what they already know, understand and can do while still enabling the children to develop independence and initiate their own learning without imposing ceilings on them.

learn through play

"Their academics are very gently introduced. That way, they sink a lot easier and the children enjoy school more."

Such early school experiences help build confidence such that a child at that early age knows what they want and can express themselves.

"A three or four year old here will be able to tell you exactly what they feel unlike other children their age," Nanjala says.

The school adapts the British curriculum while still trying to adjust to the needs of current parents. Their emphasis is that children learn through play. Their youngest pupil is ten-months-old.

The school offers a breakfast club for parents who have to leave home early. They are allowed to drop their children in school at 7am. It also offers an after school club to allow parents to get from work and be able to pick up their children at 6pm.

The two pride themselves in making available to Kenyans the same quality education as any high-end British curriculum schools in Nairobi, but at an affordable price.

"We offer the quality of a top British curriculum school in Nairobi at almost half the price. Why should good education just be for the elite yet it can be available for all?" poses Mbodze.

Classes are based on age groups and irrespective of child’s ability at the stage they join the class, differentiation and individual attention ensures the child picks up fast, as they learn at the level they are in.

Experts say a parent is the child’s first and most important teacher and to encourage more parent-child interaction, reading assignments are common.

"Bed time stories may be a bit too concentrated for your four-year-old, but it means mum has to read out. By reading with your child at home, they interact with you as a parent and learn to interact with books," says Mbodze.

Their biggest challenge, however, has been convincing people that they are for real.

"Parents are so set on the school they want their children to go to. They are not open to other ideas or that a new school can exist and be something."

Many parents also cannot appreciate that a child can be in school at three months.

"We are not merely a day-care centre. The child is not coming to just eat and sleep. There is a lot they learn at that tender age," says Nanjala.