ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

I totally agree with Anna Warren. Here in Latin America, Parents want kids to speak English more than anything else. Private Schools, as any other Institution try to please their clients, resulting on an eight hours work day, mostly academic, for every middle and high class kid. Plus homework, special classes and eight straight months of non/stop rain!!
Laura Oreamuno.
Costa Rica
Central America

Play allows the kids to play pretend and also be interactive with other children

When I was the director of a preschool child care center in New Jersey during the 1970s, pediatricians were not considered positive early childhood development professionals. It is a pleasure to read this article in Pediatrics. I would add two caveats that also relate to the request for the source of the disconnect: pediatricians should include psychologists and psychiatrists among the others listed in the footnote on page e209, and they should recognize the sources of the disconnect. Early educators can work with pediatricians in their communities to identify the disconnect, a complex and multifaceted process. Most people have no background or education about early childhood development and very little memory of what early childhood was like. They remember second grade and that is what many apply to early childhood, a much different set of developmental skills. I urge early educators to distribute copies of relevant articles like this one and to continue their own education in teaching other adults the correct information and knowledge about young children. Be careful about criticizing the lack of play. Rather, emphasize what we know about play and advocate for U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The disconnect exists between early childhood educators who know about the importance of play and parents who believe that they need to push academics on their young children because the school system has placed unrealistic expectations on children entering kindergarten. Also, young parents have replaced actual play with electronice devices such as iPhones and iPads.

So, if pediatricians promote play, and teachers promote play, and research shows that play is essential, where is the disconnect?