Playful Solutions, LLC

A glimpse of our growth today, which included naming clouds, sorting our toy animals, building bug habitats, painting “with fire”, and so much more!

A glimpse of our growth today!💗

We have another unexpected visitor in our exploration pond! I guess if you build it they really will come! 🤷🏼‍♀️🐸💚

There is no such thing as kindergarten readiness.

At least, there shouldn't be.

The very idea of "kindergarten readiness" assumes we need to prepare children for the next thing before they've fully lived the thing they're in right now. Isn't that odd?

If we follow that logic, then we should also have first-grade readiness, second-grade readiness, third-grade readiness, and so on. Children become trapped in a constant pursuit of what's next, always preparing, always catching up, always being pushed ahead.

But what if, for once, we simply met children exactly where they are developmentally?

What if childhood wasn't viewed as a race to the next milestone, but as a stage of life worthy of being fully experienced?

Yet that is exactly what we've created. Children are increasingly expected to prepare for the next stage before they've fully developed in the current one.

Adding insult to injury, much of what we are preparing them for isn't even developmentally appropriate in the first place. We rob children of precious years that should be filled with play, movement, exploration, wonder, relationships, and hands-on experiences - you know, experiences that actually build the brain most optimally (including cognition). Meanwhile, kindergarten expectations continue to creep downward into preschool, preschool expectations creep into toddlerhood, and childhood itself gets squeezed in the process.

By the time children arrive in kindergarten, many are being asked to do things that were once expected years later.

How are we doing this to our children?

We continue raising the bar while simultaneously reducing the very experiences that build the foundation for learning. Less play. Less movement. Less outdoor time. Less exploration. More sitting. More worksheets. More academic pressure.

And somehow we're surprised when children struggle.

The problem isn't that children aren't ready for kindergarten.

The problem is that many adults still don't understand how children actually learn and develop.

And children are paying the price for it.

Brittany asked Daniel and Bradley if they wanted to play with her, and they both said no. She sat down next to me, crossed her arms, and decried, “No one wants to play with me!”

“Would you like my help?”, I asked.

“Yes”, replied Brittany.

“I see Daniel is playing in the pond with the animals”, I said nonchalantly. I paused to see if Brittany would be able to see what Bradley was playing, but she’s not quite there yet, so I prompted her, “I wonder what is Bradley playing?”

“He’s playing with the animals in the pond too”, she replied.

“So Bradley and Daniel are both playing in a shared space?” *as opposed to a designated space where children choose to work alone*

“Yes”, said Brittany.

“Then you have a choice. You can choose to play by yourself anywhere you would like, or you can play with Bradley and Daniel in the pond. What would you like to do?”

“Play with them in the pond!” Brittany jumped up and ran over to the pond, “Hey! Can I play with you guys?”, she asked. “Sure!”, replied Bradley.

SOOO many problems in early childhood can be solved by simply saying what we see! Out loud! For that to happen though, we first need to:

✅ Know our children
✅ Assume the best of our children
✅ Trust our children
✅ Be present for our children