I want to tell my children that they are smart all the time. Especially in the first few years of a child’s life, her rapid acquisition of skills and language feels nothing short of miraculous, even though it could not…
While on a business trip in Chicago last month, I accidentally slept for 12 hours. I fell asleep at 9:30 p.m. local time and didn’t set an alarm, because I figured there was no way I would sleep past 7:30…
Nature-based preschools are becoming increasingly popular. But what are they, and are they effective? When I picked up my son from preschool on a recent summer afternoon, his dirty fingers were stained pink from the raspberries he and his classmates…
The approach, stress and rigidity that often accompanies modern lesson plans may cause young children to feel frustrated or disengaged.
The U.S. can learn a big lesson from Finland’s education system: Instead of stress and standardized testing, schools should focus on well-being and joy. Wall Street Journal
At this point it seems the evidence is overwhelming—new studies seem to arrive on our desks each week that suggest simply spending time in green spaces can improve our health, both mentally and physically. As avid outdoors people, we instinctively…
When I published The Hurried Child in 1981, I was labeled a Pop psychologist and the book was not even reviewed iContemporary Psychology, the prestigious monthly book review journal of the American Psychological Association. Over the last decade or so…
It’s no secret that many people involved in education — teachers and administrators, parents, policymakers or employers — are looking for ways that schools can better help children develop as people and productive citizens in the American democratic experiment. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/12/20/educating-the-whole-child-isnt-just-jargon-heres-how-its-done/?utm_term=.5e1cf291b24c…
Kids who know how to deceive are smarter and better adjusted. Should parents be troubled when their kids start to deceive them? Odds are, most of us would say yes. We believe honesty is a moral imperative, and we try to…
It’s a brisk winter morning in New York City and a class of bubbly preschoolers have burst into Room 5 of the Brooklyn Heights Montessori School for a period of free play. Amid an explosion of drawing, coloring, and play-dough…