Depriving young children of the kinds of experiences that are essential to later development—that is, the building blocks that create the scaffolding upon which development depends—leads to severe consequences in both brain structure and function. For healthy development of brain circuits, the child needs to have healthy experiences; the lack of these may lead to the under specification and miswiring of brain circuits says the article on Brain Development and the Role of Experience in the Early Years By Adrienne L. Tierney and Charles A. Nelson, III.

With preschools all over the world offering online education, parents can be overwhelmed while deciding which online preschool they should enroll their child to? These are the 10 questions parents must ask the school before deciding on admitting their child to any online preschool settings.

1. Do online classes offer appropriate language development experience? What are the activities planned to attend to the listening and speaking skills?

2. Does it provide a reading readiness program? What kind of phonetic education is offered?

3. Does it offer gross and fine motor developmental activity?

4. Considering the attention span of young children ranges from 10 to 15 minutes, how is the day planned for the child?

5. What is the strength of one batch? Is there proper balance between the requirement of peer to peer interaction and individualized attention by teachers?

6. How are they providing cognitive experience online?

7. Are there activities which improve mindfulness which is a critical skill required for this generation?

8. What are the fun filled activities planned for their creative and aesthetic development?

9. What are the co-curricular activities offered along with readiness program?

10. Does the school offer social, emotional and ethical learning activities?

Happy parenting!

About the author: Lt Col Bincy K Thomas (Retd) is the Co-founder and Director of Sakalya Wisdom Foundation, an organisation committed to design and offer meaningful educational services and activities. She is the Director of Sakalya Prep, The Holistic Preschool, Whitefield Bangalore. She is the Trainer and Pedagogy Expert in Sakalya Centre for Professional Development, training Centre for Teachers Professional Development, School Leaders Development Programs and Parenting Programs. She is researching into creating a dynamic holistic early childhood pedagogy. Presently She is pursuing Certificate in Early Education Leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA. Other areas of her interests are world mythologies, philosophy, social, emotional and spiritual development, leadership, gardening etc.