McMillan’s Ideas for Supporting Young Children and Their Families

This article explores McMillan’s ideas for supporting young children and their families, including theories on the relationship between children and parents, the impact of poverty on young children, and the transformative role of nursery schools. The article also discusses the key role of play in early childhood education and the importance of cooperation between students, families, and teachers.

McMillan’s ideas for supporting young children 1
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McMillan’s ideas for supporting young children and their families
Introduction
Two sisters Margaret (1860-1931) and Rachael McMillan (1859-1917) were social
reformers who went to England in order to solve the poverty problem which was caused by
industrial revolution. The sisters were believed to be born in the US, but after the death of their
father they moved back to Scotland which was their home of origin. The main purpose of
relocating to England was to search a good job. They never found any formal employment. Due
to this, they begun moving from home to home owned by poor people. This made them to live a
social activism life, which was aimed at improving the lives of slum child. On their campaign
they advocated for school meals and they opened one school based on health clinic in England.
Around 1911 the two opened an open air nursery school and training centre in London, which
registered a total of 30 children aged 18 months to 7 years. Open air environment, a play oriented
was born out of the two responses to health problems they were witnessing in poor communities
which were designed to be a model to educate future and current teachers (Cathy Nutbrown,
2009).
They referred this program as nursery school to portray their care and concerns in nature
and learning. The two concluded that young children in England were lacking care and education

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in their most influential years. However the foundation of the schools was formed from the work
of the most influential people such as Charles Darwin, Owen, Plato, Froebel and Rousseau.
Besides, providing the basics which are care and education, the program also was premeditated
to capture health problems before they were enrolled in formal schooling. The sisters stressed
that teachers must know what attracts pupils and employ their concentration (Cathy Nutbrown,
2009).
Theories which links the relationship between children and parent
To explain the psychological significant between children and parent several theories
have been put into place. Around the 20th century researches was patchy and did not inhibit
strong views as to how the parent were to conduct their parenting roles in the society. The
theories explain the co-existence between children and parents. The relationship is very
significance in child growth (McMillan, 1923). Parents are supposed to be very close to their
children at all the time so that they can identify any change in their children behavior in case it
arises. Children are not only supposed to be montored but also they are supposed to be protected
all the time, to do so the relationship between them and their parents must be established at all
the time. Some of the theories that try to explain the parenting role are explained below
 Social learning theory
 Attachment theory
 Parenting style
1. Social learning theory
The theory suggests that the child’s experience or exposures will directly or indirectly
affect his or her behavior. For expel the theory argues if a child gets punished for doing a certain

McMillan’s ideas for supporting young children 3
act he or she will never repeat the act again (Hendrick, 1994). On the other hand, if a child will
be congratulated for doing well he or she will continue doing it again and again. Basically, the
theory stresses that children learn a lot about the social learning.
2. Attachment theory
The theory states that children will be attached to their parents as they feel sense of
security when they are close to their parents. Security is a fundamental right for every individual,
children recognizes this and would like to be protected against exploitation, human labor or
oppression. The fundamental roles of parents are to provide securities to their kids. The bond
between children and parents increases when the children feel secure at any time (Lowndes,
1960).
In the long run the theory proposes that the attachment between the parents and kid is
determined by the quality of care provided. In particular, sensitive and responsiveness may bring
about secure or insecure attachment. One should realizes that insecure attachment is not one and
the same with disturbance while a secure attachment does not guarantee free life which does not
have any disturbance.
3. Parenting style
This is the psychological construct which is used to represent the standard strategies in
the children background. In many cases, the quality of parenting can be of great importance to
the child than the quality of time spends with the child by the parent. For example, a parent can
spend the entire evening with the evening doing something with demonstrating the enough
interest required toward the child (McMillan, 1930).

