There are some who claim that preschool is more like daycare than elementary school, but those of us who work in the trenches with those marvelous little minds know better. I have written before about why the lessons we teach and the patience we preach aim right at the sweet spot of the so-called “soft […]
Amidst a growing emphasis on the centrality of language and writing comes this article from last week about an invisible problem: the “poverty of words.” It describes a rarely mentioned phenomenon: that children in more affluent households tend to hear more words per day than less fortunate kids. The reason is simple: Educated and involved […]
A fascinating article in the New York Times last week discussed the intersecton of preschool and amateur science. Its conclusion? That kids learn more when they can explore on their own. Based on the research of Alison Gopnik at Berkeley, the study in question observed young children as they experimented on, and ultimately deciphered, various […]
Burnout. It’s a word we typically associate with adulthood, or maybe late adolescence. It is not a word one often hears used to describe children, especially very young children. And yet here we are. The Los Angeles Times published a provocative article a few years back called “My Kid, a Burnout at 5.” The piece struck […]
Ever hear that old saw, “All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten”? To some, it is a precious whimsy, to others a well-loved book. But to early childhood educators like me, this particular phrase is an unshakable truth. Preschool (and kindergarten) is the time when higher-order skills like collaboration and creativity first […]
And just like that, our little preschool is quiet. Stealth mode. No more sharing, no more not sharing, no more shrieks of delight, no more enveloping thrum of focused study. It’s just…dark. Summer is a strange time for any Los Angeles nursery school. This brightly colored, vital place, this great groaning vessel of toys and […]
I read a number of terrific articles over the past year, but two of them stood out. One, called “How to Land Your Kid in Therapy,” caused a significant stir when it was published. Its message that parents who overprotect their children are actually doing them a disservice provoked an outcry in some corners, and […]
It is an all-too-common desire nowadays: the head start. No longer is it acceptable to raise a child who is average or even gifted; today’s high-pressure culture demands virtuosic performance from our kids—think red-shirting, Bach-playing, tiger moms and Kumon. Now the forces of balance have struck back: Last week one brand that had capitalized unusually […]
Obstacles are a part of life, a fact which is especially true during the first few years. Small kids encounter problems on a daily basis that they can’t immediately solve, from the many frustrations of potty training to the intricate social dynamics of a playgroup. As parents and educators, we cannot spare our children from […]
Many parents in Culver City come into the preschool applications process with something like dread. Horror stories abound about five-year waiting lists and brutal interviews, but the truth is far gentler: many of the best preschools in Los Angeles come with reasonable waiting lists and genuinely delightful people at the helm. Because I field so […]