To the Editor,
Re: One-third of students start school unprepared, Feb. 2.
This article disturbed me on two levels.
One is that we are subjecting our very young children to the judgment of these well-meaning educators, who have found a large number of them lacking. Do our little ones not have the right to be shy, immature and beginner-learners when they go to school?
On another level, if our children are truly so delayed in all these areas, no number of Mother Goose lessons can make up for it.
Have we given up on parenting? I firmly believe that children will thrive emotionally and otherwise if their lives are founded on long-term, constant, loving and stimulating relationships with their parents, families and friends.
Within those relationships, children learn a lot by communicating, playing and getting constant feedback. That is where they find their self-worth, their sense of belonging and emotional security.
We also forget the moral compass.
When children learn to apply a set of moral values, they become empowered, instead of feeling restricted by rules alone.
I have admiration and gratitude for all the professionals who work in all the fields that address the care, development and education of children.
But the trend to institutionalize children at a younger and younger age is a disgrace. We need to take parenting seriously again.
Ingrid Van Rensburg
Nanaimo