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Impact of poverty on bodies of young children
McMillan argued that, health is a very vital factor in young children. It plays an
important role not only on child growth but also on the ability of the child to learn well. Poverty
does not only affect child concentration in class but also it affects the child’s healthy. Poverty
results to weak body which is prone to diseases and other infection. This means that a child
raised from poor family it will hard for him to understand anything in class. This is because the
child is hungry and spends most of her time in looking for food lather than sleeping or reading.
In some cases, poverty can lead to death (Jack P. Shonkoff, 2009). For instance, in 2011 majority
of children died in Africa due to starvation. According to the WHO and other organization, the
families of the affected kids were unable to provide food for the children as they were living
below the poverty line. The most affected families were form northern Kenya which is desert.
Children as victims
Macmillan advocated for healthy and education for young. According to them poverty
and other social norms such as lack of good health mostly affected child and not the parents. For
instance, old people might have developed antibiotics to fight bacteria causing diseases. This
may be different ton the kids whose is hard to develop the antibiotics. They continued to argue
that incase of unhygienic environment and lack of good education weak in the society are greatly
affected. The weak are composed of young children and women in the society. This is what
Margaret and Rachael tried to advocate in their calls, equality. Earlier before the industrialization
in London Macmillan’s confirmed that young people never attended any school and due to this
they continued to become poorer. Investing in children education is investing in the society at
large (GOV.UK, 2013).

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A mission to rescue children
On their mission, the Macmillan’s tried to rescue young children from poverty, bad
health and slum. This is why they visited the London in the time of industrial revolution when
the parents neglected their children to work in the industrials. Macmillan realized there was no
body to look for young children as they were left alone in the house. This can be seen when they
visited from house to house in slum area. The mission was to make sure young children attend
the school and shaped when they are young. Another important rescue mission was to take them
from poverty and fight for good health.
Poverty and ability to learn
There is a big relationship between the poverty and ability to learn. For instance, some of
the causes of poverty to learning include lack of school fees. A poor person cannot be able to
take her or his kids to schools. This will mean that only the kids of rich people will attends the
school thus taking the best jobs in the country later after the school. Macmillan realized this and
acted as the poor kids activists. Also, a poor family will not have something to eat and it is very
hard for empty stomach to understand anything in class. Another problem associated with
poverty is poor health care, a sick person cannot perform well in class nor can the parents
support their families (Cambridge University Press Giardiello, 2014).
School Cooperation
Students and their families are supposed to engage in school activities on different ways.
Parents are supposed to support their children education by paying school fees, engaging on
school work and providing basic needs to their kids while still in school. For a kid to participate
fully on school activity cooperation, every kind is supposed to be health and secure. The

McMillan’s ideas for supporting young children 6
cooperation between children and parents, children and teachers, teachers and parents can be
enhanced through mutual understanding. For instance, through providing security to their kids,
paying school fees and encouraging their kids the relationship between kids and parents are
enhanced (Joyce, 2012).
Transformative role of the nursery school
Children aged between 18 months to six years must be taken to nursery school. The
tender age of 18 months is known as kindergarten where kinds are taken care of by protective
teachers. This was motivated by the fact that majority of parents used to work on industries
making it hard to spend their time with the young ones. The only option was to take their kids to
kindergarten. Even if the kids are not been taken care by their parents, the conducive
environment helps the kids to grow health and courageous. The people who take care of toddlers
in tender age are trained to do so in a caring manner (Joyce, 2012). On the other, when the child
reach 3 years he or she is introduced to nursery school where they are taught how to read and
write. The research indicates that people are shaped when still young but not when they are
grownups. Apart from basic education and health services the young kids are taught and
educated how to transform the society to be a better place for everybody. The transformation
involves the fact that the reasoning of educated people is fur much better than the one who have
not attended. For instance, in many cases the educated child can understand what is good and bad
easily unlike the others.
Key role of play
Nursery school plays a key role in the society. Some of the roles include providing
employment opportunities to the old. Kids must be taught in school which means a person must

McMillan’s ideas for supporting young children 7
be employed to teach them. By doing so the school offers employment opportunity. This will
reduces crime cases in the area and also it will improve the living hood of the employed person.
A place with nursery, chances of a government starting a health centre is relatively higher. This
means that both the education and health services will be offered concurrently (McMillan, 1930).
Conclusion
In conclusion, people should be controlled and taught the manner when they are still
young. Investing in our kids is regarded as also investing in our future. This is the reason why
many states and government across the world embraced Macmillan call and started supporting
the call to introduce many nursery schools. As a result everything has changed and children are
learning in health environment at any time.
Bibliography
Cambridge University Press Giardiello, 2014. Pioneers in Early Childhood Education: The roots
and legacies of Rachel and Margaret McMillan, Maria Montessori and Susan Isaacs. London: Routledge.

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Cathy Nutbrown, . C. . S., 2009. Early childhood education : history, philosophy, experience. Los
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GOV.UK, 2013. Households below average income (HBAI) statistics. [Online]
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McMillan, M., 1923. What the Open Air Nursery School is. London: The Labour Party.
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