Khenysahm

Lagos State at 50: The Fate of Early Childhood Education in Her Public Primary Schools

*Preamble*
13.1 Lagos State Creation and Its Administrators
Lagos State among other few states, was created in some fifty years ago on the 27th of May 1967, from Colony Province and Lagos Federal Territory. Ever since her creation, she has been governed by both Military and Civilian Administrators.
The first Governor was Brigadier Mobalaji Johnson, a Military Administrator, who serves from 28 May 1967 to July 1975. Late Comdr. Adekunle Lawal, a Ministry Administrator, served from July 1975 to 1977.
Thereafter, Comdr. Ebitu Ukiwe, a Military Administrator, ruled between July 1978 to October 1979. While, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande became the first Civilian Governor from October 1979 to December 1983.
Late Air Comdr. Gbolahan Mudasiru, became the Military Administrator from January 1984 to 1986.
Capt. Okhai Mike Akhigbe, a Military Administrator, ruled from 1986 to July 1988 while Brigadier Gen. Raji Alagbe Rasaki, a Military Administrator, ruled from July 1988 to January 1992.
Sir, Michael Otedola, another Civilian Governor, ruled from January 1992 to March 1993 and Col. Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a Military Governor too, ruled from December 1993 to 22nd August 1996.
Col. Mohammed Buba Marwa, a Military Governor, ruled from 22nd August to 29th May 1999. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Executive Governor, reigned from May 29th to 29th May 2007 (having served for two terms)
Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, an Executive Governor, governed Lagos State from May 29th 2007 to May 29th 2015. Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, another Executive Governor Lagos State, came to power in May 29th, 2015 and still running the affairs of the State to date.
The journey to the State of Excellence, is not a “child’s play”. For many reasons, the state has witnessed a lot of ups and downs in terms of political crisis, economy, education etc that affect the development of this level of education . The thrust of this unit is to examine the contributions of the past governors and the current one, regarding the status of Early Childhood Education programme in Lagos state.

13.2 *Historical Development of Early Childhood/Nursery Education in Lagos State*
A commendable starting point of having a formalised Nursery Education in Lagos State public schools officially started in 1999 when the Federal government of Nigeria, under the leadership of the former president, Obasanjo Olusegun, launched the Universal Basic Education scheme on October 30th 1999 in Sokoto, known as to as (Sokoto declaration).
This UBE programme was expanded in scope, to take care of Junior Secondary Education, Adult and Non-formal Education,though the act that established the scheme, was passed into Law in 2004 and became operational in all the states.
Lagos State, the State of Excellence, blazed the trail in Early Childhood Education in 2004, when the Governor during that time, “Senator” Ahmed Tinubu (fondly called then), realised that the public primary schools in the state, were allegedly deserted and there was no parents willing to send their wards to public primary schools because of many reasons and especially, lack of Nursery classes. This reality, prompted the introduction of “Linkage Classes”, (a nomenclature for nursery education) in Lagos state that time, in to all the primary schools in the State as a way of extending Early Childhood Education to the younger ones who are yet to attain primary School age. Two (2) of such “Linkage classes”, were set up in each of the Twenty (20) Local Government in the State. It was noted that, after two (2) years of experimentation of this project, “the linkage Classes” in enrollment in Lagos-State, increased sporadically and this subsequently compelled government to raise the standard and number from the initial 778 to 996. (Adebiyi, 2010).
This “linkage classes”, facilitated an unprecedented qualitative primary school system and patronage of parents in public primary schools. (Avosetiyen, 2003)

