”In order to succeed in the real world, you have to be

able to fail.” ~  Dr. Ken Ginsburg

For several years now, I have been speaking and writing on just this topic. On Super Kids. On education reform. On the importance of play and time in nature. On the need to fail. On the need for parents to relax and let kids be kids. In fact, it’s why I started this blog — to create a place to talk about restoring childhood and saving ourselves in the process.

I am so excited to share this video with you. How powerful is the need for play and the need for parents to step back and help redefine success in a way that is not measured by test scores and achievements, but by happiness and resiliency? Let’s have a few voices from the medical field chime in.

We are raising a generation at risk and as a society we must change our course. It’s really that simple. Please watch the video below and share it with people you know. If you are a parent, step back and take a critical look at the childhood your kids are having.

The video features Dr. Ken Ginsburg, pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and author of Building Resilience in Children and Teens: Giving Kids Roots and Wings, and Dr. Marilyn Benoit, Chief Clinical Officer at Devereux Behavioral Health and former president of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

I would love to know your thoughts on the video.

See ya outside! ~ The Grass Stain Guru

photo credit: Kazz.0

photo credit: Gdpaule

TGSG Note: Sometimes, posts are worth another visit. I think this is one of them. I hope you do too.

When people ask me what I write about — what I do — I often get strange looks. It appears that dedicating oneself to unstructured play and connecting children (and adults) with nature can be perceived as a frivolous thing. I get that. I mean, it is play, after all. People tend to associate play and exploration with fun. In turn, they associate fun with anything but serious.

But here’s the thing: This subject is anything but frivolous. In fact, I propose it is quite serious.

If you think about it, if you take the issue of today’s childhood — the well-documented and increasing gap between children and nature — and look at it in its entirety, it’s really quite an enormous issue. A societal issue requiring a societal response.

Here are just a few lenses we can use to look at the issue. Each of these is a post or series of posts in their own right, so these are simple “thought bubbles” for the moment. Consider:

Public Health: Childhood obesity rates are skyrocketing, as is the medication of children for ADHD. Childhood and adolescent depression are also on the rise. Consider how spending time in nature, being active outdoors, playing, and having fun might impact these health problems and be part of a wellness and disease prevention paradigm.

Education (and reform): Mandatory recess. Establishing reasonable and thoughtful homework policies that impact not only the lives of students, but of educators, parents, and families. Protecting play-based learning in Kindergarten. On and on. We cannot expect kids to get outside and play if we do not provide opportunities for them to do so, or value those opportunities in the learning readiness of all students. Additionally, environmental education is a vital, viable win-win educational opportunity to enrich the school environment. Its hands-on, real-world approach is a powerful tool for engaging all learning styles.

Urban Planning: Planning community green-spaces, nature trails and community-connecting bike and walking paths. Creating safe walking routes to school. Sidewalks in neighborhoods. Traffic patterns. You name it — urban planners have a great power to create and refit healthy communities that foster time outdoors.

Social Justice: How are poor areas impacted in greater ways? Is it safe to go outside some places? What can be done about that?  In areas heavily populated by recent immigrants with a different, and often more deep connection to the land, how are we engaging them in programs and efforts? What could we do better? What do they need?

Conservation: Without a connection to nature, what will the next generation do? One cannot protect what they do not know. Who will take the jobs of the people retiring  in the conservation field, if kids grow up with no interest or connection? Who will vote to protect land, species, etc.? Who will become members and donors of NGOs that work on conservation issues?

Quality of Life: This one is key. Time outdoors. Unplugged time. Time to make connections to the land, ourselves, our families, and our communities in more meaningful ways. Time to recharge our batteries. Time to simply be. Time for children to play, which is how they restore.

This time — this magic time of unplugging and connecting — is a powerful way to be a happier, healthier person. Doing so can help you be a better parent or mentor, a better employee or employer. A better you. How can society not be served by better versions of us all, young and old alike?

Steeped in awe and wonder, time spent playing and exploring the outdoors is indeed, quite fun. It is also a very important issue, and quite serious. It requires all of us to work together — professionals from a variety of disciplines, parents and grandparents, educators and caregivers, and concerned citizens.

I hope you will join me. We have lots of work to do. But luckily, much of this worthy work is, as it turns out, PLAY!

See you outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

photo credit: tiffanywashko

photo credit: JacobEnos

photo credit: Kables

“I’m really excelling in the sandbox this semester…”

photo credit: redjar

“I’m waiting…don’t leave me hanging!”

photo credit: selma90

See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

This post is part of the We Play series over at the great site, Childhood 101.   

The great blog, Urban Preschool, recently shared this video and I found it so inspiring, I just had to post it as well.

