The San José Community Center for Child Development offers comprehensive care to preschool children in “Jardines de San Juan Ajusco”, Mexico City, a neighborhood affected by social marginalization, poverty and general lack of resources and opportunities.
For our program of activities during the month of June, we included the theme of "The Family" to work with children, since previously, in the month of April, we celebrated Children's Day, in May Mother's Day and in June we celebrated father’s day: this is how we were able to unite these celebrations in a joint party.
In the classrooms we work with the children on the theme of the family throughout the month through different activities such as drawings and stories about the family: who makes up a family—dad, mom, siblings, grandparents, uncles, cousins, etc., and create the awareness about the fundamental role of families for them from early childhood.
They also made crafts, which the children gave to their parents as a gift.
From such an early age, children are very clear about what family is, they identify with their relatives as people who love them, care for them, understand them and care about them.
On June 17, we celebrated Family Day at the San José center, and we had a get-together with the children accompanied by their family members. The educators prepared dances in groups with the children who presented for their families. This event was the first that we were able to hold with everyone since the start of the pandemic more than two years ago, and all the relatives who participated left very happy to have enjoyed and followed the children’s dance.
Education is essential to move towards more just societies and fight poverty, especially in developing countries. However, when education is interrupted, children who depend on school programs to also access some basic services, such as food and nutrition, are exposed to greater vulnerability because, during the time they do not go to school they stop receiving those services.
The San José Community Child Development Center from the CSP in Mexico committed itself from the beginning of the pandemic to guarantee that educational and food programs were not affected by the contingency, and, despite the difficulties, on July 9 the center was able to celebrate the graduation of 32 boys and girls from Preschool Three, who will begin a new stage in primary school next school year, after the summer.
Since the start of the pandemic, in mid-March 2020, all schools in Mexico have been closed, and education is being taught remotely. All children and adolescents carry out their homework and school activities from home. The main challenge is the enormous social-educational inequalities, with many families in a state of vulnerability such that they have not been able to access new ways of imparting education with the help of technology.
During the 2020-2021 school year we were working together from the San José Center with the parents to guarantee the proper development of the children cared for in the center: presential educational activities and community dining service were maintained by organizing the children in groups, never exceeding 30% of the capacity of the center, and observing the sanitary protection measures.
This school year that has now ended was marked by many changes, as we were working with fewer children a day and complementing it with distance learning activities. Two months before the end of the year, the epidemiological traffic light of the Covid-19 pandemic allowed us to work with all Preschool Three children and support them in their weak areas to prepare them for their new stage of training.
We celebrated this achievement with a Eucharist and a small graduation ceremony for the 32 boys and girls from Preschool 3, accompanied by a family member and the center team. A positive aspect in this situation has been the collaboration of the parents, who have been more attentive than in the past. They understood the gravity of the moment and that their cooperation was essential for the benefit of the children.
One month before the start of the new 2021-2022 school year, the country continues to register new infections, as well as an increase in the rebound due to the third wave of Covid-19. The educational authorities have finally announced the return to face-to-face classes, which has created divided opinions among parents.
The challenge of the San José Center for the next school year will also be to be able to maintain the good mental health of the little ones, who need to interact with each other, and continue to guarantee the continuity of their learning in the challenging context of the pandemic.
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At the Early Childhood Center of Ajusco, Mexico, the Community of St. Paul promotes the role of parents as their children’s first educators. For many years now the UNESCO has cited important reasons for parental participation in the education of their children. This may be obvious to some, but the differing socioeconomic and educational realities of countries, as well as the demands of the working world and new technologies are creating new challenges.
UNESCO begins by explaining the link that exists between parents and children, and how it improves learning. They then emphasize that the father and the mother are their children’s first educators and underscore the positive impact of quality early education in the development and learning of children. Finally, UNESCO stresses that the family occupies a privileged space because of their involvement in the educational process of early childhood.
For the parents who bring their children to the San José Community Center for Early Childhood Development (run by the CSP), education is not easy work. Some parents only see their children at night or on weekends. In spite of difficulties that they encounter, the parents continue to look for opportunities to help their children with their homework. They know that these are special times in which they can interact in a loving, tender and patient way with their children. They want to know that their children are learning and can carry out their activities in the most independent way possible in order to strengthen their self-esteem, their intelligence and their ability to do things for themselves.
During the month of March, with spontaneity, simplicity, pride and the support of their teachers, children presented different topics to their classmates, ranging from healthy foods to the environment to fish that are extinct to different professions. One little girl explained, with great aplomb, that she would like to be a painter when she is older, but not just any painter! Rather, she would like to be a painter like Leonardo Da Vinci, Picasso or Diego Rivera. She then presented several of their most famous paintings and, quite naturally, described what she saw. It was cute to see the conviction with which another child attended an injured sheep while she played the role of veterinarian.
