Friday, April 10, 2009

Keep your preschoolers home....

Remember my posts Play is Work and Does Your Child Need Preschool? Now I have a bit of scientific evidence to back me up.

I just read a fascinating article which pretty much proved what I have said for years, preschools are not better than staying home with mom or a loving nanny or grandparent.

  • According to researchers at Stanford and the University of California.Drawing on a massive, national database of over 14,000 children from diverse backgrounds, researchers examined the effects of preschool attendance on interpersonal skills, self control, and rates of aggression.
The results were remarkably clear:

“We find that attendance in preschool centers, even for short periods of time each week, hinders the rate at which young children develop social skills and display the motivation to engage classroom tasks, as reported by their kindergarten teachers” (Loeb et al 2005)."

Ahh, social skills are hindered! What? I thought homeschoolers were the ones that have the poor social skills! I mean, isn't that the main argument against homeschooling?

And this:
  • Similar results were reported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHHD), which conducted a rigorous longitudinal study on the effects of childcare on children under 5 (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 2003).

Over a thousand children were tracked from infancy to kindergarten by investigators at over 20 prominent research universities.

Researchers found that the more time kids spent in non-maternal care during the first 4.5 years of life, the more behavioral problems they developed.

Problems included defiance--like talking back, throwing temper tantrums, and refusing to cooperate. They also included aggressive behaviors--being cruel, destroying toys and other objects, and getting into physical fights.

Pretty interesting stuff--actual studies with lots of kids--and I have a lot anectodotal evidence to back this up--I think I will post some in the next couple of days. :)

I have posted about this very thing but this is the first really great evidence that actually proves what I know is true in my heart.

Children need to be home. They need to be in a small one-on-one relationship with a loving caregiver, like a parent,or grandparent or even a loving nanny. Did you ever notice how God gave us children one or two at a time--not litters? [At least before science got involved in the business of artificially induced pregnancy!] I have to think that God knew what he was doing when he put babies, mostly one at a time, into families. Perhaps that is where they thrive and develop best?

Keep your preschooler home. For kids, play is work. They don't need socialization with a bunch of age-mates, they need quality and quantity time with a loving caregiver who models what true socialization is.

Take Care,

Jill


For more of my Pre-School thoughts and suggestions:


6 comments:

  1. Homeschooling is great for so many reasons, and here's just one example that's backed by studies [smile].

    I really wish people were more aware of these facts. Thanks for spreading the word!

    ~Luke

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  2. So, what are your thoughts on co-op?

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  3. Well, I really think it depends on the co-op and the child. Certainly if you child loves it and you love it, do it! I am not trying to persuade people not to use preschools or co-ops, but more to encourage folks that if they choose not to their kids will be fine. So many parents feel pressured to put their children in preschool programs. I want them to know it is not necessary.

    For me, I would not do it, but for you it might be perfect. My preschoolers did love Sunday School and church nursery and I suppose a co-op might be along that line.

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  4. Thank you so much for this blog entry...It is nice to have the supportive words and encouragement that we are doing the right thing, sometimes the exhausting thing.
    I would like to talk to you about Sonlight Curriculum, when you have sometime. We are looking into it for the 2011-2012 school year.
    My email is michaelamy@kingcon.com if you have some time. Thanks, Amy

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  5. Hi Amy,

    Thank you for your support. I will email you so we can set up a time to chat about what might work well for your family.

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