I think this is so sad. Why can't they just let kids be kids??? I hope this link works! http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_7305921?IADID=Search-www.insidebayarea.com-www.insidebayarea.com Kari Mom of Zachary (9) and Eli (5)
The fact that Aiden's first preschool teacher insisted that he be tested for ADHD proves that these are simply uneducated yahoos who don't know the first thing about child psychology. A child CAN NOT be diagnosed with ADHD until they are at least 5. Why? Because at 3 years old nearly every child would test positive based on symptoms. Because that's the way a 3 year old is wired. *sigh*
Well, I think it was W.C. Fields that said an idiot was more every minute. The parents and the teachers are a fine example here. (the parents that are actually falling for that garbage that is.)
Although I can appreciate the merits of sending a child to preschool, I personally did not send my son, for several reasons. One, he was learning quite a lot at home with very basic Mommy time. Also, I didn't see where it would benefit him much. He was already in daycare for several hours a day, due to the fact that I was a single mom with no other options, and he was experiencing the effects of being around all kinds of "colorful" chlidren. Having said that, I think it's a shame that some of these preschools have the mentality that they do, because it gives the good ones a bad name. I also think it's a shame that so many parents are already feelling the need to "keep up with the Jones'" when their child is still wearing a diaper. I'm still trying to figure out "But it's also a place where a case of the wiggles can get you expelled." If you don't want to hang out with a bunch of hyper 3 yr olds.. you are probably in the wrong profession as a preschool teacher. Sigh.
Ohhhh mannnn, pooor little ones! I can't believe they start them with academic pressure at age 3! That is soooo sad! By the time these kids are 6 or 7 they'll HATE school and all the pressure! A few may succeed because they're wired that way. But in the long-run this is not good for kids!!! We have neighbors who had a girl then a boy. When their son was 15 months old the mom and dad grew concerned for him because he wasn't developing at the same rate as his sister. They talked to some counselor person, who insisted that they do something for him, since he was obviously "so delayed"! So, at 17 months old they started him in speech therapy! I couldn't believe that! When she was telling me about it, I said, "Kids develop at different rates though, and boys are OFTEN behind girls at young ages! Mine were very different at those ages!" "Yes, that could be, but we want to make sure that he's okay and that he gets the help he needs!" I couldn't say any more, since they were sooo sure they were doing the right thing! In a sense it was good that they followed through what they felt was right! But in another sense, I feel bad that the boy had a "stigma" placed on him at such a young age, when he was ABSOLUTELY FINE!!! He was a normal BABY! That boy is fine now, and they're convinced it's because of the speech therapy! Why would people insist a 17 month old get speech therapy, and then actually follow through with it all?! Honestly, he was fine. We were around enough to know that he honestly did not have delays or problems.... Okay, sorry, I'm ranting now! I just feel sorry for the little ones these days who are not allowed to be kids!
Reason #3-43285783-2 that they will never get my kids. He was in trouble because he didn't sit still for HALF and HOUR? Oh, and he is THREE....? Morons.
How sad that article was. Any sane person can not expect a 3 year old to sit still for 30 - 40 mins! They claim these kids will "outperform" others? No they won't - they will get totally burnout by age 8 at the latest! I can no timagine subjecting my young child to nonsense like that.
I can't open the link.....oh poop. I know someone that puts tremendous pressure on their kids. It drives me nuts. When their little guy was about 4 they would give him a coloring book and some crayons, which to me is suppose to be fun and relaxing, and then stood over him and made him color in the lines. If he went out of the lines they were very critical and it made him sad. He is almost 8 now and hates to color. Maybe this isn't the same thing but it just bothered me.
Oh my.. that's sad. My son didn't start talking until he was 2, except for small words. I was worried from time to time, but I figured he would talk at his own time. For that matter, he walked "late", too. I consulted some older women that I knew who had raised children, and they all said not to worry, so I didn't. Well, once he started talking, he never shut up, and once he started moving, he never stopped! I totally agree with you that it is sad that some children are not allowed to be children.
It is the same thing. I'll quote Oprah Winfrey here in saying that "Coloring in the lines is over-rated." What a shame that his spirit and creativity were stumped!
