Give Your Child a Great Head Start from Preschool

At Bright Start Academy we know

For many parents, child care is not an option.  Whether you're a single parent, raising a grandchild, or even just a family needing two incomes to make ends meet, there are plenty of reasons that child care is not only an option, but it's a necessity.

For other parents, child care may be a choice.  Whether it's needing time to spend with a new baby, time to run errands, or just time to regain their sanity after the exhausting responsibility of raising a child, some parents make a choice to have someone else watch their child throughout the day.  But regardless of whether child care is a choice or a necessity, a quality child care center can make a huge difference in raising a confident, social child who is well-prepared for their next adventure in life.

Child care centers can be an important resource for teaching children valuable social skills, helping to provide well-rounded social-emotional development.  These types of skills not only improve a child's manners and relationships, but also prepare them for the structure and expectations of a kindergarten program.  In the classrooms of a quality child care center, children should be expected to use manners to ask for things, to take turns, to share, and to work together with their peers. 

They are taught about their feelings, and how to handle the feelings of others.  When they hurt feelings, or when they are feeling hurt or angry, they learn the skills to appropriately deal with things, and how to make amends when they have hurt others.  They learn how to wait their turn, how to stand in line, and how to sit quietly when necessary.  All these skills help them learn to make friends and interact with them, how to express themselves appropriately, and how to behave in a school setting. 

And since each classroom should be age-specific, the expectations are tailored to be appropriate for each stage of development, and educators are there to make sure that all developmental milestones are being met, and provide assistance if they are not.

Pre-academic skills are focused on more so in a child care environment by professionals who are educated and skilled in teaching children.

  The teachers are well versed on what expectations are appropriate for children, how long of an attention span children of their focused age-range have, and what skills are needed to learn first, before moving onto more difficult skills.  They are able to work on developing muscle groups, such as fine motor skills, to help them do things such as hold a pencil with a mature grip, and then use that pencil to draw letters, and eventually write their name. 

They work on counting, reciting their alphabet, and letter recognition, all pre-academic skills designed to help their brain start building the blocks for math and reading.  A child care center that cooperates with area schools will be up-to-date on what children are expected to know prior to kindergarten entry.  This way, they can ensure that your child is ready, with all the skills and knowledge that they need to succeed in their new and exciting environment.

There is often a debate between stay-at-home parents and parents whose children attend a child care center.  This divide is unfortunate, because both offer invaluable assistance in preparing children for their next step, and what each one offers, the other cannot.  A parent is a child's first and best teacher.  Their love and affection, along with attention and care cannot be duplicated in a child care setting. 

But, a quality child care can provide structure, peer-interaction, and kindergarten preparedness that parents would have a hard time replicating.  When both recourses come together, you can have the best of both worlds.  After all, how can you go wrong with so many people caring about, and for, your child!  And, at the end of the day, that combination can make for a happy, social, successful, and well-prepared child!

Contact Us

• Visit us at:Visit us at:Bright Start Academy

864 Homefield Blvd. O’Fallon MO 63366

• Call us at:Call us at:636-379-2600

• Mail us at: Mail us at: bsaofallon@yahoo.com