Is Kindergarten Harming Your Child?
Children Learn Through Play
Let kids be kids, that is, let them play! Research has shown the importance of play in young children and the benefits it has on their cognition, social/emotional development, perseverance, independence, creativity, concentration, and much more. Studies have proven that children who attend academic kindergartens have no long-term benefit and in fact, fare worse than children who attended play-based kindergartens. Parents can easily get swept up in the allure of what academic schools promise our children’s future. As a parent, you want to do your best, and you want the best for your child. Only the most studious schools, ones that will load your children with homework, and have them testing at stellar levels. Let us not be blindsided by what research has proven; children learn best through play.
Play Is Best:
This past summer a group of kindergarten teachers in Brooklyn wrote and read a letter (see HERE) to their school committee that was signed by over 500 parents. The teachers talked about a new gap that had emerged in their classrooms, the “reality gap.” A gap of research showing how kids learn best and the policies required to teach them. Teachers are seeing their students struggle with anxiety, they hear their students saying how they hate school, and they see disruptive behaviors emerge when children sit for too long.
Our Education System:
There is a huge discrepancy between the politicians who make education policy and the methods by which children learn best. Recent programs that have been set into place such as “no child left behind,” “common core,” and “race to the top,” are all ways to measure data and teachers are merely tools to deliver these concepts. This “one size fits all” type of policies leaves no room for individual interests or dispositions. Rigid structures in early education impact a child’s sense of creativity, independence, self-regulation, and social/emotional development.
Education systems should spend more time accounting for how children learn best, through play. Instead of forcing young children to sit still for long periods of time, which is leading to a slew of emotional disturbances, we should foster a love of learning that will carry them throughout their lifetime. We should focus on building children up, raising self-confidence, and supporting their ability to make meaningful relationships with peers and teachers. What are your thoughts on this topic? How is your child’s school set up? How is your child faring in their Tk or Kinder class?
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