Understanding Early Childhood Development: Insights from Bev Boss
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Introduction
Early Childhood Education (ECE) is a cornerstone for a child's development, shaping their future learning and social skills. In the realm of ECE, few names sparkle as brightly as that of Bev Boss, a legendary educator whose approaches have inspired countless teachers and parents. With almost 40 years of experience, Boss emphasizes the innate curiosity and wonder that young children possess. In this article, we explore the fundamental principles of early childhood development based on Boss's insights, focusing on what parents really want for their children, the significance of discovery, and fostering authentic learning experiences.
What Do Parents Want for Their Children?
Parents are often deeply concerned about the upbringing and education of their children. Bev Boss identifies that most parents desire a genuine understanding of what is right for their child’s growth. This desire stems from a collective longing for nurturing what she refers to as the “wonder” inherent in every child.
The Legacy of Childhood
A significant portion of today’s parents might feel disconnected from their own childhoods. Boss points out that many parents seem to be under a ‘spell’ that reflects their upbringing and influences their parenting styles. This indicates a need for educational strategies that go beyond traditional methods.
The Basics of Child Development
When discussing what constitutes the 'basics' of education, many mention reading, writing, and arithmetic. While these are essential, Boss insists that they are complex processes built upon simpler foundational skills. The true first basic is Wonder. Children are inherently curious; they want to understand the world around them. This natural wonder must be protected and encouraged.
The Importance of Wonder
- Active Curiosity: Children's instinct to explore and understand their surroundings must be nourished.
- Timeless Experiences: Real-world experiences, such as feeling the texture of sand or observing the moon, cannot be replicated through screens.
The Power of Discovery
Another fundamental aspect of early childhood development highlighted by Bev Boss is Discovery. It involves creating an environment where children can explore and learn through their own experiences.
Creating Discovery Environments
Children should be provided with materials and opportunities to discover on their own. Boss shares a poignant story about a child’s curiosity with simple items like lettuce and milk, underscoring the idea that children learn best through personal exploration. Each unique experience provides them the chance to attach meaning and language to their world.
Importance of Real Experiences
- Authentic Learning: Experiences should be real and tangible. Virtual exposure is worse than none at all.
- Self-Discovery: Real-life experiences enable children to learn survival skills, such as riding a bike, that cannot be gained through observation alone.
Fostering Supportive Learning Environments
For children to thrive and for their natural wonder and desire for discovery to flourish, it is crucial to provide supportive environments. This includes:
- Interaction with Nature: Encourage children to spend more time outdoors, exploring natural environments filled with water, sand, dirt, and loose parts.
- Hands-on Experiences: Children's play should include items that they can manipulate and invent with. This aids in their cognitive development and understanding of concepts.
The Role of Parents in Early Childhood Education
As Boss notes, the engagement of parents is vital in early childhood education. This brings us to the importance of community and connection in a child’s educational journey.
Building Community Connections
In today’s busy world, parents might find it challenging to connect with others in their community. Encouraging intimacy and shared experiences can help foster connections among families.
Intimate Parenting Meetings
Boss emphasizes the significance of her parent meetings, where open discussions can occur. These meetings focus on:
- Emotional Support: Parents should feel valued and understood, laying the groundwork for better cooperation and communication.
- Active Participation: Providing parents with real insights about their children’s behaviors leads to more effective parenting strategies.
Multi-Age Learning
In many early childhood settings, children of varying ages learn together. Boss advocates for this multi-age approach because:
- It allows older children to model positive behavior and skills for younger ones.
- Parents gain insights by observing their children in different contexts, enhancing their understanding of developmental milestones.
Conclusion
Bev Boss’s insights provide guiding principles for early childhood education that are rooted in promoting wonder and discovery. By creating supportive environments, fostering parent engagement, and encouraging authentic experiences, we can cultivate a generation of curious, capable, and emotionally healthy children. As we move forward, it’s intrinsic to remember that our educational practices should always prioritize the children’s innate curiosity and desire to learn through personal experience. Ultimately, the goal is to create not just learners, but explorers of the world around them.
