I wanted to pass along and begin I suppose some discussion around what the Ontario Government is planning in terms of full time Jk and Sk. It is a discussion that for me is personal in that it will affect my kids. And so you know I can't fathom how my kids would survive full time school at 4 years.
What is clear is that there are a lot of good economic reasons for it. Parents can go back to work, make more money and therefore be able to provide ($) for their kids. BUT, since when is money the only thing? Well, it isn't and I don't think anyone would think that it was. What are the repricussions in the family?
You can hear a great discussion on the cbc the current involving the government education ministers, the author of a report called 'our best future' (a little scary) and a guy who has studied this issue internationally. One interesting thing he says is, ' yes there are economic gains, yes it pays for itself, but in countries that implement full time daycare, and jk, the social repercussions are significant. His major concern is 'attachment' issues that children suffer, and stress.
I wonder personally, what involvment the church can have in modelling something different?
cheers
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the government's plan, as I understand it from the newspaper, is to connect kindergarten and daycare together so that part of the day would be instruction and the other part daycare. Parents could opt for a full time kindergarten program or a half day kindergaren program with day care for the other half.
ReplyDeleteMy main concern is that it would suggest to stay at home parents or those considering doing that, that their children would be better off in a professional program. Untrue. Studies show that children learn best in a loving, secure environment with someone they have bonded with. However, for many kids they are already in Kindergarten one day and day care on the other day. Many many parents are both working, and paying a lot for daycare. For some, this program would be a big help, almalgamating everything and subsidizing the cost of care. For kids who are growing up without care, without being provided rich experiences and opportunities to learn, and without healthy care-giver relationships, early intervention is awesome and does make a huge difference for them. For kids in a loving home with plenty to do, new experiences to try, places to go, people to see...for those kids a program is not an advantage at all, and I would hate for those parents to feel that what they are providing isn't as good as professional care.
What can the church do? I don't know what we can do to help families where both parents need to work. However, the church can teach on parenting, and help parents to grow up and mature and become people who can parent well. The church can help provide opportunities for parents to expose their kids to learning opportunities that they can afford. The church can teach parents the importance of one on one time, living in the moment with their kids, and guarding their time with them as irreplacable by any program, no matter how many bells and whistles it provides.
Ya I think we always have to defend family. I wonder, how is this going to play out? Will there be tons of pressure to put kids in the program? Is there a different way? an alternative?
ReplyDeletein reality a program like they are talking about would cost so much money it will be a long time coming, esp. in this economic situation we are in right now.
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