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The Importance of Being Little: What Preschoolers Really Need from Grownups
A bold challenge to the conventional wisdom about early childhood, with a pragmatic program to encourage parents and teachers to rethink how and where young children learn best by taking the child’s eye view of the learning environment
Parents of young children today are embattled: Pick the “wrong” preschool and your child won’t get into the “right” college. But our fears are misplaced, according to Yale early childhood expert Erika Christakis. Children are powerful and inventive; and the tools to reimagine their learning environment are right in front of our eyes.
Children are hardwired to learn in any setting, but they don’t get the support they need when “learning” is defined by strict lessons and dodgy metrics that devalue children’s intelligence while placing unfit requirements on their developing brains. We have confused schooling with learning, and we have altered the very habitat young children occupy. The race for successful outcomes has blinded us to how young children actually process the world, acquire skills, and grow, says Christakis, who powerfully defends the preschool years as a life stage of inherent value and not merely as preparation for a demanding or uncertain future.
In her path-breaking book, Christakis explores what it’s like to be a young child in America today, in a world designed by and for adults. With school-testing mandates run amok, playfulness squeezed, and young children increasingly pathologized for old-fashioned behaviors like daydreaming and clumsiness, it’s easy to miss what’s important about the crucial years of three to six, and the kind of guidance preschoolers really need. Christakis provides a forensic and far-reaching analysis of today’s whole system of early learning, exploring pedagogy, history, science, policy, and politics. She also offers a wealth of proven strategies about what to do to reimagine the learning environment to suit the child’s real, but often invisible, needs. The ideas range from accommodating children’s sense of time, to decluttering classrooms, to learning how to better observe and listen as children express themselves in pictures and words.
With her strong foundation in the study of child development and early education and her own in-the-trenches classroom experience, Christakis peels back the mystery of early childhood, revealing a place that’s rich with possibility. Her message is energizing and reassuring: Parents have more power (and more knowledge) than they think they do, and young children are inherently creative and will flourish, if we can learn new ways to support them and restore their vital learning habitat.
Parents of young children today are embattled: Pick the “wrong” preschool and your child won’t get into the “right” college. But our fears are misplaced, according to Yale early childhood expert Erika Christakis. Children are powerful and inventive; and the tools to reimagine their learning environment are right in front of our eyes.
Children are hardwired to learn in any setting, but they don’t get the support they need when “learning” is defined by strict lessons and dodgy metrics that devalue children’s intelligence while placing unfit requirements on their developing brains. We have confused schooling with learning, and we have altered the very habitat young children occupy. The race for successful outcomes has blinded us to how young children actually process the world, acquire skills, and grow, says Christakis, who powerfully defends the preschool years as a life stage of inherent value and not merely as preparation for a demanding or uncertain future.
In her path-breaking book, Christakis explores what it’s like to be a young child in America today, in a world designed by and for adults. With school-testing mandates run amok, playfulness squeezed, and young children increasingly pathologized for old-fashioned behaviors like daydreaming and clumsiness, it’s easy to miss what’s important about the crucial years of three to six, and the kind of guidance preschoolers really need. Christakis provides a forensic and far-reaching analysis of today’s whole system of early learning, exploring pedagogy, history, science, policy, and politics. She also offers a wealth of proven strategies about what to do to reimagine the learning environment to suit the child’s real, but often invisible, needs. The ideas range from accommodating children’s sense of time, to decluttering classrooms, to learning how to better observe and listen as children express themselves in pictures and words.
With her strong foundation in the study of child development and early education and her own in-the-trenches classroom experience, Christakis peels back the mystery of early childhood, revealing a place that’s rich with possibility. Her message is energizing and reassuring: Parents have more power (and more knowledge) than they think they do, and young children are inherently creative and will flourish, if we can learn new ways to support them and restore their vital learning habitat.
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First published February 9, 2016
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January 31, 2016
Let me preface this review by saying I was SO looking forward to reading The Importance of Being Little. I love books about kids, families, parenting, life balance, blah, etc.--ALL of it! I have three young kids myself, ages 6, 4, and 1, and I was really hoping to learn something new about interacting with them.
In the introduction, author Christakis says her book is for parents, teachers, and policy makers who care about children. Her goal isn't to point fingers, but to show, through research and her own extensive experience working with children, how we can all better connect with young kids while also preparing them for Real Life.
Wonderful. Great. I'm with you, Christakis! Tell me everything.
And, unfortunately, she really does. This book reads like a stream of consciousness ALL THAT I KNOW ABOUT KIDS soliloquy. Yes, I learned some interesting factoids while reading it, and I managed to eek out some decent pieces of advice, but yowza. I can't believe how much the book meanders, how chaotically it is organized. Christakis can't seem to take a position and stick with it. She can't even choose a point and stick with it. She's all over the place. The good ideas are there if you look hard enough, but they are buried in barely relevant clutter.
For example, Chapter 5 is called Just Kidding, and I'm still not even sure what its main point is. Here are all the topics Christakis covers in this ONE chapter:
* The changing definitions and expectations of childhood.
* The backlash against telling our kids they are "special."
* The history of problems that kids experienced in the past (as explanation for why adults might be inclined to think kids are special now).
* The hardships that deaf children have faced.
* How we use labels to define certain behaviors and traits (ADHD, autism, etc.).
* The difficulty in not over-diagnosing OR under-diagnosing behavioral labels.
* Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Christakis gives a long example of an IEP gone wrong, including word-for-word dialogue between her and the child involved.
* The tendency of adults to label kids + examples.
* The tendency of adults to label kids according to sex and ethnicity + examples.
* The positive consequences of parents hovering over and protecting their kids.
* The negative consequences of parents hovering over and protecting their kids. Some of her examples of adults being overprotective: parents who are "overly worried" about their kids with peanut allergies, and people who think kids shouldn't be allowed to be left alone in a car. (FYI, these examples irritate me.)
I feel exhausted just writing that list. Dear Lord. It's too much. And the whole book is like that. No clear outline or structure, just disjointed ramblings. I feel like the intro should have read: Let's get in a van and drive, man.
Ultimately, yes, I do think I understand Christakis's main points, and my takeaway from the book is two-fold. First, kids need to have high-quality interactions with trusted adults who know them. Adults help guide conversations, fill in gaps, and provide context when children need it. But the flip side of that is that kids also need space. They need quiet and calm so they can notice, examine, process, discover, and feel on their own. Basically, kids need guided freedom.
I can acknowledge and appreciate this message. It makes sense, and I will definitely adjust my interactions with my kids accordingly. Still, this book needed a lot more structure. I wish there had been clear and relevant chapter titles, a more coherent introduction explaining what each chapter was going to be about, and perhaps a synopsis of main points at the end of each chapter. As is, there are good bits of info in here, but, boy oh boy, I really had to dig to find them.
In the introduction, author Christakis says her book is for parents, teachers, and policy makers who care about children. Her goal isn't to point fingers, but to show, through research and her own extensive experience working with children, how we can all better connect with young kids while also preparing them for Real Life.
Wonderful. Great. I'm with you, Christakis! Tell me everything.
And, unfortunately, she really does. This book reads like a stream of consciousness ALL THAT I KNOW ABOUT KIDS soliloquy. Yes, I learned some interesting factoids while reading it, and I managed to eek out some decent pieces of advice, but yowza. I can't believe how much the book meanders, how chaotically it is organized. Christakis can't seem to take a position and stick with it. She can't even choose a point and stick with it. She's all over the place. The good ideas are there if you look hard enough, but they are buried in barely relevant clutter.
For example, Chapter 5 is called Just Kidding, and I'm still not even sure what its main point is. Here are all the topics Christakis covers in this ONE chapter:
* The changing definitions and expectations of childhood.
* The backlash against telling our kids they are "special."
* The history of problems that kids experienced in the past (as explanation for why adults might be inclined to think kids are special now).
* The hardships that deaf children have faced.
* How we use labels to define certain behaviors and traits (ADHD, autism, etc.).
* The difficulty in not over-diagnosing OR under-diagnosing behavioral labels.
* Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Christakis gives a long example of an IEP gone wrong, including word-for-word dialogue between her and the child involved.
* The tendency of adults to label kids + examples.
* The tendency of adults to label kids according to sex and ethnicity + examples.
* The positive consequences of parents hovering over and protecting their kids.
* The negative consequences of parents hovering over and protecting their kids. Some of her examples of adults being overprotective: parents who are "overly worried" about their kids with peanut allergies, and people who think kids shouldn't be allowed to be left alone in a car. (FYI, these examples irritate me.)
I feel exhausted just writing that list. Dear Lord. It's too much. And the whole book is like that. No clear outline or structure, just disjointed ramblings. I feel like the intro should have read: Let's get in a van and drive, man.
Ultimately, yes, I do think I understand Christakis's main points, and my takeaway from the book is two-fold. First, kids need to have high-quality interactions with trusted adults who know them. Adults help guide conversations, fill in gaps, and provide context when children need it. But the flip side of that is that kids also need space. They need quiet and calm so they can notice, examine, process, discover, and feel on their own. Basically, kids need guided freedom.
