I was reading the Psychology Today post entitled, "What will make your kid succeed in kindergarten" and I opened the article thinking, well, what the heck is success to a five year old?
I read this after I was perusing and found that not only do parents in NYC camp out for kindergarten admissions and take out student loans, but expats in Mumbai pay $30K a year (+ other costs I'm sure) to send their child to the American School there. What the??
So yes, this article/post was one that reminded us of the days before the assumption was that hugging teachers were molesters or predatory. Instead, we recognized that hey! A 5 year old needs to feel comforted when they're sad. For many it may be their first experience really outside the home. Do we want our kids to be sent to some cold, foreign environment where hugging isn't permitted, and in fact, the rules indicate we have to "keep our hands and feet and other objects to ourselves?" Even hugging amongst the kids? Is that even permitted if rule one is to basically have no physical contact?
So what does the article say, the teacher matters. I'm sure this is the case for our daughter's preschool as well. We're changing her school this coming year since we're going from two half days to five and well... (21 miles each way just is a lot of gas to be consuming when an AMI school is just down the road a few miles.) and we've heard that one teacher is better than the other. I may need to ask to visit the school and see the two teachers in action again and make a request.
So yes, I guess we don't need a private school if the public school teacher is caring. We don't need overpriced extra activities, if the child is comfortable. We don't need to overindulge in the excess, if the child is welcomed and able to flourish. Does your child have that?
(Disclaimer, nothing against the parents who teach their children at home in their own loving, stable environment! We know how much of the time in the "classroom" goes when the child is focused, loved and supported!)
I read this after I was perusing and found that not only do parents in NYC camp out for kindergarten admissions and take out student loans, but expats in Mumbai pay $30K a year (+ other costs I'm sure) to send their child to the American School there. What the??
So yes, this article/post was one that reminded us of the days before the assumption was that hugging teachers were molesters or predatory. Instead, we recognized that hey! A 5 year old needs to feel comforted when they're sad. For many it may be their first experience really outside the home. Do we want our kids to be sent to some cold, foreign environment where hugging isn't permitted, and in fact, the rules indicate we have to "keep our hands and feet and other objects to ourselves?" Even hugging amongst the kids? Is that even permitted if rule one is to basically have no physical contact?
So what does the article say, the teacher matters. I'm sure this is the case for our daughter's preschool as well. We're changing her school this coming year since we're going from two half days to five and well... (21 miles each way just is a lot of gas to be consuming when an AMI school is just down the road a few miles.) and we've heard that one teacher is better than the other. I may need to ask to visit the school and see the two teachers in action again and make a request.
So yes, I guess we don't need a private school if the public school teacher is caring. We don't need overpriced extra activities, if the child is comfortable. We don't need to overindulge in the excess, if the child is welcomed and able to flourish. Does your child have that?
(Disclaimer, nothing against the parents who teach their children at home in their own loving, stable environment! We know how much of the time in the "classroom" goes when the child is focused, loved and supported!)
1 comment:
I agree that we shouldn't make our children do things that we want them to do. They should do whatever they choose to do. 30,000 just to send a kid to an American kindergarten class? I guess the parents don't have faith in their own country's school system.
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