I was reading the Sunday Herald Sun this morning (because who has time on a Sunday) when I came across this article ‘School’s in for toddlers’.
‘Parents are sending children as young as three to private tutors in a bid to get ahead in key subjects before they start school. Toddlers are learning literacy and numeracy in “school preparation” classes or having individual tuition at $70 an hour.’
The little men inside my brain literally just put down their tools and screamed ‘Nooooooooooooo!!!’
Now I am a huge believer in the notion of ‘live and let live’. I love that everyone is different. I love that all parents have their own way of doing things. There are crafty parents and sporty parents, car-mad parents and bookish parents, healthy-living parents and camping parents, technology parents and what’s-an-ipad parents. There are working parents and stay at home parents, there are in-control parents and just-make-it-through-each-day parents, and there are various combinations in between. Diversity is what keeps life interesting.
So I’m sorry that I’m letting the judgement I feel exhale from my body, but I can’t help it! Kids as young as three! Holy moly. When I’m not plebbing my way through the day with two boy-baby-sidekicks I’m a primary school teacher, so I certainly value education, but there are a plethora of magical things I want my children to experience before they start formally learning letter/sound relationships. “School preparation” is literally what the ‘prep’ in Grade Prep stands for!
Surely infant children do not need a tutor-led introduction to the abstract world of letters and numbers. They need the development of language that comes from conversations and questions. They need the real-life experiences of mini adventures and growing gardens and backyard rough and tumble. They need their blossoming imaginations nurtured through books and make-believe.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should purposefully avoid teaching the alphabet or stop them from counting. By their very nature, kids are inquisitive little souls and are eager to learn. I sang Bobby the ABC when I was pushing him on the swings one day and that became our swing song for a good week or two, before he reverted back to his old favourite ‘Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the MOOOOOOOOOOON.’ And there are numbers to look at everywhere, although according to Bobby they are all called ‘four’. I just think formal education goes for such a long time and this initial age of discovery is insanely precious. Let them learn about maths and english amongst all of the other wonderful things they are learning.
As a teacher I am all for goals though, so I have developed a few learning intentions for Bobby to work on over the coming year or so. I just hope I haven’t set my expectations too high:
- Picking your nose and eating it is fairly disgusting. Closet that behaviour please.
- Embracing small children by putting them in the head lock is not acceptable.
- You don’t NEEEEEEEEEEEEED to eat just because someone else is, or because your last chew was five minutes ago.
- When a scared baby cries, it is considered psycho to laugh at them, even more so if you are the source of their fear.
- It’s not actually funny to see how many dice you can fit in your mouth.
- Empty strollers are not seesaws.
- You can legitimately open sliding doors just as easily without covering your hands in food, dirt, saliva or boogers beforehand.
- Water won’t go into your eyes if you keep them closed while having your hair rinsed out. Opening them mid-pour will result in wet eyes.
- Stealing toys from other children, while satisfying to your ‘I am king’ ego, will not win you many friends.
- Contrary to popular toddler opinion, vegetables generally won’t burn you from the inside out.
- Putting your chin on your chest and speaking just as loudly is not actually the definition of a whisper.
- Other people’s dropped food does not meet the ‘ten second rule’ criteria, particularly if it was dropped days ago. And you’re at the footy.
- Sitting in fresh dog turd, while simultaneously doing a poo yourself, is something I hope you will only try once.
- Declaring that you ‘want Nanny’ after being disciplined for hurting your baby brother is surprisingly quite effective at reducing your time out sentence.
- Referring to yourself in the third person is not normal behaviour…but it kind of suits you, so what the heck keep doing it.
- We are not participants in The Hunger Games, just because someone says hello to you does not mean they want to steal your food.
- Deliberately putting nappy cream all over the lounge room is not an “asserdent”.
Sheeesh! With all of these learning goals I don’t know how people find the time to teach anything else!
Eliza xx
podgy hodgy 