Eclipse chasers traveled to find quality view spots for today’s solar eclipse. Our Sun, compared to average stars, is “young!” While this total eclipse lasts 4 minutes (plus seconds) on one day, what about young children who are eclipsed daily in their families and education?
April 6th -12th is Week of the Young Child, a National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) event, first celebrated in 1971. It is critical to acknowledge early childhood (birth-age 8) as foundational for each child’s sunny opportunities going forward. Young children lacking positive role models during their earliest years may encounter impeded progress in schooling and overall wellbeing. NAEYC shines a spotlight on quality classrooms, strong child advocacy and positive family dynamics.
With an educational focus on kids’ early years, what about all of us getting jazzed about activities for tots and tomorrow’s teens?
- Make a dancing playlist for Music Monday. Create a new dance. Dance with joy!
- Consider a new family dinner on Tasty Tuesday. Try new recipes with kids. Cooking is more fun with kitchen company.
- Work Together Wednesday has a collaborative goal for adults to contact elected leaders to express the need to invest in quality early childhood education.
- Use creativity in art/craft activities on Artsy Thursday.
- Plan to use #WOYC24 resources for Family Friday.(https://www.naeyc.org/events/woyc/overview)
My 30+ year book club meets today to discuss family and peer dynamics of two inner city youth who grew up in Baltimore with the same name – Wes Moore (The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates). One Wes became Governor of Maryland. Enroute to political leadership, Moore was a Rhodes Scholar, a successful entrepreneur in delivering education technology supporting college students, and an executive director of Robin Hood Foundation, a nonprofit fighting poverty in New York City. Much loved by his mother, his father died of an acute illness when Wes was only 3 years old.
The other Wes Moore also missed his father (due to alcoholism). Again, there was a loving mother, but she struggled when Pell Grant funding for her college education was not extended. This Wes was eclipsed by an older brother who became a drug dealer. Wes struggled to find an identity of his own. He made a fatal mistake of following his brother to a jewelry store robbery. Wes became incarcerated with a life sentence as his brother killed the police officer (a father of 5) who worked as a security guard at the jewelry store.
Navajo (Dine’) tradition casts the Sun as a father figure. When fathers are missing or overshadowed by their own issues, children require not just a village but a whole country traveling with them. Quality education and caretaking of our precious youth must become a nation-wide priority. How many more individuals might shine brightly if provided with a positive environment and quality education possibilities?
Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz
279. What family dynamics made a significant difference in your early years?
280. How might excellent educational systems become possibilities for all?
Pearls of Peace: A Family Psychologist’s Circle-of-Life Blog 