*13.3 LAGOS-SUBEB*
The UBE Act of 2004 facilitated the establishment of Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) on the 30th December 2005 and was launched on 30th January 2006 with the following vision statement *every child’s potential is realized by Accessing Basic Education*. While the mission statement is: *Lagos SUBEB in collaboration with stakeholders will create a conducive environment for quality teaching and learning through the provision of infrastructure, capacity building and support for LGEAS*
As at 2016/2017 Academic Session, Lagos-State has about 1011 public primary schools with each having a pre-primary section and that of course, can be traced to the initial progressive decision taken by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who blazed the trail in this regard, even when all other Governors in Nigeria , as at that time, could not take the risk of investing on Early Childhood Education. Thereafter, many states followed suit and in 2013, Federal Government made appearance in National Policy on Education to establish the 1-year Kindergarten Education in public schools.
*Lagos State Governors’ Score Cards on ECCE*
Mr. Babatunde Fashola complemented the effort of his precessor, Asiwaju Hammed Tinubu, by increasing the number of Public Primary Schools from 996 to 1007 with all, having pre-school sections. The Governor after Raji Fashola, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, in less than a year in office, added additional four (4) to the number making a total of 1011 public primary schools in the State with each, having a Pre-primary Section. Kudos to all the governors for their interest in Early Childhood Education.

*13.4 CAPACITY BUILDING FOR TEACHERS:*
Not until year 2010, when a massive one-week capacity building training was organized for teachers at Federal Government College, Ijanikin by the State Universal Basic Education, anchored by Association for Childhood Education Practitioners (ACEP) in conjunction with Applied Scholastics, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (who were not ECCE professionals). the capacity building for this category of teachers was not in place.It was in fact the first of its kind ..There was no attempt to train teachers in ECE best practices untill 2010. Ever since 2010 however, records available showed that, pre school teachers have since being trained in ECE best practices.
In year 2016, under the Governorship of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos State recruited over One Thousand and Three Hundred (1300) teachers for the State public Nursery, primary schools but with (very very few Professionals in Early Childhood Education recruited to handle the pre-schools.

*13.5 LAGOS DIGITAL LIBRARY INITIATIVE*
Governor Ambode Akinwunmi led government, recently blazed a trail in the area of digital library when he unveiled a first of its kind digital library via the online portal. He envisioned Lagos as a dream of becoming Africa’s Model Megacity, and a global economic and financial hub. The digital library launched, will provide a repository of contents which include 2,000 study aids on core subjects from primary to senior secondary school curriculum, instructional videos and selected e-books for primary to SS3 approved texts, brief history of Lagos State Online forum podcasts and exam-mate (A Test Resource) was even captured.
The contents also include quality research papers from Lagos State Tertiary Institutions covering a wide range of topics digitized for the platform in various forms such as Vocational videos, Entrepreneurship contents and creatively presented History lesson online courses on coding.
As part of his administration to mark the 50th Anniversary of Creation of Lagos – State, the library initiative is open for private use. Two centres (Library), have been established at Herbert Macaulay, Yaba and Isolo for public use.

*13.6 My Observation*
As beautiful and laudable the library project is, there is no provision for early childhood education in terms of repository contents where caregivers and the teacher trainers in this field can access materials for their professional development. This disparity needs to be addressed in time.

*13.7 Recommendation/Last words*:
As we mark the 50th anniversary of creation of Lagos State, the state of Excellence and a template state for others, we appeal to government to consolidate the existing structure (Pre–Schools) where the foundation of formal education begins.
The recruitment of right professionals, inclusion of early childhood education on the digital library and the online portal becomes a priority. There is no scarcity of ECE professionals in Lagos-State again, because two (2) Colleges owned and funded by the State have produced professional caregivers in abundance. In fact, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED), started producing graduates in Early Childhood Education since year 2013 and she has since produced four (4) successive sets. Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED) too started producing in 2013 and has equally produced four (4) sets and only few has been employed. In fact, less than five (5) of those graduates have been employed by government of Lagos State. It should be noted that, it is only the teaching skills and stimulation from these professionals (in ECE) that can guarantee effective learning at this level.
On behalf of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education and School of Early Childhood and Primary Education (SECPED), I wish to congratulate the Governor of Lagos-State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, and the entire State Executive, the Legislators, the Judiciary and other stakeholders in Lagos-State on the Celebration of 50th Anniversary of creation of the state of excellence.

