Tutors for Toddlers
This was an article in time magazine in 2007 http://www.time.com. The article calls it kindercramming and states that parents hope that if their kids learn to read before the first grade it will help them get into college and get good jobs. The article attributes the push for toddlers early education to the tutoring industry which has benefited in profit and the Baby Einstein marketing as the biggest proponents. Opponents believe that parents are expecting too much too soon and that brain-imaging data shows that children aren't ready to read until around age 5. It almost seems that we are going back to the times when kids were little adults and not kids. The parents in this article are looking at the childs future and not their childhood. this theory takes away the from the social aspect of childhood and puts the children in the role of academic performers. Not to mention the stages of development and the harm it may do to the child. it is sad to think that the most important thing in a 4 year olds life is whether he/she will get into college. Many children who did not read at age 4 made it into college and were very successfull in life.
I completely agree with you. No child should be forced to grow up. Today's society places enough pressure on our youth to go above and beyond the call of childhood. I also recently read an article in the December 2006 issue of psychology today (psychologytoday.com) called "Am I famous yet?". Its about kids and the quest for stardom. In this article their were children as young as eight years old attending a school called Personal Best in Buffalo New York. These children were, in my opinion, being set up for failure and highly influenced by their parents. It is absolutely ridiculous to put these kinds of pressure on a child that is not fully cognitively developed yet.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you. This goes all the way back to the idea of "good enough" parenting, but I would go so far as to say that placing these kinds of demands and expectations on children is taking away from their ability to be autonomous. In severe cases, what looks to the parent like simply giving their kids every opportunity and advantage that they can, we may even be neglecting them. It sounds to me like a rather authoritarian environment. Some may argue that providing all of the "opportunities" to advance is being involved with their children. I would argue that providing a child with the opportunities that we wish for them to pursue is not involvement at all, it's control and force.
ReplyDeleteI too also agree, its called childhood for a reason. We all remember when and sometimes wish we could go back to the days when we were free. We can still protect and teach by letting children be kids and do kid things; its just as rewarding as putting them in school at age 3. We do after all learn from social interations and imitation. Prepping your child for college at such a young age is silly and potentially dangerous to their development and self esteem. Instead of pushing our kids to be the next best thing we should be greatful our child chooses a path he or she is happy with when the time is ready. In the meantime we need to enjoy our kids adolecences as much as they do, you don't get that back.
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