Baby Einstein? More Like Baby Frankenstein.

I admit the title is a bit abrasive. Justifiably, I speak as a former perpetrator of the Baby Einstein video phenomenon, so my attitude is moderately excusable. So, excuse me, but I have a few things to say about Baby Einstein videos.

To begin with, during year one of my son's life, my wife and I had a ridiculous amount of responsibility. We just had our beautiful baby boy, and my wife returned to work part-time shortly after he was born. We spent the bulk of our time trading off parenting duties while maintaining professional and school routines. She would see clients while I watched my son, then my wife would take my place as I performed the myriad tasks I had to accomplish in my last year of graduate school. We found that we had a limited amount of time to simply be in the same company without also having our progeny deservedly insisting on our undivided attention.

Here is where Baby Einstein and his cronies: Baby Van Gogh, Baby Mozart, etc., came in quite nicely. We allowed ourselves no more than an hour a day to allow our little baby to fixate on our computer monitor to watch little objects dance and wiggle around to the tune of some of history's greatest compositions. All the while, we basked in the few moments we had to share a conversation over breakfast or relax together with some tea. With this in mind, I loved Baby Einstein videos. Yet the song begins to carry a different tune when considering what the content of these videos actually produces.

The premise of the Baby Einstein collection is to animate the brain of a child through moving toys, rapid scene changes, and dazzling colors. The content supposedly activates the neurochemistry to stimulate learning. In theory it is effective. However, the content of these videos ventures into the field of hyper-stimulation, where the brain simply overloads and becomes flooded with activity until learning becomes secondary, non-existent, or even regressive. This can be disastrous to a baby who is continually bombarded with video babysitters. Their neurochemistry is roused constantly, and the ability to sustain their attention becomes more challenging in reality.

A Time article in 2007 was quite critical of Baby Einstein, even going as far as to claim, "researchers find that these products may be doing more harm than good. And they may actually delay language development in toddlers." (article information is included below). In the article, Dr. Vic Strasburger, professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, explains further:

"Babies require face-to-face interaction to learn...watching probably interferes with the crucial wiring being laid down in their brains during early development."

As media proliferates attention-seeking materials as the main source of educating children, so goes the interaction between child and adult, which has continually been proven to produce the most effective comprehensive education. With the videos, "(children's) minds come to expect a high level of stimulation, and view that as normal," says Christakis, "and by comparison, reality is boring."

In 1999, The American Academy of Pediatrics went as far as to recommend that children under two should avoid watching any television. While this is a noble recommendation, it is rather unrealistic in the 21st century and was quite impractical even for the author of this blog, who remains constructively passive about allowing our son a little bit of television time per day. We have even developed a modest collection of videos for him to watch. Not surprisingly, because we offer him a lot of other options and educational materials, he naturally loses interest in the videos after less than an hour.

Taking a humble look at what media giants like the Baby Einstein Company have done in the learning industry, I can admit that these videos can have their place in family's homes. But, I speak ever-so-boldly that they will not produce the educational benefit that the company purports to accomplish. Nor do they support neurological development in any facet. So, to quote the old warning label often used to protect children: "use this product with caution!"

**Time article can be found at: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1650352,00.html.**

Your Baby Can Read! But Does it Matter?

There is a discrepancy between what is being offered by trendy childhood learning tools, and what has been postulated as the most research-based, comprehensive theories of educating children. The first time I heard about "Your Baby Can Read," I was in fact, riveted that there could be a solid basis for the effectiveness of such a tool. I thought about how some of the greatest minds history has ever known started performing some talent or aptitude at a very young age. I also recalled how I have heard over and over again that the best time to learn something is when the brain is most ripe to do so. On the flip-side, I was also cynical as I pondered how my own 2-year old can not read, nor has ever shown a strong interest in learning how to at this point, though we spend ample time reading with him. Am I a bad father for not exposing him to this tool? Is he doomed to mediocrity? There may have been a smidgeon of jealousy that the kids on the videos may actually be smarter than my perceptive son. These thoughts led me to start to sort through the basis of why this program was developed. And secondly does it really matter all that much that children can read at 2?

I can fully comprehend how in a world of performance and child idolatry (as in - making icons out of any performing child), that industry leaders would be seeking to develop cutting edge programs to peek the performance of children whose parents are willing to invest in any way to give their child a leg up. On a personal aside, I am tempted almost every day to find some niche where my son could eventually compete against others at a high level. It is definitely the uglier side of parenting as we teeter on the balance beam of giving our children abundant opportunities to succeed, while not making their talents the objects of our own affection and pride. I don't know many parents that would ever deny this valid temptation. What we need to recognize by this vice of sorts, is that we are prone to allow any opportunity to invest in a program or tool that will give our child what appears to be an edge on others their age. It is obviously okay to a point, but if it is not in the best interest of our children, than we are undoubtedly teetering off the beam.