Itesiwaju Eko
Lo je wa logun
REFERENCES
Avosetinyen, M.S. (2003), Lagos State Educational System and the fourth Republic: Issues and Prospects NER 8(1) pp. 42-48.
Federal Government of Nigeria (2013). National Policy on Education. Lagos-Jibowu: NERDC.
Federal Ministry of Education (2013). Guidelines for implementing National Policy on integrated Early Childhood Development in Nigeria. Abuja: Ministry of Education.
FGN/NCCE, (2012). Nigeria Certificate in Education Minimum Standards for ECCE. Abuja: NCCE/TETFUND
FGN/NERDC (2016), Minimum Curriculum for one-year kindergarten Education. Abuja: NERDC.
Fowowe, S.S. & Melekeowei, M.O. (2017). Studies in Early Childhood Care and Education. Lagos: ANPEIN Inc.
Fowowe, S.S. & Ogunmade, S.A. (2017). Contemporary Issues in Nigerian School System. Lagos: ANPEIN Inc.
Fowowe, S.S. (2013). Introduction to Early Childhood Education in Nigeria. An unpublished mono for NCE undergraduate.
Fowowe, S.S. (2016). How children Learn: Developmentally Appropriate Approach. Lagos: ANPEIN Inc.
Fowowe, S.S. (2017). One-year kindergarten Education in Nigeria: The Role of Stakeholders. Lagos: ANPEIN Inc.
Fowowe, S.S; Adebesin, S.T. and Sobulo E.A. (2016). Classroom Observation: A practical Guide for Teachers. Lagos: Gbadura Prints.

*Fowowe S S (2021)*
*Being an extract from a text titled* *Implementation of 1 Year Kindergarten Education in Nigeria : The Role of Stakeholders*.
*Lagos : ANPEIN INC*

“HOW TO COLLECT YOUR FEES FROM PETTY TRADERS

*A school owner asked me this question below.*

The people in my Environment are not educated, they are petty traders. Most of them don’t pay ontime. They delay my staff salary. Some parents started with me from the scratch. I have used several methods to collect my money but they keep referring me back to their business and Economy. 95% of them are petty traders. I’m scared if I send all of them away, they will tag me wicked person and might badmouth me everywhere. What can do sir? I am confused.

*Here is my professional RESPONSE Dear School Owner.喝*

“When a school falls, the blames goes to the school Owner, Not the school Debtors”.

Collecting Debt from Debtors is very tactical. But remember, even debtors want the best for themselves.
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You have to draw a line between CHARITY ORGANIZATION and your SCHOOL BUSINESS.

Debtors are human beings NOT spirit.

Debtor is just an attitude NOT the name of the person.

Debtors makes money but decide where that money is spent.

In my recent post, I said, no parents is poor, priority is what differentiate them.

In my last post, I said Parent enslaves School Owners who are too emotional. Begging has a spirit of it own. Refuse to be a victim.

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Take a proper look at your school and how you want it to stand.
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Emotional School Owners are always Victims of circumstances. You have to grow a thick skin towards begging to sustain the future of your business.
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Begging has never multiply result in life.

Respect the poor but don’t allow them make you one.喝喝

Those who started your school with begging will one day end your school with begging.喝

*Let’s get practical! Follow me carefully.*

Staff are in your school to impact VALUE.

Pupils are in your school to be IMPACTED.

Thin line:- They are exchanging VALUES for MONEY.

Don’t forget, what runs the school affairs is MONEY.

What brought those STAFF into your school is MONEY!

Every other thing remains secondary.

✓ *Hire Professional as Admin:*- When a school has structure, parent don’t argue it for long.

Structures doesn’t lower it standard to fit parent decisions rather parent rise up to fit into the school structures.

Structures helps to keep your school moving. Get my ebook on *5 STRUCTURES TO LAY DOWN BEFORE OPENING A SCHOOL*. It explains this better.

✓ Don’t be too Available::- When school owners become too available, your decisions will be bought in a short while.

Availability will help to reduce your value and decisions towards your school.

Why do you think LANDLORDS don’t collect money by themselves from tenants?

Simply put, they don’t want too much familiarity.

Over familiarity reduces respect and increase insult.

Rather they use caretaker’s as their bulletproof.

The insult that should have come towards chasing tenants to pay up will go straight to the caretaker’s.

