Every day, millions of parents drop their kids at early learning centres and pick them up in the evening. While many focus on proximity, cost, and other factors, one thing is imminent; all parents hope that their child gets the best care and attention from affectionate caregivers. It is their prayer that in the evening they will pick up a better child than they dropped in the morning. Most importantly, their peace of mind is guaranteed if the play environment is safe.

Unfortunately, many parents have limited options regarding early learning centres available to compare and contrast when looking for quality care. But the most basic aspects that qualify an early learning centre is the provision of food to sustain children’s health, safety measures put in place by the management to control hazards, clean and safe drinking water, and more. It is hard for parents to ascertain whether their children get quality care, there are certain parameters that your child is sufficiently engaged and participates in age-appropriate activities.

In this day and age, many couples are working class and the children are left at the care of early learning centres. So children are increasingly growing away from their parents because they have no other choice. Research has proved that children growing under quality early learning centres have a tentative to prosper in their future lives.

However, there are inevitable challenges facing parents in their quest to provide children with quality early learning programs such as inflexible employers, the costly nature of quality childcare programs, the long waitlist before getting a learning vacancy in quality early learning centres, and more.

Even though this crisis for quality early learning opportunities have gained attention from state policymakers, there is still the need for the state to regulate and formulate quality early learning programs that benefit the learners.

Does quality matter in early learning facilities?

The first three years of a child have a huge impact on the future life of a child. Research also states that poor brain development will lead to poor children’s cognitive capability. The warm interactions between caregivers and learners allow children to develop attachments that can be extended to the family. Such attachments help the child develop senses and understand their emotions while laying a firm foundation for creating great relationships with peers and other people they get involved with. While early learning is essential, children should be trained while still at home, waiting for them to attain the school-going age might become a little too late.

There are advantages of enrolling a child in a quality early learning program; some of these benefits are; easy transition from early learning centres to primary level, they will require no or little special education when they proceed to K12 and are less likely to face juvenile court cases and they are many times likely to join high schools compared to those who received low quality or no early learning training.

Although the impacts of quality early learning in Narre Warren are huge, many parents falling under middle-income earners and low-income earners cannot afford to pay. So states need to come up with interventions to cushion these classes of people by introducing funding and relevant assistance for the quality programs to become affordable for all residents. If the government took an initiative to provide quality and affordable early learning centres and programs, all children across the board will have access.