Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Who's Teaching The Preschoolers?
Question: What are your thoughts on pre-school? Are very young children better off constantly interacting with a dedicated adult parent to stimulate their brain growth, or is there a benefit to socializing them with their peers at an early age? What's the optimum balance of this for raising an intelligent yet independent and socially adept child?
An excellent response by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton (of the Brazelton Institute) that talks about quality child care and what constitutes quality care.
My favorite quote from the article is this:
I think that Dr. Brazelton hits the bullseye. Early education is important and the age old fight on whether child care is better or worse for the child is not important. What is important is quality of care... if that come from the parents or other caregivers does not matter. What counts is that the foundations for lifelong learning are instilled early in life.
I hope that you read the article. Let me know your opinion...
Question: What are your thoughts on pre-school? Are very young children better off constantly interacting with a dedicated adult parent to stimulate their brain growth, or is there a benefit to socializing them with their peers at an early age? What's the optimum balance of this for raising an intelligent yet independent and socially adept child?
An excellent response by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton (of the Brazelton Institute) that talks about quality child care and what constitutes quality care.
My favorite quote from the article is this:
The reality is that while the human brain never grows and develops more rapidly and dramatically than in the first three years of life, children's most important learning experience will not come from videos or computer programs but from interactions with those who care about them most - parents, teachers, siblings and peers.
I think that Dr. Brazelton hits the bullseye. Early education is important and the age old fight on whether child care is better or worse for the child is not important. What is important is quality of care... if that come from the parents or other caregivers does not matter. What counts is that the foundations for lifelong learning are instilled early in life.
I hope that you read the article. Let me know your opinion...
// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 5:00 AM 