Now, how do we make sure Arne Duncan sees it? And every parent of an infant or preschooler?!

Play.

Child-centered.

Teachers that are trusted to do their jobs.

Real learning.

Did I mention play yet?!

Genius.

See ya outside! ~ The Grass Stain Guru

“Trying to define play is like trying to define love. You can’t do it. It’s far too big for that.”

– Gordon Sturrock

If you’ve never given the concept of play much thought, the above quote might seem a bit odd to you; presumptuous even. I assure you, it isn’t. In the world of a child, and if we let it — us adults — play is a process of utmost importance. Did you notice my use of the term process there? That is key. Play is just that — a process. It is not a product or a destination. Play is a process through which children learn about themselves, their peers, the world at large — and their role in it.

Due to a variety of factors, including the current education system, the popularity of structured activities and after-school “academic enrichment” programs, and parents’ schedules, many children are play deprived in today’s society. Play deprivation is real and harmful, and cannot be remedied by playing organized sports or video games.  Simply put, those types of leisure pursuits are not true play.

We are seeing a growing body of research on the importance of play. In fact, play is popping up in articles seemingly left and right. But it is not only the importance of play that should resonate, but the real and startling impact of play deprivation. That said, because as a society we currently view play as something frivolous, it is easy to let this research pass us by and go on with business as usual.

Think about it. What would your gut reaction be if someone said that they work in play for a living, or they are a play researcher and theorist?

By the American yardstick, how would such statements be measured? Many people would think, “Oh, how fun!” and wouldn’t give it any deeper thought than that. But it is much deeper than that, and it is my hope that we can all join together to be a voice for play — in our communities, our schools, and our homes.

Let’s not take the fun out of play, but in turn, let’s not be fooled into thinking it of little importance due to its fun nature. Let’s play and learn and laugh together, and make sure we make enough time for living in this life.

See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

photo credit: celine nadeau

We’ve talked about the Free Range Kids concept (and book!) here at TGSG before.

We’ve talked about helicopter parents, allowing children more freedom and room to roam, real versus perceived danger, and the importance of free play and time in nature.

So, the questions is this: Are you ready to do more than talk?

Saturday, May 22nd is the first, “Take Your Child to the Park…& Leave Them There Day.”

Yup, that’s right.

Now, before you put your head between your knees — we’re talking 7-8 year olds and up.  Not toddlers or preschoolers.

But still — it might just give you pause.

But consider this: Parents often lament they don’t send their kids outside to play because there aren’t other children outside playing. And there’s the rub.

No chicken — no egg. Empty yards, parks, and sidewalks.

Check out more info on the day and what others are saying about it on Lenore Skenazy’s blog, Free Range Kids.

Regardless if you are ready to participate this year or not — it’s a great conversation to have with your spouse, significant other — or simply yourself.

See ya outside! ~ The Grass Stain Guru

photo credit: Robert S. Donovan

TGSG Note: I originally ran this post in April, but with the new school year upon us, I thought it might me good to revisit it. There is also an article in The Boston Globe, Pressure Cooker Kindergarten, that you might be interested in. See the end of the post for comments made by one of the reports co-authors, Ed Miller. He makes some great additional points to ponder.

The shadow of No Child Left Behind has darkened the rooms of kindergartens across America. We often hear people bemoan this particular piece of legislation, and rightfully so, but you might be surprised to learn that those rumblings come from frustrated educators and parents of kindergarten students, too. Test stress is not just for older children now — it starts at five-years-old.

Kindergarten, it seems, has become the new first grade. While some might call this progress, it ignores the fact that kindergarten was developed based on heavily researched theories and practices of child development, and specifically designed to be different than upper grades — to incorporate the learning styles of young children and engage the whole child, including their social and emotional development needs.

The Alliance for Childhood has just released its new report, Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School. Needless to say, it is an eye-opener. If you are not involved in early childhood education or don’t have kids of that age, you might be surprised at some of the findings, not to mention the increasingly didactic, scripted instruction and prevalence of time spent on test preparation. For five-year-olds.

“Teaching to the test,” is now a phrase that can be applied to the education of five-year-olds, regardless of the fact that experts caution its reliability in children under eight. According to the report, “Standardized testing of children under age eight, when used to make significant decisions about the child’s education, is in direct conflict with the professional standards of every educational testing organization.” And of course, we all know that this is exactly how test scores are being used — to make significant decisions about individual children — their capacity to learn and the educational path where they will be placed.

