Is This A New Trend?

[Bookworm]

There have been a lot of tours in my center for my class (infants) and over half of the parents ask if I'm teaching the DCKs the alphabet, numbers, shapes,colors, etc. A few even told me that they do flash cards with their toddler so they can "learn" them at home. All of them want full on K-5 curriculum just on a toddler level. Many complained that their current/previous provider doesn't do art everyday.

Isn't this a bit much to expect in a toddler room? Why do parents even want all of this? I've been doing daycare for 20 years and I've never experienced this before. After the fourth tour, I started keeping a tally of the children's age and it averaged 16mos.

[nanglgrl]

Sadly yes. To most "quality" education means their 2 year old classroom will be called preschool, they will do worksheets galore and bring home a ton of Pinteresty crafts that they know dang well their child didn't do on their own. They want to brag to their friends about their child's preschool, show off the teachers crafts claimed to be their child's and want their child to perform parlor tricks for friends by singing their A,B,C's.

[Bookworm]

Sadly yes. To most "quality" education means their 2 year old classroom will be called preschool, they will do worksheets galore and bring home a ton of Pinteresty crafts that they know dang well their child didn't do on their own. They want to brag to their friends about their child's preschool, show off the teachers crafts claimed to be their child's and want their child to perform parlor tricks for friends by singing their A,B,C's.

I'm thinking this too. From what I've seen on This forum, flash cards and other similar items don't even work for children this age.

[Josiegirl]

Even if this type of stuff worked(which I 100% agree it doesn't!!) do parents not accept any of that responsibility anymore?? Isn't it true that a parent is a child's first and most important teacher? Are people so insecure they have to have their own child's success speak for their own value? I just don't get it??

[Indoorvoice]

Is so weirdweird! My husband was traveling for work and the guy next to him on the plane was bragging to him that his 4 year old was doing algebra and could read whole books. He asked my husband if our kids had any special talents and my husband said "nope, they're just NORMAL kids." My husband said the guy looked at him with a sympathetic look. No one is happy with normal anymore! I see it in my circle of friends. We all have 1-5 year olds. They are always carting their kids to all these special classes and sport practices and the kids have ZERO downtime. It's all so the parents can tell us, "Tommy can read chapter books in kindergarten!" It's ALL for the parents. I refuse to play into that game.

[spedmommy4]

There is a ton of research that has come out on this recently. One of my favorite Facebook pages, called let the children play, just posted this

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201505/early-academic-training-produces-long-term-harm

I have been known to share it with parents who push me to use early academics.

[Pepperth]

Is so weirdweird! My husband was traveling for work and the guy next to him on the plane was bragging to him that his 4 year old was doing algebra and could read whole books. He asked my husband if our kids had any special talents and my husband said "nope, they're just NORMAL kids." My husband said the guy looked at him with a sympathetic look. No one is happy with normal anymore! I see it in my circle of friends. We all have 1-5 year olds. They are always carting their kids to all these special classes and sport practices and the kids have ZERO downtime. It's all so the parents can tell us, "Tommy can read chapter books in kindergarten!" It's ALL for the parents. I refuse to play into that game.

I had a co-worker in the corporate world whose son was the same age as mine. She was always bragging about how he was potty-trained so early, learning to write his name at 2, etc, etc. It made me feel horrible at the time, even though I didn't even believe that her son was doing half the stuff she was bragging about. Its like peer pressure for adults. I'm happy to report though that my son at 5 has an insatiable love of learning.

[Sugaree]

My 2 year-old son's class has been working on letters and numbers and colors and shapes, but really I think a lot of that is just a byproduct of the amount of reading they do. But they also do a lot of singing and dancing and playing. I've noticed that they do a lot of "art," but a good bit of it is really just the kids scribbling. When he was still in the infant classroom, it was a lot of those cutesy hand-print, foot-print Pintrest projects, because what else are you going to do with non-mobile infants and still get the art requirement done.

