When you write about controversial topics – as I often do and as I did last week, when I addressed crisscross-applesauce – you have to expect to get some pushback. And I did get some. On my Facebook page, one teacher commented that teaching children to sit in a certain way isn’t bad. He wanted…
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How long could you sit crisscross-applesauce before you need to move? For me, the answer is: about 20 seconds max! Unless I’m deeply, deeply engaged in something, I will change positions multiple times or start to fidget. Even while watching something absolutely fascinating on TV, I may start by sitting with my legs folded underneath…
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This week’s post is written by Arthur Grant, a child play researcher, writer, and father of three. As the founder of Muddy Smiles, he advocates for (loads) more play both in schools and at home. —– As schools around the country push hard to reduce and eliminate recess time, child development and behavioral experts are pushing…
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Last week I thanked an early childhood professional for her flexibility in rescheduling a call with me. She replied by saying that, when you’re a teacher, you have to be flexible. I completely agree. Years ago, I wrote that flexibility is one of the keys to making experiences with children successful. Specifically, I mean that…
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This post was originally published at https://nancyebailey.com and is reprinted here with the permission of the wise and thoughtful Nancy Bailey. _____ Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood. ~Fred Rogers One education topic that every…
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When I was a child, helicopter parenting would have been looked on with both suspicion and derision. My mother and father’s parenting style (if such a thing existed at the time) is often referred to as “benign neglect.” It sounds horrible and…well, neglectful. But it’s just the way it was back then, and it worked…
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I’ve written before about the need for early childhood professionals to advocate for the right of children to be children (see here and here). And, as you would imagine, I’m not alone in this battle. For one, research professor and play advocate Dr. Peter Gray is a fierce defender of childhood; and that puts me…
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Here are some of the tasks teachers have told me today’s children are unable to do: Poke straws into juice boxes Zip up backpacks Put a foot in a shoe Open water bottles Pull up their pants or skirts Put on their own jackets Granted, some of the difficulties with these tasks arise from the…
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The other day I read an article that literally made me cry. I thought I’d heard it all when it came to the lack of movement in children’s lives, but this piece alerted me to something I hadn’t come across before: children are falling out of their chairs because they’re not moving enough. Is this…
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Buzzwords and goals come and go in every field. In the early childhood field, self-regulation has been both a buzzword and a very big goal for children for a couple of years now. I suspect that’s because, as I’ve written previously, challenging behaviors are on the rise in early childhood settings. If only every child…
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How many of these scenarios are familiar to you? A child creates something, and a teacher or parent rattles off a quick “Good job!” without really acknowledging the child’s work. The children in a family have so many activities, many of which are scheduled during the dinner hour, that the family rarely, if ever, sits…
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Do you often hear yourself saying “Good job!” to the children? I used to – a lot. I hear parents saying it all the time – for everything. And when I taught my university course back in the day, during every single class in which young children were present, my students said it at least…
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There’s no doubt that veteran early childhood professionals are seeing more challenging behavior in their settings these days. And new teachers are feeling quite unprepared – with good reason – to handle the behavior challenges they’re experiencing. Both groups struggle with the amount of time wasted on classroom management. Why is challenging behavior more of…
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A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that, due to bad weather in the middle of the country, it looked like I was going to be stranded in California — more than 2600 miles from home — for three days longer than I’d planned. The thought horrified me. If I was going to take a…
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This morning as I listened to yet another report about the university cheating scandal, I wondered for possibly the thousandth time when parenting changed. Sure, it’s likely there have always been parents who’ve paved the way for their children, despite the legal or moral implications involved. But in one way or another, it seems this…
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