In one classroom, a group of preschool teachers squatted on the floor, pretending to be cave-dwelling hunter-gatherers. Next door, another group ended a raucous musical game by placing their tambourines and drums atop their heads.
Silly business, to be sure, but part of an agenda of utmost seriousness: To spread the word that America’s children need more time for freewheeling play at home and in their schools.
“We’re all sad, and we’re a little worried. … We’re sad about something missing in childhood,” psychologist and author Michael Thompson told 900 early childhood educators from 22 states packed into an auditorium last week.
“We have to fight back,” he declared. “We’re going to fight for play.”
I couldn’t agree more!!!! I taught the other end of the spectrum — high school Seniors — and it saddened me how they were unable to think creatively and use their imaginations. It’s no wonder, really. We warehouse them from the age of 3 now and structure their time rigidly. If someone wasn’t telling them what to do, what and how to think, they were befuddled.
It became clear to me that this — and a society that attempts to rob young people of their innocence vert early — was a problem I needed to address. Thus, with every genre of Brit. Lit. I taught them, I included activities that forced creativity. They wrote Christmas sonnets and made Victorian-style Christmas cards for teachers, administrators and board members; they created medieval tapestries based on one of the Canterbury Tales; they made “movie posters” for a movie based on Beowulf and chose the actors they thought would best play the characters (this was before an actual movie came out); and when we finished a unit on Arthurian legend, they each made a personal coat-of-arms based on the heraldry they found on the Internet for their families. Heh, we even had a “knighting ceremony” when they presented their coats-of-arms to the class.
It didn’t take long for the students to eagerly look forward to class and their next lessons. Their writing improved and I was able to evoke fabulous short stories and poems from them. Old-school teachers and administrators first frowned on my efforts — until they saw the results! It can and SHOULD be done! All of my students were immigrants from Mexico, the vast majority being economically disadvantaged. Reclaiming their childhood turned them into enthusiastic students.
OK, let’s look for some reasons behind there findings (in parentheses):
• Parents’ reluctance to let their kids play outside on their own, for fear of abduction or injury, and the companion trend of scheduling lessons, supervised sports and other structured activities that consume a large chunk of a child’s non-school hours.
(Thank you Ted Turner – not! The advent of the 24 hour news industry has created an irrational fear in today’s society that danger lurks around every corner. a good bit on that is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjMiRhvZGmw)
• More hours per week spent by kids watching TV, playing video games, using the Internet, communicating on cellphones.
(parents are burned out because in many cases they are working too much so they have $$ to buy TVs, video games, cellphones which they give thier kids to keep them occupied)
• Shortening or eliminating recess at many schools — a trend so pronounced that the National Parent Teacher Association has launched a “Rescuing Recess” campaign.
(remember when trial lawyers and insurance companies did not run thw world? when we had diving boards? those were the days! recess is a liability for schools on no small part to trial lawyers and insurance companies)
• More emphasis on formal learning in preschool, more homework for elementary school students and more pressure from parents on young children to quickly acquire academic skills.
(neurotic, un-biblically based parenting that puts prestige of elite schools and societal notions of “success” over the value of kids finding their way in the world)
Why are they in school?
Don
Leander Harding+ has a new book that I bought for my wife:
[url=http://www.leanderharding.com/blog/2008/10/30/my-book-on-theology-and-psychology-of-childhood-now-available-thru-ytc-press/ ]Reverence for the Heart of the Child[/url].
Some of the great things that my wife and I have been able to do for our kids:
Keep them out of organized club sports. You would not believe how much time some of our neighbors’ kids spend in club soccer, cheerleading, hockey, sailing etc. etc. etc. The financial burden their parents took upon themselves was staggering, and the burden on family time even more so. Our kids are a little older now, and in their school’s soccer program, but it is more limited in scope than a lot of club sports.
Enroll them in 4-H. Yes I know this sounds like “organized activity,” but the kids do have to take responsibility for certain probjects. In addition, they’ve gone to inexpensive summer camp for several years running. Getting them out from under our thumbs for a week at a time helped them understand that sometimes they have to figure out stuff on their own.
