After school activities centers are mushrooming in Bangalore. In Electronic city alone where I live, there are three such centers catering to the need of nearly 9000 families. Do you know that all are full and one need to book in advance even for such places?
As a child grows into an adult, different aspects of his physical, emotional and mental self needs development. To help a child reach his full potential, it is necessary to recognize the child's developmental needs and abilities. To be effective, after school programs should assist children with tasks they must accomplish during each stage of development.
A child's growth curve can be divided into three main parts:
1) Young child (ages 3-5)
2) Middle school (ages 6-8)
3) Older school (ages 9-12)
The four important domains of development are:
Physical Domain,
Social Domain,
Emotional Domain
Intellectual Domain.
Each of these domains needs to be separately addressed during the various phases of a child's growth. After school programs should concentrate on developing each domain as applicable to the age of the child. Although the children participating in these programs may have similar developmental needs and age, do not expect development to be uniform. Children will develop as and when they are ready.
I would like to talk about one of the above which is
Social Domain.
It is natural that young children are observing others and will be interested in games where they play the roles of family members. They develop short-term friendships and need an adult's presence to assure them. The middle school child is intrigued by society and will love trips to factories, public buildings etc. They want to know the 'how' and 'why' of things. The older school child is ready to learn about different cultures, food and customs. They want to do some amount of social work too.
I am a witness to growing employment potentials in Bangalore in the above area.
I too grabbed such an opportunity by teaching children Abacus.