In the “superbaby” ’80s, the preschool debate centered on how soon was too soon for children to be coached in the ABCs or one-two-threes. Now the discussion has become more about nurturing neurons, less about drilling for facts. Brain research underscores what educators have long argued: early social and emotional experiences are the seeds of human intelligence. Time spent flipping flashcards-at the age of 1 or 3-is precious time wasted. Instead, teachers need to tune in to each child’s daily experiences and needs, helping them feel safe and loved while encouraging them to explore and experiment. “Children are born hard-wired,” says Sue Bredekamp of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. “Experience provides the software.”
Is this nation’s haphazard collection of nurseries and day-care centers-which accommodate nearly half the 15 million infants and toddlers whose parents are working-up to such a task? According to a 1995 national study conducted by the University of Colorado Economics Department, the answer is clearly no. Many programs are unlicensed. Most are staffed with untrained, poorly paid adults. Ninety-one percent don’t have basic toys, books, hygiene or enough adults to respond to each child. A full 40 percent are downright hazardous, both to a child’s health and safety as well as to her social and intellectual development.
The formula for preschool success mirrors a child’s up-bringing in a good home. Whether in pricey private preschools or Head Start-like programs, American educators agree on the simple elements that add up to quality: one trained, well-paid teacher assigned to every three to four infants or haft-dozen toddlers; safe, stimulating surroundings and strong ties between staff and families, so children know there is loving continuity in their lives. This is neuroscience, not rocket science. The well-regarded Bank Street Family Center, for children 6 months to 4 years, has been perfecting this family-friendly formula for nearly three decades. There is no Mozart training, no foreign-language tapes, no work sheets to ponder. Instead, its unassuming rooms are filled with big, lumpy armchairs for reading, a kitchen for cooking, tables for drawing, blocks for building forts, stairs for building muscles. Children (about 12 per class) are free to visit other classrooms, as they would go from bedroom to den at home.
Education at this age is not about imparting facts and imposing strict schedules. It’s about listening, guiding, helping individual children to make sense of the real world. The “curriculum” is learning to say goodbye to Mom, forming relationships to others, feeling competent exploring their world. With these emotional skills reinforced, says director Margot Hammond, reading, writing and physics will come more easily when kids are ready. And, since children’s brains are so malleable at this age, supportive care can even repair neurological damage created by depressed, distracted or abusive parents. Heavy doses of love, attention and proper signaling between caregiver and toddler forge new connections.
Parents are known to scramble for a spot on Bank Street’s lengthy waiting list while their children are still in utero. They start saving then, too: tuition is $16,000 a year for an all-day program. The vast majority of families can’t afford such sticker prices. The new Early Head Start for children under 3 only has 22,000 slots for 2.9 million eligible children. With federal welfare reform pushing more mothers of young children into the work force, demand is expected to reach record levels. More parents will have to patch together a makeshift sitter system. “There is too much freelancing with these kids already,” says Ron Lally, director of the Center for Child and Family Studies in San Francisco.
Although some child-development experts believe the best solution would be for more parents to stay home with young kids, that clearly isn’t a reality for many families, especially since many women bring home haft the family income. Unlike families in Germany or Sweden, American parents do not receive government subsidies to replace one parent’s paycheck. Instead, we rely on the kindness of strangers. “We require licenses for beauticians and caterers,” says Sharon Lynn Kagan, author of “Reinventing Early Care and Education.” “It’s ludicrous that we don’t require licenses for child-care workers.”
Licenses will not rescue Washington, D.C.’s Model Early Learning Center, home away from home to 20 children and their pudgy cat, Coco. The richly outfitted preschool, modeled after the pioneering Reggio Emilia nurseries in northern Italy, has served some of the capital’s poorest children for the past four years. But last year local public funding shriveled, and the school may close in June.
Still, the Model Center children go about their projects, oblivious to the school’s fate. A small group recently hatched a plan for a “flying machine” for the peripatetic Coco. The cat’s contraption would have a magic button to convert it into a submarine, and wings made of dried leaves and feathers. Whether or not this ambitious plan is ever completed, it already has produced enough brainstorming to electrify the minds of its young designers. These tots are wired for ideas, the ultimate head start.
33% of all parents say that they plan to start sending their child to school by the age of 3; an additional 30% say their child will start by age 4.
PERCENTAGE OF CHILDREN IN EACH AGE GROUP* less than 1 1 year old 2 years old Children in 24% 24% 19% relative care Children in 17% 19% 20% non-relative care In center-based 7% 11% 19% program 3 years old 4 years old 5 years old Children in 21% 18% 15% relative care Children in 19% 15% 17% non-relative care In center-based 41% 65% 75% program
*Columns do not add up to 100 because some children participated in more than one type of day care. SOURCES: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
