activities parents want their children to do

1. Activities that parents would want their children to be able to do by age of 6 years.

In order to ascertain what individual parents would like their children to be able to do at the age of 6 years at home could possibly be the same practices they would want their children to continue doing even when HBECD centres are set up in the community. This helps the planners of these centre to make sure that such activities are included in the daily routine when a HBECD centre is put in place.

Table 1.1 below summarized practices parents would want their children to be able to do by the age of 6 years as seen below.

1.1: Responses of participants on what they would want their children to be able to do by the age of 6 years by gender

Source: primary data

Table above shows that Majority 41.2% of the parents indicated that they want their children to do Home chores (fetch water, wash clothes, prepare food, clean the house, wash utensils, sweep compound, split firewood) by age six , this was also followed by 17.5% prefer  Reading and writing (letter name and sound), 10.5%  prefer Agriculture (Digging, rearing animals, poultry), and also 5.4% of the parents prefer their children to know Self –help skills and care for others (e.g., bathing, protection, Self-protection, Bath him/herself, Lay his/her bed, Bath siblings, while very few parents 0.8% prefer their children to be Fluent in local language and lastly only 0.3% stated that they prefer their children to know the Construction of simple sentences in English, Speak local language fluently, Tell a story in English and Concentrate on an activity.

Implication , the above results implies that parents know the value of Education as it instills knowledge, Hard work and Discipline it is therefore that they prefer they children by age six to be able to do home chores and also to also be in position to Read and write (letter name and sound)., however the results also indicate that the parents are not aware of the benefits of their local language since only very 0.3% indicated that they which their children to be fluent in their local language.

Final Table 1.2: Responses of participants on what they would want their children to be able to do by the age of 6 years by category

Table 1.2 as tabulated by category of respondents does not differ much from the responses provided in table 1.1. As seen by the percentages for each category, it is evident that most parents want their children to practice home chores with the highest frequency/per cent of (90) 23.9 per cent, followed by ability to read and write (74) 20 per cent and agriculture with (74) 19.7 per cent, while other activities like making play materials 4 (1.1 per cent and ability to judge what is right and wrong with a frequency of (1) 0.3 per cent were the least scored activities participants never put much focus.

Since there are four district in Uganda for IDRC project in Uganda, it is also important to know what each specific district has to say on what they would want their children to be able to do by age of 6 years as seen in table 1.3.

Table1.3: Parents’ responses on what they would want their children to do at the age of 6 years by district

According to data collected in question 3, majority of participants support the idea of starting up a home ECD centre with reasons as seen in table 4.1.

Table 4.1: Reasons why parents support the idea of starting home based ECD centre given by participants according to gender.

Source; primary data

On finding out Reasons why parents support the idea of starting home based ECD Centre it was indicated that majority 29.6% of the respondents indicated that It helps children to learn different learning skills (listening, speaking, creative thinking, problem solving,  reading and writing, 16.5% It will (shorten the distance, safety of the child, prevents children from loitering, saves children from walking long distances, reduce too much play at home, 8.1% indicated that It brings development around the area, 5.2% It develops children’s social skills ( sharing, taking turns, accepting defeat), 5.2% Children join primary level at the right age when they understand, while only 2.2% asserted that Children get opportunity to learn to be disciplined, 0.7% of the parents indicate that It helps children to grow responsibly and 0.7% further indicated that It helps children to know what happens around.

Table 4.2: Reasons why parents support the idea of starting home based ECD centre as given by category

On findings out the Reasons why parents support the idea of starting home based ECD center as given by category, the results indicated that Majority (34.1%)  of the parents indicated that it helps children to learn different learning skills (listening, speaking, creative thinking, problem solving, reading and writing, (19.3%) It will (shorten the distance, safety of the child, prevents children from loitering, saves children from walking long distances, reduce too much play at home, (8.9%) It brings development around the area, (8.1%) Children join primary level at the right age when they understand and 5.9% asserted that  It helps the child to know what he/she will be come in future, Despite of this response having large percentages very few respondents also indicated that; (2.2%) Children get opportunity to learn to be disciplined, (0.7%) It helps children to grow responsibly,(0.7%) It helps children to know what happens around.

This findings implies that parents support the idea of Home based ECD, as indicated by the reasons above however the few who are against it could be because of the ignorance and therefore there is need for sensitization of the different categories of the respondents so that they have good knowledge on the subject matter.

Table 4.3: Reasons why parents support the idea of starting home based ECD centre in all districts

Table 5.1: What a home should have to make it qualify to be a good home centre to take their children as provided by gender

Source: primary data.

On regarding the question of What a home should have to make it qualify to be a good home Centre to take their children, the results indicated that; It was reported that (19.6%) of the respondents asserted that Sanitation facilities (hand washing facilities cleanliness) are essential, (17.3%) Good pit latrine, (17.3%) Larger space ( large and safe compound,  for playing, (12.5%) Trained caregivers with assistants and (9.4%) Materials (Scholastic materials:  Picture books cards and play Materials for children, while only experienced leaders while only 0.4% indicated that Parents can take care for their children, (0.4%) Owner should be friendly, (0.4%) Home owners should be approachable and loved by community members and lastly only (0.4%) The place should be attractive to children and parents.

