This is such a great article ! Open ended play is how our daughter spends a lot of her time in our living room and I love listening to her make up stories. It’s do interesting how they interpret the world around them!
I am very frustrated by the lack of headphones for everyone lately, especially when people stick a device in front of a kid while in public. It's like they know you will never confront a kid who is "learning". I am always working on not judging other parents but it is really hard when you see a kid in a stroller or on the bus or at the park have a device put in their face the second they show any signs of discomfort.
My son is into the Oliver the Pig books right now and in one of the stories, Olive and his mother and sister bake cookies. His mother asks what they should do while they wait for the cookies to bake and Oliver says "Let's do nothing." They sit at the table and enjoy the silence together. Sometimes my son says that now in the kitchen and I just love doing "nothing" with him.
I'm an elementary teacher. We call this verbal clutter within schools. Literally cluttering up the space for children to decipher what's important or not, to think clearly, wonder, sit in silence to observe, calculate... And to no surprise, many children cannot distinguish important parts in lessons or practice thinking when there is so much racket.
I think this is another case of adults needing to examine their actions. Many of my friends and family members have the TV on at all times for themselves. It makes sense that they would default to that for children. An un-attended TV is so grating on my nerves I will flip it off the second anyone walks away from it (including my children). I hear people talk about screen time and say oh my kids are barely watching anyway they wander off to play- I cannot understand why you would keep the tv on. I had never heard of literacy being the reason but I am not buying it.
Sometimes I dread visiting others’ houses where I know the television will be on just because… even restaurants, too. There’s only so much we can process and at home, I look to cultivate quiet as often as possible. Our kids bought themselves mobile cassette players which is darling, but even with something so analog, I’ve had to encourage that not all spare moments are meant to be filled with noise, even in the form of good music!
I think a lot of parents are afraid of their child’s boredom (and probably theirs too). Kids know what to do about being bored though, once given the space and chance to whinge haha
This is such a great article ! Open ended play is how our daughter spends a lot of her time in our living room and I love listening to her make up stories. It’s do interesting how they interpret the world around them!
I am very frustrated by the lack of headphones for everyone lately, especially when people stick a device in front of a kid while in public. It's like they know you will never confront a kid who is "learning". I am always working on not judging other parents but it is really hard when you see a kid in a stroller or on the bus or at the park have a device put in their face the second they show any signs of discomfort.
My son is into the Oliver the Pig books right now and in one of the stories, Olive and his mother and sister bake cookies. His mother asks what they should do while they wait for the cookies to bake and Oliver says "Let's do nothing." They sit at the table and enjoy the silence together. Sometimes my son says that now in the kitchen and I just love doing "nothing" with him.
What a wonderful phrase!
I'm an elementary teacher. We call this verbal clutter within schools. Literally cluttering up the space for children to decipher what's important or not, to think clearly, wonder, sit in silence to observe, calculate... And to no surprise, many children cannot distinguish important parts in lessons or practice thinking when there is so much racket.
I think this is another case of adults needing to examine their actions. Many of my friends and family members have the TV on at all times for themselves. It makes sense that they would default to that for children. An un-attended TV is so grating on my nerves I will flip it off the second anyone walks away from it (including my children). I hear people talk about screen time and say oh my kids are barely watching anyway they wander off to play- I cannot understand why you would keep the tv on. I had never heard of literacy being the reason but I am not buying it.
Sometimes I dread visiting others’ houses where I know the television will be on just because… even restaurants, too. There’s only so much we can process and at home, I look to cultivate quiet as often as possible. Our kids bought themselves mobile cassette players which is darling, but even with something so analog, I’ve had to encourage that not all spare moments are meant to be filled with noise, even in the form of good music!
Same! I've been eating out less just because I can't stand all the noise from TVs, loud music, and people yelling to be heard over everything.
Yep. This is why my children don't enjoy going to grandmas!
I think a lot of parents are afraid of their child’s boredom (and probably theirs too). Kids know what to do about being bored though, once given the space and chance to whinge haha
Mozart would have something to say about this.