Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal published an article about how handwriting helps boost brain power. The author wrote about a "stubborn" four year-old who would not practice his handwriting or do his workbook pages, and how his mother used an iPhone app in order to get him to practice them correctly.
Does nobody else see the insanity in this?
At no other time in history have four year-olds been required to sit still and practice handwriting. Four year-olds are called "preschoolers" for a reason -- it's supposed to be an age before schooling. Four year-olds are wired to learn by play, exploration and quite simply, life.
In America, we currently have this idea that our children are struggling academically so the answer lies in pushing them more and more, at earlier and earlier ages. We create studies to prove that if we do x, y and z, our nation's children will be smarter, and then we do x,y and z at any cost to the rest of the child's health or happiness.
If our children are struggling academically, it does not make sense to make them do more of the same things that are failing them and from a younger age.
Parents, educators and even administrators do generally just want the best for children, but they seem to lose sight of what "best" means. A child is more than a brain and a test score.
Time and time again, research has shown that children suffer with early formal instruction. One study found that by age 23, adults who had attended academics-based preschools with direct instruction were eight times more likely to need treatment for emotional disturbances than those who went to play-based preschools. Graduates of the academics-based preschools were also three times more likely to be arrested for committing a felony than those who attended play-based preschools.
Young children need so much more than they need worksheets and handwriting lessons. They need time with their parents, friends and loved ones. They need time in nature, time to imagine, time to play and get dirty and use their bodies. They need freedom to learn in the ways they were designed to learn -- by exploring, questioning, doing, building, dreaming and creating.
There is a time and a place for handwriting. It's true that we should be able to write legibly in order to succeed in the world. It may be true that it even helps our brains. But we must get back to the realization that there also must be a time and a place for childhood.
For more information on how play benefits children, see Play is the Business of Children by Trish Sheehan of the University of Minnesota Extension Office.
Comments
Wonderful article. Thank you.
This is an excellent article and it is right on target with how I am feeling. I am going to share this story on my blog @ http//www.mommiesandbeyond.com and how it affects my family. Please come and take a peek. I am going to add a link to your article!
Love it!!! keep doing a great job girl .. great article!!!
but pre school can be a detrimental expirence for children who are underpriveleged and have parents that do not have the skills or know how to teach thier children at home. Those are the kids that are LOST when they get to kindergarten because they have never picked up an age appropriate book never mind understand it has words with meaning in them. I believe in learning through play and not forcing a kid to print, but pre school is more than that. Its all about exposure and expirences.
Then we need to help those families, but that can be done in many ways. Here in southern Minnesota, Head Start is a home-based program where a teacher comes to the home once a week with fun and educational toys, books, crafts and so on. They do preschool with the child and the parent, offer support to the whole family, lend books, have "socialization" times where all of the parents and children can spend time together, plan family field trips and hold special events for the parents and children to attend together.
I agree that it's all about exposure and experiences. I just think that those should be in the form of nature, play, art, books, games, physical activity, talk, exploration and so on -- not sit-down work and handwriting practice.
I trust children to learn. They know how and are hardwired to be curious about their world and to want to master new skills. If we provide a nurturing environment, learning will happen. There is so much research that unstructured play is crucial for brain and social development. We need more unstructured play time!
I feel as long as things are "child led" then learning at an early age is okay. It will not harm a child to learn handwriting at an early age, if that is what the child desires to do, the same with reading. Look at Montessori schools for instance (which happens to be where my children attend), it is ideal for them to start at 3 yrs. of age (though they don't have to), but they are learning to read and write using play based concrete skills, they use "tools" that seem like play material to the child. They are given a "lesson" on a work; after they have had a "lesson" on a work THEY can choose whether or not they want to pursue those works. Basically, they are given free choice as to what they want to learn more about. I don't feel it is a negative thing if they chose to work on handwriting or sounding out words at an early age, as long as it is not forced upon them and they have decided that is an area where they are interested. I completely and totally agree with the way things are handled in the public school systems, children have mearly become numbers and test scores, and that is despicable and unacceptable. Children should be children, period. But I do believe that if a child shows interest in certain material that it should be pursued and allowing them that freedom is just as important (even if it is early reading/writing/math).
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