The tool is ultimately just stimulating the brain to process information at a rate that is far more suitable to its capacities. This is very defensible with research and common sense. What I am concerned about is the notion that through a language development theory, we are purporting that all children should be able to operate under a scientific modem of performance. (With only a couple of years in the educational field, I hesitate to offer my opinion on why this tool is ultimately ill-advised, but this is my blog, so read on for my unstable opinion). I want to see successful children as much as anyone. I love watching children learn and to increase in their knowledge and insight of the world around them. What scares me when it comes to educating children is both the attitude of productivity, as well as an insecure pursuit of competition. Life success and the overall health of individuals in our society has never boiled down to the ability to perform at a genius level. There are way too many geniuses and successful persons that are imploding emotionally, socially, and most importantly, spiritually. I do understand the desire to purchase programs such as "Your Baby Can Read," if met with the right balance of support of the child's well-being and developmentally appropriate learning styles. Otherwise, I believe that what manifests far too often with these scenarios is a failure to meet children's greatest needs of compassionate attachment to adult figures, and a sense of esteem not based upon a specific talent. My greatest hope is that parents and educators do not get caught up in a frenzy of "geniusitis," but rather realize that the most important, formative characteristics of a person, including a child, are their ability to build positive relationships, have self-control, and to ultimately be the person God has designed them to be.

So are we really selling all of our children short, or do we surmise and come to terms with the fact that the majority of children are not exactly meant to comprehend several languages? Many children indeed have numerous other gifts germane to their personality that are just as effective for producing individuality and the betterment of others. Who truly benefits from a child being able to read at 2? Is it the parents who show them off? Is it the child who gets to be on a few youtube videos or their own website (see "Oscar Wrigley" or "Elise Tan Roberts")? Is it a company that spawns an enterprise based upon a few genuinely gifted children that retain information at a faster rate than even the majority of the adult population? As I conclude, I do not think that this is a bad or ineffective tool. I do however think that the tool is not as developmentally and comprehensively appropriate as the inventors may think.

The Ultimate Consequence of One's Worldview Upon Educating Our Children (Part 1)

I was prompted recently to re-think the paradigm of what it means to function from a worldview when it comes to both roles as a parent and as an educator of children. A response to one of my previous blogs questioned the place of God in being a teacher. It posed a very important thought that undoubtedly needs significant consideration in order for me to be able to defend the place of my beliefs in my profession and as a parent. After all, is this not a primary concern of our nations educational plight. Typically, what we are seeing in our culture are either groups of people opposed to God in education, a lot of staunch conservatives who see God as being a vital asset to the school system, and those in-between who can be shaken either way. So, this is definitely not a newly considered topic. But, obviously one that has divided millions of people.

So, why not have a blog addressing it, as many others have? That is what I shall do! Hopefully I can at least shed some light on what it means operatively to have a worldview (which we all do), in the educational system. At first I need to hash out what the concept of a "worldview" means. Gary Palmer, a cultural linguistic professional said a worldview is: "the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing themes, emotions, and ethics." (***source available upon request***). Minus the wordiness, a worldview has an exhaustive impact upon all of our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and ultimately our actions. Though we don't always respond specific to our worldview, the end result and our views of ourselves and others will eventually shape into our worldview. We often deviate to religion when entertaining this concept. The idea of religion is a misnomer of sorts as it does not complete the picture of a worldview. Instead, it is a piece of what the worldview encompasses. Some religions are more heavily weighted in terms of worldview than others, but as a means of qualifying, religious beliefs in and of itself do not denote the entire portrait.

With a fairly general conception of worldview established, I have a practical example. A recent study done with a group of therapists and their clients upon receiving treatment, revealed that the therapists idea of success was typically not connected to the clients concept of personal growth. Instead, what typically indicated client success in the therapist's eyes revealed that it was highly attuned to the therapist's concept of what dictates the ideal life and/or a chosen theory of treatment, and the subsequent tenets of that theory. This said, if you were a therapist who concentrated primarily on helping a client change his/her behaviors (smoking, drinking, etc.) because you believed this to be his/her main deterrent toward a good life, and the client was able to change the behavior, then you would presume you were successful. However, when that client was asked shortly after therapy sessions, if behavior change was what they deemed success, the client revealed he/she was hoping for something entirely different, or maybe more comprehensive. The point of this study was to show that as professionals we have a way of introducing our own beliefs into what we do and how we perform, whether it is conducive to the good of others or not. I would say that the norm is that therapeutic impact is beneficial toward clients, but at times it has this adverse impact upon others where the therapist has sometimes subconsciously pushed a client into a specific definition of success based upon the therapist's own beliefs. Those beliefs may be entirely ineffective when it comes to a person's positive growth! We have missed the point, if we believe that therapy is the only vocation that would be impacted by our beliefs. Is our attitude toward people, success, ethics, etc. not integrated into our business practices, political agendas, and professional pursuits?

