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Remember the days of snapping pictures and waiting a few days until the film was developed? Or pondering and wondering about various facts until you had a chance to look them up in a book? Today’s technology makes waiting pretty much obsolete. What does this mean for the developing minds of young children?
Technology has undoubtedly changed our lives and has made accessing information much easier and more convenient. We have instant access at any given moment to endless data. Photographs can be viewed on a camera or phone immediately after they’ve been taken, images of anything you can think of can be pulled up in a search in less than a second, and facts and data can be checked after a quick look online. Data in small packets can be appropriate for adult minds, but young minds are still developing capacities to imagine, ponder, and make meaningful connections.
Waiting and the Capacity to Imagine
By removing the gap of "waiting time", children’s minds have to do very little work to imagine. Back in the day when we couldn’t see photographs right away, our minds had to create the images themselves as we imagined how our pictures would turn out. Similarly, with data, without the means to access answers instantaneously, we were left with a period of time in which our minds could imagine the possibilities. These small exercises of waiting and imagining strengthen the mind and aid in the development of skills needed for higher thinking, reasoning, and problem solving. With today’s growing technology, children are often missing out on these experiences. This impacts not only their capacity to imagine and problem solve, but also their ability to cope with waiting feelings (delayed gratification) and makes waiting in general a more challenging task (frustration tolerance).
What Can You Do?
While the Internet is a great tool for adults to access data, limit it as a resource for finding answers for young children. Help your child ponder the possibilities and potential answers, and then seek answers the old fashioned way: take your time to look through a book or visit a library. Doing so will help your child become a more active thinker, develop reasoning and problem solving skills, and cope with waiting feelings, all necessary skills for tackling problems and finding solutions.
Take, for instance, a child’s question about the speed of the fastest land animal, the cheetah. A quick Google search will give you the answer in about a tenth of a second, leaving very little room for wondering or asking other pertinent questions. Seeking the answer in a book, and flipping through the pages to find the desired information, however, will lead to other related facts and information. Where do cheetahs live? What do they eat? Why are they so fast? What other animals live around cheetahs? What is the second fastest animal?
Including “waiting” exercises like this will build up your child’s capacity to imagine and cope with frustration when answers cannot be immediately found, and in the process, you and your child will likely have rewarding experiences of coming across other related information – perhaps even information that you didn't know was of interest to your child until you stumbled upon it together.
Have you ever thought of preschool as the best job training program that your child might experience? While conducting research related to job training programs, economist John Heckman came to the realization that the skills that were often most influential in contributing to one’s success in the work force were the “soft skills” that children learn in preschool; paying attention, focusing, controlling one’s temper, negotiating, sharing, etc. Click on the link below for more details about his findings and for further studies related to this topic.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/08/12/139583385/preschool-the-best-job-training-program
North Carolina is well known for its great beaches and mountains, yet if you’re in the Triangle there are many other great ways to spend time outdoors as a family. This week is Take A Child Outside Week, which is an annual reminder to find time to turn off the TV and step out our front doors to be explorers of the nature around us every day.
This week’s weather looks to be great, but as explorers of nature you and your kids can begin the adventure by making sure everyone is equipped with sun block or raincoats depending on the forecast. Parents, in planning your nature adventure keep your kids in mind. What would make this a positive experience for my child and for us together? If you want to support your child’s observations of the world around them consider finding a place you can both sit comfortably to close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you. Ask questions: What can you hear? What may be making that noise? How do you think that sound is being made? Can you tell where the sound is coming from?
If you want to activate your child’s imagination and individuality to have their own ideas you can look to books like Not a Stick or It Looked Like Spilt Milk (see more ideas from Topic 3: Imagine That! from Lucy’s Book Club). You and your child can walk around outside looking at or picking up objects and thinking of all the possible uses or ideas about what they are. Or you all can find a spot to cloud watch and describe the different things you can see float by in the sky.
You can find more inspiration for activities to do on your outdoor adventure at: http://takeachildoutside.org/activities/gettingstarted.html
Whatever you chose to explore with you child, take this week to do it outside. The Triangle offers many museums and trails to explore nature, but be certain that many educational family adventures are just waiting for you in your own backyard or neighborhood park!
