Simple walks around the kampung, stopping to pick up pebbles and playing the game of Five Stones with friends did wonders for me, and as an adult, I learnt that it was these activities that made life so spectacular for me.

Being an early childhood educator, I completely agree with what Dr Lily Wong said in the report, that babies are not ready for group activities and are best at home for tender loving care.

Yet, parents are going against nature around the world. In India, a young boy has to run like a man. Here, we are pushing our children to complete their secondary education by the age of 12 just 'to get it over with'. Now, even babies are not spared.

Parents' expectations have grown over the years because of the education system. At pre-school level, spelling, creative writing and problem sums have taken over from the simple pleasure of playing games like Five Stones.

It has been an issue for several years that the curriculum should be changed at pre-school level such that kids learn through play.

Parents' demand for more worksheets for their children has resulted in children losing their right to play.

There are various hands-on activities that promote learning maths, language and social skills. But we should focus on life skills like getting along with friends and caring and sharing before embarking on the 3Rs - reading, writing and arithmetic. Learning should be fun and meaningful.

While I do understand the good intentions of parents, we must remember that each child is an individual who has the right to develop at his own pace.

Past theories on children's cognitive development reflect on social as well as emotional being of the child as a prime factor towards cognitive development. The child's self-esteem and confidence level has to be developed at an early age for any learning to take place at a later stage.

As educators, it is our duty to respect the needs of children in our care and design a learning environment that best suits the individual child with age appropriate activities.

I would like to quote a paragraph from a poem by Tan Peng Kian from the book Leading In The New Millennium: 'The essence of life is to care. The opportunity of life is to serve. The secret of life is to dare. The spice of life is to befriend. The beauty of life is to give.'

With that, I encourage parents to spend more time than money on their children - bond with them, sing to them and play peek-a-boo games, go to the beach and dig into the sand and pick up pebbles and twigs. Enjoy!

Kordial Kor (Ms)