[nanglgrl]

I've seen the results of this a lot And it's not pretty. I have had many kids who can recognize letters early etc. but have no idea what the letter means if that makes sense. Its like if I decided to be a doctor but never went to school and instead was just an intern for a few years. I could probably learn the lingo and convince people to trust me, I could probably even treat patients successfully but there would be huge gaps in my knowledge and eventually they would become apparent. These children are being pushed too hard, too soon and major things are being skipped, children are also more stressed.
Children naturally progress in the early years and it's really apparent when you compare their work. I have a 1 1/2 year old, 2 1/2 year old, 3 1/2 year old, 4 1/2 year old and 5 1/2 year old in my daycare. They drew self portraits last week. The 1 1/2 year old scribbled, the 2 1/2 year old scribbled but was able to draw a circle, the 3 1/2 year old drew a person but forgot hands, feet, body and the face was a jumble of lines, the 4 1/2 year old drew a head, body, legs and arms but no feet or hands and the face wasn't perfectly recognizable, the 5 1/2 year old drew an entire person with hair and colored it in. I don't have a 6 1/2 year old but pictures my daughter drew at that age show that she added clothing and at 7 1/2 she now adds a lot of detail. To get this progression they just have to have the opportunity to color, the opportunity to develop fine motor skills and the opportunity to observe and play. When you skip coloring for teaching A,B,C's you do children a huge disservice.

[Blackcat31]

There is a ton of research that has come out on this recently. One of my favorite Facebook pages, called let the children play, just posted this

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201505/early-academic-training-produces-long-term-harm

I have been known to share it with parents who push me to use early academics.

Great article!

It's also a known fact that there is NO evidence that early childhood education has any long term benefits beyond 3rd grade. Other than for kids who were already behind.

[midaycare]

Yes it's becoming important to offer these things, but an early education curriculum done correctly is nothing to sneeze at. It should include a lot ofbplay, emotional intelligence, music and movement, learning how to use art materials, and lots and lots of being read to and hands-on experience with books.

[midaycare]

Great article!

It's also a known fact that there is NO evidence that early childhood education has any long term benefits beyond 3rd grade. Other than for kids who were already behind.

This is a fact - school teachers call third grade "the great equalizer". If a child is a superstar in school before third grade, they will most likely equal out in third grade. Those that are "behind" tend to catch up.

[Play Care]

Is so weirdweird! My husband was traveling for work and the guy next to him on the plane was bragging to him that his 4 year old was doing algebra and could read whole books. He asked my husband if our kids had any special talents and my husband said "nope, they're just NORMAL kids." My husband said the guy looked at him with a sympathetic look. No one is happy with normal anymore! I see it in my circle of friends. We all have 1-5 year olds. They are always carting their kids to all these special classes and sport practices and the kids have ZERO downtime. It's all so the parents can tell us, "Tommy can read chapter books in kindergarten!" It's ALL for the parents. I refuse to play into that game.

Last year I had a boy in my care who was older 3 (turned 4 in February) Mom told me he could read, knew all his numbers, etc which he did...BUUUT, he didn't make eye contact, engage in cooperative peer play, have age appropriate self help skills (he was asked to slip on shoes and would spin in circles on the floor crying) He was more work than an of the other kids his age in my care.
So um yeah, that's great he can read...
In fact most of the kids I've had in care who were "academically advanced" had significant issues in other areas. Rarely have I witnessed the total "genius" package ::

[yodaone]

There is a ton of research that has come out on this recently. One of my favorite Facebook pages, called let the children play, just posted this

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201505/early-academic-training-produces-long-term-harm

I have been known to share it with parents who push me to use early academics.

I literally just read this article yesterday and plan to keep this as my focus. If parents want more, they can go somewhere else.

[Controlled Chaos]

I definitely do a certain amount of "presentation" teaching for the parents.

What I do for the kids:
Purposeful free play options and invitations to play.
Rotating Sensory tubs
Daily story time and singing songs
Art available always
Healthy meals
Lots of reading time (being available when they are interested)

What I do for the parents:
Document my awesomeness with pictures of the great play their kids engage in
weekly "pinterest" like crafts for their fridge
10-15 min a day of "preschool" with 3-5 year olds with tracing practice, letter project, counting/sorting etc. type project to send home (or pics of it to them)


I don't do anything that I believe has ZERO value, but my program is a product I have to sell so I do a little that I think is a little less beneficial than the rest, but allows me to charge more