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Our children’s early years are foundational – how we pour into them when they young has a huge impact on their future. I”m not just talking about academics – I’m talking about their behavior, habits, work ethic, family relationships… basically everything!
So where do you begin in building the foundation?
Building habits
The early years are where kids begin to build habits. Yes, you can learn a habit later on, but habits that kids learn when they are young tend to stick – good or bad.
For example, if you want your kids to read before they go to bed, read to them every night. If you want your kids to clean up after themselves with meals, make this a habit early on. If you want your kids to put games away after they play them, consistently require that so it becomes a habit (I admittedly did not do this one well early on, and I still have to remind them of this one ;).
Training and discipline
I know the saying “behavior is caught not taught” is popular… and while I agree with the sentiment, that you need to model behavior you want to see from your kids, I also don’t agree with this statement. Training your kids to behave respectfully, speak kindly, etc. has a huge impact on their behavior long term.
In the early years, it’s much easier to begin training your kids in these behaviors. If you practice (and model) speaking respectfully to adults when they are young, they are less likely to pick up those poor behaviors and disrespectful attitudes when they are older.
Play
Kids learn through play, especially in these early years. If we don’t give them enough time and space for play in the early years, they lose out on so much learning!
Give your young kids ample time to engage in sensory activities, hands-on learning, and open-ended toys. This will be a thousand times better for their development than putting a workbook in front of them in these early years!
Learning skills
Young kids are so eager to learn life skills – sewing, cooking, baking, sweeping, etc. When kids begin their early years practicing these skills, they can build on them and become confident in them quickly.
There’s so much focus on “keeping kids’ hands busy” – those pop-it toys, fidget spinners, etc. But why keep kids’ hands busy with things that don’t matter, when we can give them real skills and real work to put their hands to – things that matter?
When we give our kids fidget toys that don’t produce anything, we teach them that their free time isn’t productive. That their work isn’t productive. That wasting time is a good thing. But it’s the opposite of what we should be teaching them in these early years.
Give them purposeful activities – handicrafts that make a useful product when they finish, house work that produces results they can see, toys that create something new each time they play with it., garden tools they can use to plant seeds. Show them that their time is valuable, productive, and contributes to your family. Teach them that they are valuable, productive, and contribute to your family.
Faith & Values
These are also the years where you begin setting the foundation of faith and your family values. If you don’t want your kids to be addicted to screens as teens, it begins in the early years. If you want your family to value spending time outside, you need to begin taking them outside early on. If you want your kids to grow up knowing and pursuing Jesus, you need to talk about and model this faith when they are young.
What you build in the early years really does become the foundation as your kids get older. Their behavior, values, and habits don’t just happen. You can absolutely change habits and behaviors later on, but it’s certainly easier when you begin in the early years! :)