That’s what caretaker’s are trained for. To accept insult on behalf of the landlord’s and get paid for it.

Who is attending to your parents on your behalf? You need an ADMIN to stand in for you.

This is why you think they will badmouth you around the Community.喝

✓ *Don’t be scared to chase debtors but apply wisdom in chasing*.

You can’t change debtors but debtors can change you.

I have seen Schools with great vision and principles who started with great intentions not to allow debtors.

They succeeded the first year but along the line, DEBTORS CHANGE THEM.

Debtors are powerful. They have succeeded changing 85% of school owners around and ready to change you too.

Knowledge isn’t enough to handle them, you need DISCIPLINE.

*Let your YES stands as YES and your NO as NO.*

Don’t allow what people will say affect you.

In 2019, I consulted for one of the top schools in Lagos. I was PAID to analyse strategies to increase Enrolment and also reduce DEBT frequency.

When I got to the stage of reducing DEBT; 75% of the students are owing large amount. The school owner stood for these pupils because he was close to their parents. (Over familiarity)

I asked him just one question:- Why do you hire me?

*He responded*:- To reduce population.

Then, I asked him, reducing population, you must DISCIPLINE your Emotions. Emotional people always get beaten by the Spirit of begging.

After sending 50% back home and taking necessary steps involved! The DIRECTOR was scared what the parent would say and how they might feel.

To his surprise, MONEY started coming in from those parents and majority of the parent’s never complained for taking such decisions.

Today, the school has increased in numbers and he has never joked with the strategies put in place.

My point喝喝喝

“What you fear the most in your business; doesn’t exist in reality!”

So what are your fears about your ENVIRONMENT CRISIS in your school business?

It doesn’t exist in reality. Stop allowing what you fear the most put you in bondage for years.

If you are sending debtors away, let your WHY be louder than your HOW.

Know why you are sending them AWAY. Put that WHY before your parents.

They might not reason with you at first, but on the long run, they will understand your plight.

Once you have quality staff dishing quality value, you have nothing to worry about.

Debt won’t help you pay your school rent when it’s due.

Debt won’t help you sponsor your children to standard University.

Debt won’t put food on the table of your staff.

Debt won’t help you sustain your responsibility in the family.

Debt won’t help you become one of the top schools you dream of around your Environment.

Debt won’t help you think faster than your competitors.

Debt won’t help you enjoy an healthy lifestyle.

Your debtors are less concerned about all of these.

All they want is for you to understand them.

Don’t take my words for it, just close your eyes for 5minute.

Imagine all what DEBT has caused you in the past.

The struggles.喝
The pain喝
The embarrassment.喝
The Landlord’s increment喝

Then take DECISIONS based on what you have just reflected.

In the battles of life,

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog that empowers him.

Making money is a skill NOT just a prayer point.

No wonder those who win in the struggles of life are not just those who PRAY THE MOST;

But

*Those who WATCH and PRAY at the same time.*

Till I write you again,

Refuse to GIVE UP!喝

Hope this meet you well?

This is 2021, you must set the DIFFERENCE.

*Jubril Oluwatobi*

POSSIBLE REASONS WHY YOUR CHILD IS NOT EXCELLING IN SCHOOL

A lot of parents worry secretly on why their wards don’t perform so well as other learners do in school.

My writeup is aimed at exposing you to some possible areas you may need to look at closely that may help you appreciate why your child learn the way they do and why their performance at school may not meet your expectation.

*1.* Research have shown that the *LIFE STYLE* of mothers when they were pregnant for their child may have resulted to the learning challenges or ability of a child.

Mothers who had severe accident, or were self medicating or took certain medication or drugs during pregnancy may be the cause of a child’s underperformance in class. The effect of these non prescribed or wrongly prescribed medication, high intake of alcohol and high intake of illicit drugs during pregnancy may take a toll on the brain of the child resulting to some learning disabilities or disorders.
Some of these disorders may include :

*Dyslexia* (the learners with this disorder have problems with reading, spelling is a problem, recalling what was taught in class is difficult)
*Dysgraphia* : This disorder makes writing very difficult. Some children with this disorder find it very hard to have a pencil grip and sometimes write letters upside down. Another disorder that affects learning is *Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder* ( this disorder makes children to be hyperactive. They are very restive with lots of energy. Teachers find them very difficult to control in class). Another one is *dyscalculia (difficulty with numbers)* The learner with this disorder performs relatively low at mathematics).
Parents need to know some of these information so as to help their children from the home front.