I believe this is entirely relevant to the field of education as well, because a I said before, we all have a worldview. Would it not have an ensuing impact on the manner in which we teach or educate as parents?

To take a fairly common view of life... If I believed that at the core humans are always good no matter what they choose, this would influence my approach to educating children. I would undoubtedly excuse negative-type behaviors toward others as being a reflection of a misplaced anxiety. And that eventually behavioral concerns would iron themselves out. Or, another view could be that I have concluded that environmental factors are always to blame for children's issues. If problems arose with a child, I would automatically look to parents, myself, or some broken-down system of influence as being the sole culprit. The child has no autonomy to make good decisions, instead I encourage the child to deflect from the influence and ultimately pressure that child into an opposing position toward those that have caused the harm.

While most worldviews don't pan out precisely this way, we can see how our attitudes can, and I believe always will, be manifested in our interactions with others, including children. This blog seeks to introduce the notion that we must always consider our beliefs about life in general as we are raising, parenting, and teaching children. The impact that our worldview has upon a child shapes so much of that child's approach to life and ultimately their development in either a positive or negative way. There is no in-between when it comes to interactions with children, everything they experience is either encouraging or discouraging to them. If we genuinely believe that children are worthy to receive love, guidance, and direction, because they, at the core are precious creations, then these beliefs will be exhibited in one way or another and the children themselves will reap the benefits of having people in their lives that view them as being worthwhile investments of time and energy. We could have any number of views about humanity as a whole and the effect would work itself into our presentation of educational material. We have only to consider our own experiences with teachers, our parents, and other influential figures, and to evaluate how they look at the whole of life, to see how they have impacted us positively or negatively with their beliefs.

Part 2 will lay out some more specificied and practical ways that we can maintain a worldview that will carry with it the most positive and formative application for educating and raising children.

Champions of One

The basis for this piece entitled: "Champions of One," is an assertion that hits very near to my own personal journey. It unfolds like this... I am pretty tired of feeling like I don't have an area of expertise. My personality is one that is too captivated by the idea of being okay at a number of things: athletics, intelligence, relationships, artistry. The ironic thing about this blog is that it flies in the face of my defense of the comprehensive childhood education. It does not contradict however, rather this blog really seeks to take the comprehensive outlook on the early childhood experience and allow it to foster a stronger sense of personal identity, hopefully leading to a more well-rounded perspective on one's ideal vocational lifestyle, including mine.

It appears to me that we are seeing a motivation in our culture for individuals to assert one or two specific talents or skills and to develop a lifestyle out of that. This could be the result of the financial meltdown that half of the world is experiencing. Or it could be because the newest generations in the working force are tiring of being blended into an enterprise at the expense of their true gifts. Some may disagree, but what I am seeing in our culture is a reassessment of how individuals can exit the antiquated rat race, and become more innovative. I know I am feeling this myself, as I have been making a living as a teacher and feeling the crunch to provide more for my family. So, what did I do? The juices started flowing, and through some significant efforts, I have nailed a part-time writing gig with an online network, am valeting to bring in some extra cash, and have begun the process of starting my counseling practice. I have seen a number of people reaching deeply into their capacities, fostering under-developed skills and talents, and subsequently have been led to a better understanding of their "calling."

I think this attitude of developing an area of expertise has far-reaching implications to the early childhood experience. Like I said previously, I am a huge advocate of the holistic education. This encompasses: spiritual development - leading into; physical, emotional, relational, and intellectual development. I believe that the most effective learning experience for a child is generated through a thorough and multi-faceted frame of reference. Addressing all of the aforementioned domains in a meaningful way precipitates further educational excellency. It is from this foundation, that I urge readers to help their children, or even themselves, find their niche.

