Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/breaking-ranks-creating-an-epidemic/5016528/
Before leaving to work in Australia and New Zealand this summer, I had an interesting conversation with my six-year-old grandson. I suggested that his experience this year of having many, many substitute teachers might have left him with some thoughts about things teachers needed to know, and perhaps I could share his ideas with teachers down under. “The first thing they have to do is find someone to talk to,” Coe said. “You don’t want to be lonely if you are a teacher.”Wow. I think of Coe as a sensitive little guy, but I’m amazed at his insight here. His four-year-old brother, Jesse, added his advice with a drawing “ . . . playgrounds . . . we need lots and lots of playgrounds so we can be outside to play more.”
Apart from my grandmotherly delight, what strikes me about these comments is how completely on target they are with the current trends in our early childhood programming in the U.S. As I’ve traveled I’ve heard stories of less and less time available for children to play outside. I’ve even seen new buildings open with no playground space to speak of. There are reports of outside playtime being eliminated in ...