A friend of mine on Facebook posted a link to this beautiful article. The title: what should a 4-year-old know?

"... She should know how to laugh, act silly, be goofy and use her imagination. She should know that it is always okay to paint the sky orange and give cats 6 legs.... She should know that the world is magical and that so is she. She should know that she's wonderful, brilliant, creative, compassionate and marvelous. She should know that it's just as worthy to spend the day outside making daisy chains, mud pies and fairy houses as it is to practice phonics...."

"But more important, here's what parents need to know.... That every child learns to walk, talk, read and do algebra at his own pace and that it will have no bearing on how well he walks, talks, reads or does algebra.... That the single biggest predictor of high academic achievement and high ACT scores is reading to children. Not flash cards, not workbooks, not fancy preschools, not blinking toys or computers, but mom or dad taking the time every day or night (or both!) to sit and read them wonderful books... That being the smartest or most accomplished kid in class has never had any bearing on being the happiest. We are so caught up in trying to give our children 'advantages' that we're giving them lives as multi-tasked and stressful as ours. One of the biggest advantages we can give our children is a simple, carefree childhood...."

It's sometimes difficult to remember these things, so this reminder is refreshing. One thing I tell myself is that Waldorf-educated children don't learn to read until they're seven, and they turn out fine ... if not more artistic and more creative than children in more traditional schools. :)

The full article is here.

I love the final line. "What does a 4 year old need? Much less than we realize, and much more."

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