During COVID, the concern that the early childhood educators in my college courses raised most often was, how will these kiddos ever recover after missing this type of social experience at such a crucial developmental moment? One thing I've found reassuring over the years, that I've seen time and again in my work in early intervention and as an educator working with elementary, high school, and college students, is that missing an opportunity at a key developmental moment does NOT mean that that set of skills and knowledge is lost for good—it means acquiring the same skills and knowledge will take more time, more repetition/opportunities, and often more scaffolding, but will still be possible. Early childhood social/relational experiences are absolutely key; they definitely deserve more attention, and focusing this attention on neuro-inclusive social/emotional learning would be of huge benefit too; and also, kids are (in broad terms) stunningly resilient and have a high propensity for catching up, even if it takes longer and needs more support.
This was an interesting read - I have a few questions! Are the relationships here with adults, or with other children? Or both? How do we square children being 'more and more isolated' with the ever increasing amount of childcare that they go to? Is it the childcare that doesn't provide the relationships, or the family structures (which, as noted here, are getting smaller)? Or again, both?
Great insights here. I can’t but think of the importance of church family here, especially when it comes to cross-generational relationships. Of course people can sit in the pews and not talk to anyone else, but my kids have inevitably come to know “church grandmas” and grandpas :) from fellowship time, helping decorate at Christmas, writing them cards on birthdays and anniversaries, etc. I hadn’t thought about how important this is in terms of development, but—like many things that should happen organically—it’s been a good thing for all of us.
Thank you for raising this important topic and, at least to me, novel thought that children’s youngest relationships are so critical. Building on some other comments I’m reading here, yes, people can catch up from missing socialization. However, I believe it takes a very patient peer group to truly teach someone who is missing skills, and that becomes increasingly challenging to find as you age. I know one wonderful person who was very poorly socially developed who has made significant progress thanks to heaps of patience (and really direct instruction) from those around them. That experience has led me to believe that a lot of autism, because that’s what this person also seems to have, is a lack of early socialization (although I was thinking high school, not preschool). Any thoughts on possible connections to autism here?
The first thing that comes to mind with a focus on relationships is group ratios - I’m thinking of places like Idaho, that eliminated ratio regulations, or Maryland, that proposed raising ratios. Do we have research about how many young kids an adult can care for and still foster a relationship with the child and also facilitate healthy inter-child socialization? Just on instinct I tend to think states like Georgia that allow 1 adult to care for 6 infants isn’t being fair to the babies or the caregiver.
During COVID, the concern that the early childhood educators in my college courses raised most often was, how will these kiddos ever recover after missing this type of social experience at such a crucial developmental moment? One thing I've found reassuring over the years, that I've seen time and again in my work in early intervention and as an educator working with elementary, high school, and college students, is that missing an opportunity at a key developmental moment does NOT mean that that set of skills and knowledge is lost for good—it means acquiring the same skills and knowledge will take more time, more repetition/opportunities, and often more scaffolding, but will still be possible. Early childhood social/relational experiences are absolutely key; they definitely deserve more attention, and focusing this attention on neuro-inclusive social/emotional learning would be of huge benefit too; and also, kids are (in broad terms) stunningly resilient and have a high propensity for catching up, even if it takes longer and needs more support.
This was an interesting read - I have a few questions! Are the relationships here with adults, or with other children? Or both? How do we square children being 'more and more isolated' with the ever increasing amount of childcare that they go to? Is it the childcare that doesn't provide the relationships, or the family structures (which, as noted here, are getting smaller)? Or again, both?
Great insights here. I can’t but think of the importance of church family here, especially when it comes to cross-generational relationships. Of course people can sit in the pews and not talk to anyone else, but my kids have inevitably come to know “church grandmas” and grandpas :) from fellowship time, helping decorate at Christmas, writing them cards on birthdays and anniversaries, etc. I hadn’t thought about how important this is in terms of development, but—like many things that should happen organically—it’s been a good thing for all of us.
Thank you for raising this important topic and, at least to me, novel thought that children’s youngest relationships are so critical. Building on some other comments I’m reading here, yes, people can catch up from missing socialization. However, I believe it takes a very patient peer group to truly teach someone who is missing skills, and that becomes increasingly challenging to find as you age. I know one wonderful person who was very poorly socially developed who has made significant progress thanks to heaps of patience (and really direct instruction) from those around them. That experience has led me to believe that a lot of autism, because that’s what this person also seems to have, is a lack of early socialization (although I was thinking high school, not preschool). Any thoughts on possible connections to autism here?
The first thing that comes to mind with a focus on relationships is group ratios - I’m thinking of places like Idaho, that eliminated ratio regulations, or Maryland, that proposed raising ratios. Do we have research about how many young kids an adult can care for and still foster a relationship with the child and also facilitate healthy inter-child socialization? Just on instinct I tend to think states like Georgia that allow 1 adult to care for 6 infants isn’t being fair to the babies or the caregiver.