Success by 6

This morning I attended a breakfast hosted by the Success By 6, South Vancouver Island. This organization has a mandate of supporting communities working together so that young children have access to programs and services that support their healthy growth and development.

One of things that I took away with me from the various speakers were that up to 25% of children from all socio-economic backgrounds are not ready for school (40% in some areas).This did not totally surprise me since I used to deal with children entering the Kindergarten year of a school and found that a certain percentage were not developmentally ready for this step. For healthy beginnings, in our present society, we need to be supportive of parents in many ways. They are under a great deal pressure either as single parents or parents both working outside the home.

Another point that I knew—both intuitively and, perhaps, from experience—was that language development in children is related to exposure from birth both in speaking with the child and reading to the child. Developing a bond with your child through regular reading times (bedtime comes to mind as ideal)and speaking to them increases their facility with language and vocabulary. Not all households necessarily set these aspects of child-raising as a priority.

A final point made was that our parks and playgrounds seem to be used more for walking our dogs than playing with our children. One such project funded by Success By 6 Peninsula Play Spaces is developing an informational map that highlights great spaces on the Peninsula with tips for what parents can do with their children at these parks. (That map is just being printed but should be out within the month.) They are hosting 3 Park Play Days which you can find on our calendar in May. We often assume that parents know what to do with their children in all situations. This is not always the case.

To help our children have the best possible chance we need to spend time with them to develop their mind body and spirit through simple activities such as speaking and reading to them on a regular and frequent basis and engaging them in outside play.