Yesterday after preschool my boys came home with their big decorated envelope of Valentines. They carefully pulled out each one and admired it and seemed in awe the whole time - like "Wow! This is amazing, isn't it?!" (I'm not sure if they really knew what to expect of Valentine's Day!)
Anyway, as they went through their Valentines I noticed that the 2nd year students (the kids heading to kindergarten next year) had printed their own names on the little notes. I'm guessing that in some cases the parents have worked on this at home since they don't push it at all in school. And I noticed that I felt bad that Beck isn't writing his name. I felt bad, maybe even a little embarrassed and guilty.
And then on top of all of those feelings and overriding them, is this strong belief that I don't want to push my kids, that when they feel ready to write and have a good reason to, they will. That I need to trust them and have confidence in their ability to learn and to want to learn. And I'm realizing that having this faith in children is not easy in our competitive culture. It's hard not to want my kids "keeping up" with the others. But this (this comparing and judging of children, this race to do more and do it faster and better and younger) - this is precisely what I'm trying to avoid by staying out of schools.
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1 comment:
I've gone through the same feelings with my oldest (who is 5 1/2)... he suddenly gained an interest in writing the last few months and I felt so grateful that I was able to not push him to do it. Seeing him enjoy it and wanting to write to fulfill his own plans has been well worth it! And I am sure that his interest will ebb and flow.
I wrote about it here and here.
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