I can acknowledge and appreciate this message. It makes sense, and I will definitely adjust my interactions with my kids accordingly. Still, this book needed a lot more structure. I wish there had been clear and relevant chapter titles, a more coherent introduction explaining what each chapter was going to be about, and perhaps a synopsis of main points at the end of each chapter. As is, there are good bits of info in here, but, boy oh boy, I really had to dig to find them.
December 9, 2024
I will preface this by saying I wanted to love it. I really did. I hold a BS in Child Development, I spent my pre-motherhood years teaching preschool, and am now a mom to two preschoolers myself. This should have been right in my wheelhouse.
And, to be fair, in some ways it was. I whole heartedly agree with increased pay for preschool teachers. I had a degree, I was the lead teacher, and I worked with a highly volatile population and yet made less than 30k a year. In a high cost of living area it made no sense to go back after having children with the cost of daycare, and so I have become a stay at home mom. That's the norm in the field, at least locally. When teachers are ready to start their own families most leave and never come back to the profession or leave and start in home day care. The result is teachers with only about 4 years experience max. If we want a strong early childhood program that is loving and developmentally appropriate, we need to find a way to keep the good teachers.
I also whole heartedly agree in letting children play and be young. Play is so important and such an integral part of growing up but I see so many parents wanting their two year old in academic preschools because they are beautiful special snowflakes that know all their letters. That's great, but those are also the children who will become burnt out and stressed. It was nice to see the author spend a good chunk of time highlighting how developmentally appropriate play is.
That being said, I can't imagine referring this book to a fellow parent, and only maybe for a fellow teacher or college student. It was dense, somewhat choppy, and spends a lot of time talking about what a hot mess early education is with little time spent on exactly how to improve it. I think in many ways it could make a stressed out, confused parent, even more confused as to what kind of program to find. Being a parent now is hard. We are judged for everything and just have to do the best we can. I don't know that a meandering tale of all the ways things are wrong will truly help parents. The good points are good, but not worth the read.
And, to be fair, in some ways it was. I whole heartedly agree with increased pay for preschool teachers. I had a degree, I was the lead teacher, and I worked with a highly volatile population and yet made less than 30k a year. In a high cost of living area it made no sense to go back after having children with the cost of daycare, and so I have become a stay at home mom. That's the norm in the field, at least locally. When teachers are ready to start their own families most leave and never come back to the profession or leave and start in home day care. The result is teachers with only about 4 years experience max. If we want a strong early childhood program that is loving and developmentally appropriate, we need to find a way to keep the good teachers.
I also whole heartedly agree in letting children play and be young. Play is so important and such an integral part of growing up but I see so many parents wanting their two year old in academic preschools because they are beautiful special snowflakes that know all their letters. That's great, but those are also the children who will become burnt out and stressed. It was nice to see the author spend a good chunk of time highlighting how developmentally appropriate play is.
That being said, I can't imagine referring this book to a fellow parent, and only maybe for a fellow teacher or college student. It was dense, somewhat choppy, and spends a lot of time talking about what a hot mess early education is with little time spent on exactly how to improve it. I think in many ways it could make a stressed out, confused parent, even more confused as to what kind of program to find. Being a parent now is hard. We are judged for everything and just have to do the best we can. I don't know that a meandering tale of all the ways things are wrong will truly help parents. The good points are good, but not worth the read.
February 5, 2016
I’ve read so many parenting books over the years, and also seen a lot of curriculum guides and policy articles about children, but this book puts everything together in a way that makes sense. I completely disagree with the reviewer who indicated that this book was incoherent and rambling. I am not sure we read the same book - or maybe I can just absorb multiple ideas in the same chapter at the same time. It is incredibly clear and very well argued and researched. What I loved most however was all of the real anecdotes about real-life kids in the author's own classroom that she uses throughout the book. She has such a readable and engaging style - somewhat of a rarity in this field and in non-fiction in general. Christakis is a great story teller and if you have any connection to young children, do yourself a favor and read this wonderful and groundbreaking book!
May 4, 2016
I was hoping to get some great ideas from this book, but instead, the whole book came across as a smug "You're doing it wrong! Haha!" sort of rant. I do understand (and agree with) a lot of the points she makes about slowing things down, and letting kids develop in their own natural way.
I am glad that as a special ed teacher, I get to individualize for my students and teach at their pace, which is something I think all kids need.
The book was a little disappointing, though, because it seemed to relish in sharing stories about the incorrect way teachers do things. To be fair, the author shared some of her own mishaps from when she started teaching, too. I had just hoped for more suggestions of ways to work around the system to give kids what they need in school.
I am glad that as a special ed teacher, I get to individualize for my students and teach at their pace, which is something I think all kids need.
The book was a little disappointing, though, because it seemed to relish in sharing stories about the incorrect way teachers do things. To be fair, the author shared some of her own mishaps from when she started teaching, too. I had just hoped for more suggestions of ways to work around the system to give kids what they need in school.
January 8, 2016
So happy to win this book from a goodreads giveaway!
I own and have read many books about education, and I love that this one focuses on preschool age children. Although it's long and detailed, it didn't feel like a textbook. It's written for anyone to learn from. I was encouraged to see research that backs up some of my thoughts on learning - basically a child learns best from being in the world, engaging with their surroundings, having healthy attachments to and intellectual conversations with their caregivers. Teaching opportunities surround us and it takes an attentive teacher or parent to notice and encourage a child in the pursuit of their interests.
Yes, kids can learn from direct instruction and textbooks, but will they love to learn? Is that all they need or want to learn? I don't believe so which is why I will be continuing to use this book as a reference when interacting with my own kids.
"Again and again, we allow fear to hold back our better angels. As we saw with our impulse to wax nostalgic about our own playful exploits while restricting those of our children, we can't quite make up our minds about the kind of childhood we hold dear."
Now this isn't hippy free-range un-schooling whatever, it's just letting kids be kids and learn in ways that research tells us are effective and compatible with little growing brains. Great book!
I own and have read many books about education, and I love that this one focuses on preschool age children. Although it's long and detailed, it didn't feel like a textbook. It's written for anyone to learn from. I was encouraged to see research that backs up some of my thoughts on learning - basically a child learns best from being in the world, engaging with their surroundings, having healthy attachments to and intellectual conversations with their caregivers. Teaching opportunities surround us and it takes an attentive teacher or parent to notice and encourage a child in the pursuit of their interests.
Yes, kids can learn from direct instruction and textbooks, but will they love to learn? Is that all they need or want to learn? I don't believe so which is why I will be continuing to use this book as a reference when interacting with my own kids.
"Again and again, we allow fear to hold back our better angels. As we saw with our impulse to wax nostalgic about our own playful exploits while restricting those of our children, we can't quite make up our minds about the kind of childhood we hold dear."
Now this isn't hippy free-range un-schooling whatever, it's just letting kids be kids and learn in ways that research tells us are effective and compatible with little growing brains. Great book!
April 20, 2016
This book is surprisingly difficult to read - meandering, full of jargon, and often swinging back and forth and back and forth on an issue ("This is a serious problem. But is it really a problem? Yes, and this is why it's a problem. But here's how it's not really a problem. Actually, I'll address why this is both problematic and not problematic in Chapter 4" - not an actual quote, just me exaggerating her style).
Still, there are some great points here and I'll quote them so you don't have to go hunting for them:
"If all this sounds confusing, it's because it is confusing. We have neither a coherent system nor a standard language to describe the early learning experiences of children..." (xxii)
"...in a high-quality [preschool] program, adults are building relationships with children and paying a lot of attention to children's thinking processes and, by extension, their communication. They attend carefully to children's language and find ways to make them think out loud." (13)
"The average daycare worker lives on the edge of poverty... In some parts of the country...the care of dead people in funeral homes is more tightly regulated than the oversight of living children in early education and care settings." (15)
"Any educator will tell you that a parent is a child's first and best teacher. And it's really true." (19)
Still, there are some great points here and I'll quote them so you don't have to go hunting for them:
"If all this sounds confusing, it's because it is confusing. We have neither a coherent system nor a standard language to describe the early learning experiences of children..." (xxii)
"...in a high-quality [preschool] program, adults are building relationships with children and paying a lot of attention to children's thinking processes and, by extension, their communication. They attend carefully to children's language and find ways to make them think out loud." (13)
"The average daycare worker lives on the edge of poverty... In some parts of the country...the care of dead people in funeral homes is more tightly regulated than the oversight of living children in early education and care settings." (15)
"Any educator will tell you that a parent is a child's first and best teacher. And it's really true." (19)
February 14, 2016
(The following review is based on an advance copy from the publisher. There was no tacit or explicit agreement to write either an overwhelmingly glowing or disparaging review. I accepted it with the full intention of writing an honest review of the book, based upon my own honest reaction to it, which is what I did.)
During my substitute teaching days, I once had the opportunity to sub for a kindergarten teacher. It is important to note that I am certified English/Language Arts for grades 7-12. I have NO formal training with early education. And yet, due to the fact that I am either extremely brave or extremely stupid (it’s a fine line), I agreed to do it.
Remember that scene in the movie “Kindergarten Cop” when Arnold Schwarzenegger---a tough-as-nails police detective who has taken down mobsters and drug lords---has just spent one day undercover as a kindergarten teacher and arrives home looking disheveled and beaten-down and mutters, “I need a vacation...”?
