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.
But was it that bright red circle or the first time you noticed the beauty of a full moon that interested you in shape? Maybe it was the wheels on your mom’s car or the shape of your father’s favorite wristwatch that meant “circle.” The adults who take basic educational concepts and bring them to life are the ones who have the most impact on children. Children are very capable of learning yet it’s not only what a child learns, but also how a child learns that is important in this process. If a child is interested and excited by something, it is a great vehicle for educational discovery.
In my house our “garbage hunt” serves as a fun vehicle for learning. My three-year-old, Kielson, is obsessed with trash—garbage trucks, garbage cans, our garbage man, Ralph, and just about anything that has to do with waste. Kielson did not learn his colors in a classroom but rather through his love of garbage! There are red stripes on our garbage truck, blue, green and black cans, and our garbage man always wears an orange and yellow vest. Ask Kielson his favorite color and you’re sure to hear an emphatic “compost!”
It is important for educators and parents alike to join children on their adventures in early childhood. We are not the experts, but the facilitators tasked with helping children bridge the gap between their curiosities and their questions.
Here are a few suggestions on how to engage with your child in a cooperative learning experience:
Get down to a child’s level. Adults can make a big impact on a child when they’re eye level. Bend down when talking with a child or drop to your knees. How often do we tell children to look an adult in the eye when talking to them? Ever think about how far away those eyes are to someone three feet tall?
Observe and listen: Let’s face it. We can all stand to improve our listening skills. The same applies when interacting with children. We can learn so much about a child’s interests and curiosities through listening.
Don’t model beyond the developmental ability of your child: Ever heard the request “draw me a horse” or in my case “a garbage truck”? As parents, our first instinct is to create the requested illustration. However, even an artistically challenged adult will create an illustration well above the developmental skill level of a young child. In pleasing the request, we’ve created something that the child cannot duplicate. This often leads to frustration and less interest in trying themselves. Try turning it back to your child by saying, “I want to see you draw a horse.” The child often responds with, “I can’t.”. Challenge this with questions. For example, a parent might say “A garbage truck…hmm what does a garbage truck look like? Does a garbage truck have wheels? Oh it does, how many? What shape are wheels? Show me how you draw circular wheels….”
Play: We could all use a little break in our day to just play! Let your child bring you back to the wonder of imaginative play and fantasy. Turn over those cushions and build that fort. Get out your scarves and teacups or grab the old wooden spoon, your best double boiler and bring out the band. Remember that our “play” is a child’s reality which makes play-based learning innately appealing and more effective.
With summer upon us, the routine of school gives way to a less structured day. As parents we must find the balance in keeping summer fun and our sanity intact. Statistics show this can lead to more hours of Dora and Thomas than a parent might admit.
Rather than turn to TV, here are a few ideas that involve the whole family in making summer exciting. Summer is the perfect time to set out on educational adventures!
- Plan, shop, cook: Make dinner a family outing. Summer is a time of amazing produce and culinary treasures. Take a trip to the local farmer’s market and enlist the whole family in planning a meal. Have the children help decide on the menu, prepare the meal and of course clean up afterwards. Still need an activity in the late afternoon? Reuse old paper scraps from the recycling bin and have your children create placemats for all the guests.
- Create a treasure hunt in your home or neighborhood: Get out for a nature walk and collect treasures at the park. Or, just look around the house for recyclable and re-useable objects for art projects. All you need is a little glue and some found objects and a masterpiece is born.
- Bus/trolley/ferry trips: Ride around town or back and forth to San Francisco on public transportation. Children love adventures that don’t necessarily have a fully thought out destination—be explorers! For older children, you can have them help plan out your route by using maps or drawing their own map. For younger children, you can play I Spy. For example, “I spy a big letter ‘T’! Can you find where it is?” A great open-ended transportation trip is to take the Presidi-Go shuttle around the Presidio. You can hop on and off at various stops and explore the natural wonders of this special part of San Francisco. Some favorite spots for children in the Presidio include Baker Beach, The Ecology Trail, “Yoda Fountain” (at Lucas Center), the waterfall and creek (Lucas Center), the Fire Station, and El Polin Springs.
Michelle Lawton is founder of Stretch the Imagination—an early childhood development center-Stretch offers programs and summer camps for children age 6 months to 8 years- Stretch has schools in Corte Madera and San Francisco - Michelle has been a resource for parents and educators for 8 years –-www.stretchtheimagination.com.
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