How do we expect Children to learn to make decisions if we never give them decisions to make? How do we expect children to learn self-regulation if we do all of the regulating?
All of the measures of high quality, including the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS), say that children need at least 1 solid hour of free play every day. Free play is not free play if you are making the decisions. Free play implies freedom. Children need the freedom to choose what they will do. We need to let them Lead and we need to follow. We need to give them the free play time, allow them to steer conversations and promote confidence in their ability to handle choice. We need to teach families to avoid preschools that don’t promote children’s freedom of choice. Preschool classrooms should be busy and messy.
I was in a classroom filled with 2 ½ year old children recently. The 12 children in the class were all over the room. Teachers had zoned themselves, so they could follow the children’s lead. Those who were building had a conversation with a Teacher about their structure. Another teacher was helping two children who were arguing over dress up clothes. She was teaching them about taking turns.
A group of children were looking at books together while occasionally annoying each other. The adults watched to see if the children could figure out how to solve their own social problems. They gave them the space and freedom to figure it out before they jumped in.
There were so many important socialization and self-regulation lessons happening in that classroom that do not happen when I watch teachers micro-manage children. Micro-managing impedes a child’s confidence because they get the message that they are not capable. Micro-managing prevents children from learning that they can actually cope, self-regulate, negotiate and be resilient. It is always in the classrooms where the adults control every moment that the day is most stressful. It is actually more relaxing and productive to stop making every decision.
One teacher who expanded free play time in her classroom told me, "It is actually easier this way. I don't spend my day battling children." Early childhood classrooms should not be a battleground.
There were also a lot of language and math lessons happening in that 2 1/2 year old classroom. Children who were building were have a conversation with the teacher that included some new vocabulary, math and measuring of their structure. The children were interested in what she was saying because they were interested in what they were doing. We can teach far more deeply and with greater retention when we follow the children and infuse content areas in our conversations as they play.
Good leaders know when to lead and when to follow. Good early childhood teachers know that the part of the day during which they lead is shorter than the parts of day when they follow the lead of children. Let the children determine the course of conversation. Give children the gift of freedom so they learn and don’t just obey. Demonstrate, by letting go, that you have confidence in their ability to learn about themselves and their world.
You may also want to read To Intervene or Not to Intervene: Reacting to Children's Arguments, Are You Using Your Center Choice Chart Effectively?and Teaching Kindness in an Unkind World - Can We Do Better?
| “Teach the Whole Preschooler: Strategies for Nurturing Developing Minds,” my book, is available NOW from WW Norton (publisher) on Amazon, Barnes & Noble. |
| Subscribe to the podcast “How Preschool Teachers Do It with Alison Kentos and Cindy Terebush” on iTunes, Google Play, SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, iHeart Radio and more! |
________________________________________________________________________
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.
Be the first to get updates about presentations, webinars, etc. and stay connected – click HEREto join my mailing list. I promise not to crowd your inbox J
Copyright 2018 © Cindy Terebush
All Rights Reserved
Please do not sell, post, curate, publish, or distribute all or any part of this article without author's permission. You are invited, however, to share a link to this post on your webpage, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and other social networking sites.
This post first appeared on Helping Kids And Families Achieve With Cynthia Ter, please read the originial post: here