Explore NAEYC Resources!
The NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) website (www.naeyc.org) is a superb resource for parents as well as educators. Click on the “Families” tab and find research reports, articles, books, and a wealth of ideas on topics such as how to expand and enrich your child’s play experiences or what/how your child should be learning in preschool - what is really developmentally appropriate? Get answers from the experts. You can also sign up for a free newsletter or check out the link to NAEYC radio which offers monthly forums on a wide variety of subjects (www.naeyc.org/newsroom/naeycradio). Listen to the current as well as archived programs and gather helpful information from knowledgeable professionals in the field of early childhood.
The Lucy Daniels Center is proud to announce that it has recently received accreditation from NAEYC! This prestigious designation is the mark of preschool programs that exemplify excellence.
One experience that is common in early childhood is the move from one school, or one class, to another. This transition is often glossed over as classrooms end the school year with parties and other special activities. However, focusing solely on the celebratory aspects of moving on leaves children to work out their mixed feelings about saying good-bye on their own. At the Lucy Daniels Center, we prepare children for leaving by acknowledging and talking about the many feelings that may surface when leaving a classroom (including relationships and shared experiences) to move on to a new school or class. Such feelings include worries about the new teachers and peers, sadness about the loss of familiar comforts (teachers, peers, and routines) and sometimes even anger about having to do something (move on) that they just don't want to do. Mixed into all of this are also feelings of pride and accomplishment about growing older and excitement about the new experiences ahead. This is a lot for a child to process on his or her own!
The Center has an article on this very topic: Saying Good-Bye to a Teacher. Below are some excerpts from this article:
"Why goodbyes are important: Life is filled with leave-takings that come in many forms. Some are temporary, such as leaving mother or father to go to school or ending a visit with grandmother. Others are more permanent, such as losing a treasured toy or the death of a pet.
Goodbyes bring up feelings that vary, depending on the meaning of the particular loss to the child. Children are not just sad. Sometimes they also are angry or anxious -- all natural reactions to having to say goodbye. Because life is filled with goodbyes, children must develop mental muscles to cope with them in an emotionally healthy manner.
[...]
This is sad, and it is natural for Daniel to be a bit angry about the inevitabilities of life that he wishes were not so. Therefore, as you accentuate the positive — Daniel’s capabilities, growth, the fine teacher awaiting him — it also is important to acknowledge that Mrs. Smith cannot be replaced, his loss hurts, and you are there for him with a hug.
Daniel’s inevitable times of discontent about life are opportunities. Childhood is when a child learns not just the ABCs of reading, but also the ABCs of tolerating, bearing and moving beyond difficult emotions. Saying goodbye to a teacher provides the opportunity for children to deal with emotions that are real, meaningful and, unless there are special circumstances, within their capacity to master.
Some children make it clear that they will miss their teacher. Others go on as if it is no big deal, or even irrelevant. Don’t be fooled if Daniel acts unfazed. Most often, children who act unconcerned are wary of their feelings and need your help to question their self-protections. Be tactful and gentle if Daniel is that kind of child. Just raise the idea occasionally that Daniel and Mrs. Smith have done so much together, she is such a kind person, and it is hard to say goodbye to someone like that. Daniel might well protest, and if he does, just let it be. You have planted a seed, and you can continue to plant such seeds from time to time. Well-planted seeds will germinate — slowly."
Read the full article here: Saying Good-Bye to a Teacher.
The Power of Pictures
When Molly Bang was in town for Bookmarked! many of us were fortunate to be able to attend her Sunday morning workshop based on her book, Picture This: How Pictures Work. What an eye-opener! I will never again look at illustrations in the same way. Using geometric shapes and four colors, participants created scary pictures and then comforting pictures, and then…the most intriguing part of the workshop… we all examined each others' pictures and with guidance from Ms. Bang, we “played with the shapes”, perhaps turning a shape to the left, or repositioning it in the picture, or placing it partly off of the picture – subtle moves that dramatically changed the feelings that our pictures evoked. We were fascinated and in awe of the power that placement, color, and shape could make in creating a mood and portraying emotion. Check it out for yourself. Picture This: How Pictures Work is easy to read and provides a step-by step basic guide to the creation and interpretation of pictures that do work!
