How do you view your child?

By Michelle Lawton

What is your image of a child? This is a question I ask my teachers on the very first day of their training. It is something I find extremely important and it informs the very backbone of our school’s early childhood philosophy.

Do you think of children as intrinsically capable or innately needy? Our society tends to believe the latter. It is ingrained in our culture that children are needy, somewhat incapable members of our society. I ask you to take a moment to challenge these thoughts.

It is a very different approach to education than many of us may have had. I’m sure we can all remember the traditional “school teacher” image—most likely a woman who is standing over us giving us the education we need. Maybe she’s sitting at a desk with bright shapes teaching us to count or recognize color.

Read the rest of this entry »