Giving your kid a head start needn't hit your wallet

Once upon a time the bills for your child's education didn't start piling up until primary school. Now, with parents being prodded to give their kids a leg-up before they hit school age, there's no shortage of people prepared to coach your two-year-old in maths (ker-ching), your three-year-old in French (ker-ching) and your four-year-old in violin (ker-ching).

The Americans call it hot-housing. Associate Professor Jane Torr, head of Macquarie University's Institute of Early Childhood, has another name for it: unwarranted pressure. If you want your youngster to acquire new skills, she says, the means are at your fingertips. "And best of all, none of these things cost money," says Torr, explaining that two-to-five-year-olds learn best through...

Unstructured time "Kids need lots of free, loose time to observe and absorb, rather than spending their time studying," says Torr. "With young kids, you can't have them doing something for 10 minutes and then suddenly tell them to do something else when they might still be thinking it through. The formal violin lessons can come later."



Playing There are countless studies confirming the vital role simple play has in a child's education, says Torr. "Children learn through imaginative play by themselves or with other kids and adults. What play is involved with many of these advertised activities is inauthentic or Disney-like concocted play."

Conversation When nobody's watching the meter, there's plenty of room to just go with the conversational flow - which can produce one illuminating moment after another. "At bath time, for instance, it might be wondering why the water goes from cold to hot. Out of that they get an understanding of language and basic scientific concepts."

Tagging along Torr is a great fan of the rich learning potential of children simply following their parents in their daily routines. "It might be hanging around the house, getting involved in cooking or gardening, or going on shopping trips or to the library." Whatever it is, the world you take for granted is full of wonder and life lessons for the sponge by your side.

Being around ‘attuned' adults As Torr sees it, one of the problems with out-sourcing your child's early education is that they're being entrusted to people who don't know them. "They need people attuned to their internal state; whether they're sad or happy or distracted. You then need to be able to respond accordingly." You don't get that with someone seeing them once a week for an hour.