From the above results it therefore implies that parents what a good environments and sanitation with large space that can facilitate learning before they can send their children to study at Home based ECD.

Table 5.2: What a home should have to make it qualify to be a good home centre to take their children as provided by category of participants

On findings out what a home should have to make it qualify to be a good home center to take their children as provided by category of participants , it was reported that (19.6%) of the respondents stated that Sanitation facilities (hand washing facilities cleanliness), however categorically this was emphasized by the parents with children with special needs who were 26.2% , and the care givers 25.4%. of the care givers, the respondents, 17.3% Good pit latrine , however category analyzing majority 22.8% of the mothers emphasized good pit latrine and 19.0% were parents with special needs and (17.3%) of all the respondents assert that Larger space (large and safe compound, playground), however this was highly emphasized by the fathers at (26.7) and 12.5% asserted that Trained caregivers, assistants are essential.

This Findings Implies that the both the parents and the caregivers acknowledge the benefit of sanitation and clean environment to the proper learning of their children.

Table 5.3: What a home should have to make it qualify to be a good home centre to take their children as provided per district

Source; primary data

In analysis of the district by district response on what a home should have to make it qualify to be a good home centre to take their children as provided per district, the results indicated that , Majority 19.6% Sanitation facilities (hand washing facilities cleanliness), however the highest response was in the district of kalaki at 24.1%, while the lowest concern was in the district of kalungu at 17.6%. the results further indicated that 17.3% of the respodents asserted that Good pit latrine is essential, while 17.3% indicated that large space this response were also specifically high in the districts of kaliro, 22.1% and Buikwe 22.2% , 12.5% of the respondents also indicated that Trained care givers is essential , however on this the highest response was in the district of Kalaki at 14.8%.

Implication therefore indicates that all the respondents in the districts recognize the importance of saniatation and clean environments in enhancing quality learning in ECD

Table 6.1: As a parent, what specific skills do you want your child to learn besides literacy and numeracy? (by gender)

Table 6.2: Specific skills parents would want their children to learn besides literacy and numeracy (by category)

Final Table 6.3: Specific skills parents would want their children to learn besides literacy and numeracy

Source: Primary Data

On findings out the Specific skills parents would want their children to learn besides literacy and numeracy, it was reported that Majority 20.7% of the respondents indicated that they prefer Vocational skills (Plaiting hair, Shaving hair, Brick Laying, Carpentry, tailoring, repairing shoes), In analyzing the responses per district it was evident that the highest response was from the respondents in Kaliro at 26.2%, while 13.9%  Agriculture (Digging, rearing animals, poultry, planting trees, however this response was highest in Kalungu at 17.2%, the Table results further indicated that 11.9% Craft work (making balls, ropes, weaving baskets, netting table clothes, making mats, making balls, ropes, dolls, modelling, painting, painting ) and Self-care/personal Hygiene (Cleanliness, taking care of themselves, Self Help skills, toilet manners, being smart. It was also further reported 8.8% Home chores (Sweeping compound, Peeling food, Washing utensils, splitting firewood. In further analysis of the districts it was evident that the highest response on craft was highest in Kalaki at 18.1% while self-care/personal hygiene response was highest in Buikwe.  This study results therefore implies that the respondents acknowledge the importance of ECD vocational education to their children.

Table 7.1: Shows arrangement of skills in the order of most preferred as provided by participants by gender

Source: primary data

In analysis of arrangement of skills in the order of most preferred as provided by participants by gender, it was reported that majority 17.8% Vocational skills (Plaiting hair, Shaving hair, Brick Laying, Carpentry, tailoring, repairing shoes, catering, construction), However specifically in analysis per district this was highest among male at 18.3% response, 15.9% Agriculture (Digging, rearing animals, poultry, planting trees), However this was specifically high in among female with a percentage of 16.4%, while 13.9% was on Craft work (making balls, ropes, weaving baskets, netting table clothes, making mats, making balls, ropes, dolls, modelling, painting, painting, 13.2% Home chores (Sweeping compound, Peeling food, Washing utensils, splitting firewood, slashing, washing clothes while 8.1% Self-care/personal Hygiene (Cleanliness, taking care of themselves, Self Help skills, toilet manners, being smart, lay a bed, bathing alone. This findings also indicates that majority of both male and female acknowledge that the above skills are essential for their children top acquire.

Final Table 7.2: Shows arrangement of skills in the order of most preferred as provided by participants by category

Source : primary data

On analysis of the skills most preferred by the parents it was indicated that Vocational skills (Plaiting hair, Shaving hair, Brick Laying, Carpentry, tailoring, repairing shoes, catering, construction), Agriculture (Digging, rearing animals, poultry, planting trees, Craft work (making balls, ropes, weaving baskets, netting table clothes, making mats, making balls, ropes, dolls, modelling, painting, painting ), Home chores (Sweeping compound, Peeling food, Washing utensils, splitting firewood, slashing, washing clothes.

This results further indicates that the respodents acknowledge the importance of ECD to their children as they have preferred vocational skills for their children.

Table 7.3: Shows arrangement of skills in the order of most preferred as provided by participants by district