Easy And Cheap Ways To Optimize The Golden Age Of Children

Ilustrasi (Raga Granada / YOU)

Through the article "The Gateway to the Golden Age of Children: The Interaction of the Guardians" we have understood the ins and outs of the golden age of children. Perhaps many think that optimizing the golden age of children is expensive. Such as fulfilling nutrition with expensive foods and first-class education with international standards. Whereas in practice, optimizing the golden period does not have to be expensive. The next VOI series "Gathering the Golden Age of Children" is about an easy and inexpensive way to optimize children's golden age.

A private employee, Rahne Putri, has had a new habit since she officially became a mother. So he often monitors the growth and development charts of children made by the World Health Organization (WHO). She matches her child's growth to the graph.

Not only that, Rahne also regularly visits doctors to consult her child's development. This habit is common among those who are so aware of the importance of optimizing the golden period of their baby's growth.

Investigate that Rahne's habit is a legacy from his parents when he took care of him. Little Rahne is already used to nutritious food.

Then he also applied the parenting style to his children. When it comes to breeds, Rahne always wants the best.

He promotes balanced nutritious food. Both from fruits, vitamins, and vegetables. The same recipe applies to seeking early childhood education. Rahne is looking for a school that can accommodate the basic needs of the child's "life skills".

"Education does not have to be international, as long as the needs related to life skills are obtained by children. Maybe it's different from my understanding in the past. In the past, schools had to be smart, mathematics was all like that. Now, I look at the basic needs of life skills, so they are more motorized, so I look for a montessori school, because children are given confidence, "Rahne told VOI, Friday, March 26.

Illustration (Source: Pixabay)

Apart from Rahne, someone who is also aware of the importance of the golden age of children is Lia Christiani. According to him, this phase is the most important for the child's growth and development. It seemed that he didn't want to repeat the same mistakes by not paying too much attention to the golden age when raising his eldest son.

Incidentally, his first child experienced delayed speech and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), aka difficulty focusing. Learning from the experience of the first child, made him so concerned with the growth and development of the second and third children.

As a parent, Lia always tries to spend a lot of time with her children. Lia herself then chose balanced nutrition for her child. Even with the school selection. Lia and her husband seemed to choose a school based on religious knowledge. As long as children's character is formed and religious education is well embedded, that is more than enough.

"The cost of education for our first child at that time was indeed more than the second and third children. Because our first child had ADHD and speech was delayed at that time. There are extra costs for therapy (excluding school fees) which are quite large in our opinion, ”said Lia when interviewed by VOI, Friday, March 26.

It doesn't have to be expensive

To get a deeper picture of optimizing children's golden age, we contacted education observer Ai Nurhidayat. Ai agreed that optimizing the golden age of children doesn't have to be expensive.

Before explaining the tips, Ai emphasized that one of the keys to optimizing the golden age of children at the age of 0-5 years is parents.

Because according to him, children need better direct examples from their parents. Parents are the first role models of the child. In the early stages of growth, the child is actually only a small part of imitating the behavior of others.

Therefore, in the golden period of children, maximizing the direct interaction of parents is important. In other words, so that the example can be directly embedded in children's memory.

"Children will sleep up to two hours during the day. Even at an earlier age, sleep more often. Maximize the meeting with the children when they wake up, "said Ai to VOI, Friday, March 26.

Illustration (Source: Pixabay)

"In fact, when they wake up, the first thing they see is the parents. From there, an emotional connection will be formed. Children will feel cared for and loved. Instead of waking up, they see other people," he added.

Apart from the presence of the mother, the father factor is also important. The presence of both is so that children get a balanced treatment between femininity and masculinity. The need for balanced treatment will become a reference for children in later occupying social roles. So, apart from being biologically nutritious, psychologically it is necessary to give more attention from parents to their children.

Tips and tricks

Ai specifies, 1-2 years old parents should focus on giving breastfeeding to children. That's the most important period. Even at the age of seven months, the child can consume complementary foods.

When he is 3-5 years old, try to replace it with food like adults. It's just that the spices and basic ingredients are made and handpicked. This method is to ensure nutritional balance, as well as so that you no longer consume instant food for children.

In terms of building imagination, children can be directed to natural toys. Play making toy cars, for example. Instead of giving children directly to play plastic toy cars, it is better to use orange peels to make these toys.

According to Ai, the more natural the better for building imagination. The rest, often take the children to take a walk.

"Also try to make it in the golden age, the children are invited to go out more often to see new things, new experiences. For example, holding various kinds of objects, seeing various kinds of colors, shapes and movements of living things and objects around, "Ai said.

"At this stage, the child's imagination will be helped so that he is more free to imagine. There is no need to memorize it or with many restrictions. If it's wrong, just leave it alone. Don't let the child get scolded." Ai added.

Infographics (Raga Granada / VOI)

In line with that, the psychologist, Dya Adis Putri Rahmadanti, said that the golden age is a golden opportunity for parents to provide appropriate stimulation for the physical and psychological needs of children. Dya believes that the stimulation will have a big influence on children's development. In that sense, the presence of parents to accompany the development of children is very necessary, in addition to choosing a school or providing the best toys.

"To optimize children's development at the age of the golden age, the most important thing is how parents provide good and appropriate stimulus to children, for example, we will train children's gross motor skills, no need to provide expensive toys or current trends, we just need to train children. according to our abilities and creativity. And the most important thing is the support for the presence of parents for their children during this golden age, ”concluded Dya.