Dear Parent,

Until the end of the last century, the vast majority of people still believed that babies were unable to feel emotions, to think, and above all to learn; just like flowers or vegetables. Every day at Edukey, we find more evidence that the contrary is true: in fact, infants are the best learners on earth.

This discovery is already a fantastic revolution; however, only half a revolution, because a young child cannot learn anything by herself. To learn, she needs her parents, the best teachers on earth. Not just a mother. Not just a father. She needs both of them, as much of both as possible.

In the following selection of articles, you will discover, amongst other interesting news, why kids need their dads, and how the 3 R’s (Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic) are more and more replacing the 3 F’s (Finger-painting, Fun and Frolic) in kindergarten and pre-kindergarten around the world.

Best Regards and Good Parenting!

John Debonneville
Co-founder and Editor
Edukey Ltd

Fatherhood

Fathers’ Parenting Style Linked to Childhood Obesity

May 5th, 2007

Fathers may be more important than mothers in determining whether a child becomes overweight or obese, according to a ground-breaking new Australian study by the Centre for Community Child Health at The Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, and the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.
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Pre-school

Childcare not Child’s Play

May 10th, 2007

Your kids finally let go of your leg, dry their tears and you walk out the door of the childcare centre. What will they do, and what do they get out of child care? Susie O’Brien spent a day last week at a community-run centre in Coburg to find out.
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Math in US Schools

Calculating the Effects of “Discovery” Math

May 17th, 2007

Nearly 100 readers commented on my attack on “reform” math in the Sunday Times Opinion section of April 22. More than 93 percent — not a level I’m used to — supported my position, which was that the “discovery” method of math wastes kids’ time, that its group work promotes freeloading and that its reliance on calculators leaves students unable to solve problems on their own.
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Fatherhood

Why Kids Need their Dads: The Upside to Roughhousing

May 22nd, 2007

Fatherly rough-and-tumble play has many developmental benefits for children, particularly boys. Research shows that physical engagement–like wrestling, roughhousing (when not carried to an extreme) and warm, playful interaction–helps boys learn to regulate and control their behavior, deal with a range of emotions, and adapt to a variety of situations.
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US Kindergartens

More Work, Less Play in Kindergarten

May 23rd, 2007

“We were shooting way too low,” School Superintendent Jerry D. Weast said. Kindergartners are “natural learners,” he said. “And if we don’t provide them with a natural learning environment, we are putting them behind.”
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Infant Learning

Infants Stun Scientists with ‘Amazing’ Insights

May 25th, 2007

Babies might seem a bit dim in their first six months of life, but researchers are getting smarter about what babies know, and the results are surprising.
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Kindergartens

Kindergarten Again?

May 27th, 2007

No doubt, many parents still view kindergarten as a place for kids to familiarize themselves with the three “F’s”: finger-painting, fun, and frolic…
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Math Learning

Keys to Making Math the Easiest Class in School

May 29th, 2007

Many people today, including some educators, still believe that math class is tough — not just for girls, but for all children except the fortunate few born with a gift for numbers. John Mighton, a poet, Governor General’s Award-winning playwright and mathematician, doesn’t see it that way…
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Child Behavior Management

Praising the Effort Is a Better Way to Encourage Children

May 29th, 2007

Some experts contend that focusing on children’s abilities (”You’re smart” or “You’re a good athlete”) can undermine children by making them feel like failures when they don’t succeed. Some studies show that praising the effort is a better way to encourage children…
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Infant Attachment

Baby Must Come First

May 29th, 2007

Experts claim how you treat your child in its early years can impact on the rest of their life…
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Chinese Education

What’s So Great about Chinese Education?

May 29th, 2007

Nicholas Kristof, writing from China, expresses his admiration for Chinese education in a column in the New York Times.
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