Raising a child can be a daunting task for new parents, especially considering the pressure of how formative those early years can be. For Heidi Madsen, helping to ensure the blossoming of children was her goal when she conceived her business, Blossom Early Learning, which opened this week.
“As a baby grows and develops, they do so really quickly and it’s hard to keep up with all the different stages and weed through all the information out there,” Madsen said. “So I make it really easy, by breaking ages into different groups, to let you know what your child is capable of doing at that age.”
She said the first five years of a child’s life are the most developmental stage and lays the foundation for success in later life. The core unique factor with Blossom Early Learning is that their programming is based on early brain research and how that affects children learning and development. The classes focus on language, literacy, numeracy, fine motor, gross motor, vision, listening, social/emotional, vestibular self-regulation and more.
Madsen said the classes have a strong emphasis on helping children prepare themselves for school, noting one of her activities, as simple as painting with objects, prepares them with the motor skills required for writing when they enter the classroom.
“I went into kindergarten classrooms and saw a lot of children who just weren’t ready for school,” Madsen said, recalling her past experiences working with children. “They knew their numbers, colours, but didn’t know how to hold a pencil, share, play with other children so I kept thinking I need to go back to parent-child classes but in a different way.”
She said a lot of her classes focus specifically on parent-child activities to really help build the connection between them in the early stages of a child’s life. Like enrolling children into sports later in life, she said it was important to focus on the fine motor skills that are often overlooked early in a child’s development.
“Having a baby is a real information overload,” she said. “Plus, you’re sleep deprived. Coming into a relaxed space with a professional makes it really simple and easy.”
Blossom Early Learning is located at 176 Lakeshore Drive, where Tweedsmuir Public School was located. More information on their classes and how to register can be found on their website, located here.
