UC academic gives five tips to face the extended winter vacations of schoolchildren

The head of the UC Early Childhood Education Pedagogy program, Pamela Rodríguez, gave recommendations to mothers, fathers and guardians to take advantage of the early school holidays with activities at home and outdoors.

Due to the increase in occupancy in pediatric ICU beds by the increase of various respiratory viruses such as syncytial virus and COVID-19, the Ministry of Health (Minsal) and the Ministry of Education (Mineduc) announced the advancement and extension of winter holidays of children and adolescents. With this advance, the break in school activities will start from June 30 and will last around three weeks.

The measure generated objections in several representatives at the national level because for many the number of days off complicates work life and routine Adult: What do I do with my children? Who will take care of them? Won't it be a long time without classes? They were part of the questions that several mothers, fathers and guardians asked themselves when they heard the news. Nevertheless, the boss of Pedagogy in Early Childhood Education UC , Pamela Rodriguez, think differently and bet on understanding this space as an opportunity to learn at home and develop creativity.

The academic, an expert in early education, in conversation with News 24 of TVN, gave five recommendations to lower the anxiety and worry of mothers, fathers and guardians.

1. Don't scare the students

Pamela Rodríguez advised not to scare the boys and girls with the reasons for the early holidays, such as the occupancy of pediatric ICU beds, and made a call to take advantage of this instance in which minors can continue learning at home. According to the expert, this was demonstrated by the time in which the boys and girls managed to develop inside their homes due to the pandemic. The preschool education expert also points out that Inside the house, boys and girls also strengthen their "relationships with their peers, they are able to interact with their neighbors, invent things and play games."

1. Agenda of activities

The house is not the school, and from the area of ​​education, explained the expert, we do not expect the home "to become a school and the mothers and fathers into teachers" during the advance of the holidays. Because The academic suggested building with the children and adolescents “an agenda of joint activities that have spaces for entertainment, spaces for reading (…). There are activities that are free where you can take the children. It does not necessarily have to be a task or something imposed, if you talk to the boys and girls and you can see different possibilities.”

1. routine change

The academic of the Universidad Católica He indicated that It is not mandatory to continue the routine that schoolchildren had when going to school and apply it at home. He further noted that The advance of the holidays implies a break in the routine and that this is of a positive nature, "since it allows establishing the knowledge that the children have had during this cycle."

1. The key is entertainment

On the other hand, the expert in Early Childhood Education He commented that having a leisure space is beneficial because it allows boys and girls to open up to creation and apply what they have learned. “Today -in such an uncertain world- we have lost this space for creation in the youngest children, that they investigate, that they investigate. For example, cooking for a boy or girl can be an extremely interesting experience. So cook, go for a walk, visit a museum, read a book They allow you to develop creativity that is tremendously necessary. What happens is that you have to validate these spaces”Pointed.

1. Outdoor activities

Go for a walk in the neighborhood or explore green areas, These are other recommendations that the academic of UC Pedagogies gives us. The expert indicates that an activity as simple as going for a walk allows the discovery of many things, "mathematical language, scientific knowledge and artistic promotion are developed".

In addition to this, the head of Early Childhood Education Pedagogy encouraged fathers, mothers and guardians to include motor games and dance as alternative activities for their sons and daughters because that is how they take care of their physical and mental health.

Review the tips for these winter holidays: