I am female but when I was a child I played in the street, rode my pony unsupervised, by myself and did frankly, what would be considered to be very hazardous things. It just hinders development when we don’t allow children to make their own choices on so many levels.
I came from a family of 4 girls. We, like all the kids in the neighborhood, climbed trees and other structures, roamed the neighborhood. My sisters and I each broke at least one bone during our childhood. We all survived.
I’ve seen how stepping back and letting my twins lead their own play has helped them grow. They play many different games together, and I rarely interrupt because they handle things well on their own. Giving them that space to figure things out themselves has, I believe, supported their positive development.
I think children have a very important function in society, which is to socialize each other. They need to learn how to work out conflicts among themselves, learn to negotiate to be creative in a group setting.
When i was a kid in the Baltimore area (yes it used to be nice), doors would open and the kids would all fly out and play. Me and my friends had bikes and parents would never know where we were. Could be exploring the woods, playing baseball at the elementary school, at thetennis courts, we could be up at the shopping center, or playing in another kids house.
But back then things were safer. We were all one united people. Other kids parents were also my parents. The parents had small differences of course but not when it came to the kids.
We have let our neighborhoods and our country become much much more dangerous. And apparently we are not done.
Amen, these same strategies are also very important in the classroom. Too much of school time, even in classes like science, is spent with children over regulated and expected to behave...to be blunt...like a bunch of girls. When you open things up and let the kids actually explore and learn on their own with some risk and less direction, a different group of kids actually grow and shine way more than the traditional book learning A students. This second group...who tend to earn B's and C's actually are more creative and gifted with their hands...when given the chance to learn in this way. The A students struggle at first with this style of learning though many do figure it out and thrive as well with their new raised up peers. Ironically, it is boys in both groups who benefit disproportionately with the "A" girls tending to be very poor at learning to actually do things on their own. Much of the disproportionate role of men in science arises from this unwillingness of women to not be coddled.
I am female but when I was a child I played in the street, rode my pony unsupervised, by myself and did frankly, what would be considered to be very hazardous things. It just hinders development when we don’t allow children to make their own choices on so many levels.
I came from a family of 4 girls. We, like all the kids in the neighborhood, climbed trees and other structures, roamed the neighborhood. My sisters and I each broke at least one bone during our childhood. We all survived.
I’ve seen how stepping back and letting my twins lead their own play has helped them grow. They play many different games together, and I rarely interrupt because they handle things well on their own. Giving them that space to figure things out themselves has, I believe, supported their positive development.
I think children have a very important function in society, which is to socialize each other. They need to learn how to work out conflicts among themselves, learn to negotiate to be creative in a group setting.
When i was a kid in the Baltimore area (yes it used to be nice), doors would open and the kids would all fly out and play. Me and my friends had bikes and parents would never know where we were. Could be exploring the woods, playing baseball at the elementary school, at thetennis courts, we could be up at the shopping center, or playing in another kids house.
But back then things were safer. We were all one united people. Other kids parents were also my parents. The parents had small differences of course but not when it came to the kids.
We have let our neighborhoods and our country become much much more dangerous. And apparently we are not done.
Great article, thanks Tom.
Amen, these same strategies are also very important in the classroom. Too much of school time, even in classes like science, is spent with children over regulated and expected to behave...to be blunt...like a bunch of girls. When you open things up and let the kids actually explore and learn on their own with some risk and less direction, a different group of kids actually grow and shine way more than the traditional book learning A students. This second group...who tend to earn B's and C's actually are more creative and gifted with their hands...when given the chance to learn in this way. The A students struggle at first with this style of learning though many do figure it out and thrive as well with their new raised up peers. Ironically, it is boys in both groups who benefit disproportionately with the "A" girls tending to be very poor at learning to actually do things on their own. Much of the disproportionate role of men in science arises from this unwillingness of women to not be coddled.