Child's development matters

It's been a while since I last posted. I've been enjoying teaching children so much, so many crafts to do, so many sensory to explore. I've decided to do messy sensory once a week, the children loves it! Last week, I mixed everything I can find on the table -- paint, glue, shaving foam, water, hamster bedding, feather, twigs and leaves. They had a great time exploring different textures!

This is one thing I am having a hard time convincing parents to do at home. Since I also teach playgroup class, I have parents attending the class with the extremely young children as well. Parents in Hong Kong always want their children to be "clean" and doing sensory is "messy". To them, getting messy is improper, this attitude being taught to children left them freaking out during my sensory sessions when they move up to the pre-nursery classes.

Going home with paint stain on faces and arms, with shoes on the wrong side of their feet, backpacks put on but upside down -- these all mean the child is learning to do things on their own. It means the child is given the freedom to explore. It means the child is allowed to enjoy school. If I were a parent, I would doubt what my child is doing at school if my child looks exactly like when he was being dropped off.

As a preschool teacher, I believe that proper child development means allowing your children to explore and do things on their own. The classroom should be where they are allowed do move with least restrictions, it should not be a place full of rules to follow and full of "no's" and "do not do this and that". Giving your children restrictions means stopping your child from growing. Teaching proper discipline is implied, it should not stop children from enjoying preschool.