Early Childhood Quotes

“Art is a process, not a product.”
― maryann kohl

“By the time they're out of preschool, most children have already seen thousands of acts of violence.”
― Brian K. Vaughan, Saga, Volume 7

“In Your Early Years people Tell You, Correct You and Forgive You. But when you become an Adult, they Neither Correct you nor Forgive You”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor

“I urge you to be teachers so that you can join with children as the co-collaborators in a plot to build a little place of ecstasy and poetry and gentle joy”
― Jonathan Kozol

“Before two years of age, human interaction and physical interaction with books and print are the best entry into the world of oral and written language and internalized knowledge, the building blocks of the later reading circuit.”
― Maryanne Wolf, Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World

“The notion of children being "kindergarten ready" is a bizarre oxymoron. It's like saying you have to know how to play the piano before you can learn how to play the piano.”
― Peter Campbell

“What if upon entering the classroom, children find teachers listening attentively for their questions and stories, demonstrating a willingness to engage them in "playing out" their ideas using classroom materials while their propensity to ask questions is at its peak? What if well-educated teachers are guiding children to observe, discuss, imagine, and debate possibilities in the company of their equally eager peers? Our youngest children could,be in such conservatories of educational excellence in our public stools, preparing for their future in school and beyond.”
― Gillian Dowley McNamee, The High-Performing Preschool: Story Acting in Head Start Classrooms

“The art and craft of early childhood teaching is in making decisions about fun, play and work. And it is this crafting that distinguishes the professional from the baby-sitter, parent or child minder.”
― Susan Grieshaber and Felicity McArdle

“Engaging with children in troublesome thinking is problematic, but important. Ignoring the hard stuff and only engaging in the fluff and fun from curriculum choices is to keep underground issues of social justice and to further silence and compound the inequity”
― Janet Robertson

“Interpersonal tensions can provide opportunities that transform an early childhood curriculum from pre-primary preparedness to sites of political practice.”
― Pamela Wallberg

“We cannot live without meaning, that would preclude any sense of identity, any hope, any future.”
― Carlina Rinaldi

“Do Not Dictate a Child through Someone, it Ruins the Child's Experience.”
― Vineet Raj Kapoor

“Every child is entitled to having the finest experiences, and every parent should know how to provide them.”
― Sally R. Goldberg, Ph.D.

“It may seem unrealistic to expect that teachers should love their students, but the more I delve into the research on teaching, the more it seems to converge on the importance of love--not the type between parents and their children, surely, but love in the sense that Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela meant it, a faith we choose to have in the inherent worth and dignity of another human being.”
― Geoffrey L Cohen, Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides - Library Edition

“The first 8 years of a child's life are crucial for their development. During this time, the experiences they have and the things they are exposed to play a significant role in shaping their identity and have a long-term impact on their brain. For those who seek to shape children for their own gain, it is crucial that they isolate them as early as possible from the parents.”
― Salatiso Mdeni

“The Department of Basic Education wants to take on more responsibilities with Grade R, despite their poor performance. This seems irrational at first, but it makes sense when you look at their proposed budget. DBE would get an additional 20 billion to implement and staff the venture. Just like the education system and the government as a whole, it is clear that taxpayers will shoulder the burden, while parents and children will be the ones who suffer the most. Only politicians, government officials, and their associates will benefit, as they shamelessly drain the country's resources for their personal gain.”
― Salatiso Mdeni, The Homeschooling Father, How and Why I got started.: Traditional Schooling to Online Learning until Homeschooling

“The community joined forces and made an investment in a shared goal, acknowledging their strong connection with the recipient of the resources, rather than simply offering charity. The community's composition remained relatively stable over an extended period, with few outsiders joining. This provided the "investors" with confidence that, even if not themselves, their future generations would reap the benefits.

The first schools I attended, until standard 7, were constructed mostly through the efforts of the community the school serviced. After the Bantu Education Act was implemented in 1953, education for people in the homelands was financed through direct taxes paid by residents of the homelands, instead of general state spending.

When there was a class short, the parents would pool their resources and build it”
― Salatiso Mdeni

“Despite having limited financial resources, the community took pride in working together and accomplishing what they could. Consequently, I don't remember people from the community intentionally damaging school property. This is because they would also be harming something that they helped build, and would have to fix it again. Additionally, they were related to someone who would be affected by the damage. The community strongly disapproved of acts of vandalism or any other inappropriate behaviour within the school premises, and they consistently enforced strict consequences once the offender was recognized.”
― Salatiso Mdeni

“Sazi is fortunate to be born of parents that are comparable enough to be able to see the impact of both nature and nurture.

Even better is that no longer can allegations about women’s progress in life be attributed to society and ‘the patriarchy’ holding them back. Since 1994 there has been a concerted focus on directing taxpayer-funded programs to the upliftment of women; from educational programs at school, admission and funding of tertiary programs for women to employment and business funding that explicitly exclude boys and men.

This ought to mean comparable men and women ought to achieve the same outcomes since there are essentially no differences between men and women. Lawmakers have implemented programs aimed at empowering and uplifting girls and women.

These initiatives have actively sought to address the claimed long-standing societal and patriarchal barriers that have hindered their progress. So based on this, the difference in the sex of parents no longer favours men thus making comparing outcomes possible.”
― Salatiso Mdeni

“In the shelter of friendship, children can move at their own developmental pace.”
― Michael G. Thompson, Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children

“One of the best perks of being a child therapist is that parents think you are awfully clever when their child shows dramatic improvement. Mostly what happens is that the child grew up. He reached a new developmental stage that let him share, control his aggressive impulses, or make a friend.”
― Michael G. Thompson, Best Friends, Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children

“Being able to freely explore my identity through aesthetic and expressive play is a joy. Why on earth would we seek to deny that to children, the very people for whom play was not only invented but who are its most ingenious architects?”
― Clementine Ford, Boys Will Be Boys: Power, Patriarchy and the Toxic Bonds of Mateship

“In some respects, children are better placed to perceive their connectedness to the world around them, and in this respect, adults might learn from them. Here we could recognize the child as being more open to a state of becoming as an intrinsic worldly intelligence, rather than thinking of them on the way to 'becoming' something else (intelligent, for example).”
― Cath Arnold, Schemas in the Early Years

“Perhaps we should sometimes resist analysing what it is to be childish and instead develop ways to be alongside children that allow us to feel a little more what it is to be childish.”
― Cath Arnold, Schemas in the Early Years

“Let us then secure for the children that which we lack ourselves. Let us transfuse from their lives into ours that vital creative energy of child's life which we have lost. Let us learn from our children.”
― Friedrich Froebel

“Moments like these underline the importance of adults reserving their own personal judgments and accepting the child's wishes and actions. Awareness of potential schematic underpinnings also help us value and appreciate behaviors so that we can accept what the child may be showing us. Although firm conclusions can rarely be drawn, reflections remind us of the potentially multiple benefits of schematic actions for a child, and also the value in repetitive behaviors which tend to be labeled as negative. Educators should remain curious about a child's seeds of inquiry and make more such opportunities available to meet this need.”
― Cath Arnold, Schemas in the Early Years

“Noticing the potential message in children's behaviors and responding appropriately and respectfully is our aim. Reflecting upon Becky's enclosing and tying-up of her toys, it is clear that she needed the freedom to safely express herself without judgment and for an adult to interact and not interfere. Many adults seek to control children's play or stop them if they see a child playing in ways they deem inappropriate.”
― Cath Arnold, Schemas in the Early Years