The Ultimate Guide to Early Childhood Education: 5 Essential Advices for New Parents

This article provides advice for new parents on supporting their child’s early education at home to set your child up for success. As we know, being a new parent can feel overwhelming as you adjust to all the new responsibilities that come with caring for an infant or toddler. While ensuring your child’s basic needs like feeding, sleep and safety are top priorities, it’s also important to consider how you can support their early education development from the very beginning. The skills and habits established in a child’s earliest years have a huge impact on future learning success. This guide offers 5 essential tips backed by early childhood experts to help new parents lay the foundation for a love of learning.

The Developmental Milestones for Children

According to the Cleveland Clinic, child development experts, divide child growth and development into four areas: physical development, cognitive development, language development, and social-emotional development.¹ The CDC provides a list of developmental milestones that most children can do by a certain age.²

Here is a table as a basic advice for new parents that summarizes the developmental milestones for children from birth to 5 years old:

5 Essential Advices for New Parents

Research shows that 90% of a child’s brain development occurs before the age of five. As parents, we play a critical role in nurturing their natural curiosity and capacity to learn during these formative years.

— Jennifer Kolari, PhD, Professor of Early Childhood Education

Advice #1: Talk, Read and Sing Together Every Day

The first advice for new parents is that “The number one thing parents can do is talk to their children,” says Kolari. Simple back-and-forth conversation builds vocabulary while reading stories aloud lays the groundwork for literacy. Sing songs, say nursery rhymes – hearing different sounds and rhythms aids speech and language acquisition. Make it part of your daily routine, even with babies. Quality time together where you engage and respond promotes lifelong language and communication skills.

Table of Sample Daily Conversation Starters for Babies and Toddlers

These conversation starters are open-ended questions and statements that can encourage children to respond and engage in conversation.

Advice #2: Make Learning an Adventure

Turn everyday activities into opportunities for discovery. Count body parts and toys, recite the ABCs in the bath or while getting dressed, sort utensils by size or color at mealtimes. Point out colors and shapes in books and on walks. Ask questions to spark curiosity – What do you think is inside that box? I wonder how many blocks it will take to build a tower? Let natural curiosities guide play-based learning. Keep it light, stress-free fun.

Play is a child’s work. Through play, children at a very early age engage and interact in the real world. Play helps children develop new competencies that lead to enhanced confidence and the resiliency they will need to be successful in their communities.

Advice #3: Make Math Concepts Concrete

Exposing young children to basic math concepts in a tactile, playful way helps cement understanding. Count objects together, sort blocks and beads, bake with measuring cups. Let them help fold laundry or set the table to learn one-to-one correspondence. Point out numerals and shapes in their environment. Board books with flaps to find hiding numbers nurture number sense. Keep it simple without worksheets – hands-on exploration makes math memorable and accessible for developing minds.³

Advice #4: Encourage Independence

As abilities emerge, build confidence through age-appropriate responsibilities. Toddlers can match socks, load the silverware into the dishwasher. Preschoolers can help prepare simple foods and pour their own water or milk. Give them time to accomplish tasks on their own – it develops perseverance and autonomy. Celebrate each new achievement with praise and acknowledgment of effort, not just results, to promote a growth mindset.⁴

Advice for New Parents #5: Lead by Example

Your enthusiasm and habits shape your child’s attitudes towards learning. This advice for new parents is to read daily to model literacy love. Point out connections between schoolwork and real life. Make family outings educational, from visiting museums and libraries to exploring nature. Try new activities as a pair to illustrate that education is an ongoing adventure. Provide a secure home environment where mistakes and questions are accepted, not stigmatized, to encourage risk-taking. They learn what’s valued from watching you.

Conclusion

The most significant impact on a child’s early education happens within the home environment through everyday interactions with caring parents and caregivers. By following these simple, enriching tips rooted in child development best practices, you give your child an advantageous start that fosters inquisitiveness, problem-solving, resilience and a lifelong love of learning. With consistency and kindness, you set the stage for success in school and beyond.

References

1. Cleveland Clinic
2. CDC
3. Frey, N., & Fisher, D. (2013). Rigorous pacing for kindergarten through grade three. Principal Leadership, 13(6), 50-53.
4. National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8.
5. McLeod, S. (2018). Jerome Bruner | Scaffolding in Learning Theory. Simply Psychology.
6. Sim, Z. L., & Berthelsen, D. (2014). Predictors of parenting style dimensions and aspects of child social-emotional development among Chinese immigrant parents in Australia. Early Child Development and Care, 184(2), 157–175.
7. Zaslow, M., Martinez-Beck, I., Tout, K., & Halle, T. (2011). Quality Measurement in Early Childhood Settings. Paul H Brookes Publishing.