Is expecting our children to leave home at earlier and earlier ages, so they can get a head start with reading, writing, and arithmetic, actually giving them a head start?
Shouldn't we first consider whether or not a child is developmentally ready for early education before deciding he needs it?
Can Your Child do This?
For starters, a child must be able to sit up straight in a chair for at least 20 minutes at a time, according to Dr. Susan R. Johnson, a pediatrician who does not advocate early education.
Most children under the age of six or seven cannot sit still for 20 minutes, yet most children under the age of six or seven are in school.
When you put a child in a classroom at such early ages and expect him to do things that he's not developmentally ready to do, he begins to think there's something wrong with him.
What's wrong is an educational system that has unreal expectations of our children.
The Downward Spiral
And these absurd expectations begin a downward spiral for a child. Over the next few years of schooling, many parents watch their very curious and engaged child morph into a child whose curiosity is dimming.
“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”
Is it surprising that fifty percent of boys struggling to read in the third grade will eventually drop out of high school?
At what price are we pushing our children to get ahead?
Daniel Goleman, the author of Emotional Intelligence, in other words, the intelligence of the heart, explains that emotional well-being trumps a high IQ when it comes to the kind of success in life that makes a man or woman believe they have lived a "good" life.
For most people, the “good" life includes such things as love, family, long-lasting friendships, and satisfying work.
Yet, we've become a nation of highly drugged, discontented individuals with fractured families, markers that indicate our emotional intelligence has become severely compromised.
In 2017, we find that alcoholism has increased 49 percent in the last 17 years, our divorce rate is fifty percent, and one out of five Americans has a mental illness.
Shall We Reconsider?
Keeping these statistics in mind, it might behoove us to reconsider how we're raising our young. Maybe focusing on a child's emotional development instead of his intellectual development might be the smarter way.
After all, before the 1960s, most children did not attend preschool, and many didn't even go to kindergarten; and the extreme sorts of ills we find children suffering from today like obesity, anxiety, depression, and learning disabilities—to mention a few—were uncommon.
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
Consider that before the early education push in 1965 through President Lyndon Johnson's Head Start programs, only 10 percent of American children enrolled in preschool, which was considered daycare for poor mothers.
Back then, we understood that a child should be under the protective wing of his family, not in a cold government school with strangers.
While keeping children at home when they are young may not be attainable for many families (70 percent of women with children under age 18 are now in the workforce), shouldn't we know what the ideal for the families that make up our society is?
We could then do our best as a country to accommodate families when the mother has no choice but to work?
The Sad Truth
Either way, we have to admit that something isn't working for our children because, according to a 2011/2012 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, one in seven children under the age of eight is diagnosed with either a mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder.
Before the 1960s, these numbers were a fraction of what they are today.
It's not much of a start for our kids, is it?
Rather than stay on the early education trajectory, shouldn't we consider getting back to some old-fashioned childrearing basics when kids were a whole lot happier?
Child developmental psychologists, like David Elkind, recommend not putting children into academic programs before the age of six or seven, at the very least.
What is a "head-start" really worth if 15 percent of the children it purports to get ahead actually get behind? And what about the children doing poorly that might not fit the statistic but get pushed along anyway?
Applying a Little Wisdom Might Help
On the contrary, when something causes more harm than good, it is wise to abandon it. Is there anyone who can reasonably argue that children are not better off at home where they are free to develop as nature intended?
The answer most, if not all, child development psychologists will argue is no.
A heart-start is what matters during the early years, and it will prime the child for the head-start, when the time is ripe.
When the time is ripe.
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For parents of children under age seven who would like to prepare their child for social and academic success, please begin with our online course, Raise Your Child Well to Live a Triumphant Life.
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Elizabeth Y. Hanson is an Educator, Homeschool Emerita, Writer, and a Love and Leadership Certified Parenting Coach with 20 years of experience working in children’s education.
Utilizing her unusual skill set, coupled with her unique combination of mentors, Elizabeth has developed her own comprehensive understanding of how to raise and educate a child. She devotes her time to helping parents get it right.
☞ Disclaimer: This is not a politically-correct blog.