as I travel and meet with Early Childhood Educators whenever I mention the name Bev boss a light goes on she's
a legend and an inspiration and it's wonderful to have her with us Bev you've been working with parents
and with children for almost 40 years let's begin by talking about parents what do they really want for their
I think we may have a whole generation of parents who actually miss their childhood so they don't understand I
have a good friend who says that um we are all under a spell we're under a spell of how we were raised and what our
parents did and a a spell isn't intellectual it just means it we come with that stuff some of it was really
good my parents did the very best job that they could with the knowledge that they had okay when we talk about Child
Development what are the basics people talk about reading and writing arithmetic being the basics those are
very complex processes and they have to be based on the basics you have to have the basics first then you can do what
people call the basics the number one basic for everybody on this planet is Wonder children are born with it you
have to protect the toddler from themselves they're so filled with wonder wanting to know everything on this
planet all it's it's here it's a thing that we have to keep alive that we don't I'm stunned when I travel and when I
watch people not to be curious about everything that there is I when I go we when we're in airports traveling I watch
kids just watch them they're fascinating to watch everything in the airport you watch a kid push a stroller you know we
watch kids you know ride on the Walking sidewalk um everything riding backwards on it wondering if they can go fast
enough to do that The Wonder of everything my two-year-old grandson every minute of the day he's looking for
the moon me he hasn't figured out that it's only a particular time of the day that he can see it yet but looking at
the moon he also calls a Mumu the is the rainbow he's always looking for the rainbow cuz he saw one once that Wonder
of everything and being given the time and the opportunity to do that then the second basic is Discovery everybody
needs to discover it on their own that's an environmental issue we need to establish environments where kids can do
the discovering on their own I have a wonderful story about a little girl in our school they invited me to their home
for dinner and it was a cold kind of wintry night for California and I went up there and I knocked on the door she
opened the door and as she said hello she saw her breath and her eyes got really really big and she shut the door
and then she opened it again and then she shut the door and then she opened it again see that Discovery those details
in everybody child's life discovering a grain of sand what wet sand can do water the flow the experiences have to be real
and they have to be authentic it can't be uh a video it has to be real so the second one is discovering everything on
your own you know I always think imagine trying to discover how to ride a bike on a video I mean you have to do it
yourself you know imagine the if your first experiences with with apple is the word in a book not seeing that long
thing that your grandmother could peel off Allin one not tasting it not smelling it not knowing it can be Juiced
imagine your first experience with orange if it was only a a word and we do that sometimes to children we show those
things on videos we do all sorts of things on videos they have um CD ROMs now of mixing Play-Doh well at our
school you know the discovery is that if you take flour and salt and water you can mix and mix and mix mix we start
with 100 lb of flour and 100 lb of salt and just pictures of water it can be soupy it can be runny a dad said to me
one day he's watching the kids mixing and mixing and mixing he said do you think they're ever going to get anything
that looks remotely like Play-Doh I said I don't know but I know they're not doing this any place else they've got to
see this solids turn to liquids the graininess and then adding color my favorite story about a little kid is the
little kid who walked in the door and he said to me be boss I need a head of lettuce and I didn't I didn't say why
would you need lettuce are you hungry I said what kind and he said it doesn't matter and he leaned against the door
jam and I turned to somebody in the uh school and I said run as quick as you can get up get ahead of lettuce they
brought the lettuce back and he's still standing there with this kind of frown on his face and he said okay I need a
bowl I got him a bowl then he said I need some milk I got him the milk he poured the milk over the lettuce and
then he said we needed some food coloring he needed a few other things and then he said I need a microwave I
said sure we have a microwave we took it put took it in there and I said for how long he said well I'll come with you so
we turned it on when it came out of there it had changed a lot you could kind of see through the lettuce he held
it up it was limp he squished it he looked at the milk he fiddled around with it for most of the morning then he
took a a plastic bag and he dumped it all in there and we sealed it shut that night his father called me he said beev
what is this I said that's what your kid wanted to know today it's what they want to know and if you have an environment
rich in materials if you're listening and somebody says they need milk or I need this you pay attention to the kid
because kids have that natural wanting to know the most important thing about that wanting to know to me it has to be
relevant to the child nobody else cared about the lettuce it wasn't the theme for the day it wasn't the curriculum for
the day but it's relevant to the child if it isn't natural relevant to the child and physical we forget about 99%
of what we just learned and so that I pay attention to that and after 37 years of doing this it becomes easier and
easier and easier you know one of the questions that people ask they ask about discipline and certainly there's going
whoa the thing is in a an environment rich and what kids need to do there aren't those issues when you look around
your school what are the most important things you look for it's experience experiences to attach words to and your
own experiences to attach words to you know experience is not the best teacher it's the only teacher you know you I
always think too as you get older you take a you take driving lessons and you have you have to take so many before you
can um drive you also take the written test and oh oh boy you get the you get to drive a car and then you get out on
the road and you know what's real what's real You' probably ding a fender you probably do this you aim the car for the
first couple months and then you get a sense of what is real about real you have a couple close calls so it's