Kindergarten. Gone are the blocks and water tables. They went by the wayside along with music time, rest period, and space for easels. According to the Alliance, “Too many schools place a double burden on young children. First, they heighten their stress by demanding that they master material beyond their developmental level. Then they deprive children of their chief means of dealing with that stress—creative play.”

The 72 page report is based on the findings of nine recent studies of today’s kindergarten classrooms, as well as on long-respected research in the field of early childhood education. With a forward by Dr David Elkind, author of The Hurried Child, the report makes a call to action for parents, policy makers, educators, and child advocates to bring this issue to the forefront of education reform.

It’s amazing to me that in an age where noted scholars, as well as business and tech leaders are calling for creativity and curiosity as an absolute necessity and the future of the workforce, our education system continues to impose practices and standards that make that virtually impossible to achieve. Among all the failing schools and increasing behavior problems in children, we march forward, putting undue stress on children and educators alike. In our nation’s fever to beat other nations’ test scores, we are only beating one thing — the love of learning out of our children. We are forsaking creativity, resilience, and individual strengths for methods and protocols that do not work. Shame on us.

Obviously, this issue and report are far too large and important for one blog post, so consider this the launch of a series on kindergarten here at TGSG. I would love to hear about your questions and concerns surrounding the issue.

I hope you will join the movement to bring play back into schools. After all, play is serious business.

See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

Comment from Ed Miller, Alliance for Childhood

Bethe, thanks for writing about the 2nd-grade teacher who can see the differences between the kids who were in play-based kindergartens and those who had more instruction and academics. The things you named–being excited about learning, having fewer behavior problems, etc.–are not easily measured, and certainly not by standardized tests.

And this is a very big part of the problem we have gotten ourselves into. School reform, in too many people’s minds, must be “data-driven.” And it’s very easy to produce lots of data. But with young children, almost all of the numbers are about things like how many letters they recognize and how many words they know–things that are easy to count, and relatively easy to drill into children’s minds if you are single-minded enough about it.

So kindergarten has been taken over in many places (not all!) by the teaching of these discrete skills and bits of knowledge–and by standardized testing. And the people in charge can point to higher test scores as proof of success. Very few policymakers, however, seem to be aware of the research that shows what happens after a few years. By fourth grade, the early “gains” have disappeared. By age 10 the children who were in play-based kindergartens are far ahead of the others–because of those hard-to-measure qualities like love of learning.

As Einstein said, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

Thanks, too, for writing about “Crisis in the Kindergarten,” and to all your correspondents.

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter,

the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.

~Elizabeth Lawrence

I have a secret dream that all parents and educators will put the above quote on their refrigerators to remind themselves what childhood should not only look like — but FEEL like. (Um, well I guess the cat is out of the bag now!) I am not totally naive or going through life with rose colored glasses, but I do think that it is high-time the pendulum swung back the other way on childhood.

I just re-read a great article, Lost in the Meritocracy, by Walter Kirn and was once again struck by just how wrong so much of childhood is these days. In our “quest for the best,” our view of what’s best has become warped and twisted, and incredibly shallow. It might look good on paper and even open a door or two, but are they really doors that we should be aspiring to, or want for our children? Should achievement trump happiness and well-being? Not in my world.

I have written about this notion of the “Super Kid” before. We have all seen them — in classrooms or sometimes on  TV, being held-up as the ideal child. Over-achievers by age six. Children with adult vocabularies and sensibilities, often lacking the ability to connect with their own peer group, or so fearful of getting dirty or doing anything wrong they are stuck almost immobile in uncontrolled or unknown situations. Often, the “success” of these children send parents into panic mode, creating a drive to outdo or out-pace that is visited upon children.

I find it so offensive — whether it is motivated by good intentions or not. On the part of the parents who try to create them — pushing kids to excel at everything or perseverating on one identified skill that must be mastered. And on the part of education and enrichment programs that promise parents ivy-league success by 4th grade and drive young minds and hearts to near exhaustion. The adulteration of childhood is simply not OK. Not only does it rob children of their right to childhood, but it robs adults of the joy of offering true guidance, warmth, and compassion. It’s a lose-lose situation.

So, I have a proposal. Let’s redefine the Super Kid. Let’s start with a clean slate and give the kids a break.

The NEW and improved Super Kid:

• Laughs and giggles daily more times than he/she can count;
• Is in the process of learning about who they are and what they like, versus letting others define them;
• Plays for play’s sake;
• LOVES to learn;
• Stands-up for a friend;
• Is not afraid to get dirty;
• Is curious, sometimes loud, and capable of dreaming big;
• Understands that it’s OK to make mistakes;
• Learns that it’s OK not to get everything you want; and
• Understands that their only job in life is BEING A KID.

