Wednesday morning my team at work volunteered at two Youth-in-Need child-care facilities. These two facilities provide highly-subsidized daycare and early-childhood education for children whose parent(s) meet some income requirement. The facility where I was, was organized into three classrooms: birth to 23 months, 2 years old, and 3 to 5 year olds.
I started out the morning in the 2 year old classroom. There were eight kids in the class, a teacher and an assistant. 4:1 isn’t a bad ratio. The topic of the day was “spiders”. The teacher read to the children a book that was a take-off of the “Itsy-Bitsy Spider” song. She then talked a bit about what spiders eat (bugs! ~ewwwww~) and how they catch the bugs. After that, she went child by child and asked them what they thought spiders eat.
She was met mostly with blank stares. One kid said “French Fries”. This was 2 minutes after she did a “puppet show” of sorts with giant plastic flies and moths and spiders and a huge web made of string. There was virtually zero recall.
The kids split up to do some crafts and have some slightly-organized playtime. As the crafts became finished and the playtime became less and less organized, I read a few books to some of the children and did some puzzles with them.
At that point the lunch lady had brought them lunch (tuna fish salad sandwiches, diced pears and cooked carrots). They sat down to eat and I moved to the 3-5 yr old room.
This room was a lot different. First, the kids are older. Second, there were more of them (23) and still only two adults. The women in the two-year-old room were both middle-aged. The two women in the 3-5 year-old-room were both in their early 20s.
The kids were in a very unstructured time. The lunch-cart lady was making her way into that room and beginning to set out their lunches. I sat down next to two children and introduced myself. They weren’t really doing anything so I asked them if they would like me to read them a book. They both said, “yes!” eagerly.
One of the children grabbed a book from the bookshelf and sat next to me, the other crawled up into my lap. As I read the book I tried to engage them in some sort of dialog. “What do you think is going to happen next?” “Why do you think that happened?” etc.
While they were both listening (not playing with some toy, fidgeting with each other or staring off into space), neither could engage in conversation about the book being read to them. It was as if they heard each sylable, but didn’t connect them into a story.
I understand these kids were both “only” 5 years old, but I have a 3 yr old and a 6 yr old at home with whom I engage in this kind of conversation all the time. I understand very well the capabilities of this age group.
…and I guess that’s kinda my point. You have to do it all the time. Reading, and actively thinking about the content, is a practiced skill. Teach it to your children when they’re young. It’s very easy to do. Read to your kids 30 minutes each night. As you read, ask them simple questions. Have them predict what’s going to happen.
Thirty minutes each night before bed is a simple investment that pays off HUGE.
Wednesday Workout
- Warm Up @ 75#
- 8x Romanian Deadlift
- 8x Bent-Over Row
- 8x Power Clean
- 8x Clean-Grip Hang Power Snatch
- 8x Jump Squat
- 8x Good Morning
- Military Press
- 5x Press @ 75#
- 3x Press @ 105#
- 3x Press @ 120#
- 8x Press @ 135#
- 6x @ 75#
- 8x Romanian Deadlift
- 8x Bent-Over Row
- 8x Power Clean
- 8x Clean-Grip Hang Power Snatch
- 8x Jump Squat
- 8x Good Morning
The CGHPS were clearly the limiting lift. They’re very hard. Much much harder than reading to your kids every night.