I have applied this notion to raising my son, as I have already, at the age of 2, seen glimpses of what he is interested in, captivated by, and solicited more information about. I do not believe that I am getting ahead of myself with his idiosyncrasies, instead I believe that I am witnessing his unique nature unfolding piece by piece before my very eyes. And the more I pay attention to it, the more I can offer him guidance and support toward what he is truly called to do in his lifetime. I can obviously infect my own ideas into this, but if I am keeping an open mind as his interests surface, I can offer him the underpinnings with which he can eventually flourish. Children need an environment where they can learn to explore their own personal interests, rather than simply fulfilling the expectations of those around them. As they do explore, there is an unconscious construct of independent investigation that manifests, leaving the child to survey their own interests.

Myself, my son, and every other person I have ever come into contact with are not good at everything. We all have a unique skill set, sometimes similar, yet mostly singular (hopefully these skill sets are functioning for the betterment of the whole). The importance of an education starting at the earliest stage possible sets in motion an attitude within the child that their talents can have a special place in the grand orchestra of mankind. That they can contribute to the betterment of society through initiative and wisdom. As a child pursues their one (maybe two or three) areas of expertise, they can have the ultimate assurance that they are fulfilling their God-given purpose.

The Genesis of Formative Early Childhood Education

The title of this blog: "The Genesis of Formative Early Childhood Education," asserts the premise, that the sooner we get started injecting our children with a sense of personal identity and initiative, typically the less ominous the process of asserting their gifts and talents becomes later in life.

Have you ever taken a personality profile? Oh really? Think again. Included in this list of potential personality profiles that you have taken is the more scholarly; Myers-Briggs, Strengthfinders, Servants By Design, etc. In addition to these, are the, well... less scholarly magazine inventories, online assessments, facebook profiles, etc. So, now that we have established that almost everyone has completed, or has been curious enough to peruse a personality profile, let's consider what it would be like if by high school, we had a pretty strong idea of not only who we were, but had the inspiration to pursue our calling in life.

I have written in previous blogs that the 0-5 year old range of a child's life offers them the most opportune experiences for formative learning. The reason is that because our intrinsic motivation is at its prime response level. It is at this earliest stage that parents have the utmost responsibility to instill an internal model of functioning, where behavior expectations are rooted in an adequate assessment of personality, purposed in solid character development, and instilled with the greatest volume of truth. As we consider the early stages of the childhood experience, we typically gravitate one way or another as far as the impact of our parental influence. We either tarry toward complacency as we consider schooling to be the primary educational environment for children, and so we wait to foster our child's comprehension until they are five or six, and the "real" teachers take over. The opposite extreme is to believe that we are the end-all for our children, and if we don't prepare them prior to school, all of our work will be overthrown by under-performing school systems and inadequate teachers.

Dare I say that our calling to educate our children in the earliest years is of more importance than we could have ever known, and yet we need to fall in between the previously mentioned extremes. What we have come to realize in the Early Childhood and Child Therapy professions is that the success of children in their school careers is highly indicative of the attitude and success that they evoke coming into the school system at the very beginning. The field of educational research is showing this as the number of high school dropouts, the lack of success in many schools across the nation, and the overall lack of motivation that most students have has been tracked back to their comprehension at the pre-school level. This is why we must get a handle on the importance of early educational exposure and the value of the intrinsically-motivated child.

I believe the way we do this is through myriad strategies, but the most basic, as germane to the parental role, is to expose this information for what it is worth. There must be equal pressure and resources made available to parents and children of all socioeconomic backgrounds. We can not dumb down the truth of the matter, but rather, we must have systems of success that embrace the comprehensive education, exposing children to all sorts of meaningful learning experiences. Children need to have opportunities to explore and navigate their world with purposeful direction and discipline. We must understand the child's mind at appropriate developmental levels and enter their world at their level, while maintaining the influential role of disciple and educator. Most importantly, the Genesis of formative early childhood education begins with a paradigm shift of first, realizing that it is the all-important opportunity for children to experience a purposeful beginning that leads to a higher-quality end.

Getting to Know Your Kids (Part 2)

This is the continuation of part 1. Wow, really? Part 2 is the continuation of part 1?... Sorry, please excuse my private conversation making fun of myself. With that out of the way, part 2 begins by addressing some of the major contributors to learning a child's more dominant personality and character traits. The gamut is ominous, so I will stick more closely to what is most applicable to the daily interactions we have with our children. Part 2 will contain the first important tenet of getting to know our kids. Successive parts will introduce additional ideas.

