thoughts...

This morning I attended Barnverket's national meeting here in Stockholm, it was day two of the meeting, I missed yesterday due to being sick all week. Its always so interesting and inspiring to meet others who are passionate about providing children with the best possible for their development and learning: to see the whole child and not just parts of the child.

Sometimes I think that the school child is viewed as a "huvudfoting" as the Swedes call it - you know the drawings young children make of people when they are just heads with arms and legs - that there is too much focus on the child filling their heads with information and academia that the only body parts required are the legs to get them to school and their arms to write with.... the rest of the body seems to be just forgotten. The problem is if we view children like this we are missing a HUGE part of the child - we are not teaching the WHOLE child, we are not providing the best possible learning environment.

Anyway, it feels good to be sitting in a room focussed on the WHOLE child - and the phrase "A child's right to grazes" (that children have the right to explore and make mistakes which can include scraped knees and other minor injuries as part of their learning... to read more about this phrase "barnens rätt till skrubbsår" check out Gröna Sinnet's blog about Petter Åkerblom, design architect).

Barnverket is wanting to modify its platform... what does Barnverket want to say, how does Barnverket ensure that we as parents and teachers, and all others interested in the welfare of children, work together to create the best foundations for children to build upon...? And how to put that in to words...

Some really interesting discussions... about how words can be interpreted differently, how to capture the interest of parents etc to engage with Barnverket, and how Barnverket can work with the parents for the children.

My own thoughts included how often preschool, school and fritids (afterschool activity club/centre) is presented as the best option for the development of children, tending to forget that this is only a PART of a child's life. A child has a home and family that are of GREATER importance.
YES, it is essential that preschools etc are of high quality, BUT it is only a PART of a child's development. For young children especially the home is the most important place - otherwise I would not be called mummy (or sometimes daddy) quite as much as I am...
Sometimes I think we need to remember that it is the preschool that is a complement to the home and  not the home as a complement to the preschool... I get the inkling that there might just be be a shift in focus... that maybe preschool is getting too much attention and the importance of HOME and the value of family relationships is not getting the credit it should...
please say I am wrong...

Anyway, I was there just for the morning... I left at lunch and the others kept at it. (BIG applause) I want to be WITH the children at preschool this coming week after being at home with fever aches and pains for the last week so opted for a restf.  So these are the main thoughts... just thought I would share...