However, don’t be confused between a source of inspiration and an actual curricular plan. I was working with a preschool director recently who told me that some of her staff use Pinterest as a means of developing their curriculum.  She said, for example,  that they find a picture of an art project and then recreate it in their classroom.  Well, I am all for sharing ideas and incorporating cool things into a program, however, taking a disconnected idea from a Pinterest Board because it is “cute” or “the kids will like it” is not how we develop meaningful curriculum.

This is in stark contrast to supporting children’s ideas by finding connected projects or activities that correspond to the interests of the children, the overall development of the group and the developmental appropriateness of the project or activity. If the children in your group are very excited about the newest children’s movie that is out (i.e., Frozen) and you want to further encourage this exploration via art and dress-ups, then by all means, look for inspiration on Pinterest. But use it as a starting point, a place to get going. You should still consider how this project or activity fits into your program, what learning might take place because of the children’s involvement, how you will know that the learning happened, and how you can further extend the play.  This is good curricular planning.

I, personally, am much more concerned about educators who either don’t understand development or refuse to acknowledge development as a central force in the lives of young children than I am when I encounter parents who have little to no understandings of development.  I am forced to remind myself that most parents have never studied human development in any way, shape, or form.  Should we expect parents to have realistic expectations of development when professionals often do not?

There are several things to remember.  First, parents may have nothing to compare their child to.  It is possible that their interactions with their child are the only interactions they have ever had with a small child.  It is hard for us, who work and think about young children all of the time, to remember how limited some people’s experiences are.  Second, human development is not taught as a required course in high school or college, so for many people, the concepts have never even been introduced even in the smallest ways.  Third, parents only want the best for their children and sometimes this might mean that they believe that pushing them will result in better outcomes. If reading is the ultimate goal, then why not expect children to work and work and work at reading until it happens?

Rather than giving in to parental pressure, it our job, and yes, our responsibility to educate parents about development.  Hot button topics like reading may be easier to explain with a less loaded topic like bike riding.  We don’t expect children to ride 2-wheeler bicycles when they are 2 or 3, right?  Everyone is perfectly happy to let their toddler or preschooler ride tricycles and Big Wheels for a good, long while before the training wheels are taken off.  Everyone would agree that it would be crazy to put a 2 year old on a 2-wheeler bike.  Why would we expect anything different cognitively or socially?  Children get ready to be 3 by being 2.  And they get ready to be 5 by being 4.  No amount of expecting 5-year-old skills and behaviors from 3 year olds, will result in faster or better outcomes.  This is a great fallacy and one we must combat if we want what is best for the children we serve.