What is my Utopia for the under 7’s?
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All babies would be wanted and be born into homes that can really meet their needs. That all babies and toddlers would be cared for in a loving, play rich home in a one to one situation and preferably by a parent. That babies and toddler groups exist as places where parents can get nurturing support for themselves so that they can be the best of parents. Parents would go for pre-birth counselling (and therapy if it is found they need it) and be taught positive discipline and would NEVER use violence to control their children.
That all pre-school teachers have university degrees with a special understanding of child development, a passion for lifelong learning, have a wide general knowledge , are gentle and kind but firm and consistent, use only positive discipline to help children learn self-discipline, love to facilitate children learning through play and in their own particular way. That all pre-schools are pleasant, comfortable, clean, stimulating environments and hopefully using Green technologies for energy, waste and water. The pre-schools would be well stocked with good, hardwearing pre-school toys and other playful educational materials.
Any child with a learning disability or any other disability or difficulty or illness would quickly get the attention and care they need to ameliorate or even overcome the problem.
That all kitchens serving meals to children are clean and offer really tasty and nutritious foods in small portions often. That they are all super safe spaces where children would not easily get hurt.
The hours for pre-schoolers would be from 8- 12.30 and all children would be able to have a calm, cheerful home to go to for the afternoon so that their cortisone and adrenaline levels can drop and become normal rather than creating more aggressive children. That teachers would be able to prepare for the next day peacefully and also have time to rest so that their cortisone levels do not get dangerously high......That teachers would plan their year, terms and weeks to be as full of the joy of learning and discovery, creativity and discovery as possible.
There would be holidays and the teachers would do planning, extra courses and also have time to rest so that they can be wonderful play makers all through the terms.
Parents will be very involved in the running and maintaining of the schools.
The government will make sure that all schools are well run, well maintained, well -resourced places – and they would pay for them rather than having armies...as children brought up in my Utopia would be good at mediating conflict and never need or want to use violence of any kind against others.
That we all would find ways to do this so that babies and children get what they need – rather than as we seem to do now – find ways of justifying why children don’t need this...using gender, culture, economics and so on to do so...
Everyone would believe that if we care properly for our small children the world and everything and one in it will have a better future...