The Alliance for Childhood recently announced their new
major report Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School, sounding the alarm bell on education in our
schools. This is a must-read.

Their findings are profoundly alarming and need to be
recognized by parents of young children and all of us who care about children. Here
are some of the findings from their research.

Playtime in kindergarten is increasingly rare. Most of the
teachers surveyed said they spend 2 to 3 hours per day teaching and testing
children in literacy and math skills. Standardized testing and test prep,
practices that most child development experts reject as inappropriate and
harmful, are daily activities in most of the classrooms studied.

Teachers in Los Angeles mainly use curricula that require
them to follow scripts for hours each day, despite research showing poor
long-term results for this approach. In general, this type of early education
is much less effective than play-based methods. Yet the academic drills and
tests are winning out.

At the same time, kindergarten retention and serious
behavioral problems are increasing, not to mention the dramatic increase in
social and emotional challenges in children of all ages. Our children need for
us to move in a play-based, whole-child direction!!

As parents, you may feel powerless to do anything to change
your child’s kindergarten or preschool. This belief is exactly what allows
something that is hurtful to your child to continue. As parents and as people
who love children, we must boldly demand, yes demand, what we want for our
children. An important part of being a parent is to be an advocate for your
child. It’s in your job description. (Read the fine print.)

Your other options are to find a program that is in
alignment with your values and the kind of learning environment that is best
for your child or to start your own alternative.

Your first step is to go to the Alliance for Childhood
website, and read their 8-page summary or the full report. Then choose
your next step. My first step is to share this with you.

Choosing to do nothing is not an option when you care about
the healthy emotional and intellectual development of your child. Share this
information with others. Partner with people who share your views and
priorities and create together. Then let me know what you’re doing so I can
share this with others.

Ever notice as you age, you tend to dig a rut for yourself and put yourself in it. Sometimes it seems like part of the aging process. We have so many responsibilities and pressures we place on ourselves that we believe we have to do. Then the joy diminishes over time and we lose that sparkle of living each moment to its fullest. We begin to take life too seriously. We forget to play.

Enter your child: interested in new things, seeing the world differently, discovering new experiences, people, and perceptions. Your child has fewer internal rules, beliefs and structures. Your child is moving toward a future you cannot imagine and perhaps not understand.

Let your child remind you and teach you flexibility, courage, curiosity, exploration and discovery. Let your child give you a fresh perspective, a fresh approach to living, and fresh ways of doing things. It is one of their greatest gifts to us.