Yeah. That pretty much sums it up.
If I didn’t have a great appreciation for what early education teachers did everyday before going in, I certainly did afterward.
High-schoolers are one thing, but a roomful of 20-plus adorable (and, yes, they really are adorable: you don’t agree to sub a kindergarten class if you don’t absolutely have a soft spot for little kids) six-year-olds wandering aimlessly around a room, occasionally gently pulling one’s pant legs or shirtsleeves, saying things like, “I gotta go potty, Mister.” or “Suzy won’t let me use the crayons.” all the while watching every corner of the room, making sure kids aren’t climbing out a window, trying to eat glue, or cutting up pages of expensive-looking picture books with safety scissors, is a completely other thing altogether.
I’m embarrassed to say that I was only in charge of the class for fifteen minutes when the actual teacher, a petite young bouncy thing with a disarming smile, came back and took over. I’m not sure what sorcery she utilized, but within seconds the children were sitting in the center of the room, quiet and focused on her. Meanwhile, I’m sweating my ass off like I had just spent two hours on a bucking bronco at a rodeo.
The purpose of this anecdote (other than, perhaps, self-deprecation) is to illustrate how much I respect and admire those teachers in the early-education field. It takes a special kind of person to do what they do. Everyday. All day, usually.
I stuck around and observed the rest of the class, and I noticed how much the kids absolutely loved this teacher. They hung on her every word, and they actually listened and did what she told them to do, without question. The key to her success, of course, was that the love was clearly reciprocated. She obviously adored these kids, each and every one of them, and she obviously had taken the time to get to know every one of them. It was evident in the way she talked to them. It went beyond just knowing each of their names and one or two important facts about them. You can know a kid hates broccoli and loves anything to do with “Star Wars”, but that doesn’t mean you actually know him or her.
I’ve come to find that the key to any successful teacher is this true love they have, not only for their profession but for the kids they mentor, regardless of the age group. I’ve also come to find that every single teacher I know has this true love for kids, even if they aren’t necessarily what one would call a “successful” teacher. I believe even “bad” teachers (and, yes, they do exist, although nowhere near the amount that the media or the politicians would like you to believe) have love for their kids, but they have become bad teachers because (like in a bad marriage) they have forgotten what it was that initially made them fall in love in the first place. (Newsflash: it wasn’t the money.)
Erika Christakis is one of the successful teachers. In her new book, “The Importance of Being Little: What Preschoolers Really Need From Grownups”, Christakis joyfully advocates for the children that she knows and loves, both in and out of the classroom.
Thankfully, she is NOT one of the many political pundits or policymakers making lofty claims or diagnoses about the field of education. Unlike most (if not all) of those people, Christakis knows what she’s talking about. She’s spent years in the classroom (she’s a licensed preK-second grade teacher in the state of Massachusetts), and she teaches college-level courses on child development and education policy at the Yale Child Study Center.
“The Importance of Being Little” is a richly-detailed, well-researched examination of what is being done right in the field of early education (which is, sadly, not a lot) and what is definitely being done wrong. If it were only that, though, I doubt the book would be as enjoyable or significant. Christakis doesn’t want to be just another voice of gloom and doom for education in this country, though, which is why the book is a treasure-trove of valuable information and ideas---based on national and international research studies, observations from her own experiences, and anecdotes from fellow parents, teachers, and administrators---on what can and does work.
If there is one complaint about the book, it is that it is all over the place in terms of ideas. In some ways, her book reminded me of that day in the kindergarten class, where kids were roaming around every which way, without structure. It was chaos. Sure, they were having fun, but chaos is still chaos. Christakis’s book has that same sense of chaotic fun.
What her book lacks in terms of focus, though, it more than makes up for in enthusiasm and hope for the future for education.
There are several points to which Christakis keeps coming back within the book: process, not product; schooling and learning are two separate things; and the importance of play.
“It’s the process, not the product”
Everyone recalls making those ridiculous Thanksgiving turkey projects in which one traced one’s hand and used it to create a hand-shaped turkey. Other than fine motor skills (Yay! I traced my hand!), what purpose did that exercise serve other than to create another annoying art-piece to hang on the refrigerator door?
Well, even Christakis acknowledges that the project does serve some useful purposes. (e.g.) gauging a student’s attention span, ability to follow directions, ability to share materials, etc.)
The “process, not product” movement was, according to Christakis, a useful and sound pedagogical paradigm shift that acknowledged children’s creativity while downplaying stifling ideas of what academic-minded adults thought children needed: “It’s encouraging that we no longer force every child to produce in lockstep the exact same construction-paper Thanksgiving turkey. Even the dreariest early childhood programs have generally moved beyond pure mimicry as a pedagogic strategy, and one of the basic evaluation criteria for preschool pedagogy is the absence of a model of what each art project is supposed to look like.(p. 64)”
The problem, according to Christakis, is that the “process, not product” movement can, occasionally, be taken too far. She uses the turkey project as an example.
Without any kind of supervision, Christakis writes, “the pretense of process not product in such a narrowly defined scenario---what survey researchers call a forced choice---just makes a lot of young children feel ashamed or irritated. The problem with our catchy phrase is that process not product doesn’t go nearly far enough. (p.64)”
Oftentimes, a project like the Thanksgiving turkey serves to point out what Christakis calls the “matter-over-mind” problem: “Those exercises still presume that the child’s goal is to make something, rather than to make meaning. (p. 67)”
She likens children in this example to assembly line workers in a factory without quality control, endlessly making defective products and not learning anything about efficacy or presentation.
Children don’t often get the credit they deserve for their analytic and reflective skills. At least, it isn’t often reflected in many education policies. Art for art’s sake is nice, but it isn’t very helpful. With the proper scaffolding, children can utilize artistic expression as a valuable means of learning. Indeed, artistic expression “isn’t a subject area whose worthiness for study could be debated. Rather it is a learning domain, like critical thinking or number sense. (p. 79)”
“Schooling and learning are often two different things. (p.xiii)”
In this current climate of data-driven curriculum policies in which children are standardized tested to death, where teachers barely have time to teach anything of value because they are too focused on “teaching to the test” due to the fact that their jobs are on the line if the school’s overall performance drops below a certain level, the concept of “school” isn’t what it once was, compared to just 10 years ago.
When I was in school, especially in the higher grades, the choices were varied and vast. I had the option of taking any variety of Home Economics classes---Cooking, Sewing, Basic Life Skills---or Shop classes---Auto Repair, Machinery, Woodworking---which were good alternatives to the various Art courses---Architectural Design, Graphic Design, Sketching, Pottery, or Painting. Physical Education even had electives: Golf, Weightlifting, and Health & Nutrition were some of the options available. In academics, there were electives in History---Current Events and Economics---and electives in English---Creative Writing, Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy, and even a Film course.
This wasn’t a private school, either. This was a normal public school in an average (albeit slightly well-to-do) suburban setting. The only standardized tests I ever took were the SAT and the ACT, which I had to take my senior year in high school in order to qualify for college.
Today, most if not all of those elective options are gone. The rooms where many students learned to fix carburetors, build cabinets, or weld are used mostly for storage. The Home Ec rooms are now teacher lounges.
No one questions the fact that students need the basics of Science, English, History, and Mathematics, the so-called “common core”. Unfortunately, students also need the Arts and Humanities, Music, Phys. Ed., and a variety of special electives to choose from: all of which are inevitably the first to go whenever a school levy fails or a district is feeling the effects of an economic recession. Today, school isn’t school. It’s just a daytime prison for most kids.
The reason schools are the way they are is partly due to all the new studies that have proven that very young children possess more innate intelligence than we once thought. According to Christakis, these studies, which should by all rights be accepted as good news have resulted in an irrational fear among educators.
“So here we have a bizarre development in the world of preschool learning: the more good news we discover about children’s innate intelligence, the more anxious we become that children aren’t achieving enough. In an effort to capitalize on this apparently limitless potential, we set up various processes to harness it---new curricula, program philosophies, outcome measures, and actual pen-and-paper tests for four-and five-year-olds---the result being that we undermine the very thing we are so concerned with. How so? By spending time measuring learning when we should be spending those hours fostering the learning itself. ( p. 90)”
One only has to observe young children with other children to see that real learning often takes place within the playful give-and-take of playtime and childish conversation, not with worksheets or lectures or 20-page multiple choice tests to be answered on bubble sheets.
“That young children learn primarily from their relationships is both an unfamiliar and self-evident reality, but it is a reality that is too often lost in our current debates about what is best for preschoolers. (p.xiv)”
The importance of play
Christakis spends much of her time in her book talking up playtime. Not that she believes that a child should spend all of their waking hours getting into mischief. That kind of thinking is, according to her, a societal knee-jerk reaction and a result of the negative connotation of the word “play”.
According to Christakis, “Play is the fundamental building block of human cognition, emotional health, and social behavior. Play improves memory and helps children learn to do mathematical problems in their heads, take turns, regulate their impulses, and speak with greater complexity. (p. 146)”
Unfortunately, academics are being pushed down children’s gullets at younger and younger ages, and “play” has become a four-letter word.
