Good Afternoon!
I’m not going to lie..this is a longer article but SO worth the read. Tami posted it on our Wee Friends Facebook page and I just got around to reading it!
In the article, the author, Peter Gray, Ph.D., makes the statement, “I don’t want to trivialize the roles of adults in children’s lives, but, truth be told, we adults greatly exaggerate our roles in our theories and beliefs about how children develop.”
Children learn from each other. Yes, we are here to help facilitate encounters where children can play happily but really, children learn from one another. Especially in a multi age class where children are at varying levels in their development, we see this on a daily basis. The play level of younger children is brought up higher by playing with their older peers while our older friends are given the opportunity to lead and to teach.
In most instances, three year old’s may not be fully ready to play with their five year old peers: “Little children communicate with one another largely in the context of play, and the communications have real meaning. They negotiate about what and how to play. They discuss the rules.”. Three year old’s are not quite ready for the rules of play as they are in between parallel play and associate play. When children hit that 4-5 age range, they start following the ‘rules’ of play, having conversations about how to set up their play experience, also known as cooperative play.
“Certainly we are important in children’s lives. Children need us. We feed, clothe, shelter, and comfort them. We provide examples (not always so good) of what it’s like to be an adult. But we don’t raise, socialize, or educate them. They do all that for themselves, and in that process they are far more likely to look to other children than to us adults as models. If child psychologists were actually CHILD psychologists (children), theories of child development would be much less about parents and much more about peers.”
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A glimpse into our Tuesday!
Breakfast– Chex and fresh grapes.
Lunch– Hummus on whole wheat tortilla, fresh oranges, and fresh broccoli/green beans.
PM snack– Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and string cheese.
Wee Sprout– Fresh broccoli/green beans.
Have a fantastic evening!
-Mindy
Link to pictures: WF 11/19