If you’re considering how to help your child get a good start in life, put some serious thought into sending them to preschool. After all, the benefits of a preschool education are likely to be vast for just about every single child out there. This will hold particularly true for children coming from underserved communities, such as are likely found among at risk populations of people.
Fortunately, preschool is growing more popular than ever before, especially as it becomes more widely accessible than ever as well. The local preschool is becoming a common staple and most always, a local preschool will have at least relatively high rates of attendance. Currently, more than 23% of the total population of children under the young age of five are enrolled in one type of child care program or another. From the local preschool to local daycare centers, many children have working parents and therefore must be able to go to a safe and enriching environment often well before they are old enough to enter the school system. When it comes to children of a preschool age, some studies have found that up to three quarters of all children falling within that narrower age rang are enrolled in a local preschool program, a number that is only likely to grow higher in the years that are to come.
We know why the local preschool is a necessity for working parents in this country, but why exactly is preschool so good for young children? For one thing, children attend a local preschool or other such daycare program during a very formative period of life. After all, data clearly shows that the years between birth and the age of three contain the most intensive period of brain development than any other period of life. And even a local preschool can give children the head start in life that they need, with more data reflecting that children who attended a local preschool tend to outperform their peers. At least, this held true more than 80% of the time.
The role of the local preschool is even more important for children who are considered to be at-risk, either due to the place they live, their family structure, or any number of other factors (sometimes all at once). For such children, a local preschool program, though only attended for a year or two, can be utterly life changing at the end of the day. The research that has been conducted on this subject more than thoroughly backs up this claim.
For instance, research into this subject actually shows that at-risk children who attend a local preschool with a good curriculum are actually at a reduced risk of committing a violent crime – a risk that climbs by as much as a full 70% if they are not able to attend a local preschool or other such quality preschool program. And it improves the chance that such children will go to college by as much as a full 60%. Choosing the right preschool can even increase an at-risk student’s chances of ultimately graduating high school by a full one quarter.
If your child is of school age and no longer eligible to attend a local preschool, you might be worried about the summer months when they are out of school but you are still in work. For parents in underserved neighborhoods, this is a particularly prevalent claim. Fortunately, summer camp programs range from summer camps for toddlers to summer camps for young children and up, all the way through the high school years. Summer camps can keep kids out of trouble, and it can also teach them valuable skills.
Consider swimming, for example. Swimming is widely popular all throughout the United States. After all, it has become the fourth most popular athletic activity around. In addition to this, swimming can be done in an athletic way but also simply for leisure purposes. However, it is hugely important for kids to know how to swim, as accidental drowning is actually one of the top leading causes of death all throughout the country and even in many places beyond. Teaching a child how to swim can reduce this risk factor in quite the dramatic way indeed.