This is especially true amongst many lower-income families, who expect to get more out of their child’s preschool experience than more cheesy construction-paper fridge art. It’s a competitive world out there, and they simply want to provide their children with the best tools to survive.
But preparing a child for a “competitive” world and surviving in the new marketplace of globalism should not mean depriving children of the opportunity to be children. Doing so has resulted in some unforeseen negative results such as the fact that American children are getting, on average, much less sleep than their counterparts just 20 years ago as well as their contemporaries in other countries. The long-term negative medical, emotional, and social effects of this sleep deprivation are just now being realized and studied.
The upside to all this is that we have within our grasp the knowledge and ability to make the necessary changes.
Christakis, a parent herself, believes that the key to this change lies within the parents, who are still the most significant and vital factors in a child’s life, moreso than teachers, administrators, or social media.
With the proper attention, care, and feedback, Christakis advises that simply “getting out of the way is often the best thing we can do for a young child. (p.xvi)”
During my substitute teaching days, I once had the opportunity to sub for a kindergarten teacher. It is important to note that I am certified English/Language Arts for grades 7-12. I have NO formal training with early education. And yet, due to the fact that I am either extremely brave or extremely stupid (it’s a fine line), I agreed to do it.
Remember that scene in the movie “Kindergarten Cop” when Arnold Schwarzenegger---a tough-as-nails police detective who has taken down mobsters and drug lords---has just spent one day undercover as a kindergarten teacher and arrives home looking disheveled and beaten-down and mutters, “I need a vacation...”?
Yeah. That pretty much sums it up.
If I didn’t have a great appreciation for what early education teachers did everyday before going in, I certainly did afterward.
High-schoolers are one thing, but a roomful of 20-plus adorable (and, yes, they really are adorable: you don’t agree to sub a kindergarten class if you don’t absolutely have a soft spot for little kids) six-year-olds wandering aimlessly around a room, occasionally gently pulling one’s pant legs or shirtsleeves, saying things like, “I gotta go potty, Mister.” or “Suzy won’t let me use the crayons.” all the while watching every corner of the room, making sure kids aren’t climbing out a window, trying to eat glue, or cutting up pages of expensive-looking picture books with safety scissors, is a completely other thing altogether.
I’m embarrassed to say that I was only in charge of the class for fifteen minutes when the actual teacher, a petite young bouncy thing with a disarming smile, came back and took over. I’m not sure what sorcery she utilized, but within seconds the children were sitting in the center of the room, quiet and focused on her. Meanwhile, I’m sweating my ass off like I had just spent two hours on a bucking bronco at a rodeo.
The purpose of this anecdote (other than, perhaps, self-deprecation) is to illustrate how much I respect and admire those teachers in the early-education field. It takes a special kind of person to do what they do. Everyday. All day, usually.
I stuck around and observed the rest of the class, and I noticed how much the kids absolutely loved this teacher. They hung on her every word, and they actually listened and did what she told them to do, without question. The key to her success, of course, was that the love was clearly reciprocated. She obviously adored these kids, each and every one of them, and she obviously had taken the time to get to know every one of them. It was evident in the way she talked to them. It went beyond just knowing each of their names and one or two important facts about them. You can know a kid hates broccoli and loves anything to do with “Star Wars”, but that doesn’t mean you actually know him or her.
I’ve come to find that the key to any successful teacher is this true love they have, not only for their profession but for the kids they mentor, regardless of the age group. I’ve also come to find that every single teacher I know has this true love for kids, even if they aren’t necessarily what one would call a “successful” teacher. I believe even “bad” teachers (and, yes, they do exist, although nowhere near the amount that the media or the politicians would like you to believe) have love for their kids, but they have become bad teachers because (like in a bad marriage) they have forgotten what it was that initially made them fall in love in the first place. (Newsflash: it wasn’t the money.)
Erika Christakis is one of the successful teachers. In her new book, “The Importance of Being Little: What Preschoolers Really Need From Grownups”, Christakis joyfully advocates for the children that she knows and loves, both in and out of the classroom.
Thankfully, she is NOT one of the many political pundits or policymakers making lofty claims or diagnoses about the field of education. Unlike most (if not all) of those people, Christakis knows what she’s talking about. She’s spent years in the classroom (she’s a licensed preK-second grade teacher in the state of Massachusetts), and she teaches college-level courses on child development and education policy at the Yale Child Study Center.
“The Importance of Being Little” is a richly-detailed, well-researched examination of what is being done right in the field of early education (which is, sadly, not a lot) and what is definitely being done wrong. If it were only that, though, I doubt the book would be as enjoyable or significant. Christakis doesn’t want to be just another voice of gloom and doom for education in this country, though, which is why the book is a treasure-trove of valuable information and ideas---based on national and international research studies, observations from her own experiences, and anecdotes from fellow parents, teachers, and administrators---on what can and does work.
If there is one complaint about the book, it is that it is all over the place in terms of ideas. In some ways, her book reminded me of that day in the kindergarten class, where kids were roaming around every which way, without structure. It was chaos. Sure, they were having fun, but chaos is still chaos. Christakis’s book has that same sense of chaotic fun.
What her book lacks in terms of focus, though, it more than makes up for in enthusiasm and hope for the future for education.
There are several points to which Christakis keeps coming back within the book: process, not product; schooling and learning are two separate things; and the importance of play.
“It’s the process, not the product”
Everyone recalls making those ridiculous Thanksgiving turkey projects in which one traced one’s hand and used it to create a hand-shaped turkey. Other than fine motor skills (Yay! I traced my hand!), what purpose did that exercise serve other than to create another annoying art-piece to hang on the refrigerator door?
Well, even Christakis acknowledges that the project does serve some useful purposes. (e.g.) gauging a student’s attention span, ability to follow directions, ability to share materials, etc.)
The “process, not product” movement was, according to Christakis, a useful and sound pedagogical paradigm shift that acknowledged children’s creativity while downplaying stifling ideas of what academic-minded adults thought children needed: “It’s encouraging that we no longer force every child to produce in lockstep the exact same construction-paper Thanksgiving turkey. Even the dreariest early childhood programs have generally moved beyond pure mimicry as a pedagogic strategy, and one of the basic evaluation criteria for preschool pedagogy is the absence of a model of what each art project is supposed to look like.(p. 64)”
The problem, according to Christakis, is that the “process, not product” movement can, occasionally, be taken too far. She uses the turkey project as an example.
Without any kind of supervision, Christakis writes, “the pretense of process not product in such a narrowly defined scenario---what survey researchers call a forced choice---just makes a lot of young children feel ashamed or irritated. The problem with our catchy phrase is that process not product doesn’t go nearly far enough. (p.64)”
Oftentimes, a project like the Thanksgiving turkey serves to point out what Christakis calls the “matter-over-mind” problem: “Those exercises still presume that the child’s goal is to make something, rather than to make meaning. (p. 67)”
She likens children in this example to assembly line workers in a factory without quality control, endlessly making defective products and not learning anything about efficacy or presentation.
Children don’t often get the credit they deserve for their analytic and reflective skills. At least, it isn’t often reflected in many education policies. Art for art’s sake is nice, but it isn’t very helpful. With the proper scaffolding, children can utilize artistic expression as a valuable means of learning. Indeed, artistic expression “isn’t a subject area whose worthiness for study could be debated. Rather it is a learning domain, like critical thinking or number sense. (p. 79)”
“Schooling and learning are often two different things. (p.xiii)”
In this current climate of data-driven curriculum policies in which children are standardized tested to death, where teachers barely have time to teach anything of value because they are too focused on “teaching to the test” due to the fact that their jobs are on the line if the school’s overall performance drops below a certain level, the concept of “school” isn’t what it once was, compared to just 10 years ago.
When I was in school, especially in the higher grades, the choices were varied and vast. I had the option of taking any variety of Home Economics classes---Cooking, Sewing, Basic Life Skills---or Shop classes---Auto Repair, Machinery, Woodworking---which were good alternatives to the various Art courses---Architectural Design, Graphic Design, Sketching, Pottery, or Painting. Physical Education even had electives: Golf, Weightlifting, and Health & Nutrition were some of the options available. In academics, there were electives in History---Current Events and Economics---and electives in English---Creative Writing, Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy, and even a Film course.
This wasn’t a private school, either. This was a normal public school in an average (albeit slightly well-to-do) suburban setting. The only standardized tests I ever took were the SAT and the ACT, which I had to take my senior year in high school in order to qualify for college.
Today, most if not all of those elective options are gone. The rooms where many students learned to fix carburetors, build cabinets, or weld are used mostly for storage. The Home Ec rooms are now teacher lounges.
No one questions the fact that students need the basics of Science, English, History, and Mathematics, the so-called “common core”. Unfortunately, students also need the Arts and Humanities, Music, Phys. Ed., and a variety of special electives to choose from: all of which are inevitably the first to go whenever a school levy fails or a district is feeling the effects of an economic recession. Today, school isn’t school. It’s just a daytime prison for most kids.
The reason schools are the way they are is partly due to all the new studies that have proven that very young children possess more innate intelligence than we once thought. According to Christakis, these studies, which should by all rights be accepted as good news have resulted in an irrational fear among educators.
