Take your time, there is no rush

Over and over I am asked about young children and school. When should my little one start Kindergarten? What about transitional Kindergarten? When should my child start reading? Is there something wrong, my 4 year old isn’t reading? And on it goes.

Most of the answers that I hear which push early everything are put out there by people who have not, do not, and probably won’t ever, teach in an elementary, or any other, classroom.

Anyone who is a proponent of privatizing education is by definition pushing early everything. Follow the money, always follow the money. It’s a business model, not an educational model.

In general, here is my response to all those questions. Take your time, there is no rush. There is no documented gain from pushing academics into the early years of a child’s life.

What is documented is that children are natural learners. They are vacuuming up every bit of information that comes across their young minds. When it is time for them to make sense of any of it, they do. It is a developmental process, pure and simple. It cannot be rushed. There is no magic food, music, movement, noise level, or curriculum that can over ride those processes. Get over it.

Childhood is a very special place. Sacred is a good term. It doesn’t last long, and attempting to stampede young children into the adult world is, to be plain, completely wrong and horrendous.

Many years ago, perhaps before many of you who read this blog were born, Peter, Paul, and Mary, a folk group, sang about Puff the Magic Dragon. In the mid 1960’s, the common misconception was that this was a song about smoking dope. It wasn’t, and isn’t.

Read the lyrics. It’s about childhood, how limited it is, and how sad it is when it is gone.

Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree is a good book to read. It illustrates the same thing.

What is important to know is that once a child goes through the door to adulthood, they don’t get to come back. It’s a door that only swings one way.

Consider that when you are in doubt about whether you child is being pushed too hard, or that childhood needs to be hurried.

As always, assume nothing, verify everything.