Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/supporting-children-through-the-transitions-of-early-learning/5021648/
“Adversity brings knowledge, and knowledge brings wisdom.”Welsh proverb
I like to think about words. We are, in large part, the words we choose to express, as well as the words that we choose to hide within ourselves. We are formed by past words, those that parents, siblings, relatives, friends, or even strangers have said to us. Those words have raised our spirits and have inspired us, or have caused us hurt or made us deeply sorrowful.
I also like to think about young children, about their individual and collective lives, about the influences that impact upon them, about how and why words have been, and continue to be, so powerful in shaping their lives.
As teachers, we need to be realistic about promoting life skills. We need to prepare young children for kindergarten, first grade, and beyond, where there will be many small or large hardships to handle.
As young children grow from infancy through childhood and on to young adulthood, they are collecting words along the way. They are thinking about what words or phrases to use and which to keep within themselves, what words to carry alongside them on their journey. As they grow, these children are, in part, forming and ...