Pedagogy

From the time children are born until adulthood they require to be taken care of since they cannot be able to attend to their own needs. Child care therefore may be regarded as any concern given to children either in form of physical support, material support mostly in form of money, social support and any other responsibility that comes up. Since children are regarded to be gifts from a supernatural being, then every member of the family, not to mention every member of the community, is supposed to take good care of the children. This is important so as to make sure that children grow up without any interference to become healthy and responsible members of the community.

Children are born and raised in a family set up whether with two parents or a single parent. A child is usually an extra member of any family and therefore comes with extra responsibilities. Biblically, both parents are supposed to take care of their child to ensure that the child grows up in the right way and having the right values (Lequang, 2009) .The extra responsibilities have some effects on the family set up. The major effect is the financial strain that comes with child care. Children also require extra attention and this effects how the family members relate to one another, especially concerning the relationship between husband and wife. This paper will therefore seek to explain how the financial strain that comes with child care affects the family as a unit and also how the extra care and attention affect the relationship of the family members.

Effects of Child Care on Family Unit

Child care is an expensive venture. Russell, (2007) states that child care costs can be about 100 dollars a week or even more in the USA. This is only for one child, meaning that with more than one child it can be really expensive. The expenses are more because children are delicate, especially the young infants, and require quality care. Moreover, they are more susceptible to diseases that adults and this adds an extra medical cost. Russell further describes child care as a full time job (2007). This is because a child requires attention twenty four hours a day. Due to this reason, some mothers quit their job to stay at home and take care of their children instead of employing a care taker or taking their children to a daycare center which is equally expensive. Although it is a bit cheaper for mothers to bring up the children themselves, quitting their job increases the dependency ratio in the family. Consequently, the family is most likely to undergo a financial strain.

Parents have a divine duty of providing education to their children. Learning starts after the child is born. Lequang (2009) says that biblically parents have got the first role of training their children not only on sacred matters but also on other society values. At about three years children are taken to schools so that they can start formal learning. Education is very expensive, especially nowadays. Since education requires more money, it stresses the family financially a great deal. This is even worse when the family is a single parenthood family. Single parents suffer a financial stain more and this makes them suffer more even emotionally (Breinne, 2008). This is the sole reason why in the USA there are programs that help the single mothers by giving grants and assisting them generally as they cannot be compared to the women who have husbands (West, 2009).

In every family, financial problems cause a lot of many other problems. In many cases, it may result to misunderstandings between the family members. This is more common to families who do not plan their finances properly. Since child care results to higher bills, improper planning may force the family to remain in debts. However, other family members may not take this kindly and blame may be laid on the head of the family. This usually results to poor relationships and in extreme cases it may lead to family breakups (Maria, 2010). Her further studies reveal that money related arguments are the main causes of divorce.

Studies have indicated that marriages start experiencing problems when children are introduced in to the family set up. Biblically, marriage is supposed to be a sacred union and children are supposed to be the blessings of this union (Mauro, 2010). The fact that children bring in extra responsibilities to the family may interfere with the relationship between husband and wife. As Mauro (2010) puts it, the mother who is usually the nurturer spends more time with the child while the father who is usually the provider spends more time earning money. Eventually, this reduces the quality time they spend together which may be the beginning of misunderstandings.

In addition to child care responsibilities, the mother usually has other responsibilities. Her husband and other members of the family also require her attention. Moreover, being busy the whole day and also spending some sleepless nights makes her exhausted and she may be tempted to leave other responsibilities (Russell, 2007). In addition to a misunderstanding between the husband and wife, it may also cause problems with other family members. Furthermore, when the husband wife relationship is affected, the whole family may be distablelized as well.

Child care affects child development directly. Studies have revealed that proper nourishment to the baby does not only contribute to the physical health but also to the brain development (Wilindale, 2008). The care given to children from the first day they are born dictates the kind of people they grow up to become. This is more so because learning starts at an early age. Windale (2007) says that children borrow a lot of values from the caregivers or their parents. In addition to that, taking them to school makes them build confidence as they relate with other people apart from their family members. Lequang (2007) also says that for children to grow up properly and have acceptable biblical values, parents should shoulder the responsibility of training them very early in life even before they are taken to school.

The greatest advantage with child care is that parents have a chance to mould up a responsible person. It also gives parent joy to see their children developing properly. However, this is also an experience that causes the family a lot of financial strain among others (Brenie, 2008.) It also leads to a reduction of labor force and income in the family because one parent may be forced to quit employment so as to take good care of the children.

According to Tiwari (2009), learning takes place during the first eight years of life. He continuously says that education that is offered during this time is very important, especially in brain development. Proper education at this time is usually achieved through play and therefore it is very important to incorporate play in all forms of learning either at school or even at home set up. It is therefore important for the caregivers as well as the early childhood educators to have the knowledge of child development to be able to educate the children properly.

The main focus of early childhood education should be to help them understand their environment as well as the world around them. Tawiri (2009) says that this period of life is when the child develops self identity. To understand oneself, one has to understand the world around. Lequang further notes that even biblically it is at this time that children are supposed to be taught all about God and also the word of God (2007). Teaching them this early means that as they grow up they will have these values because the habit that is formed at an early life is not easily changeable later.

Early education programs are very important, bearing in mind that they have a vital role to play in child development. They should not only be incorporated at the learning institutions but also in the home setup. The fact that they are play oriented makes them easy to start and also to run. Failure to incorporate play in the early education programs may make them to be meaningless altogether as they cannot achieve their objectives.

It is very important for the young children to acquire social skills. During play, as they learn other things, they should also learn how to interact with other children, developing their interpersonal skills. Moreover, play helps children grow emotionally as well as learn good ethics (Tiwari, 2009). However, it is important to have a teacher guided play as well as their own play. Early childhood education programs are learning foundation of each and every child and the grown-ups are a reflection of the early education program they passed through during the formative years. Every child can therefore grow up to be a responsible and productive adult if only proper child care is accorded to them and also if they are given a chance to go through an effective early childhood education program.