Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/going-one/5010040/
Consider, for a moment, the possibility that a child care program is an inappropriate place to celebrate holidays - period. Having thought about this issue at length in working with Francis Wardle, editing Alike and Different, and in life in and out of programs, I am coming to feel that this is so.Bear in mind that in my own program several years ago we put on a spectacular Thanksgiving feast complete with roasted chicken and Pilgrim hats.
One of my children attended a program that had a holiday-based curriculum (as soon as the refrigerated turkey started to fray, there would be a Christmas tree to take its place). I love holidays, having been known to invent one now and then when the calendar proved inadequate.
So this isn't a frivolous consideration - children love anticipation and planning and all the excitement that goes with festivity, and I love sharing all this with them.
There are at least three major problems with concentrating our time and energies on holiday celebrations:
1. It's extremely difficult to give holidays meaning that is developmentally appropriate for very young children. Most holidays are based on abstract concepts that are beyond their comprehension.
2. ...