It seems that many of our most important life lessons are learned during our early formative years.

As adults, we take for granted these instrumental lessons picked up while painting and playing in our earliest classroom settings.

Excerpt from “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten”

by Robert Fulghum
“These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don’t hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life –
Learn some and think some
And draw and paint and sing and dance
And play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world,
Watch out for traffic,
Hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.”

When you examine these simple lessons and how they apply to everyday life, you realize why preschool is such an essential part of a child’s education. I spent hours and hours completing research projects in college, but it was the lessons I learned early in life which are the bedrock of my adult experiences.

In addition to the lessons mentioned in the poem, learning how to persevere through failures and trial and error, are also things that are introduced in quality early education. Building wonderful towers of blocks, only to see them topple over and fall, provides many valuable lessons. Building it again and again, each time making slight adjustments and improvements until the persistence proves successful.

Communication is another lasting and dynamic skill originating early in life. Learning how to communicate your desires while remaining aware of other people’s needs, is a delicate and difficult skill to acquire. Children in quality early care and education programs work to hone this skill every day. Discussing their own desires while being aware of the need to share and empathize with their peers. It is a part of their daily curriculum. Children in early education are developing a sense of language and communication they will use for the rest of their lives.

In the end, it is evident that the most important life lessons are actually learned before our major education begins. Here are a few more life lessons as described by the children of Stepping Stone School.