“So here we have a bizarre development in the world of preschool learning: the more good news we discover about children’s innate intelligence, the more anxious we become that children aren’t achieving enough. In an effort to capitalize on this apparently limitless potential, we set up various processes to harness it---new curricula, program philosophies, outcome measures, and actual pen-and-paper tests for four-and five-year-olds---the result being that we undermine the very thing we are so concerned with. How so? By spending time measuring learning when we should be spending those hours fostering the learning itself. ( p. 90)”
One only has to observe young children with other children to see that real learning often takes place within the playful give-and-take of playtime and childish conversation, not with worksheets or lectures or 20-page multiple choice tests to be answered on bubble sheets.
“That young children learn primarily from their relationships is both an unfamiliar and self-evident reality, but it is a reality that is too often lost in our current debates about what is best for preschoolers. (p.xiv)”
The importance of play
Christakis spends much of her time in her book talking up playtime. Not that she believes that a child should spend all of their waking hours getting into mischief. That kind of thinking is, according to her, a societal knee-jerk reaction and a result of the negative connotation of the word “play”.
According to Christakis, “Play is the fundamental building block of human cognition, emotional health, and social behavior. Play improves memory and helps children learn to do mathematical problems in their heads, take turns, regulate their impulses, and speak with greater complexity. (p. 146)”
Unfortunately, academics are being pushed down children’s gullets at younger and younger ages, and “play” has become a four-letter word.
This is especially true amongst many lower-income families, who expect to get more out of their child’s preschool experience than more cheesy construction-paper fridge art. It’s a competitive world out there, and they simply want to provide their children with the best tools to survive.
But preparing a child for a “competitive” world and surviving in the new marketplace of globalism should not mean depriving children of the opportunity to be children. Doing so has resulted in some unforeseen negative results such as the fact that American children are getting, on average, much less sleep than their counterparts just 20 years ago as well as their contemporaries in other countries. The long-term negative medical, emotional, and social effects of this sleep deprivation are just now being realized and studied.
The upside to all this is that we have within our grasp the knowledge and ability to make the necessary changes.
Christakis, a parent herself, believes that the key to this change lies within the parents, who are still the most significant and vital factors in a child’s life, moreso than teachers, administrators, or social media.
With the proper attention, care, and feedback, Christakis advises that simply “getting out of the way is often the best thing we can do for a young child. (p.xvi)”
May 11, 2018
To be honest, I'm a little flummoxed by the rave reviews this book has gotten. I assumed I'd find plenty to like in it-- I really liked "How Toddlers Thrive," which is also written by a woman who brings serious early learning research work plus extensive preschool teaching experience and lots of parenting experience to the table. But this book's haranguing, naysaying tone profoundly irritated me and made me very anxious, even as I largely agreed with the points she was making (about the virtues of outdoor time, unstructured time, learning that doesn't necessarily look like "learning," adults who really listen and talk to little ones, etc). At one point Christakis writes, "It might seem as if I'm impossible to please and see nothing optimal in anyone's use of materials or any classroom design or preschool schedule." Bingo! That was actually the single line of the book that most resonated with me. The subtitle promises some kind of positive prescription for well-meaning grown-ups to follow, but that's false advertising-- this book is really more of a critique of all the ways adults misunderstand the needs of toddlers and preschoolers. Which are many, for sure! But encountering them in litany form just made me feel both totally overprivileged (for suddenly finding myself worrying about the deleterious, soul-crushing effects of cookie-cutter preschool crafts, like the old Thanksgiving hand-turkey, which Christakis rails against at length) and simultaneously powerless (because the kind of care Christakis suggests is appropriate is really, really bespoke). Do yourself a favor and skip this one.
September 11, 2016
The internets just erased the review I'd been working on at length. This book is marvelous, for parents, for teachers, for policy makers. Christakis knows what she's talking about with young children, and she conveys that knowledge in a thoroughly documented, and entertaining, way. Read this book if you're at all interested in the topic.
If you don't have the time, watch the movie Daddy Day Care in which the previously fond-but-not-very-involved fathers of preschoolers become very involved, by letting the kids take the lead. It's brilliant, really.
ARC provided by publisher.
If you don't have the time, watch the movie Daddy Day Care in which the previously fond-but-not-very-involved fathers of preschoolers become very involved, by letting the kids take the lead. It's brilliant, really.
ARC provided by publisher.
March 14, 2016
(This was an advance copy from the publisher, probably because it was already on my To Read list but that in no way affects my review) I taught in the area of early childhood education for 37 years and this book came as a breath of fresh air. As education in the US has moved inexorably toward memorization and testing, the effects have trickled down to our youngest children in preschool and kindergarten. Instead of learning how to learn, children are often now drilled on specific memory tasks that they would learn much easier when they are older and the information would have deeper meaning. Christakis presents the argument for a different kind of learning involving curiosity, discovery and support which will serve those children for a lifetime. She does it in a conversational, entertaining manner that makes it an easy read. I have been and will be recommending this to my early childhood educator friends and parents of young children for a long time.
May 31, 2017
I am very interested in this topic, and some of Christakis' main points were very helpful. Another Goodreads reviewer (Lorilin) says it better than I could: "First, kids need to have high-quality interactions with trusted adults who know them. Adults help guide conversations, fill in gaps, and provide context when children need it. But the flip side of that is that kids also need space. They need quiet and calm so they can notice, examine, process, discover, and feel on their own. Basically, kids need guided freedom."
But the book was very disorganized and often read as a rant. It was difficult to follow the thread of thought and glean the take-aways.
But the book was very disorganized and often read as a rant. It was difficult to follow the thread of thought and glean the take-aways.
did-not-finish
October 4, 2017It just wasn't really what I expected and therefore not really my cup of tea.
June 22, 2016
4.5 Stars
Back in January/February of this year I received a couple emails asking if I would read an advanced copy of, “The Importance of Being Little,” in exchange for an honest review of the book. For this book loving mom what could be better than receiving a book in the mail about a subject that holds so much interest for me.
When I started reading I quickly realized that the ideas and concepts that the author has spent much of her life researching and watching play out first hand as an educator, researcher and lecturer in early childhood education are a part of a trending national conversation right now regarding education especially among our very littles ones. I have had countless conversations with my own friends, family, community members and have seen articles and debates pop up on social media regarding the intensity and ever changing environment for our kids. This starts right at the preschool and kindergarten level. I recently read a picture book published 20 or 30 years ago to my kindergarten age son where at one point the kids in a kindergarten class that took a nap. He looked at me with a completely puzzled look and wondered out loud how the kids were able to take a nap in kindergarten! I told him I took little naps in kindergarten all the time and that was for half-day. Those days are long gone. Things have even changed dramatically from when my now 15 year old daughter was in kindergarten. Then the standard for counting by the end of the year then was to 30. Now the expectation is to count to 100. Have the kids changed that much, or are we in such a hurry to get them to the next level that we are forgetting that they still need time to be kids?
This book came in at the perfect time for me. My three older children fit nicely into every bell curve and benchmark for elementary school. Parent-Teacher Conferences often felt like a pat on the back. By the time my fourth child came along I knew I was dealing with a very different personality type. By the end of his preschools years I could tell he was a bit behind by today’s standards in a few areas. On the one hand I would tell myself he is just in preschool/kindergarten he has time to grow up and catch up. On the other hand I’m worried that if we do not figure out the proper intervention that he would always be behind.
I found myself marking pages and nodding along with this book. All almost 300 pages! (My biggest critique of the book is that it got a little bit long.) The author is very accessible and it truly felt like I was having a conversation with one of my friends or sisters. She calmed me down right when I needed it and really has me excited about when my fifth baby gets to this stage. Clearly adult interaction, conversation and letting kids be kids is a huge part of the key. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
“Any educator will tell you that a parent is a child’s first and best teacher. And it’s really true. Complicating matters, some small segment of children seems to do fine without the benefit of preschool. Many of the adults reading this book will not have attended preschool or the academically focused kindergartens so prevalent today. It’s almost radioactive, politically, to suggest this, but a small subset of the population might even do better without preschool.”
I did more of a homeschool preschool with my three older kids and they all did great once they hit school. Looking back now I would not trade that time I spent with them for anything!
“What strikes me again and again when I step into preschool classrooms is not any lack of goodwill, but the absence of recognition of young children as unique people with their own ideas, their own feelings, their own thoughts and tastes and experiences.”
“The lack of sympathy is even more pronounced in today’s kindergarters, which have abandoned even the pretense that they serve as gateways to “real” school, and are in fact schools themselves.”
“Administrators complain about families whose kindergarteners skip school too much or are chronically tardy; they’re accused of not taking the new rigor of kindergarten seriously enough. In this view kindergarten apparently demands a more punishing work ethic than would be familiar to a lot of the adult workforce. And in Mississippi, approximately 10 percent of these little shirkers aren’t allowed to advance to first grade?
What?!
“A five-year-old enjoying a day off at home with Grandma is for whatever reason costing school districts money. Call me cynical, but I believe this financing structure is one of the implicit reasons kindergarten is no longer seen as the gentle bridge to official school that once allowed a little kid to sleep late or play hooky once in awhile.”