Everyday Literacy Activities
When we think of early literacy, sharing books with young children typically comes to mind, but there are many other ways to expose children to the function of print. Here are a few suggestions:
- Show children your grocery list and help them identify a word or two.
- Share junk mail – it is usually chock-full of pictures and boldly printed words.
- Let children help you collect coupons for favorite purchases and find the word that names the picture of the item.
- Identify together signs and labels in stores, in public venues, and on the roadside.
- If you write notes to yourself or to other family members, include a scribble, a drawing, or a message from a younger child.
- Highlight key ingredients on recipe cards for family cooking activities.
- Have your child help you label photos with names and events.
Opportunities for reading with children are abundant. If you have more ideas, please share them with us!
Joint Attention and Reading Together
What is joint attention? Joint attention is a form of communication where two or more people are paying attention to the same thing, sharing the experience of an object, idea, observation, or event with gestures and gazes. This type of communication is essential to language development, social interaction, and cognitive development. Joint attention greatly enhances learning experiences, and reading together with a child creates a perfect opportunity for joint attention. When sharing a book, a parent might smile at a picture, point to an object, express surprise at a turn of events, or simply turn the pages, and a young child will likely do the same. In the same way, a parent may laugh with a child as she finds delight in a book, or may point to particular parts of a picture that the child seems to studying. This reciprocal interaction is an important step in social development!
Read more about joint attention and social competence
http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2008/07/joint_attention_and_social_com.
Wemberly Worried (Kevin Henkes) and Just in Case (Judith Viorst) both explore the topic of children's worries in an engaging way. Both of these books are read often in classrooms at the Lucy Daniels Center. Why do children want to listen to stories again and again about characters feeling worried? In this week's post, we'll discuss how reading about characters with worries can help children to understand and feel more comfortable with their own.
Wemberly Worried is a story about a little mouse girl who worries about many things, some of which could happen and some of which would never happen. Similarly, Charlie, the main character in Just in Case, worries about all sorts of scenarios and has a back-up plan for each one because he "likes to be prepared." Both of these characters can do something very important for a child: they let a child know that he or she is not the only one with worries. That in itself can be very reassuring! Hearing the characters talk about the things that worry them, as outlandish as some of their worries may seem, help children to understand that all boys and girls have thoughts that trouble them at times, and that there are ways to overcome them when they feel real and strong.
When we read books like these in the classroom, we often pause and help the children make meaningful connections to their own lives. For example, when Wemberly checks on her parents in the middle of the night to be sure they are still there, we pause and ask, "Oh, that kind of nighttime worry... Do you ever feel like you just need to check?" When Charlie has a plan just in case a bird swoops him up on his way to school, we esteem his good thinking: "Oh, look, he even has a plan just in case a bird swoops him up on his way to school. Good for Charlie, he knows how to help himself feel safe on his way to school - and his worry is not stopping him from doing what he needs to do!"
Worries are a natural part of being human. Worries can become problematic when they impede upon a child's ability to carry out developmentally appropriate tasks and routines and disrupt everyday life. For more information on childhood anxiety, take a look at the following Center articles:
Building Mental Muscles to Overcome Childhood Anxieties
How Can I Help My Anxious Child?
When to Seek Professional Mental Health Help
TV As Background Noise
An interesting study… television can be a distracter to children at play. Daniel Anderson, (University of Massachusetts) and Marie Evan Schmidt, are prominent researchers on the topic of children and television. Their studies revealed that television can be a major distracter – even if it is just on as background noise. When the TV was on:
- Children’s episodes of play were only half as long.
- Focused attention periods were only three-quarters as long.
- Children tended to move from toy to toy.
Their conclusion was that television background noise does indeed affect the quality of a child’s play and the length of time for which they can focus. Check out this reference for further information:
Schmidt, M. et al., “The Effects of Background Television on the Toy Play Behavior of Very Young Children,” Child Development 79, no.4 (2008): 1137-51
