Daly, Mary Catherine

Dr. Mary Catherine Daly is a mother of three young children - aged 2,4 and 6. She has completed an Honours Degree in Early Childhood Studies together with a Ph.D. on ‘The Emotional, Social, Moral and Spiritual Development of the Young Child’ at University College Cork, Ireland. In addition she has wide experience of the implementation of theory in practical situations and presently works in the area of Early Years in the South East of Ireland.

Developing the Whole Child - The Importance of the Emotional, Social, Moral, and Spiritual in Early Years Education and Care

2004 0-7734-6166-3
The critical importance of the early years is now recognized and it is widely acknowledged that early learning and experience remain crucial to all later development. A limited amount of publications are beginning to address the emotional and social domain. However, there are few if any publications which address the important areas of moral and spiritual growth. This book addresses the emotional, social, moral and spiritual progress of the young child. One of the vital aspects of this book is its proposal to optimize the progress of these areas within the context of the whole child. Its use of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as its structural base to outline the needs of children provides a very useful framework for the reader to fully comprehend just what is involved. Though written by an Irish author the book tackles developmental areas and indeed philosophical questions which are important all over the world. The book shows that at present we are not doing the best for our children and the negative repercussions of this are being felt in homes, schools, communities and in societies worldwide. The author suggests that the best possible opportunities and experiences must be provided for children in those vital early years so that children have happy and fulfilling experiences. The book puts the onus on the reader to start making changes immediately. If we ignore this book’s contents we do so at our peril. Thus this book makes a very valuable contribution to scholarship and one that can not be ignored.