“With academic pressures at such a fever pitch for children this age, and with most kindergarten classrooms scrubbed of the traditional props and routines that five-year-olds use to make meaning in their lives (play make-believe with dress-up and blocks, for example, or enjoying a leisurely pretend tea party at recess), it’s a wonder teachers can get to know their young charges with any depth at all.”
The author spends huge portions of the book discussing this last issue. It seems much of the creativity and interaction that teachers have with their students is being replaced with an intensity over test scores.
My son has had some challenges with fine motor skills the last few years so when I read this passage below my blood pressure thankfully went down.
“If we paid closer attention to the experience of being a young child, I believe we couldn’t escape the conclusion that we have to ease up on certain kids with still-maturing fine motor skills so they can spend their time on more meaningful activity.”
Hooray!
The chapter titled, “Played Out Habitat Loss and the Extinction of Play” is a must read. I promise you are talking about this. I’m constantly gauging how I’m doing with this one with our family. Where is the right balance of free play vs. structured lessons and activities? Here is another great quote:
“If we really are worried about someone missing the chance to pitch for the Red Soxs, children develop athletic skills extraordinarily well through the everyday acts of running, jumping, digging, pulling and pushing, not structured and adult-mediated activity...Peewee sports require adult chauffeurs, adult referees, adult snack providers, adult fans, not to mention adult expectation (barely veiled and often toxic) about winning and losing. The resulting message to a young child is that she can’t really enjoy life without big people always there to coach her through it.”
I highly recommend this book to parents, educators, politicians and anyone else interested in turning out the next generation of creative, intelligent and interesting people.
Thanks to Viking books for sending me this advance copy. I'm sure to use it as a reference for years to come.
Back in January/February of this year I received a couple emails asking if I would read an advanced copy of, “The Importance of Being Little,” in exchange for an honest review of the book. For this book loving mom what could be better than receiving a book in the mail about a subject that holds so much interest for me.
When I started reading I quickly realized that the ideas and concepts that the author has spent much of her life researching and watching play out first hand as an educator, researcher and lecturer in early childhood education are a part of a trending national conversation right now regarding education especially among our very littles ones. I have had countless conversations with my own friends, family, community members and have seen articles and debates pop up on social media regarding the intensity and ever changing environment for our kids. This starts right at the preschool and kindergarten level. I recently read a picture book published 20 or 30 years ago to my kindergarten age son where at one point the kids in a kindergarten class that took a nap. He looked at me with a completely puzzled look and wondered out loud how the kids were able to take a nap in kindergarten! I told him I took little naps in kindergarten all the time and that was for half-day. Those days are long gone. Things have even changed dramatically from when my now 15 year old daughter was in kindergarten. Then the standard for counting by the end of the year then was to 30. Now the expectation is to count to 100. Have the kids changed that much, or are we in such a hurry to get them to the next level that we are forgetting that they still need time to be kids?
This book came in at the perfect time for me. My three older children fit nicely into every bell curve and benchmark for elementary school. Parent-Teacher Conferences often felt like a pat on the back. By the time my fourth child came along I knew I was dealing with a very different personality type. By the end of his preschools years I could tell he was a bit behind by today’s standards in a few areas. On the one hand I would tell myself he is just in preschool/kindergarten he has time to grow up and catch up. On the other hand I’m worried that if we do not figure out the proper intervention that he would always be behind.
I found myself marking pages and nodding along with this book. All almost 300 pages! (My biggest critique of the book is that it got a little bit long.) The author is very accessible and it truly felt like I was having a conversation with one of my friends or sisters. She calmed me down right when I needed it and really has me excited about when my fifth baby gets to this stage. Clearly adult interaction, conversation and letting kids be kids is a huge part of the key. Here are some of my favorite quotes:
“Any educator will tell you that a parent is a child’s first and best teacher. And it’s really true. Complicating matters, some small segment of children seems to do fine without the benefit of preschool. Many of the adults reading this book will not have attended preschool or the academically focused kindergartens so prevalent today. It’s almost radioactive, politically, to suggest this, but a small subset of the population might even do better without preschool.”
I did more of a homeschool preschool with my three older kids and they all did great once they hit school. Looking back now I would not trade that time I spent with them for anything!
“What strikes me again and again when I step into preschool classrooms is not any lack of goodwill, but the absence of recognition of young children as unique people with their own ideas, their own feelings, their own thoughts and tastes and experiences.”
“The lack of sympathy is even more pronounced in today’s kindergarters, which have abandoned even the pretense that they serve as gateways to “real” school, and are in fact schools themselves.”
“Administrators complain about families whose kindergarteners skip school too much or are chronically tardy; they’re accused of not taking the new rigor of kindergarten seriously enough. In this view kindergarten apparently demands a more punishing work ethic than would be familiar to a lot of the adult workforce. And in Mississippi, approximately 10 percent of these little shirkers aren’t allowed to advance to first grade?
What?!
“A five-year-old enjoying a day off at home with Grandma is for whatever reason costing school districts money. Call me cynical, but I believe this financing structure is one of the implicit reasons kindergarten is no longer seen as the gentle bridge to official school that once allowed a little kid to sleep late or play hooky once in awhile.”
“With academic pressures at such a fever pitch for children this age, and with most kindergarten classrooms scrubbed of the traditional props and routines that five-year-olds use to make meaning in their lives (play make-believe with dress-up and blocks, for example, or enjoying a leisurely pretend tea party at recess), it’s a wonder teachers can get to know their young charges with any depth at all.”
The author spends huge portions of the book discussing this last issue. It seems much of the creativity and interaction that teachers have with their students is being replaced with an intensity over test scores.
My son has had some challenges with fine motor skills the last few years so when I read this passage below my blood pressure thankfully went down.
“If we paid closer attention to the experience of being a young child, I believe we couldn’t escape the conclusion that we have to ease up on certain kids with still-maturing fine motor skills so they can spend their time on more meaningful activity.”
Hooray!
The chapter titled, “Played Out Habitat Loss and the Extinction of Play” is a must read. I promise you are talking about this. I’m constantly gauging how I’m doing with this one with our family. Where is the right balance of free play vs. structured lessons and activities? Here is another great quote:
“If we really are worried about someone missing the chance to pitch for the Red Soxs, children develop athletic skills extraordinarily well through the everyday acts of running, jumping, digging, pulling and pushing, not structured and adult-mediated activity...Peewee sports require adult chauffeurs, adult referees, adult snack providers, adult fans, not to mention adult expectation (barely veiled and often toxic) about winning and losing. The resulting message to a young child is that she can’t really enjoy life without big people always there to coach her through it.”
I highly recommend this book to parents, educators, politicians and anyone else interested in turning out the next generation of creative, intelligent and interesting people.
Thanks to Viking books for sending me this advance copy. I'm sure to use it as a reference for years to come.
December 4, 2023
I enjoyed the first ~60% of this book. I'm at the phase of parenting where I'm feeling pressure to sign my kid up for All The Things, and this book reminded me that focusing on the simple things is what is most important. I had heard a lot about "play based learning" but had no idea what it was referring to, and this book did a good job explaining. It got a little too Sad Beige Mommy / weirdly mom-shamy about parents not potty training their kids by 18 months tho 🙄. Finally, some of the observational references felt a little elitist - all the "good" pre school programs highlighted were within a mile of an Ivy League college 🙄.
May 11, 2016
This was a good book for me to read as a new mom. It focuses on what is important for preschoolers, but the message applies to younger children as well: play in an atmosphere with warm, responsive adults.
Many preschools are focusing on pre-academic skills, to the detriment of dramatic, creative play. Standards state detailed learning goals that encourage boxed activities with predetermined outcomes, like the famous hand tracing turkey craft that Christakis says is derived from an adult imposed agenda that takes a limited view of children's creativity. It's the process, not the product that is important. The turkey assumes the child's goal is to make something rather than to make meaning. Another example is a craft where children make a sunflower from a paper plate using pre-mixed orange paint. Instead, give the children space and time to experiment: how to mix colors, use different brush strokes, look at actual sunflowers. A playful childhood is worth more than carefully crafted standards and skills dissected.
Things that I took away from this book:
-step back and let your child play
-play is free choice, personally motivated, creating emotional meaning
-double the time spent outside
-encourage mixed age play, with adults getting out of the way
-early structured activities are more for parents, it's okay to hold off on them
-children need to learn to be okay with unstructured time/boredom; bored children need to engage more deeply in an activity, not necessarily move on to the next one (ex: give real clay to children and spend a week learning its properties and purpose, how to handle it, etc; don't just make a mug for the parents)
-gentle, open conversation while observing (not monitoring) the child--let the child drive conversation
-early learning is overwhelmingly social in nature
-Waldorf Schools structure early learning environment so children can acquire sophisticated skills through expression of their ideas & concerns; sophisticated handiwork skills like knitting & working with felt as part of a deeply imaginative and story-driven curriculum.
