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 “You know,” said a woman sitting next to me over dinner, “if you don’t send your kid to a great elementary school, you might as well kiss a good college good-bye.”“Really?” I responded, half listening.“Well, if you send your kid to an average school, whatta ya get?” she said with that pop quiz kind of voice.“An average kid?” I answered.“You got it!” she exclaimed.Now, I’m not sure about her equation: average elementary school = kiss good college good-bye, but there might be something of use in what she said.We all look at the world today and see so much that needs to be changed for the better. The general sense is that, if we’re going to change this world for the better, we should do it top down--adult to adult.Is that another equation: change the adults in power = changes the world for the better?Hmmm ... I started to think ...Maybe, if we parents seek to change our little ones, so that our goal is to raise excellent children by limiting the amount of negativity taught to our kids; by teaching them what to do, when to do it and whom to do it with; by teaching them alternatives to the “violence and over stimulation as entertainment” sensibility; by not teaching them to describe others by the color of their skin and so forth, maybe we can actually alter this “crazy” world.It might be that by changing this generation of little ones so that they seek positive, healthy environments, we can actually shift the world in a more positive direction. By making the standard excellence and by exercising adult self-control, we may be able to raise a generation that demands recognition of the interconnectedness of all things.Change our children, change the world?Hmmm ... “So, where’re you sending your daughter?” my dinner companion asked, shaking me from my thoughts.“Oh, well, does Harvard have an academic program for four year olds?” I said with a touch of kidding in my voice.“I don’t think so,” she said with a laugh.“I guess I need to find a school that teaches our kids how to be excellent people, not just good test takers, eh?” I asked wistfully.Hmmm ...all content The New Parent © 2007
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 The past few days have been unseasonably warm in this neck of the woods, so I took my little one to the playground for the first time in a couple of months.The playground was busy and while my daughter was on the swings, I started a conversation with two moms about teaching academic subjects to the very young. Both moms were insistent that they would wait until their little ones were in kindergarten before introducing reading, writing, etc. They didn’t want to take away their child’s “fun years” by having them do “school work.”I tired to gently mention that their notions of “fun years” and “school work” were tainted by their perceptions of those topics--in other words, they didn’t like academics much, so why teach their children something they didn’t like.Now, of course, we all know that a child’s perception of what's fun, is taught to them. So, if reading is taught as fun, a child will perceive of it as fun. But there’s another thought here, what if we parents can use academics to teach our children other valuable skills, like patience, focus, organized thinking and so forth? What if by teaching our little ones addition they learn how to focus better and think more clearly, “killing two birds with one stone,” so to speak?What I come across regularly is a "fear of academics," brought on by a negative relationship with academic subjects.So, last night my little one was given a choice of what subject she would like to play (she always gets a choice when we’re doing different subjects). She looked around and reached up for the Fraction Stacks. This is simply a row of 10 multicolored rectangular stacks cut into different fractions. It helps to teach fractions: halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, etc. She then said, “Dad, can we do guests visiting to eat?” I answered of course we could.What she meant was that we take the Fraction Stacks and use them as pretend food portions, with pretend guests visiting for either breakfast, lunch or dinner. The amount of people determines the particular fraction.After answering the door and learning how to greet guests and usher them in, she uses her toy cell phone to call the deli or restaurant and orders the food. She pretends to answer the door and exchange amenities when the delivery person comes and then pays and tips. She brings the food in, determines what fraction is needed to divide the food evenly and then learns who to serve first.As you can see the academics of learning fractions is couched in learning other skills. But, two skills she learns without realizing it are cooperation and clarity of communication.To her, this is all fun.Maybe, if we rethink our relationship to what we consider fun and how we feel about academics, and realize that our inflexibility may be getting in our children’s way, we might have more fun with academics and less fear?Maybe ... ?all content The New Parent © 2007
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