Fall has arrived here in northern Virginia. The first bright red and yellow leaves adorn the maple trees and pumpkins peek from porches on our street. Our daily walk to the mailbox -- complete with squirrel chasing, acorn collecting, pumpkin spotting, and leaf inspection -- now takes more than 30 minutes each way (if I let it). There's simply too much for a toddler to take in any faster than that.
I encourage you to "fall into fall" and reclaim childhood for your kids (and yourself!)
In "Reclaiming Childhood: Letting Children Be Children in Our Achievement-Oriented Society," developmental psychologist and activist William Crain reviews research on children’s love of nature, affinity for artwork, penchant for drama, and naturally unfolding linguistic abilities. In each area, he reveals patterns of growth and development and questions whether it’s wise to redirect children to our learning goals rather than those that come naturally.
A devotee of the child-centered approach to learning advanced by Arnold Gesell and applied by Maria Montessori, Crain believes “children enter the world preeminently ‘wise’ about what they need and what they are ready and not ready to do.” Parents, then, ought to take their cues from children and create opportunities for them to explore what they find most fascinating.
If you’ve wondered how the standardized testing movement began and how it might conflict with child-centered approaches to education, Crain’s historical and sociological analyses in final chapters will engage your thinking (and make you angry).
If that’s more than you’d like to chew right now, his initial exploration of child as naturalist, artist, dramatist and linguist will motivate you to get out and play with your children in the dirt, pile up some fall leaves (and fall into them) or build a stage and star in your own family theater. Either way, both you and the kids will reclaim some childhood magic.
