Three Rivers Day School

06/23/2025

One of the top questions on many adult's minds when they think of a child-led program is "how do all those unique interests get cleaned up?"

As with all things in a child-led program:
•there is no one-size-fits-all
•ownership is empowering
•meeting each child where they are is also empowering

Combining those three things with a hefty dose of "respecting the ideas of children" and, I believe, you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.

Instead of cleaning up being a time that removes power from children....it can be a time that EMPOWERS them.

In my program, this particular method isn't an overly formal process, it's also not a process that we use all the time. It's actually one of many.

This method works the best when the room seems to be the result of a tornado passing through and a starting point is not obvious.

I simply ask the children to look around and tell me what needs to be put away.

I write the list, quietly modeling writing, then hand the writing over to them for the satisfying and powerful "X's".

When the cleaning up begins, my expectations of each child are unique to that child only. I meet each child where they are. I have learned when adults do this, the stress disappears, and what used to be a very arduous, stressful task is something as joyful as the creation of the residue was.

The best part is the empowering pride on the faces and the ownership in the "We did it!".

05/29/2025

Scream it from the rooftops

Why are kids falling out of chairs, melting down emotionally, and losing their joy?

Angela Hanscom is back on The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast with a truth bomb: vigorous, outdoor play isn’t a luxury—it’s developmental oxygen.

Buckle up for this urgent episode! 🎧🔥

Listen in here:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ec/podcast/1kho-489-why-modern-childhood-is-failing-kids-bodies/id1448210728?i=1000710066326

05/29/2025

05/29/2025

05/26/2025

While it’s well-intentioned to constantly entertain and occupy children, it can actually do more harm than good.

What happens when new activities are introduced every day, the screen is always on, and their schedules are packed with extracurriculars? Children become reliant on constant external stimulation. If other people or devices are always doing the thinking for them, they lose the opportunity to develop essential internal skills.

Boredom, contrary to popular belief, isn’t a bad thing. In fact, children need time and space to actually feel bored. Without it, they may become dependent on novelty and planned experiences, struggling to function without them.

But here’s the truth: children need the absence of external input. It’s in that quiet space that vital life skills begin to form—problem-solving, creative and innovative thinking, decision-making, self-regulation, and independence. That’s why we must create more space for children to navigate challenges on their own, becoming better equipped to figure things out—rather than constantly relying on adults to do it for them.

Please prioritize blocks of time each day for unstructured, child-led play—no screens, no adult directives. Their present and future selves depend on it more than you know.

05/20/2025

Babies can’t “self-soothe”.

They need connection and care.

05/20/2025

“Most of what I've learned from and about young children over the past two decades comes down to un-learning the modern lessons of "parenting," schooling, and the capabilities of children. I've discovered that if I am to do right by children I must release control, shut up and listen, get out of their way, and love them. And whenever I'm challenged, whenever things are not going well, I've discovered that the answer always lies in returning to the radical idea of treating children like people.”

I sometimes forget how radical our ideas are about young children. I forget that not everyone trusts children even if most p...

05/20/2025

Mm hm. We are screen free.

05/20/2025

Preach!

Early Childhood Education expectations & “standards” in this country are wrong, from toddlerhood through Kindergarten. Early childhood is not for academics, it’s for social-emotional skills, and other basics. To develop relationships, a sense of belonging & community, to figure out their own interests.

05/20/2025

Sadly...far too many early childhood programs have eliminated TRUE PLAY (aka: play that IS COMPLETELY driven and owned by the player)from their schedule and replaced it with way too much teacher directed time.

WHY?

Kindergarten Readiness

The absolutely non-developmentally appropriate push(SHOVE) down of meaningless academics onto children younger and younger has to stop!!!

ABC's and 123's (which, arguably a young child has NO USE OR NEED FOR) are replacing VITAL life skills like:

•Independent thinking
Independent thinkers are viewed as "a behavior problem". They are often viewed as children who don't listen.

•Perseverance
Due to rigid schedules(full of organized Kindergarten readiness activities), children are not given the time or the opportunity to persevere. Perseverance requires the opportunity to struggle. All too often:
1. Adults overly control children, eliminating any opportunity for a child to fail or struggle
2. When a child does struggle, adults fear that the struggle will lead to challenging behaviors so they rush in and solve the struggle
3. Children are not given the freedom nor time to have their own ideas. There are so many opportunities to persevere when you get to test your own ideas. Ideas take time. Fixing an idea that failed takes time AND perseverance. Accepting that an idea is won't work fosters another life skill: resilience.

•Critical Thinking:
Critical thinking requires curiosity, the need to know, the need to apply knowledge and see what happens, the need to form a thought or make a decision. This skill is developed through all the organic trials and errors of play. It is developed through the right to explore your own interests and ideas. It is formed through the freedom of applying one's own ideas to open-ended materials.
It is not formed when we are told what to do and how to do it.
It is fostered when children have ample time to attach their ideas to a room full of open-ended opportunities (not just one basket of loose parts, but an entire environment that is all considered "loose parts")

What is the very best way for children to develop not only this very small list of life skills, but SOOO many more?

By gifting them with AMPLE time to LEAD THEIR OWN PLAY.

What does "AMPLE TIME" mean? At LEAST five hours of a child's day SHOULD be led by THEIR PLAY.

NOTE: This is a very small list of the VITALLY important life skills that children are NOT developing when our goals are too focused on Kindergarten Readiness.

Please do not let Kindergarten Readiness block the bigger, much more important goal of preparing children for LIFE

04/30/2025

We will add: play, especially *with other children* in a multi-age setting from 0-7 (& beyond).

Many modern children (especially first born or only children) have few playmates that aren’t adults (parents, relatives, or caregivers). Children need time with other kids - with cousins, at school, at the playground. It is essential for socialization.