I have a friend who is an elementary school teacher. She, too, enrolled her son in speech therapy when he was around a year and a half old. She was worried because he wasn't speaking clearly as soon as her older daughter did. I didn't even know that speech therapy existed for kids that young! Kari Mom of Zachary (9) and Eli (5)
I didn't either! Who would've thought?! So at an age less than 2, kids are already coming under pressure to excel! How sad that is!
My 2.5 year old LOVES Bob the Builder but he doesn't even sit still through the whole thing. Oh no!! he must have ADHD....whatev. The whole speech thing bothers me too. My son probably did need it, and we did do it, but as soon as we stopped doing speech therapy he started talking MORE! I don't know if he was just ready or felt he wasn't being pushed or what.
Ya know. . . We live here in NYC. In fact my kids take classes at the Y that was mentioned and my dh teaches preschool sports. He has written recommendation letters before for kids to get into preschool and kindergarten. You'd think the kids would be miserable but in fact they're not. It's really amazing what little kids can do when expectations are placed on them. And neither do they burn out. We've met hundreds upon hundreds of perfectly normal well educated kids all of whom went to competitive preschools and are in private elementary schools. Most kids can do it. The parents I feel sorry for are the ones whose kids can't do it. Not because there something wrong with their kids but because of how they're made to feel about it. I certainly wouldn't do it to my children. . .but in cities like SF and NYC there really are not a lot of options. And as far as speech therapy that's a catch 22. If your child really needed it, and you wait until they are much older--you've really lost a lot of valuable time. The flip side is that lots of kids get recommended for speech therapy much younger, when really they would've come out fine on their own.
Our nurse practitioner recommended speech therapy for our middle son when he was about 18 months old. She said that by 12 months old babies should say 5 words. When I asked why my oldest wasn't sent (he didn't say 'mommy' until 23 months), she admitted that she was being pressured from her attending physician to send all babies 18 months and up if they didn't have at least 5 discernible words. I took him, more for kicks and giggles, twice. The 'therapy' was exactly what I did with him at home. Only when she'd say "do you want the ball? say ball.", she refused to give him the ball unless he at least said 'b'. You can imagine the torment of an 18 month old being offered something one second, then not allowed to touch it the next. That was the last time we went. It was a waste of time, anyhow. Like I said, there wasn't anything, besides the cruel part, that she did that I wasn't already doing. She'd say the word for everything she touched. She'd ask him to find the ____. It was all the normal parenting stuff. Of course he speaks as clearly as any other 3yo now. I felt bad for the NP as she obviously didn't agree entirely with what she was being told to do. She also suggested it for Xander at his last appointment. She knew I wouldn't bother, but she was able to tell her attending that she 'obeyed' *roll eyes* Must be tough to be an NP.
Well, when I was a teacher I DID see statistics on burnout by a young age when they're pushed too much when they're so little. Maybe it won't show up outwardly until highschool or so, but it DOES happen! A lot of kids do feel pressured to excel and they work hard at it and do well, then suddenly they "crack", in one way or another because of too much pressure. Some kids excel because that is the way they're wired. But others who are slower at catching on are not treated well, and often left in the dust and put in special programs where they consider themselves dumb and/or a failure, and are basically told that because they're in the "Dumb Group". I know they don't do that like they used to, but when they're called out of class for "special help"..... I really like our doctor. My first did everything early: He was born 3 weeks early, he got his teeth early, he walked sort of early, he had a large vocabulary by the time he was two.... My 2nd wasn't interested in that kind of thing. He was hardly saying anything at all at age two. I asked my doctor about it and he said, that's well within the "normal" range of starting to talk. He checked his ears to make sure those were not clogged and that he was hearing okay, which all came out fine. And in not long ds started talking more. He was just more laid back about it.
Deena.. I don't push my little ones at all! They will get everything in their own sweet time! Burnout is exactly why! My dr. is great about "leaving the kids be kids". We have had every test imaginable run on my dd when we went to our old dr. They insisted something was wrong because she was soooo small! Even had them threaten CPS on me because she was so little! They even yelled.. yes yelled.. at me because her head was too small in circumference! Our new dr is awesome! He says "does she act healthy, then that is what she is, she is just a little girl". He asks about their development and their skills and says "they will get it all eventually, just keep gentley guiding them". Hubby sometimes worries that Reagan won't show him his nose or what ever.. but he does know them.. he just likes to not do what you tell him too..lol.