*2.* The second factor why children find it hard to learn in school is what is referred to as *MISSING GAP.* Missing gap is a situation where a child due to parental factors move from one school to another or skip a class to another class for reasons best known to parents. For example leaving from primary 4 to JSS one.

Research have shown that the child will experience what is referred to as missing gap especially if the curriculum in the present school is higher than where the child is coming from.

Parents who encourage their wards to skip classes may notice the child decline in grades due to the fact that the child may find it difficult catching up with the new class. _Parents should be mindful of this information as it could affect a child’s learning and performance in class._

*3.* The other issue we need to look at is what is referred to *AWAKENING STAGE.* As adults and parents a lot of us passed through this stage but we just can’t remember. This awakening stage is a situation where we find some children would struggle to learn in their Nursery and Primary school but would pick up in their secondary school.

Some struggle in the Nursery school but pick up from Primary school to university. Some don’t even pick up from Nursery, Primary and secondary school but pick up in their University level and even come out with a FIRST CLASS.
Once a child has the zeal to learn, loves to go to school, cries when his/her result is below expectation, parents should just be patient, the child will pick up someday.

*4.* Another common factor is the *AGE* of the learners. Countries such as the UK, Canada and some European countries place emphasis on age because maturity plays a key role in learning.

Parents should be patient with their wards as a reason for their underperforming learning outcome may be due to their age. While this may not be visible in the learning outcome of some learners, to others, age and maturity is key to their learning.

*5.* Another factor is the *HOME FRONT*. It has been proven that this is key to the learning ability of a child. A child that does not do his homework and his/her note books are not checked by parents may not perform as when a parent diligently checks his/her learning materials.

Parents should make conscious effort at showing interest in the learning of their wards no matter the age of learners involved. Leaving the work to a LESSON TEACHER would not be a very appropriate idea. Children are our greatest asset.

*6.* The last issue to look at would be the *SCHOOL*. The school has a big role to play in the learning ability of a child. Constant change of teachers, lack of supervision from the academic supervisors and inconsistency in the curriculum used can affect the way learners learn.

*Thanks.✍️*
*Hon. Master John*

Running Schools For School Owners

If you have been running your school for over 3 years with the same HM/Principal and you feel your school isn’t growing then I will advise you try this.*

Allow your principal/HM to take over the school. Just stop his or her salary and both of you should negotiate base on percentage. He/she will run all affairs including staff salary.

I can assure you that there will be a great improvement in your school.

If that happens then it shows there is nothing wrong with the environment you are. It shows you are weak in decision making that could turn your school around.

I have compared the schools whose Principal/HM were given a free hand to the one being managed by the real owner. Based on all my experience with both, I can tell you that former grow than the latter especially when the latter is weak in decision making. And lack creativity skills.

It is a simple analogy. If I solely depend on a job as the only source of my income, I will be ready to give in my best and I won’t allow it to fail when I know that my survival depends on it.

*Being strict with your decision doesn’t make you a bad leader* Infact a lot of your parents/staff will admire you for being strict especially when you are doing the right thing. They will even make reference to you when they see your counterpart acting otherwise

*Having a principle doesn’t mean you are too harsh* Let your principle guide you in all you do. Be firm when you take decision.

You don’t have any reason to fail. Always have that in your mind. All you need to do is to
*Be Creative* *Be Determined* *Be Focus* *Be Optimistic* and *Welcome New Ideas*

*The level of your Exposure is another determinant in the way your school business will go* As a school owner, you need to be trained and retrained. It is a continuous exercise. Attend seminars/workshops. Be expose. Exposure doesn’t mean you must have worked with the best schools. Attending seminars and workshop both physical and online. This will have a great impact in your school business. You will learn one or two things. Don’t look down on any trainer or instructor/presenter. If you are patient enough, you will gain one or two things from him or her even when you are more exposed than him/her.