-preschoolers need close, affectionate interactions with lots of laughter and hugs
-very young children learn best from their everyday experiences of people and things
-families can encourage children by modeling observing, questioning and problem solving
Many preschools are focusing on pre-academic skills, to the detriment of dramatic, creative play. Standards state detailed learning goals that encourage boxed activities with predetermined outcomes, like the famous hand tracing turkey craft that Christakis says is derived from an adult imposed agenda that takes a limited view of children's creativity. It's the process, not the product that is important. The turkey assumes the child's goal is to make something rather than to make meaning. Another example is a craft where children make a sunflower from a paper plate using pre-mixed orange paint. Instead, give the children space and time to experiment: how to mix colors, use different brush strokes, look at actual sunflowers. A playful childhood is worth more than carefully crafted standards and skills dissected.
Things that I took away from this book:
-step back and let your child play
-play is free choice, personally motivated, creating emotional meaning
-double the time spent outside
-encourage mixed age play, with adults getting out of the way
-early structured activities are more for parents, it's okay to hold off on them
-children need to learn to be okay with unstructured time/boredom; bored children need to engage more deeply in an activity, not necessarily move on to the next one (ex: give real clay to children and spend a week learning its properties and purpose, how to handle it, etc; don't just make a mug for the parents)
-gentle, open conversation while observing (not monitoring) the child--let the child drive conversation
-early learning is overwhelmingly social in nature
-Waldorf Schools structure early learning environment so children can acquire sophisticated skills through expression of their ideas & concerns; sophisticated handiwork skills like knitting & working with felt as part of a deeply imaginative and story-driven curriculum.
-preschoolers need close, affectionate interactions with lots of laughter and hugs
-very young children learn best from their everyday experiences of people and things
-families can encourage children by modeling observing, questioning and problem solving
December 9, 2016
On page 193 out of 299 pages, a paragraph starts with this sentence "It might seem as if I'm impossible to please and see nothing optimal in anyone's use of materials or any classroom design or preschool schedule."
Yes, it did seem like that to me. After 5 pages of reading about the "evils" of a handprint turkey lesson, I thought Good Grief! Get over yourself.....surely there was SOMETHING else going on in that classroom, and if there wasn't, then there are bigger problems than the handprint turkey.
That being said, I did finish the book and didn't abandon it. Christakis does convey her passion for early childhood education and she does seem to thoroughly grasp the barriers that often prevent it from happening, as well as some of the things that should be a part of the solutions.
The one sentence that stuck out to me the most was this "A lot of teachers don't know how to chat effectively with little kids." Perhaps this is my own personal bias. I always find that my most effective assistants are the ones who can talk to kids. I can give them a lesson plan or show them a strategy that I want to use...but they make it effective because of their ability to interact with the kids and their own relationship that they have built with the kids.
Maybe the book was kind of "meh" for me because I have read so many early childhood textbooks and there was nothing new or earth shattering in here, maybe it is because I know the give and take and compromise that has to happen when you have a classroom.....very few things are ideal, but that doesn't mean it's not an effective learning environment, maybe its because the overwhelming tone of the book for me reminded me of some of the teachers next to me who constantly complain about things they can't control but don't always improve the things they can control.....I don't know...maybe it's just because she hates Lakeshore and I like it...lol.
Yes, it did seem like that to me. After 5 pages of reading about the "evils" of a handprint turkey lesson, I thought Good Grief! Get over yourself.....surely there was SOMETHING else going on in that classroom, and if there wasn't, then there are bigger problems than the handprint turkey.
That being said, I did finish the book and didn't abandon it. Christakis does convey her passion for early childhood education and she does seem to thoroughly grasp the barriers that often prevent it from happening, as well as some of the things that should be a part of the solutions.
The one sentence that stuck out to me the most was this "A lot of teachers don't know how to chat effectively with little kids." Perhaps this is my own personal bias. I always find that my most effective assistants are the ones who can talk to kids. I can give them a lesson plan or show them a strategy that I want to use...but they make it effective because of their ability to interact with the kids and their own relationship that they have built with the kids.
Maybe the book was kind of "meh" for me because I have read so many early childhood textbooks and there was nothing new or earth shattering in here, maybe it is because I know the give and take and compromise that has to happen when you have a classroom.....very few things are ideal, but that doesn't mean it's not an effective learning environment, maybe its because the overwhelming tone of the book for me reminded me of some of the teachers next to me who constantly complain about things they can't control but don't always improve the things they can control.....I don't know...maybe it's just because she hates Lakeshore and I like it...lol.
October 26, 2016
An interesting tear-down of modern American pedagogy, with a particular emphasis on preschools. I highlighted many lines and passages, from the insightful to the outrageous. But with special emphasis on those parts that seemed eerily familiar from my experience as the parent of two boys.
The author is unafraid to take unorthodox, even controversial stances on children, parenting, preschool, and where those three planes meet. In particular, I appreciated how she called out the fact that one of our national rate-limiters, when it comes to moving the needle on preschool education, is our refusal to embrace the double-sided nature of it: that parents need childcare just as much as they desire a leg-up on building their little learners.
I'm still digesting quite a bit of what she had to say, but it seems like a good companion piece to "Smart but Scattered" -- at least with respect to the subject matter and its approach to dealing with children, if not the age groups.
The author is unafraid to take unorthodox, even controversial stances on children, parenting, preschool, and where those three planes meet. In particular, I appreciated how she called out the fact that one of our national rate-limiters, when it comes to moving the needle on preschool education, is our refusal to embrace the double-sided nature of it: that parents need childcare just as much as they desire a leg-up on building their little learners.
I'm still digesting quite a bit of what she had to say, but it seems like a good companion piece to "Smart but Scattered" -- at least with respect to the subject matter and its approach to dealing with children, if not the age groups.
April 15, 2018
This book has changed my life! In this book, Erika Christakis makes a compelling case for the importance of play and fostering meaningful human connections with our littlest learners instead of teaching them to merely regurgitate information(Letters, numbers, days of the week, etc.). There were so many passages that I underlined, but this one is among my favorites: “Young children are important because they contain within themselves the ingredients for learning, in any place and at any time. Parents and teachers are important, too. And that’s because they still control the one early learning environment that trumps all others: the relationship with the growing child.” If you are a parent of young children or a teacher, I HIGHLY recommend this book!
March 16, 2016
An excellent, intensive look at the preschool years and potential methods to enhance learning and development, along with ways different policies impact children. A wealth of first-hand examples, coupled with a broader, big-picture view, paints a complete and compelling portrait of this highly-important time in a person's life, where the potential for impact and intervention is great, and misconceptions and failures of judgment are often greater. An exceptional, well-researched book.
September 30, 2017
Excellent book on what is important for preschools to do well and how our country is doing. This author is the bomb. My takeaways:
CONVERSE WITH YOUR KIDS!
A1. The most important factor of early learning is access to caring adults who talk to and listen to children, who answer their questions, who use a wide range of vocabulary, who show empathy.
1. Vygotsky's zone of proximal development should be kept in mind by caregivers. Meaning you observe the child to know what they can do easily, then give them just the right challenge that is hard but possible, then continue to find the next step up. This sweet spot of learning should be found again and again. (This, my favorite educational concept, is the first 2 chapters, so I liked this author immediately.)
2. Kids need habitats that foster play and imagination. Outdoor space, cozy nooks, toys that can be imagined and reimagined.
3. Kids need sleep! Nap time ya'all! It matters.
4. Kids need large blocks of time to play. They need to be encouraged to use their imaginations.
5. The best instruction is not rigid, top down but rather inductive or exploratory.
6. Kids learn best when they choose when and what to learn.
7. We often force kids to share and say sorry and underplay how strong their emotions are and how hard it is for them to share and say sorry. Honor their feelings.
8. We don't have to sanitize and gloss over life experiences: kids can talk about violence and death and so on very insightfully.
9. Kids need the chance to play together away from prying adult eyes. Hallelujah!
10. An approach to reading instruction that uses both phonics and whole meaning is best. To read kids need: phonological or sound awareness, phonics or letter sound connections, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. A slavish phonics approach is doomed because English breaks phonics rules Willy Nilly and comprehension and fluency suffer, so we need both sight words and phonics. Begin using context clues right away.
11. Kids are incredible and what they do every time they learn is remarkable. They are resilient.
CONVERSE WITH YOUR KIDS!
A1. The most important factor of early learning is access to caring adults who talk to and listen to children, who answer their questions, who use a wide range of vocabulary, who show empathy.
1. Vygotsky's zone of proximal development should be kept in mind by caregivers. Meaning you observe the child to know what they can do easily, then give them just the right challenge that is hard but possible, then continue to find the next step up. This sweet spot of learning should be found again and again. (This, my favorite educational concept, is the first 2 chapters, so I liked this author immediately.)
2. Kids need habitats that foster play and imagination. Outdoor space, cozy nooks, toys that can be imagined and reimagined.
3. Kids need sleep! Nap time ya'all! It matters.
4. Kids need large blocks of time to play. They need to be encouraged to use their imaginations.
5. The best instruction is not rigid, top down but rather inductive or exploratory.
6. Kids learn best when they choose when and what to learn.
7. We often force kids to share and say sorry and underplay how strong their emotions are and how hard it is for them to share and say sorry. Honor their feelings.
8. We don't have to sanitize and gloss over life experiences: kids can talk about violence and death and so on very insightfully.
