We have a young man within our 4 year old group who appears to have a real love for cooking. When outside, he is generally found concocting up a storm in the sandpit or mudpie kitchen. He loves to sing when he is cooking, loudly, and with exaggerated gestures! Somewhat like he is performing in an Italian Opera! But don’t be mistaken here, he is not of Italian decent!
‘Quietly’, between staff, we call him our little master chef.
But these observations, and staff comments have got me thinking. At what point do we recognize this as an apparent passion or predisposition in a child or as a passing interest? And if we, as adults draw too much attention to this, such as openly refering to him as a master chef amongst his peers and within the community, do we begin to define him by this interest and possibly narrow down his options. Words can be so powerful. A child gaining recognition for a behaviour may be encouraged to continue this behaviour long after the interest has infact fizzled out. By that I mean, they may continue with this behaviour purely for the feel good vibe the external acknowledgment brings.
Similiarly, we have a young lady who appears to have a passion for music, singing and dance. She does show an amazing understanding of beat and rhythm. She is often spotted creating her own rhythmic patterns with our drums. Conversations with her parents suggest that they have also noticed this at home.
So here is my dilemma again, could comments from adults begin to define this child?
Can such observations result in the ‘pushy parents’ syndrome? In this instance, I truly doubt it, but I can see how it could happen.
For me, I guess what I try to do is ‘quietly’ and ‘subtly’ provide opportunities within the environment for these children to expand on their interests if they feel compelled to do so. I believe there interest must be inwardly derived and driven and not determined by the power of adult words.
I think it is so important for us to reflect daily on everything we say and everything we do in our work with children.
I think you're spot on here Karen. We need to nurture their interests with LOTS of opportunities to expand on them while still exposing them to many new experiences.
Donna 🙂 🙂
Rather than labelling the behaviour, the best thing we can do as educators is to inform the parents of sustained interests like this so they can follow up if they choose. The ‘masterchef’ might enjoy cooking at home with real ingredients; the child who sings and dances may enjoy an early childhood music class.
It’s great when a child displays their interests so clearly for us, but I totally agree that nailing their feet to the floor around that interest by giving them a label is completely counter-productive.