May God give you the grace and the wisdom to direct your school and have a positive turn around in this coming session

*Opebinu

TEN (10) MISTAKES TO AVOID AS A MODERN TEACHER/LECTURER

(1.) Don’t send a student away from your class during teaching and learning as a result of bad behavior. This is because you cannot account for what the student may be doing outside and this can count against you if an accident occurs.

(2.) Don’t touch a learner inordinately. This is because the learner might claim he or she was abuse either sexually/physically.You may not be able to refute it.

(3.) Don’t give assignments you don’t have time to mark. Unmarked assignments or home work indicate that you are incompetent/unprofessional.

(4.) Don’t use your school internet to send confidential or private emails. They can be tracked by the school management.

(5.) Don’t just teach within the period given to you, especially when you are preparing learners for external examination. Do create more contact time for your students.

(6.) Don’t stay with a student alone in a class, laboratory, office etc. Child’s protection policy forbids it. Try and avoid “one corner” Teaching.

(7.) Don’t ask a child to kneel down for too long a time. He or she might have a health challenges you are not aware.

(8.) Don’t conspire against your school head( Head of Department, academic head etc). What goes around, comes around.

(9.) Don’t be difficult educator and avoid transferring of aggression on any learner. Pocket your personal challenges and always be full of live.

(10.) Don’t treat students unequally. There should be nothing like favourite students. Every child matters. Do have a great day Teachers!

Benefits of Hugging Your Kids

Science behind the benefits of Hugging Your child.

The importance of hugging your child cannot be underestimated. Hugging provides many benefits to people, but is particularly important in child development. Let’s discover the science behind the benefits of hugging.

Hugging makes us feel good, no doubt.
When we are sad or disappointed, a big warm cuddle can alleviate some of the pain. When we are happy, we want to share the joy by giving others a bear hug. So we intuitively know that hugs are good.
But there are other benefits besides feeling warm and fuzzy.
Turns out there are important scientific reasons why hugs are good for you and your child. A 20 second hug can help your kid grow smarter, healthier, happier, more resilient and closer to you.
Let’s look at the science of hugging.

1.HUGS HELP KIDS GROW SMARTER

Human touches are essential to brain growth.
A young child needs a lot of
different sensory stimulation for normal development. Skin contact, or physical touch such as hugging, is one of the most important stimulation required to grow a healthy brain and a strong body.
In Eastern European orphanages, infants are rarely handled or touched. They often spend 22 to 23 hours of the days in their cribs. Propped bottles are used to feed them and care is routinized with minimal human interaction. These children often face many issues including impaired cognitive development and delayed motor skills development.

In a study published in the Genetic Psychology Monographs, researchers found that institutionalized infants who received hugs for an additional 20 min of tactile stimulation (touch) per day for 10 weeks scored higher in developmental assessments than those who didn’t. They also found that not all types of touch were beneficial. Only a nurturing touch such as gentle hugging can provide the type of positive stimulation a young brain needs to grow healthily.

2. HUGS HELP KIDS GROW

Physical contact is also essential to a child’s physical growth.

Physicians have found that when children are deprived of physical contact, their bodies stop growing despite normal intake of nutrients. This condition is called failure-to-thrive.
Failure-to-thrive is a type of growth deficiency. The health of children who suffer from failure-to-thrive can be improved when nurturing touches and hugs are provided.
One of the reasons why hugging is associated with physical growth is that it triggers the release of oxytocin, also known as the love hormone.

This feel-good hormone has many important effects on our bodies. One of them is growth stimulation.
Studies show that hugging can instantly boost the level of oxytocin. When oxytocin is increased, several growth hormones, such as insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-1) and nerve growth factor (NGF), are increased as well. As a result, the nurturing touch of a hug enhances a child’s growth.

