Do Children Benefit From Skills Training At An Early Age?
As a parent, have you ever wondered what more can I do for my children so they are better prepared for this world? At the tender age of 3, children’s sense of identity begins to develop. The environment that they grow up in can be a defining factor in how their lives unfold. Hence, intervention at an early age can have marvelous benefits for your children and lead to much healthier development.
The cheerful smile and bubbling enthusiasm that radiated from Ms. Nafisa’s personality made it evident why she becomes an absolute favorite with the kids in a matter of few minutes. I was quick to build a rapport with her, and already knowing her impressive work I looked forward to having an insightful conversation with her about the powerful impact of skills training on the child’s development.
Could you tell me a bit about yourself?
I am Nafisa and I work as a skills trainer at CueKids. I have a master’s degree in psychology and experience working in the field of child development. I love working with kids. Making use of my extensive knowledge of psychology in adding to the growth of children is something I am extremely passionate about.
What is your expertise? Which areas do you focus on?
As a skills trainer, my area of expertise is the personality development of young children. We focus on soft skills development such as social skills, emotional intelligence, confidence building, and so on. Our aim is to help children, from a very young age, enhance their personality and grow up to become confident, successful, and emotionally stable adults.
How long have you been working with children?
I have been working in this field for about 8 months now.
What inspired you to work with children?
I have been passionate about working with children for a while. Before pursuing my master’s degree, I worked with children with special needs for a year and this sparked my interest in the field of child development and child psychology. The joy of knowing that you are helping people at a very young age is immense.
The sparkle in her eyes gave away the passion she has for working with children. If I had children I’d surely trust Nafisa for their best development.
What difference does early intervention make in the child’s life?
It is a known fact that to develop a habit, learn a language or engage in an activity, the sooner you start the better. The same goes for interventions. The sooner we equip children with resources and interventions to take care of their physical and mental health, the better they will incorporate into their daily lives when they grow up. A lot of us grown adults have a set cognitive framework that is hard to shake or modify. But with kids, their brains are still developing and growing making it not only easy but also essential to feed them the right things.
In what situation should someone approach you?
Parents who have concerns about their children’s personality development, or have complaints regarding their children being shy, aggressive, less confident, and so on can reach out to us. We have a variety of different modules that we cater to. It ranges from group sessions to one-one personal coaching to parent-child bonding sessions.
Could you share some tips on how to manage anger outbursts in children?
An anger outburst in children generally has a different and deeper underlying reason. Kids who have grown out of the “terrible twos” phase but still engage in temper tantrums generally are either unable to understand their emotions or understand them well but are not able to express them adequately. One tip I would like to share regarding this is to avoid taking the behavior for its surface value and to try and dig deeper. Let your children know that the house is a safe space for them and help them understand their emotions and their selves better.
Please share a personal experience where you guided child/children to bring about a significant change with your therapy sessions
For one of my emotional intelligence group courses, I had a young child of 7 years who had trouble sitting in one place. As he had a lot of energy, he also got bored very easily. The parent’s chief complaint was to help their child articulate himself better. Post the course, I received a personal call from the mother surprised at how nicely her son was expressing himself making use of the interventions taught to him.
What is your take on online therapy in comparison with offline?
While online sessions do have their limitations in comparison to offline interaction, I feel humans are designed to be adaptable and therefore we have adapted to this new way of living quite comfortably. Personally, I would prefer having an offline one-on-one interaction with kids as it helps form a better bond and rapport, the online world helps me connect with a diverse range of children from across the globe.
Any myths or stereotypes about children that you want to address?
I have often heard parents say “they are kids. They will grow out of it.” as a response to any kind of atypical behaviours seen in their children. The truth is while children do grow out of some kinds of behaviours, the impact those leave on them is permanent. Moreover, we don’t know whether they have grown out of it or have simply learned how to live with it.
Any one message to your audience.
While academic excellence is important, let it not overshadow your child’s overall growth. Research has shown that well-rounded children who have a healthy set of social and emotional skills grow up to become great leaders of tomorrow.
Holistic Living Editor’s Note: After sharing an engrossing conversation with Ms. Nafisa, I began to contemplate the impact of childhood experiences on my personality and life journey. At times, our focus is so much on academic achievements that we neglect the most important factor that contributes to a high success rate, and that is Emotional Intelligence. The training provided by Ms. Nafisa is the need of the hour for our younger generation and definitely a great way to ensure a better life and a better world for them.
