Petition to save childhood
The Open Eye campaign group has opened a UK government petition that UK residents can sign up to online to urge the government to stop forcing children under 5 years old to learn reading and writing – instead of learning through natural play as is widely recognized to be more effective.
Please take a look and sign up to the early years petition if you can.
2 Comments
Monique Maxwell
February 19, 2008The evidence in favour of learning through play and through gradualy excursions into the world of school (which most children attend for 13 years!) is overwhelming. We must move away from selfish and Puritan parenting notions (perpetrated by trendy childcare writers like Gina Ford) and accept that children have emotional needs that have to be met and have to come before their learning ones. This ill-founded zealous craze to have children in school before 5 and learning reading and writing and numeracy before their brains have the requisiste cognitive wiring is – and will prove to be demonstrated in the years to come by attendance at child and family clinics – damaging, and may impair other ways of functioning that may be difficult to rectify. Read: GERHARDT Why Love Matters; DONALDSON Children’s minds; SCHORE; PIAGET; WINNICOTT; MONTESSORI; BARADON
Edwina Mitchell
February 23, 2008Children should not be being pressurised to learn to read and write before the age of five, in fact they should not be learning to do this before seven years old. They should be learningthrough play and adults should be concentrating on their social and emotional development. Edwina mitchell BA Hons first class in Early Childhood Studies.