That, my friend, sounds like a Super Kid to me. One that has time to enjoy being a child and will arrive at adulthood with a sense of self, a capacity for happiness, and the keys to a truly bright future of their choosing.

See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

photo credit: {just jennifer}

“If I get to pick what I want to do, then it’s play…if someone else tells me that I have to do it, then it’s work.”

- Patricia Nourot

Monday: Soccer practice, piano lesson & homework

Tuesday: After-school science program & homework

Wednesday: Soccer practice & homework

Thursday: Band practice, gymnastics & homework

Stop me, before I go on…and on. Which, by the way, is exactly how many kids’ schedules look today — like they go on an on. Substitute whatever organized activities you like — baseball, dance, computer club, etc.  Add in time spent shuffling in the car back and forth across town, and you are left with a very adult schedule and pace that is doing more harm than good and squandering away the brief childhood that kids are afforded.

Personally, I find it odd that so many of the people that lament the fact that children grow up too fast today are the very ones putting their kids onto the fast-track in the first place. Over-scheduled. Over-stimulated. Exhausted. Stressed. These are not words that should characterize childhood. But in today’s world, these words ring out loud and clear.

According to play theorists, “Play is a set of behaviors that are freely chosen, personally directed, and intrinsically motivated (Wilson, 2009).”

Sounds reasonable, right? Now read the definition again, and then apply this definition of play to any given structured activity — even one that you currently view as  a child’s play or recreation time, such as an organized sport.

• Is it child-centered and led?
• Does it have a set of directions, desired outcomes, rules, etc.?
• How much input does the child have in the activity?
• Why are they doing it? Does it involve pleasing adults or earning rewards/points/rankings?
• Is it (still) fun for them?
• If the adults were not there, what would happen? What type of learning and how much fun? Would the kids carry-on as scheduled, or morph the activity into something of their own creation?

Dozens more questions come to mind, but you get the point. All of this adult input and direction has taken the play out of play. In our quest to keep kids busy and promote well-rounded development, we have taken what kids need most out of childhood: time to be kids.

I encourage you to take an honest look at the schedule of the kids in your world. I’m not saying no sports or organized activities – just a lot less. One per season is fine — yes, even if other people look at you like you are crazy when you say little Johnny is not signed up for karate, guitar lessons, and art classes in addition to soccer. Remember, it’s little Johnny’s job to play — to learn through making up his own rules, making decisions, playing make-believe, assessing risks for himself, trial and error, and the wonders of the intrinsic value of doing something for the pure joy of it.

Remember too, that little Johnny has homework to do, the library to visit, sleepovers to go to, chores to do, and the lots of time to spend hanging out with friends and family. He is busy, so it’s time to free up his schedule and clear that calendar a bit. Let today’s kids retire their day planners until the time comes when they really need one. It will be here soon enough, of this you can be sure.

See ya outside! – The Grass Satin Guru

photo credit: Ian Muttoo

“Jean Piaget famously referred to “the American question,” which arose when he lectured in this country: how, his audiences wanted to know, could a child’s development be sped up? The better question may be: Why are we so hellbent on doing so?” - Peggy Orenstein, New York Times

Let’s take “the American question” to the next level. Piaget died in 1980. Can you imagine what he, one of the premiere developmental psychologists of the 20th century, would think about what is going on today? If parents, administrators. and educators were pushing the developmental envelope 30 years ago, when play still ruled the candy-colored classrooms and rough and tumble backyards of America, what would Piaget say today? I think it is safe to assume he wouldn’t have a lot of nice things to say about the breakneck pace of childhood today — of the quest for stats and status over true learning and healthy development.

In a great article recently published in the New York Times Magazine, Kindergarten Cram, writer Peggy Orenstein unintentionally joins TGSG community’s discussion on the state of Kindergarten in today’s society. (Um, it must also be said that she and I are obviously cut from the same cloth and should go have lunch together as soon as possible.) She interviewed Ed Miller, one of the co-authors of  The Alliance for Childhood report we have been discussing here.

I encourage you to read the article. Orenstein brings some fresh questions to the surface, and models an active parent’s role in the process of school selection. I was particularly intrigued by her fear of the use of the term “economy” to legitimize a topic, and what could happen as a result.

How far is America willing to go for this crazy race for success it is trying to win, regardless of the fact that in our zeal we are not only losing big-time, but raising a generation of unhappy, unhealthy kids? I continue to invite you all to join me in the quest to restore childhood, and save ourselves in the process. Think about what that could mean to you — whether you are a parent, an educator, a daycare worker, or simply a caring adult. I don’t care what hat you wear. All are welcome here.

See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru

photo credit: woodleywonderworks