Reclaiming Childhood: Letting Children Be Children in Our Achievement-Oriented Society

Excellent book that might slow down the American way of trying to get children ahead of the game. Pressure may work for adults but cheats children of the time they need as children. If they're to become the adults we're pushing them to be, give them the gift of time as a child.

As a family practice resident I am trained to focus on acute physical ailments. Yet so often parents approach me with concerns about their children's behavior and emotional state. Reclaiming Childhood offers a much needed reminder that scholastic achievement is not the sole indicator of healthy development.

One of the great strengths of this book is that it reminds the reader of what it really was like to be a child: how imaginative, artistic, and connected to nature kids are naturally. It's hard for me to remember now, but there was a time when my favorite activity was hanging out in the backyard and just looking at leaves and under rocks, sitting quietly, and thinking things over. I could do this for hours. It also made me recall the year I spent conducting research in preschool classrooms. I visited many wonderful preschools, but I remember being particularly struck by the atmosphere in the Montessori classroom I visited. There was a sense of calm there that I have never seen anywhere else. At first it seemed eerie; surely these kids were being coerced into behaving so quietly and going about their business in such an orderly graceful way. I remember in particular the child who was bringing around a tray of nuts that he had shelled and offering them graciously to the other children. But the longer I stayed, the more I realized that this deep sense of peacefulness originated from the kids' satisfaction in being allowed to choose their own tasks at their own pace. William Crain reminds us of some of the charateristics of children's development that have fallen by the wayside as the push for academic achievement (as measured by standardized tests) has become stronger and stronger. The child's desire to be connected with nature, to use her imagination, and to produce art and poetry is valued so much less in our schools than the three R's. As a result they are in danger of disappearing from the curriculum completely, especially in schools with limited resources. Yet these activities are precisely what researchers in the last two centuries have observed to be at the very heart of childhood. The assumption that our children's future is more important than childhood itself has become so commonplace that it is difficult to shake it even for parents who are committed to a parenting style that is child-centered. This book challenges the assumption that academic achievement is a goal unto itself, rather than a by-product of kids who are happy, well-loved, and allowed to grow at their own pace. It will remain a powerful reminder for parents committed to a child-centered parenting style of what childhood is for in the first place.

As an expectant mother, I was amazed by the number of parenting books on the market that are geared toward preparing your child for the future. Like any parent, I want my child to be successful and confident. But most of all, I want my child to be happy. Luckily, I discovered William Crain's book, Reclaiming Childhood. The book has enlightening chapters on children's inherent ability to develop remarkable artistic, linguistic, and creative skills during their early years. It demonstrates that allowing a child to grow and learn in accordance with his or her own developmental timeline will allow the child to flourish and preserve skills and abilities that are often suppressed in a society obsessed with preparing for the future. Many of my generation have felt the need to be successful in the eyes of others at the expense of pursuing what we truly enjoy. I would hate for this to happen to my son. After reading William Crain's book, I feel confident that by simply introducing my child to his natural surroundings and allowing him to follow his own developmental instincts, I will be doing the right thing.

As a pediatrician, I find that we are putting far too much pressure on children today. this book will help parents relax and appreciate children as they are. It contains outstanding chapters on the child's natural strengths in play, the arts, language, and feelings for the natural world. William Crain has pulled together a considerable amount of research to support his view that we must enable children to grow more spontaneously and naturally.