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What environments are little ones growing up in? • 2024 North Shore overview
Article
The importance of the environment
The various environments in which a small child grows all have a great influence in their development and can even impact their life and the adult they become.
Here is an overview that looks at the characteristics of the various environments that children aged 0-5 years old grow up in (family setting, residence, daycare services).
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For more information, visit the Observatoire des tout-petits website : https://tout-petits.org/publications/portraits/portrait-environnements-2024/
Why are the environments in which little ones grow up so important?
***French only
L’importance des environnements dans la vie des tout-petits
0m 51s
For policymakers
Inspiring solutions
A lot of promising, documented or evaluated projects, measures and public policies exist.
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Orientations (taken from the overview) for you to consider.
Take effective action to contribute to the improvement of the three types of environment:
1 · The family setting
The family setting includes:
- parents
- siblings
- other family members that are part of the close family circle
This environment has a significant influence on the development of young children. Family is the first and main source of experiences the child is exposed to.
Three factors have a particular impact on young children’s development, health and well-being:
- The characteristics of the family
- The quality of parental practices
- The social support
Ideas for taking action
- Increasing the financial support to families
- Being concerned about the parents’ mental health
- Supporting the integration of parents of immigrant backgrounds
- Supporting and offering adapted services to isolated families
- Facilitating work-family balance
- Raising parents’ awareness on the effects of their screen use when their young children are there
2 · The physical environment
The neighbourhood where young children live, play and make relationships has a great influence on their development and their well-being. And the same is true for the house or apartment they live in. The quality of the physical spaces a child has access to (sports fields, libraries, etc.) also gives them the opportunity to explore and learn.
Ideas for taking action
- Building more social and affordable housing
- Renovating the existing social housing offer
- Giving easier access to parks and outdoor play spaces
- Promoting an easier access to libraries for young children and their families
3 · Educational childcare services
Educational childcare services play a complementary role to that of parents. Their quality can impact the cognitive, motor, language and socioaffective development of young children.
Ideas for taking action
- Reducing inequality in access to educational childcare services
- Implementing concrete solutions to improve the quality of educational childcare services.
- Improving inclusion practices
- Supporting mobilization and intersectoral work
- Supporting emergent educational approaches, like initiatives that encourage nature-based education