Making the Summer Months Count

By Judy Molland

Four-year-old Danny Henderson will be spending this summer taking classes at a local study skills center to get him ready for kindergarten. Loretta Munoz is sending her seventh-grade daughter to an SAT preparation course. And 7-year-old Josefina Tafur will be taking a computer class, to make sure she can keep up with her peers. While these all seem like important learning activities, is it possible that we've let the pendulum swing too far in this direction?

Social and Emotional Skills

For Betty Hamburg, M.D., a visiting professor at The Weill Medical College of Cornell University, the answer is a definitive "Yes!" Hamburg is emphatic that we need to make it a national priority for our young children to be socially and emotionally ready to learn, since these skills set the stage for their success later in life.

Many experts echo this concern, pointing out that in the last few years there has been an over-emphasis on the cognitive aspects of healthy development.

"Of course, it's important to spend time on math skills, and learning to read," says Dr. Peter Jensen, director of the Center for the Advancement of Children's Mental Health, at Columbia University in New York City. "But not at the expense of learning to play well in a group, or learning how to get along with others and take directions from adults. More and more studies recently have shown that children can't learn if the social and emotional skills are not in place."

And without the pressure of grades, an overcrowded schedule, and hours of homework to complete, what better time than the summer to work on those skills?

Get Outside and Play!

The outdoors is a perfect place to work on those socialization skills, says Eric Strickland, Ph.D, the founder and president of Grounds for Play, a full-service playground company. "Children usually have more control outside," Strickland explains "Supervision is a bit less strict, since as adults we tend to relax the rules and let children find out what works for them in social situations. They can be loud, more active both physically and verbally, and they can be more expressive in the outdoor environment."