Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Proverbs 1:8
A month or two ago, Kristin and I ran into a friend of ours who teaches at a very respected preschool here in Oklahoma City. She had just finished her school year and she was telling us how things went. The conversation took an unusual direction - which she brought up on her own.
She told us that at the end of the year, they sent a survey to parents asking what their children benefited from and what they didn't, and asked if there were any recommendations that the preschool should consider for the next year.
Thinking they would receive comments like, "could you have more singing," or "have you considered a pet-day;" she was surprised to learn that the overwhelming majority of parents responded by asking if the school would consider lengthening their program to 5 days a week (from 3) - and if they could add mothers-day-out every day to supplement their half-day preschool program.
The age for this preschool program? 3 and 4 year olds.
There are so many things about this that are concerning and I would like to ask you dads who are reading this to consider the material below, if you are in this boat.
At the time Nicholas was born, we were going to church with the Director of DHS in Oklahoma. We asked him if he had run across any interesting material on child development that we should read before becoming new parents.
Without pause, he recommended the book, Right From The Start. This book gave a statistical look at the long-term health of children who spent the first five years of their lives in the environment of a stable home. The results were overwhelmingly in favor of the child whose family purposefully spent time with their young children, and the book convinced us that the factors influencing the first five years of our kids' lives were critical toward their long-term health: mental, emotional, physical and spiritual.
Bryce Christensen, who works for the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, wrote an excellent piece in which he reported that Oklahoma ranks #1 in the country in the percentage of four-year-olds enrolled in pre-school (60%). Definitely an accomplishment we should be proud of, but his article cautions what I believe I am cautioning, that turning over too much of raising our children, goes against their best long-term interest.
Preschool? Absolutely and definitely a good thing. Five-day-a-week preschool? Seems like a lot for a three and four year old. Five-day-a-week preschool plus mothers-day-out every day? You have a hard time convincing me it's in my child's best interest.
Why? Christensen cited a few examples in his article:
Without doubt, teachers who work for Oklahoma's early-education programs can do much to help young children to prepare for school by helping them learn colors, numbers, letters, shapes, and simple logic. But their best efforts typically fall short of a loving at-home parent, usually the mother. Why?In the first place, in even the best-run state program, children experience some staff turnover, inevitably disorienting and disruptive to learning, as children try to familiarize themselves with the personality of a new teacher... An at-home mother is a reassuringly permanent teacher, the most familiar and constant presence in the child's life.Second, though good early-education teachers try to make some adjustments to accommodate children's personalities and temperaments, their curriculum is more or less set for them and the groups of children are too large to fully individualize instruction. In contrast, an at-home mother usually knows her child's needs and characteristics better than any other adult..."
When talking to a friend about this issue, he simply stated, "No one loves your child like you do; and no one knows their sin like you do." As parents we have a vested interest in the character traits our children are showing (first-time obedience, truth-telling, loving our neighbors as our selves, etc.); so much more so than a teacher who is responsible for overseeing 20 children.
Tedd Tripp reminds us in his book, Shepherding A Child's Heart, that out of the heart, the mouth speaks. And if our goal as Christian parents is to raise children who "Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever (catechism question#1)," then we certainly can reason that this can only be accomplished by spending significant time with our 3- and 4-year olds.
At least it's something to consider.
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