ABU DHABI, (Pakistan Point News - 15th Mar, 2020) To celebrate Emirati Children's Day 2020 on 15th March 2020, the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority, ECA, organised a competition to foster the roles of parents in educating and engaging with their children to encourage the development of their mental, cognitive and behavioural skills.
As part of its activities, ECA announced a community contest targeting parents of different nationalities in the UAE. Parents are encouraged to share creative tools and activities on how they spend time engaging with and encouraging the development of children under eight years of age at home. The contest aims to enable families to share knowledge and best practices with their peers.
The ECA stressed the importance of parents spending time applying early childhood development practices and has outlined five tips, which should be followed by parents for engaging with their children at home.
The first tip is to set a weekday home routine by designing a schedule for children according to their age, with regular times for meals, bath, sleep, play, exercise and other activities.
While the second tip is to ensure children get enough physical activity for their age by practicing sports, playing or walking, the third tip is to guarantee that the majority of family time at home is spent playing with children, creating puzzles, playing board games, or any other activities that can be done as a family.
The fourth tip is to encourage children to read; during a child’s initial years, it is important to read at least two books with pictures each day.
Furthermore, ECA has urged parents to teach children to help with chores at home by involving them in age-appropriate activities, such as making the bed, tidying up, setting the table, baking and watering plants in a safe environment.
The ECA has invited parents and caregivers to interact with the contest by following its accounts on Twitter and Instagram and sending a picture or video describing their successful experiences before 22nd March, with a comment using the following hashtags (# HomeFun4Kids – #إثراء_البيئة_المنزلية_للطفل).
Participants will have the opportunity to receive an Early Childhood Champion Certificate and win prizes. In addition, the most innovative experiences will be named after the children whose families submitted them, as the ECA will promote the three most prominent experiences and encourage parents to adopt them.
