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In the new edition of Caring Spaces, Learning Places, Jim Greenman addresses the impact of the environment on children’s behavior.  In part, he states . . .

"The behavior of young children illustrates the complexity of the environment.  It takes them a while to understand (operationally) the relationship between space, time, and roles.  A child’s (or an adult’s) social indiscretion is often behavior not appropriate in a particular time and place:  proudly waving to parents while performing in a play;  plopping down and playing in a busy corridor;  talking loudly in church;  taking items off the shelf in a supermarket;  being social in an elevator;  or expecting life at child care to mirror life at home (e.g., a three year old’s nap time bottle or the toleration of what are finger foods).  This incomplete understanding of or ability to follow the rules of the context is, of course, also a problem for any of us trying to maneuver within an unfamiliar culture or setting.  Shoes on or off inside?  What body parts are covered where?  What are the right table manners?

"The speed with which children develop has implications for the environment.  A new child can hatch at any moment, suddenly interested in something never before compelling -- light switches, climbers, friends, demolition.  Often, we overestimate the need for variety of toys and materials -- or in fact may create a self-fulfilling need for variety, by not recognizing that the child’s emerging skills and insights change the possibilities that the toy or environment brings to the child.

"Children’s environments are accommodations to individual and cultural differences and trade-offs of adults’ needs and children’s needs;  trade-offs of safety and risk, challenge and convenience;  and, most important, trade-offs between individual needs and desires and those of the group.  As early childhood professionals who design or adapt settings, it is our job to make evident the trade-offs and come up with what seem to be the most workable alternatives."

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