Role of the family in young children’s learning

Families are the child’s first educators. They have the greatest infl uence in shaping young children’s
attitudes, values, behaviours, habits and skills. As such, they have a central role to play in educating their
children for sustainable development. Learning for sustainability can therefore be effectively undertaken
by parents, siblings, grandparents and other extended family members. Often, grandparents have old
wisdom about ways of life that favour living together, preservation of the nature throughout generations
and co-habitation of different species, which should be tapped upon. Thus, where formal early education
programmes are not available, non-formal education can be set up – as an integral component of
community programmes or otherwise – to provide parents and grandparents with opportunities to
discuss what could be done differently in daily life in order to become an effective agent of bringing
about sustainable development. Where an early childhood education programme does exist, a parental
education can complement what children experience in the programme.