I hope you enjoyed today's discussion on what children can/should/do learn by living at home with you. We made connections between what you learned in your upbringing, what you want your children to learn, and what children these days are learning (or not). The Children are CapableWe made a list of things our children (at age 3 or 4) are capable of doing. These are things that some families in the class expect or have asked their children to accomplish.
Introducing ResponsibilityBe clear with children about your expectations; however, remember what it means to be a child. Prioritize play over a clean home. Prioritize quality family time over a to do list. Work to strike a healthy balance between giving your children the space to show independence and responsibility while still enjoying their childhoods to the fullest. One way you can begin to find that balance is to create a rhythm for your week or day. Schedules are rigid. Rhythms are flexible guidelines that add some structure to without planning out each minute. You might implement a morning rhythm of:
Think about what you value, how you want to spend your family time, and those goals you made for your child today. How might your rhythm look? Use these questions to get you examining your week:
I'm looking forward to seeing you all next week to begin our discussion on strong families and expressing care.
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We spent the class period watching a video of some of our children as they engaged in their class period. As we were watching, we focused our observations by creating a goal. Creating a goal for our observations helps center us and focus in on the important elements. Some examples of goals from our observations were:
Our DiscussionIn our class, there were many interesting takeaways from our observations such as how children interact in the classroom setting versus home, development, and teacher engagement/techniques. Classroom BehaviorsMany people were interested in how their children interact in the classroom as opposed to the home. This would make a great observation goal for the home to further explore your child's tendencies. A few areas to consider are:
DevelopmentObservation is a great way to get a better understanding of our children's development. We are able to better see how they are working to challenge themselves, the play choices they are making, and their goals. In our class, we spent a minute thinking about play. This age for our children is really neat because we are seeing a transition from onlooker and/or parallel play to associative and/or cooperative play. According to pathways.org, a site utilizing medically backed resources on child development, between ages 2 and 3, children engage in solitary play, onlooker play, and parallel play.
Notes from the TeacherOur class had great observation notes from watching the class environment unfold through the lens of the early childhood teacher. Some of the takeaways here were:
Looking forward to seeing you all Thursday!
Our discussion under the context of observation spurred many deep questions and insightful conversation about the role of observation, the importance of safety in observation, the differences between RIE and other philosophies, and observation under the contexts of race and gender. If you are interested in reviewing the guidelines for observation, please check out this post. your role in observingThe type of observation we are promoting in class is one that is safe, intentional, and purposefully planned. That means, we are finding a time in our home or at the playground where we know our children are safe and feeling secure in which we can spend a few moments watching with care. We are looking for things like
The question came up about when to observe in situations where children might be misunderstood, marginalized, disrespected, aggressive, or stereotyped. In those situations, it would be up to your parental discretion about how to handle them, but it would not be the time to utilize the type of observation we are discussing in class because it lacks the constructs of safety and intentionality. As discussed in class, you might decide to:
gender developmentThe question also came up about how to respond to our children's comments on gender in a way that is politically correct. Gender identity is a very deep and complicated time in development so consider this a brief overview. If you are looking for more information, see the resources section below. Our young children see the world at face value so it is helpful to teach them proper language in order to better compartmentalize what they are seeing and learning. First, we can explore the difference between sex and gender.
Our children, who naturally need to take note of what they are seeing and experiencing in order to create their neural network and worldview, might say "Sophia is a girl." We might say, "Sophia does present herself as female." This is a simple way of acknowledging what our children are seeing while providing the language base that can be expanded upon as our children meet more people. We do not want to shame our children for commenting on what they see as that shuts down doors of communication. So welcome it with positivity while gently sharing a new way of thinking in very simple, clear terms. According to the pediatrician run website healthychildren.org,
Further resources on gender |
AuthorEmily Barstad Archives
February 2020
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