Let them be kids

When our children were small, I firmly believed, “Let them be kids, they will have the rest of their lives to be in school.” So, that’s what I gave them. Room to play, to be creative, to be messy, to be risky. Room to try things, fail, and try again, to experience, to regulate, and room to be KIDS! We were outside often, and regularly went on “field trips”. Our children joined me in everyday tasks, such as running errands, cleaning the house, prepping food, doing laundry, and other general life skills. While I followed their lead in their interests, they were still held to expectations and our days followed a regular rhythm. While none of our kiddos attended formal preschool, they were beyond ready for 4K. When I first started caring for other people’s children, I took this same approach, even telling them that I am not a preschool.

Over the past few years, I was encouraged to abandon this mindset in the name of “high quality care”. The rating standards paired with what I was learning in school challenged me to think beyond play and towards preparing kids for school. This required me to begin writing observations, take assessments, create lesson plans, provide group activities, and have prepared environments. So, I built my program on these standards. I have been practicing and meeting some or all of these standards for two years. They have been some of the hardest years, but I blamed it on COVID. Then this past October, well after COVID, long after I graduated from school, and with my targeted age group, we had some of the hardest Mondays in a long time. The kids were frustrated and tired. I was exhausted and felt inadequate. So, I decided to throw out the lesson plans, ignore the rating standards, and follow my core beliefs. I allowed ample time to fully engage in free play, both inside and outside. We stopped all things found in a traditional preschool classroom and played. Within a week, everyone’s joy returned! Experiencing this significant shift in our environment was eye opening and honestly, a breath of fresh air. It then became my mission to research play based learning and how it relates to child development and school readiness. I found that a child's basic needs haven’t changed, just society’s push for early academics. In fact, research shows that children today, more than ever, need the space and time to freely play without any agenda. They need time outside. They need freedom to investigate their interests. They need freedom to make mistakes and most importantly, they need connections with people. As I continued to read book after book, there was research showing that my core beliefs are indeed what children need. I feel a grave responsibility to push back on society’s academic push and defend children’s childhood. This means going upstream and giving up receiving a 5-Star rating. However, the short and long term benefits for all of the children I care for is worth that sacrifice. I have spent the last two months determining the direction I would like to take Sarah’s Littles and I have found it!

At Sarah's Littles Adventures in Playschool, we follow a nature-play based emergent curriculum, while supporting each child's interest and needs. Our early learners are given the freedom to play, explore open-ended materials, and engage in adventurous play. We have a program goal of 1000 hours outside that include weekly trips to local nature areas. It is through their natural curiosity and the opportunities we provide, that our early learners are exposed to a variety of experiences. Resulting in authentic, whole-child learning.