The learning expectation for this component is: Uses language for a variety of purposes. The first performance indicator is: Tells familiar stories. Unless a child is lagging in language development, most children actually conquer this one by 4 years old. Children that have been read to frequently will conquer this one closer to 3 years old. Children that have hardly been read to will not conquer this performance indicator because they do not have a repertoire of familiar stories from which to pull. It is imperative that we read to children. That one activity touches so many different aspects of development. It cannot be overdone.
The next performance indicator is: Likes to make up stories; likes silly words and stories. Some children conquer this one before 4 years old and some do not. This one is also tied to how much a child has had an adult read to him/her. It is also linked heavily to the amount of imaginative play in which the child participates. We as childcare providers are seeing many children struggle with imaginative play because they are not getting the opportunity for free play as much as children used to get. Making up stories comes directly from the right brain and free play is vital for the development of the right brain. Also, a child's sense of humor develops at a pace with the child's language development. If the language development is lagging so will the sense of humor. I have activities in my childcare that directly build creative thinking skills. I call them creative writing activities because we make up stories together. This activity has greatly increased the children's imaginative play, which was lagging. All of these skills are so interrelated. Take away one and so many others are affected.
Next on our list is: Knows and tells names and sex of family members. Again, this performance indicator is conquered by most children by age 4. Unless a child has a very complicated family, which I have seen, this one does not present a problem. If a child does not have this one conquered by age 4 (unless a very complicated family situation does exist), I would definitely have that child tested for developmental delays.
The next performance indicator is: Engages in imaginary talk; plays both roles. In recent years I have seen fewer and fewer children able to really participate in imaginative play until they were nearly 5 years old. To be truthful, I have not seen very many 3 year olds able to carry on an imaginative conversation where they played both roles. A great deal of the time, I am teaching 3 and 4 year olds to actually play and not just dump and destroy. This level of imaginative play is beyond many of them. We have helicopter parented imaginative play right out the door. We, the adults, need to back off and let the children explore and play without us being all up in their business. It is called free play, people.
The last performance indicator on our list is: Asks many questions; wants to know how answers fit into her own thoughts and understanding. With the demise of the imaginative play has also come the decline of inquisitiveness. I really am not seeing 3 year olds ask a lot of questions. I am seeing 4 year olds ask questions, but not 3 year olds. These standards were created in the early 2000s. We have seen such a rapid decline in these types of skills in the decade following the creation of these standards that it is scary. What are we doing to our children? Actually what we are seeing is the results of second generation helicopter parenting. The parents of these children were helicopter parented and now we have nearly outlawed what I consider childhood. My childhood experience would probably send my parents to jail these days. I roamed for miles unsupervised until the streetlights came on for the night. I played on equipment that would have people arrested these days. I did things and had experiences so foreign to modern children, but we had imagination coming out of our ears. Something precious has been lost in our quest for the perfect childhood, and it is childhood.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
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