After yesterday’s post, I got a note from my friend Ann. I started to type out an answer then I thought better of it and realized it was something I wanted to talk to you about. She said (and I hope she doesn’t mind me sharing this here):
I wonder though how you feel about the pressure on little kids in general. Pre-school almost before they can toddle, dads pushing their boys to be the next all-star when they can hardly hold a bat or when they’d much rather be reading a book. Over scheduling their little lives so they have no time to figure out who they are. We all want the best for our kids and maybe that’s the only way to get it but I think we went off track at some point.
Yes.
Oh, you were hoping for more of an opinion. Fine, be that way.
Our preschool just dropped their minimum age and opened up a class which Owen will be attending next year. Beth and I thought long and hard about it. Is he too young? Will he benefit from it? We both agreed that he was ready to go. He’ll love it. He watches his sister go to school every day and tries to sneak into the building with her whenever he gets a chance. But don’t think I’m not worried about putting too much pressure too soon. Mia starts kindergarten next fall. Full day kindergarten. That’s eight solid hours of school. It seems like a lot.
Kids are learning all kinds of things that I never knew at that age. Mia’s spelling and reading and doing math. She even convinced me to download a math iPad app which I did and she promptly rocked.
I have a job that I like, that is very satisfying, and that pays the bills. Yet I’ve often thought we’d be a whole lot more productive if we all worked just a little less, if we adopted some kindergarten practices. Would you feel better – and work better – if you got snacktime in the morning and maybe a nap after lunch? And I know I’d be in better shape physically and mentally if I could go out and play in the early afternoon. But instead of taking a page out of elementary school and trying to force ourselves to strike a better balance between work and life, we’re pushing the concepts of work on our kids at earlier ages.
Are people getting smarter? Is our capacity for more growing? Or are the expectations on our children growing disproportionately?
rudecactus 