All of this beautiful work was realized thanks to the parents, who know they are their children’s first teachers. From home, parents helped their children look for information, create costumes and the setting to give vision to the professions about which their children dream. With the security of their parents’ support and interest, the children looked radiant presenting their future professions.
The end of the school year has arrived at Centro San José, marking another year of dedicating ourselves to the comprehensive development of the preschool boys and girls in the Jardines of San Juan Community, Ajusco, Mexico.
The feast that commemorates the end of the academic year is always a moment of joy, and the children attend, elegantly dressed and accompanied by their families. At the same it is a moment of sadness, due to the goodbyes that we must say. For the three-year-old preschoolers, their goodbye is final, and their time of formation with us has ended.
For the teachers of the three-year-old preschoolers, the party marked the conclusion of a long road of accompanying thirty-eight children and their families in their training at Centro San José for three consecutive years. Their next class will be at the primary school, where they will continue their formation.
The feast began with a Mass of Thanksgiving, a beautiful celebration and a good time for the families to show their gratitude for the training and care their children have received at the center. Centro San José also shows their appreciation to the families for the comprehensive work they have done: their involvement, dedication and collaboration with the center in the development of their children throughout the school year.
The work of the parents in the training of their children is important and a big help in their development. The children attend the center daily to play, learn and have fun. Then, it is the continuity at home, where their training in the first stages of life is completed, and they learn values, virtues, skills and knowledge.
We finish this academic cycle with another great achievement: thirty-eight children will attend the primary school to continue their training. The other seventy children will advance to the next levels at Centro San José. At the same time, we will receive a good number of new students and continue to offer this support to the community.
Children from the San José Early Childhood Center in Mexico City visit Pedregal Park and learn about Police work
One of the last outings for the children from the San José Early Childhood Center, just a few weeks ago, was to Pedregal Park in Mexico City where they were able to play and enjoy nature. The unique aspect of this outing was that the children were accompanied and protected by three police officers from the area, who played and sang with the children. The little ones couldn’t believe it, because initially they were very afraid of any person in uniform. This is hardly surprising, because parents typically reprimand their children with the statement, “If you behave badly, I will call the police, and they will come look for you and lock you up!” Therefore, it took a while to break down the barriers and for the children to realize that those police officers were good and kind people. The children also learned that police play an important role in society and that they (the children) can go to them if they need help. According to some statistics, Mexico City is one of the 50 most violent cities in the world. The children, the most vulnerable segment of the population, must learn not to fear the police, but to grow as citizens who respect the laws of society. After this singular experience, when asked, “What would you like to be when you grow up?”, now some of the children at the center respond, “A police officer like the ones at Pedregal Park!”
A week before classes officially began, the staff and teachers at Centro San José undertook many activities. They relocated classrooms, arranged furniture, painted, retouched doors, cleaned the walls and floors and afterward decorated the preschool grounds. All was done with the purpose of offering a warm welcome to the children of Jardines San Juan (in the outskirts of Mexico City) when they arrived for their first day of class. We began the new school year 2015-2016 at the Centro Comunitario de Desarrollo Infantil San José bursting with happiness. For we know that each day we work on building values to form boys and girls to better the prospects of their future.
Our program focuses on serving young families, especially those newly arrived in the poor, urban district where we have the center. Many of these families have little experience with formal education and the expectations placed on the children and the parents. The center’s goals include basic preschool education, in-school meals and nutrition information for the families and much love and attention to develop, in the children and also their families, the behavioral skills needed for success in school.
The first day of class in the morning, moms and some dads arrived at the main door to leave their children in the hands of their “second moms,” the teachers. The parents then left to travel to their places of work. Some children arrived with the desire to enter and mingle with their friends and classmates. For others it was difficult to return since they had been getting along well at home with their grandma and siblings. Others arrived afraid because it was their first time at school. The littlest ones would not stop crying when they noticed they were being taken from the arms of their moms and received by “strangers.”
As it happens everywhere and at all ages, the adjustment to a new educational surrounding, after the summer, takes a few days. The little ones, especially, had to get used to the environment and relating to classmates who are all attending school for the first time. During the first weeks of this return to classes, the principal work of the teachers is to manage these aspects so that the children become accustomed to each other, relax, live together and get along with ease.
In this new school year, on the first day we already had 106 boys and girls. That is something that greatly satisfied us, since in previous years we had not exceeded 100 children. We are glad to be able to provide nutrition, preschool education and help in the development of the children in this young and growing population, in which our program is enjoying a growing degree of acceptance.