experiences to attach words to what we have to make sure of is that the experience is appropriate for the age
natural implies at least to me being outside but all of us including children are spending a lot less time
outside why do you think that is I think people I've forgotten what's natural it's the water the sand the dirt the
mixing the stuff that my mother did the only thing that I had as a child because my parents were poor and they had eight
children those were the things that we had to play with and our mother expected us to make our own way we had loose
Parts um wood pieces of wood stumps rocks um we hauled things around we built things we argued we fought my
mother locked the door people always ask me not to share that but that's what she did I mean she didn't want us in the
house and if you said U I'm bored she say I find something for you to do and that was the last time you said that in
your entire life you never were bored again you made your own way you had the experiences well with the Advent of
child care and it's important I mean a lot of both parents and a lot of families work outside the home we've
gotten further and further away from that we've gotten to Plastics um you know kids need to make their own dolls
they need to make their own things they need loose Parts pipes and and again rocks and stones water things to
manipulate um blocks all math concepts are worked out in blocks and then we we got to the place where we're doing
things like this you can only build knee high well it's no fun to do it it's no fun to do that children children want to
challenge all the time so what's real what's authentic and the other thing that I think is so infinitely important
about young children what we have to understand about them is that when they they're young learning is like this they
have to use too much it has to be way out there too much paint before they can narrow it down and paint a picture they
have to have too much paint too much shaving cream too much of everything things have to run over the glass has to
run over a few times before they get the idea that oh you know some places Mark the glass so that the juice only goes so
high what kind of fun would that be being in nature means being outside and often times being outside doesn't feel
safe it might not be safe how do we deal with this feeling of not being safe we have become more and more afraid of
being outside it's feels safer in our houses it feels safer within um uh to have Gates on the front you don't make
places safer and really good for children by staying inside we make places better by being in the community
by being out in the community knowing our neighbors connecting with them you know I see in this place parents coming
the things that's happened is both parents working outside the home the women aren't hanging over the fence
talking hanging up clothes doing the kinds of things that they need to do um so there is this this lack of connection
of deep knowing a a one a person told me a wonderful story about um two people that live next door to each other
probably the 50s and 60s and they hooked a TV tray over two fences and every morning they take their coffee out there
and sit and talk those times are gone we have to figure out ways for people to connect to maintain a community to
understand um people next door there were people who lived next door to me as a kid that were characters they were
different they were grumpy they probably would have reminded you of Mr Wilson's person in Dennis Menace but we knew
those people we connected them we're not making the world safer for children by staying inside and certainly when it
comes to the brain and environments we're not making it better by keeping kids inside what do you think's missing
today in early childhood education one of the things we need to put back into education is intimacy I tell my parents
at the first parent meeting I want you to know this if anything happens anything goes wrong I will lay down my
life for you and I would lay down my life for your child I will do anything in the world to help you understand your
child one of the things I won't do is anything inappropriate but I think that that's
one of the things that I do well with parents I'm not afraid to cry with them to hold them um the the parent meetings
are intimate and they are personal and I um I put 150% of my energy into it I have to tell you a really interesting
story I just saw a mother in a grocery store and she said Bev I wanted to come and talk to to you but I I knew I would
start to cry so I just thought I'll just wait a little while she said my mom just died she said I knew how to be with my
mother because you shared at a parent meeting how you were with your sister I knew how to be with my child my children
because you talked about that she said my little girl my mother died she said we were such a close family my mother
was young and she said um my daughter cried for a few minutes and then she said what about my birthday her birthday
was the next day she said I knew because of you the children are entric and that she of course was still alive and
concerned about her birthday so I think one of the things that I put into the meetings is heart I never forget that
that comes first with these parents how much they care about their children that they would lay down their life for their
child um so I try to pay really really close attention to that sometimes you know you don't and you wish you had and
at at the same time when parents come to the meeting and there's these discussions and there's this talking and
there's they know how deeply and passionately I care about them and their families then what you see is you see
families connecting do you remember what deev said and what about that and oh yeah and then what they do too is
they'll come in the next day and say beev explain one more thing to me so little by little by little you build
those connections those deep deep feelings about children okay parent meetings are important what else you
know one of the loveliest things in this place is the um multi-age Factor we have kids 2 years nine months and we often
keep them in the same place until they're five or six and what parents can see is they can see their kid at 2 years
nine months doing what's normal but they can also see a kid a little bit older doing something different and the parent
says Ah you know my kid used to be just like that yeah that's normal that's what kids do I take every opportunity that I
can I I spend you know 90% of my time with kids but I always take the opportunity to mention to a parent did
you hear what he said did you see that come here look at this watch this do you see him doing that this is what's going
on here and I think that that's probably our greatest strength you can't always do that but you you keep doing that and
doing that and doing that and pretty soon we have parents who understand and parents who go home and say to their