Ten Starters for Parents as Preschool Teachers

So much potential in parental preschool programs! So rewarding! So fulfilling! So much hard work! Begin by thinking about these starter suggestions, each of which is worthy of fuller explanation.

Child Activity Modules

Order a child’s day by designing and implementing child activity modules. Some common modules are: free play time (inside and out), self-occupation, helping in the kitchen, reading time, music time, eating times, rest time, play with daddy time, play with mommy time, Bible time, bath time, character time, paper and pencil time, art time, numbers time, and so on. Just like cleaning, keep each module short. Set an overarching plan for each day with settled eating times and ample quiet rest time, then incorporate other modules in a systematic way.

Scheduled Daily Preschool Time

Invest at least an hour of the morning to intentional, professional, teaching of your preschooler (4-6 modules). Expand the time with every birthday. A child’s earliest memories should be that his or her parents were always teaching something in a natural, tutorial (vs. classroom) manner. This intentional teaching is balanced by:

Attention to Behavior as well as Activities

Realize that whatever “module” is happening at any given time, parents are doing two tasks: running the activity (the teacher task) and monitoring the behaviors of the child during the activity (the director/overseer task). Yelling from the couch with the TV blaring for the kids to quiet down and get to bed is doing neither task.

Talk Maturely All the Time

Talk with your child as a mature companion in life from before he/she is born until he/she is a mature companion in life. You never know when the child’s fascinating and rapidly expanding mind will “click” and make a connection, so you operate as if it will click anytime. That way you are sure to have the clicks connect at the earliest possible moment for each child.

Become as Expert Explainer from the Biblical Worldview

Explain complex ideas simply. Think about complex issues and how to explain them in your personal Bible Study time and in EO time. Virtually every moral and behavior issue is addressed in Scripture.  Regular Bible reading with children sets the stage for seeing what God has said about issues and the family, both parents and child, submitting to and embracing God’s view.

Gladly Answer Every Question

Answer every why question and be grateful the child’s inquisitive thinking skills are functioning.

Plan Activities and Act Like Activities Are Planned

Prepare specific activities for each day. Develop cycles of concentration so important skills become automated. Then treat every other activity during the day as if it were a planned learning activity.

Have Fun Living an Experimental Life

Have fun, both with the planning and the implementing of all your ideas. The more you plan and implement, the less you’ll be disheartened when an idea does not work as well as you planned. Employ the experimental mindset and move on.

God’s Loving Control of You, through You, to the Child

Never relinquish control. Ah, but for all you “I-can-hardly-wait-to-boss-someone-around-and-demand-obedience-to-my-every-word” folks out there, we’re talking about a very balanced control: God controlling you (and how has that been going?) and you being the conduit of  HIS control to the child. You are the one designated by God to oversee clear and specific control, and to do that task well, the mountain of selfishness you’ve carried into parenthood will be challenged at every turn.

The result of trying to control from atop Mount Self-Absorbed has been well-addressed in two books every parent, CEO, pastor, government official and boss should study well and re-read often: Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Suess and The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen. Controlling from the Sermon on the Mount, rather than Mount Self-Absorbed, is a whole different experience.

Limit Control by Fiat

Skillfully guide compliance by limiting when you resort to fiat to two scenarios: circumstances where  you are training for immediate obedience (of which there will be many at first) and dangerous situations (of which, we trust, there will be few at any time).