9. Kids need the chance to play together away from prying adult eyes. Hallelujah!
10. An approach to reading instruction that uses both phonics and whole meaning is best. To read kids need: phonological or sound awareness, phonics or letter sound connections, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. A slavish phonics approach is doomed because English breaks phonics rules Willy Nilly and comprehension and fluency suffer, so we need both sight words and phonics. Begin using context clues right away.
11. Kids are incredible and what they do every time they learn is remarkable. They are resilient.
November 12, 2016
Christakis is an eloquent, engaging, and persuasive writer who draws on a broad range of sources (from personal anecdote to developmental psychology and educational philosophy) to present a compelling and erudite case for giving children more unstructured playtime, more access to nature, more opportunities for play-acting and topical exploration without direct instruction. She points out that the emphasis on literacy training to the detriment of inquiry that demonstrates the value of that training is misguided, and she even questions the current fashion for training preschoolers in emotional self-regulation, suggesting that we instead give preschoolers loose schedules and supportive environments that accommodate their developmentally appropriate lability. She makes such a compelling case for removing elementary and high school standards from the preschool curriculum in favor of a loving environment with freedom to learn, play, grow, climb, and converse that it makes this reader wonder why we don't push this preschool dream into the upper grades. Of course, the sadness here is that our public school system is going so far in the opposite direction (see Christakis's comical and dubious take on common core standards and their instrumentalization of skill sets). At one point, Christakis asks if we're really willing to make imagination a strength only available to the very wealthy.
Her writing is beautiful, her vision of childhood inspiring. The book gave me much to think about and made me very grateful for the Reggio-inspired curriculum at my daughter's preschool. But it's very depressing to think how many children who most need resources like these cannot get them.
Her writing is beautiful, her vision of childhood inspiring. The book gave me much to think about and made me very grateful for the Reggio-inspired curriculum at my daughter's preschool. But it's very depressing to think how many children who most need resources like these cannot get them.
April 19, 2016
I heard her on the Diane Rehm Show talking about this book and was SO on board with what she was saying. I highly recommend listening to that 1 hour interview and moving on; this book was disorganized and pious and full of too-long stories. It did help me re-commit to a Montessori education for my preschooler, but not much else shifted in my brain. Disappointing.
February 11, 2016
A fascinating and probing look into early childhood education (ages 3-6ish) and the importance of play and discovery instead of rote memorization and tests. The advice and proposals seemed relatively practical - and more importantly, intuitive - to me. Though I don't have kids, nor do I work in pre-schools. But I do love the jacket cover!
February 29, 2016
Although this book had many amazing points-over testing, play and pretending, peer and teacher learning, I felt that there was so much that has already been addressed, so many times in many other works: from Howard Gardner, Maria Montessori, Rudolf Steiner to David Elkind. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.
October 11, 2018
This is a brutally boring and poorly organized braggy rant. You’re much better off reading articles on parenting research/child development as they hit the media than try to get through this book. There are some interesting facts, but they are few and hidden among the strangely divided chapters, boring anecdotes, and subjective opinions of the author.
February 17, 2016
some interesting take-aways about children learning through play, but there was way too much repetition in this book. in need of an editor who's not afraid to cut cut cut.
February 18, 2017
This book is a MUST for any teacher or parent!
March 30, 2025
The content in this book is interesting, however if I’m being honest with my opinion, it was written in a very boring way. This book was like reading a 300 page research paper. You can tell that the author is very intelligent and credible, but she does use a lot of “big words” that make it a little confusing to understand what she’s trying to say. Overall what she has to say is insightful though and the biggest takeaway that I took from this book is to simply let kids be kids; they will learn, grow and explore in their own way at their own pace.
December 29, 2017
I'm a first year teacher and was hoping this book would be an instructional guidebook on just exactly how to approach every situation that arises in the classroom with clarity and efficiency if not uniformity. It was not that. What Christakis does succeed in doing is provoking thought. She asks questions often without providing simple answers. As the best teachers do, she encourages you to think for yourself. And this is far more useful than merely providing "do this, not that" type of answers. Still, I would like to see the author write a book just for teachers that could actually provide some answers to all those times I thought "great, I see what NOT to do, but what do I do instead?" without sacrificing the thought provoking quality of her writing style. Instead, this book is geared to such a wide audience, including parents, teachers, and policy-makers and there's surprisingly little overlap between those three groups so as to make approximately 1/3 of the book irrelevant to one audience member or another. I can admit to skimming a few sections here and there. And perhaps I'm getting more cynical as I head into my 30's but I somehow doubt that policy-makers are picking up books like this one. It's probably more often picked up by teachers like myself. Unfortunately, unless you are a policy maker or someone with some sort of power in the school system (i.e. NOT teachers), much of the book will not be immediately useful.
The book lays out a sort of ideal learning environment but it lacks the roadmap to get there that I and probably most people who pick up this book are actually looking for. I'm glad I read this because it did indeed get me thinking but I'll continue reading other books looking for a map to the educational el dorado.
*I just re-read the jacket flap. It says here, "[Christakis] offers nuanced, real-life solutions to real-life issues that move past the usual prescriptions for fewer tests, more play." ... considering how much of my review is about how the book is lacking "real-life solutions" at least for teachers, I may take away my fourth star for false advertising. Also, I admit that one of the main ideas I was going to take away WAS "fewer tests, more play!" Well, now I'm really irritated. If the book went over my head and I'm missing something I hope I'll be forgiven. I'm no yale-trained expert, merely a preschool teacher looking to better my teaching skills. What do I know? I'm going to give the book three stars and leave it at that.*
The book lays out a sort of ideal learning environment but it lacks the roadmap to get there that I and probably most people who pick up this book are actually looking for. I'm glad I read this because it did indeed get me thinking but I'll continue reading other books looking for a map to the educational el dorado.
*I just re-read the jacket flap. It says here, "[Christakis] offers nuanced, real-life solutions to real-life issues that move past the usual prescriptions for fewer tests, more play." ... considering how much of my review is about how the book is lacking "real-life solutions" at least for teachers, I may take away my fourth star for false advertising. Also, I admit that one of the main ideas I was going to take away WAS "fewer tests, more play!" Well, now I'm really irritated. If the book went over my head and I'm missing something I hope I'll be forgiven. I'm no yale-trained expert, merely a preschool teacher looking to better my teaching skills. What do I know? I'm going to give the book three stars and leave it at that.*
August 31, 2021
This book is likely to receive press due to the author’s 15 minutes of fame for sending an email to her students at Silliman College, Yale, contravening the administration’s over the top political correctness in regulating Halloween costumes. She drew upon her experience as a child development specialist and was both praised and excoriated by the respective ends of the spectrum.
In this book Christakis considers (but over and over and over again) what makes a good preschool and how important that might (or might not) be. It is not new to state that poor children can benefit from wrap around services and quality preschool, but are unlikely to receive it. She discusses the role of parental anxiety in the trend toward absurdly inflated expectations for preschool outcomes and boxed curricula to facilitate them. She asserts that a really spectacular preschool experience can contribute to student academic achievement, but affirms the primary purpose of preschool as fostering relationship and helping the child develop as a human being.
She explains how traditional activities like the annual Thanksgiving hand tracing-cum-turkey can be used as evaluative tools in the hands of a knowledgeable and astute early childhood teacher (but then again may not be). Inexplicably, despite citations for other statements, there was no cited evidence for her frequently repeated claim that teacher salary was the single most significant factor in the determination of quality of a preschool program. That is an inexcusable oversight for such a claim.
This book is overly long by at least half (more like 2/3), irritatingly repetitive, and meanders like the ivy on Yale’s buildings. Perhaps it’s written for those with the patience to enjoy endless hours with the preschool set, but for the rest of us, good grief, conciseness is a virtue. The lengthy conversations with preschoolers could have been shortened for those of us with limited patience [again], but unquestionably, Christakis’s observations should have been condensed and distilled. The best I can recommend is reading the first chapter and stopping there.
In this book Christakis considers (but over and over and over again) what makes a good preschool and how important that might (or might not) be. It is not new to state that poor children can benefit from wrap around services and quality preschool, but are unlikely to receive it. She discusses the role of parental anxiety in the trend toward absurdly inflated expectations for preschool outcomes and boxed curricula to facilitate them. She asserts that a really spectacular preschool experience can contribute to student academic achievement, but affirms the primary purpose of preschool as fostering relationship and helping the child develop as a human being.
She explains how traditional activities like the annual Thanksgiving hand tracing-cum-turkey can be used as evaluative tools in the hands of a knowledgeable and astute early childhood teacher (but then again may not be). Inexplicably, despite citations for other statements, there was no cited evidence for her frequently repeated claim that teacher salary was the single most significant factor in the determination of quality of a preschool program. That is an inexcusable oversight for such a claim.
This book is overly long by at least half (more like 2/3), irritatingly repetitive, and meanders like the ivy on Yale’s buildings. Perhaps it’s written for those with the patience to enjoy endless hours with the preschool set, but for the rest of us, good grief, conciseness is a virtue. The lengthy conversations with preschoolers could have been shortened for those of us with limited patience [again], but unquestionably, Christakis’s observations should have been condensed and distilled. The best I can recommend is reading the first chapter and stopping there.
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