Grandparents Day celebrates the vital role that grandparents play in our society, as custodians of individual and cultural memories and as providers of care and love to their children and grandchildren. Grandparents Day recognizes the irreplaceable role grandparents have in their families and in the wider community.
As Muslims, we are taught from early on that the elders in our community should be respected and taken care of. In our roles as educators, we need to use this opportunity to help young children understand how important the elders in our communities are, our grandparents play a vital role in our daily lives.
Young children love to imitate. Their favourite people are their grandparents. They simply adore them! Towards the end of the second term is when we generally host our grandparents’ day concert. We invite all the children’s grandparents and parents to our concert and offer them a snack or tea and then showcase a grand event for them, their grandchildren on stage. What more could any grandparent ask for. Could they be any prouder than watching their grandchild up on stage?
The teachers use the grandparents’ as their main draw card. They focus on what topics would interest this generation and use this as a base for their plays and items. We incorporate lots of comedy and humor into our items as we love to see the guest smile and laugh.
At our concerts, we give each child the opportunity to take part. This is the best platform to get young children started in public speaking. What a fun way to introduce this important life skill!
Young children need to be comfortable with their audience to be able to feel confident to stand up and speak before them. Since their grandparents are their favourite people, they make the perfect audience, no judgement, just praise. A child learns by example and does not have the ability to understand the philosophical realm of language and inner struggle. If you only tell them not to be afraid of something, they will agree with you if they trust you. This audience, their grandparents’ are people they trust unconditionally. They will always aim to please and most times, they realize their true potential up on stage! This is truly the best part of these types of learning platforms