One of the key elements of getting to know our kids may seem obvious, but to many of us it is a difficult task for myriad reasons. This first element involves working to understand and collaborate with our kids in what areas they are gifted. There is a natural propensity in each of us to gravitate toward certain interest areas. I know I can't do a lot of things very well (art, music, drama, science, mathematics, etc.) that other professionals can do quite well. We would be bordering on naivete to proclaim that these areas of expertise can not begin as early as conception. There is too much concurrent evidence that is indicating that children's giftings and skill sets develop at the earliest stages possible.

There is a lot to glean from what the industrial age did to the majority of humanity. There is a lot to forget as well. (I pick on the industrial era, but this has happened throughout history). One of the items that we need to forget is the theory that people can be managed into compliance to do whatever those in leadership can get them to do, and perform it at maximum efficiency. Many of us thwart our greatest benefit to ourselves and to our society by foregoing our innate talents and abilities because we are taught to simply comply. Contemporary studies of employee satisfaction have indicated that the majority of employees are currently dissatisfied with their work experience. One of the top reasons is because they do not get to perform the duties they are most equipped (and gifted) to perform.

The attitude of employee compliance has inextricably tarried into the parenting philosophies of many homes. This attitude conveys that if we simply tell our kids what to do, they will be managed enough to simply follow our directions. There is no freedom to explore, no interest areas that are fostered effectively, and little room for learning from mistakes. Of course the opposite, liberal-minded attitude; that if we just let kids be they will find their way, poses an equal threat to the health of children. With everything, there is of course an advantageous balance that must be sought.

The ideal of fostering children's talents usually starts to become blurry right at the earliest stages in our development. Our greatest contributions to society are often obscured by our response to the environment we grew up in, our vices as individuals, and by the way in which we are either encouraged or discouraged by our parents/guardians to do what God has ingrained in us to do. Because we as parents play such a vital role in nurturing our children's best assets, it is important we recognize our tendencies in order to effectively reproduce a clear picture of what is best for our kids.

The most effective way that I reflect on to learn our children's talents, is to watch them work. The world of child-centered therapy has introduced us to the notion (or reminded us) that children communicate their experiences, feelings, and social intricacies through the way they play. Breaking this down is outside the scope of this blog, but we can deduce it down to the fact that kids don't have the language or thought-processing to be able to express everything they feel or experience. They have to manifest this, just like we all do, through some medium of communication. Children can indicate a multitude of emotions and thoughts about their perception of life by having opportunities to interact (play) with the world around them. As they develop language skills and more social maturity, it becomes far more conspicuous to understand what they are experiencing.

We can also attain an understanding of what children are skilled to do through viewing them in their element of play. Some kids work best with other children; organizing, structuring, developing the best teams. Some kids are more individually geared; creating, meticulously exploring, initiating. The more we study the depths of child development, the more we are seeing that kids have propensities toward certain areas of expertise. It is a fascinating concept that must be handled gently, inspiringly, and with much discernment. But, the earlier we can gain insight into the inner workings of what our children desire to engage in, the more effective we can be in nurturing their talents, and subsequently the course of their development into adulthood. I want to be clear that I don't suspect anyone will be able to effectively interpret and dictate what a child will develop into simply by paying close attention to their play habits. There is more mystery to human nature than that. But what we can be certain of is that from infancy to adulthood we are always communicating, and an important piece of this communication is our individual talents. If something can be communicated, it can be worked on and supported more effectively. We learn this at our jobs and in our relationships as we hash out the best ways to work together. Because of this, I believe the world of early childhood development is convincingly becoming the most significant environment to reveal and foster our individual gifts.

Getting to know your kids (part 1)

Before I began this blog I decided to google, "getting to know your..." I found some pretty interesting hits, including, "getting to know your: students, lawn, computer," and actually one entitled, "getting to know your opticlik pen." Needless to say, there is a lot of stuff out there that we can access that will help us get to know our belongings, and everything else, a lot better.

I decided to title the blog, "Getting to know your kids," because I have long been intrigued by how children develop such unique skills, personalities, etc. In addition, I have a growing curiosity how soon these strengths and traits start to develop and how much or how little they tarry into adulthood.

The point of this blog is to reflect on how important it is to understand our children's tendencies before we have all of our parenting strategies set in stone. I have doubted for some time that every child should be raised the same way, with the same guidelines, boundaries, strategies, and expectations. Humanity contains extroverts vs. introverts; analyticals vs. globalized learners; technical minds vs. artistic minds; etc. I think that for many years we have been stuck in a one-track direction regarding the way that people (kids included) need to be directed and taught. We now live in a society where we can't simply give information and expect people to learn it. Rather, we have to be creative with the information, imaginative with our presentation of details, and adaptable to teach knowledge through multiple styles of learning. I know this seems like a forbidding task for educators and parents as we teach and raise our children in the way that best fits their learning style and personality. But, it is tenable that the more we invest in relationships with children and study their traits, the more efficient our translation of knowledge will be to them.

