KINDERGARTEN WORK

Hutt News, Volume 20, Issue 19, 9 October 1946, Page 4

KINDERGARTEN WORK

GREAT VALUE TO CHILDREN Miss E. P. Wilson, Principal of the Wellington Free KindergartenAssociation, speaking at a recent meeting of the Hutt Valley Speech Therapy Association, strongly advocated kindergartens for children, but urged parents to be careful in their choice. Parents, she said, should require of the kindergarten personnel certificates from a recognised training centre. They should expect to find the kindergarten situated in a suitable building, not necessarily modern, but clean, attractive, well-venti-lated and sunny, with plenty of space. Kindergartens should have a homelike atmosphere and be well equipped to meet the children’s needs at various stages of development. The value of kindergarten training for children has become widely recognised in recent years, continued Miss Wilson. If a child has contacts with his contemporaries he will develop naturally, therefore companionship of the best kind is most important. This is provided in the kindergarten. Between the ages of two and three years the child begins to need independence and so is ready for kindergarten. A period of separations is as necessary for the mother to pursue her interests as for the child to follow his childish interests without mother’s constant supervision. From Homt to School. The speaker referred 1 to the kindergarten as being the natural stepping-stone between home and school. Kindergarten children readily adjust themselves to school and suffer no setback, since they have already had community experience and established habits of discipline. So kindergarten is invaluable for “transplanting” the child from home to school without any undue strain or shock. Miss Wilson closed her address with quotations from the educators Frochel, Montesorri, Susan Isaacs, and Dewey, which emphasised the need for happy playing, as found in a kindergarten, in a child’s full development. Miss Wilson’s informative lecture provoked a keen discussion on the many problems related to kindergarten work in this country.