Too many ‘experts’ on child development
I find it very interesting to hear and read as people discuss, evaluate and analyze our children based on their little or no experience, training or education in childhood development.
Many of them have learned and heard catchy phrases about our children and repeat them as certainties. Some make claims based upon little more than their limited experiences with their own children or friends’ without the understanding that all children are not alike in their development and/or correlating circumstances.
I find these declarations are in many cases harmful as we tend to fit the same shoe on every child’s foot. I hear persons from all kinds of disciplines, i.e., engineering, marketing, and banking CEOs, politicians, lawyers, etc. suddenly become child development experts.
All of us have had perhaps some experience with children, but we need to be cautious of becoming the expert spokesperson on a subject that is out of our range and depth of intelligence.
Intelligence is knowing what we don’t know, as well as what we do know.
Betty Ellison-Harpole
Minneapolis
