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ASYMCA Operation Little Learners
Armed Services YMCA San Diego’s Operation Little Learners
Operation Little Learners is a core program of the Armed Services YMCA that provides a platform for military spouses and their young children to learn together and connect with other local military families. In San Diego, Operation Little Learners is a mobile program, bringing no-cost preschool learning into military housing neighborhoods across the county.
Military spouses and their children ages 18 months to 5 years old participate in lessons designed to create stronger bonds between parents and children, develop a love of learning in young children, and build relationships with other families which lead to a solid foundation of support within their own neighborhoods. Through participation in this program, parents also gain awareness of community resources, and learn activities they can do to support their children’s development at home.
Katie, a military spouse participant in the program, bonded with her toddler through the program and shared that she is “so happy to have learned how to engage my little one in open-ended activities that keep her busy and learning… Through Operation Little Learners, I have discovered what my daughter enjoys doing most and now I know how to provide options that she, as a busy toddler, will enjoy and learn from.” With 1800 children on the Navy’s waitlist for childcare here in San Diego, our military families struggle to find ways to engage their young children in valuable learning activities which are pivotal to their future success in school. Because the early childhood years set the tone for a lifetime of learning, the Armed Services YMCA San Diego provides this powerful opportunity to engage military children in lessons that meet all components of Early Childhood Development and provide military spouses with an understanding of early learning, as well.
In partnership with Liberty Military Housing, the program has operated out of 6 military housing locations for several years. During the pandemic, however, when in-person operations were not possible, Armed Services YMCA San Diego created a new format to ensure that military families remained connected and young children’s learning continued. With YouTube and Facebook Live, military families joined in from right here in San Diego and from places across the world like Japan and Switzerland.
This program and others provided by Armed Services YMCA San Diego address the challenges of military life in a myriad of ways. Youth development has long been a focus of this organization. Huge life stressors like relocation every 2-3 years, long parent deployments, and the ever-present reality of war place military children in repeated scenarios of social isolation and falling behind in school. Military life impacts their social, academic, and emotional well-being and many times places these children at risk for greater challenges later in life.
The Armed Services YMCA San Diego provides youth development which creates a platform for military children to create lasting social connections with peers, receive academic support and supplemental STEAMbased learning, eat healthy meals, get active, and learn coping strategies that can be applied to military life stressors. Day camps, after-school programs, parentchild interactive classes, and equestrian experiences at Horse of the Sun Ranch are all designed to support military children and families in meeting the challenges of military life through the application of core military values like Honor, Courage, Respect, and Self-less Service.
The Armed Services YMCA San Diego is committed to the vision of Strengthening Our Military Family. This is an organization who has humbly been serving our nation’s warriors and families for over 100 years and will be honored to do so for another 100 more.