Let me give a personal reference regarding what I am alluding to with this concept:

I am a fairly analytical person who likes to function within a fairly elementary, systematic construct. I like for the rules and expectations to be laid out pretty obviously, and from there I can develop and grow. When I am micro-managed, checked on, inundated with rules, I tend to get too overwhelmed to progress. As I work with a simple, sensible set of guidelines, I begin to establish my own rules of engaging my knowledge and strengths. I begin to think introspectively about how I can add to the job based on being given the freedom to do so. If I am told exactly what to do with little basis for the expectation I become wearily unproductive. I will do my job of course, but it will be done within the limits of the rules. I think to some extent we all can feel this way from time to time regarding micromanagement. I think the way I learn and perform on the job is not exactly like everyone else. I believe there are many people who function most effectively and efficiently in a detailed system that offers a high set of expectations that they can work hard to achieve. There may be a large number of people who fit somewhere in between these sometimes conflicting learning/work environments.

As we consider what learning style we are or what ideology of management we prefer to work within, there must be a recognition that we are indeed unique. Let us then move to the idea of how to raise kids with a burgeoning knowledge of their uniqueness (since we have now hopefully accepted that we all work better under varying conditions). I believe that as we study our children, we gather insight into how they like to learn and grow. We can do the most good for our children as we raise them and teach them based upon their individual strengths.

Our children start to evoke personality from the womb. If you ask parents to reflect on what their child was like in the womb compared to how they are several years later, many parents will be able to have connected their child's current traits to the way they acted very early in life. There are numerous studies which defend the connection of neurological pathways and the retainment of information and experience back to the first DNA replication within a child. If personality traits and unique responses are developing this early in life, would we not do our best as parents to begin getting to know our kids even before they enter school and start manifesting difficulties with particular subjects, socializations, or physical detriments? Now I am not trying to be too scientific here. I believe in the notion of choosing a road when we have two or more to go down, but also believe that we are created with a propagating personality that dictates much of who we are.

With this in mind, I contend that as our children are growing and are experiencing life with us as parents, we have an obligation to get to know how they like to learn, to invest time into asking them more questions rather than laying claim to their personality, and to give at least a little rope for them to deviate away from where we had expected them to go. The parent that has developed systems of child-rearing that create a foundation from which to guide and direct, while maintaining a flexibility that allows for creativity and ingenuity, has done much to provide a meaningful and purposeful environment from which their child can flourish.

Part 2 of this blog will express practical ways to get to know your child's personality and how we can work with them in their development.

Our Children's Surroundings

The concept of surroundings has been on my mind a lot as of late. Let me explain... In the world of psychology (of which I spend a lot of my time), there is a sub-field that is called organizational psychology. In organizational psychology, nerdy adults (like myself I suppose) spend an obscene amount of time meditating on how companies can produce the greatest efficiency from their employees. This is everything from encouraging physical fitness programs, hiring company therapists, adding plants to the workspace, and changing the lighting to something more incandescent so employees can maintain production through weary times during the day. You get the idea, and believe you me, this works on our body's physiological and chemical system in unbelievable ways! Organizational psychology has revealed a number of successful transformations in companies across the globe. One example is Google, who offers one free day to their employees weekly to work on any product that they want without having any connection to a Google project (called - "20% time projects"). The results have been stunning as several programs have come from these self-initiated "work days," including "gmail." The point is, that sometimes we make minor changes in a workplace environment, and the effect can alter the productivity of the company in unexpected ways.

Well, with that introduction, I take us to the field of child development and the educational environment. Let me first start by saying that as a teacher I have had a front-row seat in seeing how simple environmental changes in a classroom can alter the entire mood and disposition of children. I have also invested some of my own time researching and rearranging my own classroom to encourage a more calm and soothing ambience. This might be getting slightly weird for some of you, but bear with me. In recent years, entire theories of classroom productivity have evolved from the research and experiences of students and teachers who have adhered to the practice of softening the muddle of the typical classroom in the U.S.

Without going into ominous detail about how this happens, I challenge the readers to take inventory of what your child's play space looks like at your home. Don't stop here... the next time you are in your child's classroom at school, take a look also. If we all take a serious look around, I bet we see that our children's spaces are inundated with bright colors, boxy structures, maybe disorganized, little representation of their own creations and work, etc. I know that the majority of the time when I step into a school classroom, I see much of what I just mentioned. At times it appears like a child factory where strict observation and compliance of teacher and school-directed guidelines are expected. I believe this to be highly indicative of what I mentioned above with the organizational psychology reference: maximum efficiency to maintain order.

