John Dewey wrote that, "All genuine education comes about through experience." pg 25 of Experience and Education. What happens when the experience of children within a family are not equal? In fact, children within the same family often are not treated equally at all. John Dewey also wrote that, "Everything depends upon the quality of experience." Parents should give all their children the best quality of experiences. The article on first-born children portrays the great quality of experiences often vary even in the same family
First-born Children get more Attention
By Donna St. George The Washington Post
When her oldest child was in kindergarten, Laura Haggerty-Lacalle sat down with her every day to review reading or math, intent on providing that most precious commodity of all -- parent time.
But when her second child hit the same age, life was more hetic. Now, with a third child, Haggerty-Lacalle , 37, feels good when she gets five minutes to stack blocks or build Legos in her Oak Hill, Va., home. "When you have three kids," she says, "you're just trying to survive."
Within this familiar progression of family life, new research has confirmed what some parents recognize and others quietly fear: Their first born children get more of their time than others in the family - on average, 3,000 extra "quality" hours from ages 4-13, when brothers and sisters are in the picture.
That's 25 extra minutes a day with mothers on average and 20 extra minutes a day with fathers across a nine year span of childhood, according to a study by exonomist Joseph Price of Brigham Young University.
Some parents find themselves surprised by the lop-sided time log, but the big question, experts say , is whether this difference helps explain findings that show first-born children get better test scores, more education and higher paying jobs
"I certainly think it advances our understanding." said Sandra Black, an economist at the University of California at Los Angeles, who has studied achievement and birth order. Although the reason for first-borns' success have not been fully explored, she said, the new study provides one plausible explanation.
Based pm federa; data from more than 15,000 children whose days were detailed as part of the American Time Use Survey, the new study defined quality time with parents as minutes spent together on such activities as homework, meals, reading, playtime, sports, teaching, arts, religion, and conversation. In all categories, first-borns got more, according to the study, published in the Journal of Human Resources
David Wybenga
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I know that in my personal experience the 'middle child syndrome' you feel as though you never really got any time with your parents, I have determined that I will not be having three+ children to keep from perpetuating this feeling. I read in a parenting magazine recently 'you try to treat your children uniquely not equally' and I think that to some extent we should try to do this within our classrooms as well, knowing that each one is different and unique.
I am the youngest of three. Out of my sisters and I, I have the highest test scores and grades in elementary and secondary educations. Thank God my mother never said in the aspect of having three kids that it is like trying to survive. In that same breath, as grad students, most of us are subconsciously making the effort to put off procreation, unless some are fortunate enough to already have kids. (Bravo for being successful with a full plate!) What I am trying to get at here is that my mother had us when she was in her early 20's. I must say that having a third child, a baby nonetheless, is a bit intimidating, and having one in your late 30's would be even more difficult...or so I hear. I think sometimes people are looking to label and blame things when really is there a need? Everyone should be treated as unique individuals. But if we are going out of our way to make this individuality felt, are we still segregating in some way?
Post a Comment