3. HUGS KEEP KIDS HEALTHY

There are many health benefits of hugging. Hugs can promote our health and help us heal.
Oxytocin, released when hugging, is a hormone that has amazing power and provides many benefits to our bodies.
For example, the increased level of oxytocin can strengthen our immune systems by lowering the plasma levels of thyroid hormones and decreasing inflammation3 causing wounds to heal faster. Oxytocin also facilitates social support improving the outcomes of a variety of health related condition.

4. HUGS STOP TEMPER TANTRUMS

Hugs are good for a child’s emotional health. Nothing can calm a tantrum-throwing toddler faster than a great big hug from the parent.
Many parents worry that hugging a tantrum-throwing child is rewarding bad behavior with attention. But it is not.

Hugging a child is not the same as giving in (which does encourage bad behavior).
Hugging without giving in is helping a child learn to self- regulate. Regulating one’s emotion is like driving a car. In our body, there are two separate mechanisms that control our emotions. The arousal branch in our nervous system speeds up our emotion, while the calming branch can put a brake to our arousal.
Emotion dysregulation happens the arousal branch is overactive and the calming branch is underactive. That means the gas pedal is pressed all the way down while the brake is broken. So, when a child cries intensely, they are driving an emotional runaway car.

A child driving a real runaway car needs to be saved, not ignored or punished by being let to crash. Similarly, a child in an emotion runaway car needs to be saved first.
Hugging can save a child from having en emotional crash. Oxytocin calms down the arousal branch to reduce stress and relieve anxiety. It also activates the calming branch by creating an anti-anxiety effect.

Have trouble motivating your child? Check out this online course:
Self-motivated Learner

5. HUGS BUILD RESILIENCE

At birth, a child’s nervous system is not mature enough to regulate big emotions by themselves. Toddlers having intense emotions have a hard time stopping because of this. They are not being stubborn or defiant.

During distress, high level of cortisol is released circulating through the body and the brain. When left for a prolonged period of time due to a young child’s inability to regulate, this toxic level of stress hormone will impact the child’s health, both physically and mentally. This is why we should not just let a child go into an emotional crash.
Studies show that excessive exposure to stress hormone can compromise a child’s immune system resulting in more illness. Excessive stress affects memory and verbal reasoning capabilities later in life. It can also lead to depression when the child grows up.
Hugging a dysregulated child not only helps them regulate, but it also allows them to experience their emotions being regulated. This crucial early life experience is how a child learns to develop self-regulation skills and build resilience.

Hugging also helps children become more resilient by reducing the negative impact of conflicts.
In one study, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University examined the impact of hugging on conflict exposure. 404 people were interviewed every night for 14 consecutive days about their conflicts and hugs received. They found that when exposed to conflicts, individuals who had more hugs were less upset. Hugs apparently were able to facilitate positive adaptation to these conflicts. The ability to positively adapt to challenges is an important element in building resilience in children.

6. HUGS MAKE HAPPY KIDS

Hugs enhance a person’s psychological resources.

Psychological resources, such as optimism, mastery, and self-esteem, refer to individual differences that are directly predictive of physical and psychological health.
**Optimism refers to the extent to which people hold favorable expectations about the future.
** Mastery involves the belief that one can determine one’s own behavior, influence one’s environment, and bring about desired outcomes. **Self-esteem refers to a person’s overall evaluation of self-worth.
These three resources are closely interrelated and can buffer the effects of stressful life events. Oxytocin released during hugging bolsters theses resources making a child feel loved and happy in life.

7. HUGS HELP CHILD AND PARENTS BOND

Hugs increase trust. Trust is indispensable in building a strong interpersonal relationship.

Oxytocin increases one’s willingness to reduce fear, accept risk and trust the others to improve relationships. It also increase a child’s attachment security, leading to secure attachment and improved parent-child bonding.

Final Thoughts 🌹

Hugging has all kinds of benefits. But body autonomy is also important. Teaching kids how to kindly refuse a hug and handle uncomfortable situations is a good lesson for the child, too.

Next time, give your child a big gentle cuddle, with permission of course, and give them the amazing benefits of hugging.

Note that Adults needs this too and no one outgrows hugging

Thanks.✍️