How do we celebrate each child’s unique design? 

Growing children into their God-given identity

By Serene Leong

Do you sometimes compare your kids to others? When you see your friend’s child already running when yours is still crawling? Do you feel anxious when you see other children eat well and your child still refuses to eat vegetables at 4 years old? Do you wish that your little one was less clingy at the playgrounds so you can just take a breather?  

You are not alone. Many parents compare their kids to others, wondering why they aren’t thriving in specific areas. The truth is that no two children are the same. Every child is different – a phrase parents may hear often in their children’s growing up years. Even siblings develop differently, have different personalities, interests and strengths, and require different kinds of support to meet their physical, social and emotional needs. 

Our young children have abundant potential for growth when nurtured in a caring and supportive environment and it is important to recognise each child’s unique design to help them discover their identity and purpose in life. 

Children can thrive when we, parents and teachers, can provide a positive, safe and secure environment where they are respected and free to express themselves. This serves as the foundation for meaningful and differentiated learning to happen each day.  

How can we celebrate each child’s unique strengths, interests and learning styles? 

1.  Observe their natural inclinations from young

Photo by Anglican Preschool Services

While babies and infants below 18 months are not yet involved in traditional classroom learning, they are picking up various skills very quickly. Within a few months, they develop from sleeping to sitting up to grasping to crawling to standing and finally taking their first steps! 

“Little milestones are our goals,” says English teacher at Little Seeds Preschool (Noah’s Ark) Ms Hermes Lu.  

“We help the infants learn through observing their interests and needs. At that age they are attracted to sensorial experiences like sounds and textures. The teachers – in the time that we spend with them, whether we are changing their diapers or putting them to sleep – observe what captures their interest. It could be as simple as a ray of light shining through the window.  Or the sound of footsteps of a teacher coming into the room.” 

“Through this close relationship the teachers have with the babies, we try to extend their interest and learning through what we do every day. For example, our teachers started to bring in more light sources to allow the babies to see the light from different angles. We saw that they were interested and engaged in the activity and there was some thought process going on.” 

Hermes adds that if the teachers notice that a baby is inclined to something they will communicate it to the parents so they can give them more exposure at home. This helps parents encourage their babies to explore what they are interested in. 

Our older infant care children treating the younger ones with interest, yet gentleness and care!  Photo by Anglican Preschool Services

How do we cater to each baby’s unique personality and temperaments?  

Hermes says: “We are conscious about respecting their temperaments and we don’t force them to participate in an activity if they don’t want to. We try to find a way to engage them. For example, when we introduced a ball pit to the babies, we noticed there were children who jumped in immediately. Then there are others who would sit at the side and watch first. There are others who will take a ball to another corner in the room and put the ball in a container.  

We encourage diverse ways of playing. As educators, we respect that every child is unique and we encourage them to explore in a manner that is comfortable for them.” 

Hermes Lu, English teacher

2. Let children have fun beyond Children’s Day

There is a polish proverb which says: “You have a lifetime to work, but your children are only young once.” 

Children’s Day is a great holiday for children to have fun, dress up, eat their favourite snacks, play games and other exciting activities that they would not normally do.  

At Little Seeds Preschool (TSA – Bukit Batok East), Children’s Day was our kiddies’ day to play! There were a variety of games and activities, balloon sculptures, colourful tattoos, and sweet treats like popcorn and candy floss. Not forgetting the numerous presents and treats from their parents, friends and teachers! 

There was also a mini disco where “Baby Shark” and some of Cocomelon’s songs were played. The toddlers were clearly enjoying it while they were dancing and singing along. 

Children at Little Seeds Preschool (TSA – Bukit Batok East) enjoying a puppet show by parent volunteers 

At Little Seeds Preschool (Noah’s Ark), our little ones dressed up in their adorable animal costumes for the day according to the theme “Noah’s Ark”.  

