Kerala Taylor
Blog Post List
November 8, 2011
Raise your hand if you believe that your kids need time and space to play outdoors! Here's the sad truth: There is a Play Deficit in our country, and it’s harming our children. Too many families don't have a playground within walking distance of their home. Paranoia is trumping common sense, resulting in sterile, uninspired play environments and fewer opportunities for kids to play. Recess is being eliminated from our nation’s schools. Kids are overscheduled, and in their free time, many choose to stay indoors, lulled by television, computers and video games. At the national nonprofit I work...
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October 3, 2011
Are your children getting enough time and space to play in school? Sadly, despite numerous studies proving that play is vital to children’s learning and health, schools across the country are slashing recess; piling on homework; and banning tag, soccer, and even running on the schoolyard. It’s time to do something about these disturbing trends, and here’s why: Since 1990, American creativity scores have been falling, attributed in part to the lack of “creativity development” in our schools. At the same time, an IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the number one “leadership...
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September 26, 2011
My husband and I are expecting our first baby in December, and we just might be moving to Finland within the next few years–unless schools around here get better soon. And by “better,” I don’t mean that they start churning out higher test scores. I want my daughter to go to a school where she can get her hands dirty. Where she can run around during the day. Where she can push her physical limits as well as the bounds of her own creativity. Where she can learn her reading, writing, and arithmetic but also essential life skills. A Finnish school sounds like just the place. For years now,...
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September 19, 2011
At six months pregnant, like most moms and moms-to-be, I’m finding plenty of things to worry about. When I’m not fretting over my daily calcium intake or environmentally friendly diaper options, I find myself plagued with anxiety about the longer-term realities of child rearing today. I want to give my daughter the freedom I enjoyed as a child—freedom to move, imagine, and create. But in today’s paranoid, litigious, and test-happy culture, will I be able to? As kids across the country head back to school, and as I watch my belly swell, I’ve been thinking a lot about the freedoms I had in...
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