Let me shake things up a bit by saying, these are outdated, militant, and non-creative techniques and standards by which to teach a young child. I challenge us to think outside the box as parents and teachers. Introduction of natural products, more subtle colors and patterns, real furniture, anything but flourescent lights (please!), less posters, and more artwork or creations from the children's hands themselves are pre-eminent ideas when helping young minds develop. I realize this just touches on a pretty in-depth and potentially paradigm-altering subject, but I will be delving into further detail in future blogs of how a more calming environment for children can produce ownership, creativity, and visionary results from our kids. I want to maintain a softness when hashing this out because I know many of us are not entirely on board with this idea of change and I totally understand that!

My wife and I have already started this at our house because we saw it as a simple, yet effective way of encouraging more child-centered ingenuity from our son. There is not much in his world to dictate what he should do and create, but rather, he has opportunity and materials to design his understanding and learning from his own senses and mind. We believe it has done a lot to encourage his inspiration and foster perceptiveness in his young life.

Organizational leadership lessons for the home

I have had multiple conversations recently regarding the concept of organizational leadership. I have had these conversations with my education coordinator, pastor, fellow patron in my church, and a good friend of mine from several years ago. As I have been developing my thoughts on this concept that is primarily associated with the business industry, I have most recently been flooded with thoughts about how the impression of organizational leadership can be made on the family system (You may be asking why doesn't this guy just go watch some television or something?).

Here are some of my thoughts...

I recently attended a leadership conference where the speakers were top-notch business executives, pastors, non-profit pioneers, economy experts, etc. One of the profound things that I remember from this summit was a comment by a business leader who said that the object of management in the corporate world is something from the 1850's. It was constructed to obtain maximum compliance for the most feasible reward. It is behavior reinforcement placed upon unperceptive employees. I began to assess whether this attitude has invaded the world of parenting. I could come to no other conclusion than, yes, undoubtedly so. I thought of the idea that so many Baby Boomers and earlier generations grew up in either a militant/authoritarian style environment, or dichotomously, very neglectful parents. As generations progress and information is no longer at a premium, more and more research is showing how the combination of attentive love and conscious discipline is the most effective style of parenting. Why was this such an enigma for so many generations? I believe the answer can be found in our cultural attitudes in many other areas in life, including the workplace.

I see the supportive attitude toward parenting drawing a significant connection to the way in which people become the most productive and satisfied with their job experiences. They want to have a purpose undergirding their work. And not just any purpose, but one that makes it worth coming to work every day. Also, the most productive employee is going to be one that feels somewhat of a connection to administration and higher-ups. They are going to share some type of bond, whether directly through empathetic conversation, or indirectly through a knowledge of administrators being positive role-models and advocates of a supportive work environment. This is indicative of what we see in homes where children have as many encouraging and positive people in their lives as possible. There is almost an invariable effect when kids are given opportunities to develop in purpose-driven, loving, and meaningful environments.

I believe it would do us all a lot of good to really delve deeply into the connection of how we were parented or are parenting, and how we approach our work environments. There will undoubtedly be some reciprocal benefit in both areas. The most effective/satisfied employees and (I believe) the most productive/satisfied children will be ones who are not managed through compliance, but rather are empowered through parenting that is based on harmonizing age-appropriate parenting strategies with notable amounts of love and encouragement.

The Holistic Child

No, not the "'Holy'stic" Child. If you were treading those waters, let your thoughts tarry now. What I mean by "holistic" is a fairly simple concept - it has to do with having a decent sense of balance with our perspectives on what is important when it comes to child-rearing. I know we have all encountered friends and family members or seen strangers who seem to put a somewhat unhealthy amount of pressure on their children to succeed in one particular area of life. This may be the child that is raised to be a sports machine, but has an insignificant amount of initiative in his/her studies. This could be the child that seems to relate well to other kids and is quite friendly, yet when asked to comply with parental requests, has little ability to control his/her emotions. You get the picture. What we fail to recognize so often as parents is that we all get out of balance when it comes to teaching and training our children in how to develop in a broad combination of domains.

