Community is sharing of thoughts, interests, attitudes and goals. It plays a crucial role in all arenas of life – city, town, business, school, college and has interesting ways in which it impacts a child’s development. Children develop their physical, emotional and intellectual wellbeing through their community and relationships at their school, playground, home or a childcare centre. A parent’s social environment and their individual social relationships impacts the quality of parenting and in turn a child’s development. The social environments can be social relationships, physical surroundings and community resources.

When a child is involved and engaged in a community it develops a child’s identity, confidence, awareness, happiness, self-esteem and sense of belonging. Community creates a positive affirmation message for children “You’re loved, you belong!” When children are born, they natural listeners and listen to mother’s voice and heartbeat. When they grow up, they listen to all types of sounds – birds, family members, music, water. According to Playthings.com, early childhood teachers create an amazing physical environment but lacks the soundscape. Apart from touch and smell, sound is important for a child’s position in the community.

As a facilitator in a childcare centre, children are inspired for discoveries in music, eating new foods, reading, drawing, walk in nature. The wider society is understood as a whole when children grow in other small community groups – art class, music class, cooking class. One of our recipe’s menu was shared here ___. The local community provides the foundation of nurturing and flourishing a child’s life.

The source of nurturing children can be parents who bonds with children while they play blocks or eat a meal. It could be a mentor who takes children for outdoor play such as soccer and develops in their growth and skill better than a day before. Grandparents with whom children listens to bedtime stories and learns and starts enjoying a slower pace of life.

We talked about social environments at the beginning, a physical environment is nothing but the facilities at school, childcare centre, housing. The hygiene, maintenance of buildings impacts the quality of care for children and their health and wellbeing in that atmosphere. Community resources is the knowledge and support available in a community and organisations within it. The health of individuals and children is impacted by the amount and quality of resources available in a community. Lastly, social relationships is the interaction with a person or group. It can be through a known person or a person you met while waiting in a queue or meeting facilitators at Childcare centre. The norms, trust and expectation of any relationships defines the extent to which a person can develop a ‘Social Capital’ (group of individuals who provide support in physical or emotional form to achieve goals).

So how can we better involve in a community?

• An individual feel more involved by being active socially, physically and mentally such as walk in a park, bike ride to greet and meet other groups in a community.
• Being a member of gym, sports team, book club or volunteer organisations improves the sense of satisfaction, peace and belonging.
• Enjoying eating family meals, gatherings to develop bond among themselves.
• Family routines improve the bedtime routine amongst children and prepares them to cope with any stress.
• Develop social relationships by encouraging children to play with other children through which they nurture social skills.
• Child’s development is contributed by developing and improving parenting skills. It helps to develop children’s emotional balance and show fewer negative emotions in social situations.

We start building a better future for children when we start putting our heart and soul in a community for children. Children are blessed to have an opportunity to learn and grow from their community. Let’s build one community one child at one time to engage people and groups around the world!

References

Bernard van Leer Foundation. 2017. The Kids In Communities Study: What Is It About Where You Live That Makes A Difference To Children’S Development? – Bernard Van Leer Foundation. [online] Available at:

Child Abuse Prevention, Treatment & Welfare Services | Children’s Bureau. 2018. Benefits Of Community Involvement In Early Childhood | Child Abuse Prevention, Treatment & Welfare Services | Children’s Bureau. [online] Available at:

HealthEngine Blog. 2010. Parenting, Social Environment And Child Development | Myvmc. [online] Available at: