Pressure on toddlers to be like little adults

Re “For These Tots, T Is for Tutor,” Sept. 24

Parents who place young children in academic environments, though well intentioned, are misguided. Educators and parents need to understand the difference between training children to do tasks that please the adults around them and truly educating them. Children learn through play and movement.

When children run, sing and play with blocks, they are not wasting time; they are putting into place crucial developmental skills that will allow them to be fast and flexible learners for the rest of their lives. Children who do not spend enough time moving and playing are at more risk of having later learning difficulties than those who wait until kindergarten to learn the alphabet. What parents really need to hear is this: Put down those flash cards and send your children out to play.

LINDA SILVA

Culver City

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It is incredibly difficult to fault a parents for wanting the best for their child, but the fact that more preschool children are routinely being sent to private tutors to make them more competitive is, to many of us in the field of early childhood education, a frightening and alarming trend.

There seems to be a misconception that all children do in preschool is play and that their teachers are little more than baby-sitters. Many skills that highly paid private tutors are instilling in preschool children are already being provided in quality preschool programs by well-qualified staff.

Other key learning experiences that occur during this formative time, which cannot be taught by an academic tutor, are social and emotional development. These are also essential in children’s development as they grow to be adults.

The pressures being put on our toddlers to perform like little adults so early in life will only cause them to experience adult-sized stress, headaches and performance anxieties that they are simply not equipped to handle yet.

We as parents and educators should, of course, strive to best prepare our children for the future, but part of that entails letting our children be children first.

RAY HERNANDEZ

Director, Early Childhood

Services, Para Los Ninos

Los Angeles