On a recent episode of the podcast “How Preschool Teachers Do It,”my co-host Alison Kentos and I talked about knowing when someone is actually an Expert about parenting, teaching and child development.
You wouldn’t pluck someone out of a crowd in Times Square, ask if they’ve ever met children and then take all of their advice to heart.
It is troublesome that there is too often a lack of vetting workshop presenters and family educators. We all also know that in 2019, anyone can post on the internet or even publish their own book. While some of us do have legitimate expertise, that is not true of everyone.
You have a right to know who is giving you advice. You have a right to demand that you are taught by people who meet the benchmarks of an expert.
Early childhood educators consistently report being disturbed by the fact that we are not taken seriously as professionals. One piece of professionalism is to continue your education. That continuing education needs to be provided by people who know the most current information about child development and how Children learn best. They should be trained in the standardized measures of best practice and have first-hand experience with its implementation. Teacher educators need to know how complex it is to be trying to implement curriculum and best practice when there are actually 15-20 children in the room.
Parents and guardians consistently report being annoyed by people who have not raised children giving them advice. The member of your family who never raised children and doesn’t know the 24 hour a day-ness of it is the same as the family education workshop facilitator who has never parented. Teaching child development classes is different than teaching parenting classes. Someone who is expert and knows the most current information about child development can teach you about the journey through childhood but not about being on the journey of raising children.
The information about how children learn best and how they become the best version of themselves has changed a great deal over the past 5 to 10 years. Many of the methods that teachers have just used for years or the methods parents learned from prior generations are not what we now know is best.
Do you think, “We’ve been doing that for generations, and we turned out okay” or “It works for me”?
Look around. The world has changed. Children need different approaches to their learning and development because the world has changed. It demands different things of them.
Look again – Today’s teens struggle so often with anxiety, depression and self-harming behaviors. Therapists are fully booked with adults and teens trying to learn better coping skills and self-acceptance. That is not exactly a ringing endorsement for us to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Families and teachers needs to change their practices to help the next group of future adults.
Seek actual expert advice. Consider this:
- Anyone can call themselves an expert but have other knowledgeable people said that this person qualifies as an expert? Someone else – such as a notable person in that field, a publisher of other works in the field – needs to acknowledge the expertise of the person.
- Does the person have experience doing what they are telling me to do? Teachers understand the intricacies of teaching. Families understand the complications of raising children. Administrators know what it is to actually lead an educational setting. Seek the people who have experience with what you do every day. They have a more realistic viewpoint of what you go through.
- When was the last time the person attended a high-quality class as a student? Does this person continue their education at a higher level than you do? A consulting client of mine once described the work I do with teachers this way – she said, “Cindy’s job is to take the graduate courses, learn the best practices systems and seek the higher level, most current information. Teachers in a classroom every day don’t have time to do that. Cindy’s job is to bring it in pieces to you.” I loved that description because it speaks to why you can’t do it all yourself. You don’t have time. That’s the simple truth. It is my job to take graduate level and certificate courses so I can share that with you. It’s every expert’s job not to rely on their 10 year old or older degree but to seek more and more knowledge and information.
There are times when peer-to-peer learning is great. When you learn a new practice, share how you are implementing it with each other during staff meetings or parent gatherings. First, however, you need to know best practice.
For more information about experts about children, teaching them and raising them, listen to this: Is Your Expert Really An Expert?
For expert information at your fingertips, subscribe to the podcast from your smartphone podcast app, on iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Google Play – anywhere podcast are, so are we!
Go to my full website for information about in-person parenting and professional development session, webinars, podcasts and ongoing consulting for early childhood settings -Helping Kids Achieve.
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This post first appeared on Helping Kids And Families Achieve With Cynthia Ter, please read the originial post: here
