Understanding Child Development
Episode 43
Importance of Movement
Learning from Failure
Developmentally Appropriate Practices
Bribes and Threats
Zero Tolerance Policies Concerning Violence
Show and Tell
Links
- Sitting increases fatigue
- Reduces concentration
- Brain stimulated more when moving
- Research shows sitting does not equal learning
- Brain images by Dr. Chuck Hillman shows how much more active the brain is after a 20 minute walk compared to sitting still
Learning from Failure
- Need to let children do things on their own to become independent autonomous adults
- Skills need to be learned in early childhood
- We all learn through our mistakes and failures
- How can we improve next time?
- Can't fully prepare children for future we cannot anticipate, but the skills we can give them like problem solving and cooperation will serve them well throughout their lives
- Kids are now going to college counselors at much higher rates and have a harder time solving their own problems
- Dr. Stuart Brown's study of violent prison inmates showed that none of them engaged in meaningful play as a child
- Dr. Peter Gray shows correlation between lack of play and depression
- Lots of research showing mind and body connection
Developmentally Appropriate Practices
- Research shows that children who do things when they are developmentally ready easily catch up and often surpass kids who are forced to do things before they are developmentally ready
- Early childhood is when kids learn to cooperate, solve problems and it is a developmental progression
- Not all children are developmentally ready to read in kindergarten
- By third grade, you can not tell the difference between early readers and those who read when they were ready later
Bribes and Threats
- They work in the short time
- Rewards then become expected and have a hard time when reward is not there or is no longer motivating
- Does not prepare them for later school and jobs without those rewards
- Want to stimulate intrinsic motivation is what we want - motivation from within rather external motivation
- We want children to grow up with character and you do not build it by only doing something because you will get something in reward
- Just saying "good job," is not helpful to children as they do not know what was good about what you are praising
- Become addicted to praise
- They will have teachers and bosses that will not be saying it all the time
- Eventually children will tune it out
- They can also identify false praise
- Praise should be descriptive
Zero Tolerance Policies Concerning Violence
- Children around the world all use imaginary weapons
- It is dramatic play to work things out in their world
- Nancy Carlson Paige argues that it is healthy for kids to make toy guns and play war games
- Children should not be watching violent tv shows and movies
Show and Tell
- Encourage children to go outside and spend less time on screens
Links
- www.raepica.com
- www.bamradionetwork.com
