I can recall when my daughter was in child care. In her two year-old class there were sixteen children and four care-givers. I observed how they would keep the children so engaged throughout the day. Story time, play time, special projects and crafts, lunch, nap, formal instruction, walks to the playground…they kept those kids on their toes.
My daughter eventually came home full-time. But after witnessing what the child development center did with my daughter all day I thought, there’s no way I can compete with that.
No, I cannot compete. At the child care center there were four care-givers who were paid full-time to take my daughter from activity to activity throughout the day. There wasn’t a day that went by when my daughter did not come home with a “project” that she had created. A project a day? Get with it, Mom!
After my daughter came home there were times when I felt a little less than adequate to be her teacher. Yet all of the reading I’ve done in child development teaches me that toddlers and preschoolers learn primarily through “play.”
At home I conduct one and a half hours (tops) of structured “teacher” directed learning. The rest of the learning occurs through hands-on life skills—helping Mommy cook, cleaning up and organizing their messes, exercising alongside Mommy to exercise videos, going to the grocery store, reading, bike riding, dining-in, visiting the library, drawing, learning from their favorite children’s television programs, and of course—playing.
However, I’ve observed a certain level of sophistication within this so-called “play.” My daughter and her younger brother create elaborate adventures and practice rescuing one another (with incredibly convincing sound-effects I must add). Are you two okay in there? They produce entire “movies” replete with costumes and props. They have a community of Barbies (male and female) who get dressed (and undressed), who attend church, go to the beach in their pink convertible, go to parties, date, get married, have children and drive a Volvo station wagon. (Really, Mattel® does make a blue Volvo station wagon with a car seat for the baby!)
So no, I’m not running behind my children with a new, exciting and supposedly mentally stimulating project each hour of the day. More than anything I’m a facilitator. Yes, we learn our ABCs and 123s. But I also make sure they have on-hand what they need to explore their world and even create a new world of their own if they so choose.
I’m now at peace. I no longer feel I have to compete with day care and my daughter is doing just fine. Hey, if what the experts say is true and playing really is fundamental to a preschooler’s learning and development, then my children are learning a lot!
Copyright ©2005 by Anita S. Lane
Visit my online magazine for moms
http://keepingfamilyfirst.org/
http://keepingfamilyfirst.org/
