While teachers in most elementary schools see their students for four to five hours per day, parents influence the remaining eight to ten 'awake' hours. Parents have many choices for dealing with these hours, from day care to sports teams, but for the pre-school to primary age group, parents are still the main event in many cases. A recent trip to Italy highlighted the different attitude to parental involvement in early childhood education, which is heavily subsidized. To offset the cost and improve the experience, parents are an integral part of the early school day. Parents are exposed to trained educators who model appropriate teaching and behavioral techniques, and children get to socialize and learn from a developmentally correct curriculum. Exploring the natural world is an integral part of the process. Without early experiences, later observations will be meaningless and the ability to make generalizations and extend concepts will be limited. The Italian model won't be coming soon to the US, but there are many excellent science and natural history activities available to parents who know where to find them. I hope the interested reader will check out our page which begins to catalogue some of the many cool things you can do with your child which will support their natural talents as budding scientists!