Our teachers retold the biblical story to them with pictures and props and affirmed each of them of how precious they are in God’s eyes. 

Our little ones are a gift from God. Photo by Anglican Preschool Services

How do we go beyond Children’s Day to celebrate our children every day? 

One way to do this is to celebrating birthdays in school and at home. Studies have shown that celebrating birthdays helps to raise a child’s self-esteem, strengthen family bonds, establish social relationships and create positive memories.  

Ms Stella Samathanam, Centre Leader at LSP (TSA – Bukit Batok East) says: “We make it a point to celebrate our children’s birthday together with their parents. We put on a birthday sticker on the birthday child so that everyone knows that it is his or her birthday that day.” 

Other than celebrating birthdays, she adds: “We also encourage the teachers of our K1 & K2 classes to have a class or group leader either weekly or monthly to encourage all the children to lead. This could involve simple actions such as getting the pencil tray or passing the book to the teacher.” 

“I have seen that even the quieter ones look forward to be a leader and also the more vocal ones learn how to exercise their leadership.” 

3. Encourage them to build lasting friendships 

Meaningful friendships are important as they shape our childrens’ identity and personality from a young age. Friendships are especially vital for a child’s development as they learn valuable social skills through their interactions with friends. 

“As they acquire friendships at playgroup level, they enjoy the company of friends. Friendships makes meaning to them at the later stage, as they enter nursery and kindergarten,” says Ms Liana Neo, Centre Leader at Little Seeds Preschool (TSA – Tampines)

“Friends make a difference. Some children come to school because they want to see their friends. Some extend their friendships by going for playdates. We want to cultivate friendships not only in school but outside school as well.”  

What does friendship mean to you?  

This question was posed to our children at Little Seeds Preschool (TSA – Tampines) who all had different interpretations of what friendship means to them. To some of the children, it is the companionship they have with one other. To others, remembering to show the values they had learnt in school to each other plays a part in the friendships formed. 

Here’s what the children have to say about friendship: 

In order to build and maintain lasting friendships, our teachers encourage our children to go deeper to show kindness to one another and treasure the friends they have.  

Liana says: “As friends, they encourage and give each other emotional support. For example, when our N2 children see a younger child who is crying, they will go up to them and comfort them. They will say, ‘If you don’t know how to do it, let me help you. I can teach you and guide you.’” 

This way, they learn how to play, laugh together and comfort each other, building meaningful relationships that will last even after their preschool years.  

Bonus: See through the lens of our children 

Photo by Anglican Preschool Services

Sometimes, the best way to celebrate our children is to step into their little shoes and see things through their eyes. This allows us to understand and love them for who they are. 

Here is a simple story in the voice of a K2 child at Little Seeds Preschool (Kiddy Ark) that shares the joys and fears as they journey through their preschool years. 

We played all day. But our play entailed loads of learning of social skills, motor skills and general knowledge which helped me connect my brain synapses. I was making sense of the world around me. Everything was worth exploring and my teachers fed me with new information every day. I did not understand a lot of things and sometimes, I cried because adults did not understand me. 

I am learning. 

True to our age, we love exploring and nothing is impossible. We began to build self-awareness and to understand our own needs better.  We began to understand routine – why we needed to eat, to sit down properly during lessons.  We had so much fun exercising, exploring our community and learning in class. Sometimes I did things which were not too nice and was seated at the reflection corner. I was mad and sad. 

I am still learning

The day had finally come where we put on our mortar board and wore our graduation gowns. We received our scrolls and did a dance or two. We had fun practising for the whole event. Many times we could not get our positions and steps coordinated and my teachers had to take deep breaths. But we knew it would all come to a good closure.  Our mummies walked us down the church aisle as a mark of the end of my preschool journey. As we walked, mum whispered little reminders and sent me well wishes… I’ve made it.  

And I am still learning.

To find out more about our preschools, visit https://littleseeds.edu.sg/.

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