He explains that direct teaching of children by adults is rare in traditional cultures, and likely was for our hunter-gatherer ancestors. However, with the advent of increasingly complex technologies such as reading and mathematics and the need for universal education, formal schooling became necessary, and this has recently extended to early childhood.
"The prevalence of preschool education has increased over the decades in many developed countries, and unlike earlier days when 'learning through play' described the basic curriculum, contemporary preschool education instead often emphasizes direct instruction, characteristic of pedagogy designed for older children," said Bjorklund. "This reflects an evolutionary mismatch between young children's evolved learning abilities and the demands of contemporary society."
Pretend play occurs voluntarily and spontaneously, especially when the individual is relaxed and not under stress and typically lacks any immediate practical purpose.
"In the context of pretend play, skills encompass imagination, the ability to think about possibilities that differ from reality, mental time travel, and imitation, among other symbolic capabilities," said Bjorklund.
He explains that pretend play functions as an experience-expectant process, enhancing the brain's readiness for focused learning.
This article comes just in time as my wife is starting to worry my son can't read fluently yet, unlike most of the other 4 or 5-year olds in his class. Even if we made a conscious choice not to sign him up to all the private academies, as is common in Korea (and probably also Singapore, @cryotosensei?), it is hard to escape peer pressure.
this territory is moderated
The importance of play has been catching on in Singapore society. But only (expensive) private preschools offer unstructured play as part of their curriculum. I sent my children to public preschools near my house, so a great part of their day is spent sitting down, doing group work and listening to their teachers haha.
I try my best to provide a balance by coming earlier to fetch him and letting him mingle with the neighbourhood kids at the playground these days.
Yes, cram schools are a booming industry in Singapore. But I haven’t succumbed to peer pressure and sent my boy for any classes yet. I think as Bitcoiners, what we should focus on is to get our offspring to create unique value. The world is larger than Singapore’s job
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81 sats \ 5 replies \ @OT 7 Oct
My wife is from China and is constantly telling me stories of her friends kids, nieces and nephews. It sounds like torcher. Boarding schools, hardly ever see their parents, no time to play.
I'm so glad we left China and will raise them in a semi rural town in Western Australia. I want them to get dirty, play outside and go traveling when we can.
Mine are both under 5 and we have some plans to home school. I read an interesting book called "Free to Learn" which goes into a lot of the benefits of free play. Still, like your wife I would like my oldest to get into reading and writing. He's still a bit young and isn't really listening to us yet. I'm still thinking about whether a digital device might be a good way to get him into it, but there might be some negative effects too.
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Our son only recently showed some interest in trying to recognize some letters and numbers. As it is coming from him, it's much easier to get him to focus on it. When my wife tried in the past, he barely could sit down for 1 minute before getting antsy. I always tell her that kids will show they are ready when they are ready. There is not much in trying to get them to do it earlier.
As for the tablets, I introduced him to Duolingo for Kids. He enjoyed learning some English as it was gamified. He never gets to play other games on tablet though. But haven't done it for a long time, other free play priorities these days :)
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115 sats \ 3 replies \ @OT 7 Oct
I'll check it out. He is interested in books so I think it will come in good time.
There's one thing I'd like to get him interested in which is perfect pitch. Apparently you need to learn it before 5-6 or you never will. Its not an important life skill, but is an amazing skill to have for musicians. Just thinking about whether it should be learn through the instrument or digitally with a tablet.
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Never heard of the perfect pitch thing. That's quite interesting. I always assumed it was something innate... something you have or something you haven't. I'll look into it. Was hesitating to get him to start a music instrument, maybe better to do it now than later then :)
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @OT 7 Oct
I recommend starting with either piano or drums.
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He's been expressing his desire for piano, so that will be the obvious choice. Also, in apartments here, people are very sensitive to noise, so it'll be easier to set him up with an electronic piano so he can practice with headphones.
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