Buy a lot of art supplies, books, and musical instruments. Make them use accumulated allowance money, birthday money from other relatives, etc. if they want Wii, game cube, or such. When the money is “theirs,” they are a lot more careful about their purchases.
Place reasonable limits on their “screen time.” This includes the above reference Wii and game cube, as well as time with the family computer, and DVDs or videotapes (our TV does not have an antenna, and we don’t subscribe to cable).
Teach them to cook.
Live in a neighborhood where they can go out and play. We’re lucky here, I know, but we also made a choice not to live in the city. Suburban life has its minuses, but our safe quiet cul de sac is a nice place for kids.
And yes, we’ve been able to live comfortably on one salary, so my wife is at home full time right now. Not everyone has that option, I know, but some price themselves out of that option with spending habits. We deliberately bought less house, car, etc. than we might have. The benefits have been enormous.
As I write this, there are 2 second grad jedi knights flying around my house shooting each other – both with elaborately drawn maps and diagrams of their strategies…. they are loud, knocking lamps over, stepping on the dog, and laughing REALLY hard. I am commenting on this thread and laughing at them. Parenting in the year 2008 continues…..
And, yeah yeah yeah, I know that REAL jedi knights only use light sabers and the force. These knights , apparently, are packing some serious heat.
I’ve never understood exactly what the point of “preschool” was other than glorified baby sitting, especially those “ivy league” preschools that uppity rich parents fight over getting their children into. I mean, several thousand dollars a year for preschool? What, are the little feltboard story time characters made out of silk and the koolaid made with Evian water?
Kids are in school for 13 years, not counting college. Is preschool really going to teach them anything they won’t learn in that amount of time? I am convinced we could cut out half of middle/high school classes, and no one would notice a difference in terms of maturity or ACT/SAT scores.
I remember the incredible amount of freedom I suddenly had when I was in college, as opposed to high school. I usually took 15 to 18 hours of classes on top of football, and I still felt like I had buku’s of free time because my high school was 7 classes a day, 8:30 to 4 with football practice until 6PM, then homework after dinner for at least an hour: all regimented with no free time whatsoever other than a 25 minute lunch break (which was the very smallest allowed by the state). I got to college and felt like I have been paroled from prison.
Archer,
As a mother of a preschooler, preschool does serve a really good purpose – it allows kids to play together in groups, to learn to share, and how to simply get along with other kids their age. At least at my child’s preschool they do have lots of play time and there is not a heavy emphasis placed on school readiness. And since they only go during the mornings, they have family time, regular nap time, and play time at home as well. It has really helped with my child’s social skills, and has made him much more comfortable with other children.
It also allows their mother a few hours a week to get the errands done, get groceries, and get some of the more time-consuming and attention-needing chores done without the constant interruptions of MOMMY, MOMMY, MOMMY!!!! or fishing children out of my makeup drawer. 🙂
But even at age 3, I’ve noticed that some of the children in my child’s class already have dance classes, t-ball (as if a 3 year old can figure baseball), soccer, and other organized activities. I hate it. My child isn’t really interested, and that is fine with me. I want him to be able to have time to play, to imagine, to create, and time to do absolutely nothing but lay on his bed and daydream. It will be some years before we get him involved in one of those organized activities, I think.
#8, Archer
I cannot speak for private preschools, however I can tell you about public preschool in Texas. I am in the process of getting my Early Childhood-4th grade teacher certification.
In public schools, preschool is primarily for children who are considered “at risk” (due to where they live, family history, mother is still a teenager, homeless, etc), from low income families, ESL children and children with special needs. The public preschool program is designed to help these children become more comfortable in a school environment and it gives them an opportunity to socialize that they might not have otherwise. And the job of a public preschool teacher is very challenging. This is why I prefer to teach kinder instead, because although I will have these children in my classroom at some point, having a roomful of only these children is too much for me to handle. It takes a very special person for that. For more information about early childhood education in TX, please check out [url:http://www.tea.state.tx.us/curriculum/early/prekkfaq.html%5Dthis link[/url].
I assume private preschools are quite a bit different, but I have no idea what they are like.