When my mother (born 1931) graduated from high school, they offered her a teaching job right away--in the same school system she had just left. Rebel that she was, she went to college (a fact which has always made me proud). How times have changed!
Today, children are expected to learn more earlier (and their teachers are expected to teach it). I learned to tie my shoes in first grade--my son will need to know how to do it before he gets to kindergarten. Meanwhile, algebra has crept slowly from being a high school requirement to hitting desks somewhere around the end of grade school.
Kids are capable of more, and I certainly wouldn't want to dumb down the school system, but let's not forget that children aren't maturing emotionally any faster today. They are certainly exposed to more grown up ideas through television and the internet, but deep down, kids are kids.
Of course, that's where a good children's museum comes in (like Oneonta World of Learning will be): they provide a safe place for kids to be kids. A place to play! Play has been linked to foundational skills such as memory, self control, language, and more. Without an agenda or schedule, children can think for themselves--what an important skill to master!
I hope I've made my case: that children's museums provide a place for kids to just be kids in a world that wants them to be everything but.
Many thanks to the Association of Children's Museums, which expresses that children's museums not only battle the 'compression of childhood,' but also help combat scarce family time, a lost sense of community, and diminishing community resources--more on those later!
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