In the education world, I seek to train children to be socially secure, emotionally regulated, physically adept, intellectually initiated, and spiritually acute. Because I focus so highly on the holistic education, I have learned to notice rather quickly when one of these areas is a major strength or if it is a major weakness. I stress the importance of the holistic education because for many years our school system has done a sufficient job teaching children the 35 different mathematical constructs (geometry, physics, algebra, trigonometry, etc.), but has insufficiently provided in depth training on building positive peer relationships, developing a solid sense of self-esteem/self-confidence, and has altogether compartmentalized spirituality into its own private sector. As parents, if we are desiring to do our best to guide children in the way they should go, it must include a serious look at the full spectrum of what God has created in our human nature. I believe this to be a great attribute to the parent who is seeking to engage their children in a lifelong process of learning and engagement with the world around us. I firmly believe that the holistic education is the most provocative and truth-revealing manner of teaching our children about life. It will open up their senses to initiate a lifestyle of curiosity, but maintain a healthy discernment about what is helpful and what is not. It will free their spirit to be untamed, but wise. And it will promote a bodily health that is invigorating, not debilitating.

Consider this avenue as we seek to learn the best and most effective ways to raise our children!

The forecast shows: People's personalities hardly depart from the 5-year old appraisal

Sorry for the lingering title, but I was trying to generate a creative headline from a heavily scientific idea. Science and witty composition can rarely be married to one another.

If you have a moment read this article regarding the predictability of personalities. The concept from this article will be the premise of this blog: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100806/sc_livescience/personalitysetforlifeby1stgradestudysuggests

I heard a few years back that contemporary science is showing more and more that our primary brain capacity is nearing completion by the age of 5. This is prior to entering school! If this is true, then the responsibility that parents have to educate their children and to expose them to as much learning material as possible before they even enter a classroom is momentous!?

Some may disagree that this could even be possible, but the more we learn about the brain through neurochemistry, the more we are realizing that this is undoubtedly true. Our brains are growing at exponentially higher rates and creating more neurological connections during the first 5 years of life than at any other time. While it is extremely difficult to go into much detail about how the processing of information and experience happens on the infant and toddler brain, there is much to be said about how parents can go about initiating the growth of a child's brain chemistry in more than just intellectual ways. The manner in which we process events, trauma, relationships, and information is hugely effected by the chemical memory bank we gleaned from our earliest experiences dating back to conception. I am absolutely opposed to the idea that we are strictly scientific in regards to human behavior, but if there is little or nothing to impose itself into the neurochemical patterns that have formed, our propensity will be to handle things at the extent our brain has been able to signal it.

This is why we (not me of course!) result to very primitive behaviors when we don't get our way or when we have relationship struggles, etc. Personally, I place the greatest of emphasis on my faith in Jesus Christ to have altered my chemical tendencies toward, in my opinion, immature or even sinful reactions to life experiences. It is undoubtedly a process, but I would not doubt that there would have to be not only spiritual changes but also biological (or chemical) ones being made along with that.

I would be highly curious to hear thoughts, especially from those who may not believe in the chemical nature of humanity, or are maybe just having difficulty accepting it to be true.

What is the meaning of this?

I have determined in my mind that the best way for me to communicate what I feel so passionate about is to begin a blog that says it. Profound huh?

I have dubbed this blog site, "The Interpretors." The Interpretors are parents (my intended audience is focused on fathers, but mothers and future parents are openly welcome), who have maybe struggled to sort through their role in a child's life. A number of issues can cause this. We can be inundated with a specific theory about parenting that has us entirely vacuumed into one ideal of father/motherhood. We can carry with us a number of presuppositions from our own experiences growing up. This either engages us to the "T" or we may determine to do the exact opposite of what our parents did with us. Each can be equally ineffective or effective depending on the quality. Another quandary when it comes to the role of parents, most specifically fathers, is that we have heard so much information about how to raise kids, but it rarely works out like we thought it would with our own children. Many more factors contribute to the confusion we all experience in our roles as parents, but we can be hopeful that help is on the way!

The Interpretors are therefore fathers who realize that we have an immense task ahead of us and need all the help we can get. We are dads who want to be the best we can be at what we are now responsible to do as fathers. We are intrigued by our mission, which is to convey purpose to our children and to teach them truth. We want to grasp every opportunity to give our children's lives meaningful opportunities to grow and to take every moment as a chance to teach them something new. We are fascinated with the concept of being a hero to our kids and desire to take chances to build a positive relationship with them that we may not have had with those who raised us. We are maybe uncertain about how to do all this, but are noble enough to admit that it can be done with some guidance, wisdom, and solid resources. Interpreting our children's experiences is how we help them learn what every event in their lives means, and how it can be effected from one context to another.

This site is devoted to conveying whatever information, resources, and insight I have into the fathering role. I am open to communicating other's advice as well!