Week of the Young Child

"Children are the living message we send to a time we will not see."

- Neil Postman, The Disappearance of Childhood, 1982

We've all heard the saying that "the children are our future". While this is certainly true, another lesser known saying is one that appropriately balances out this famous quote. That particular saying goes:

We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, that we sometimes forget that he is a child today.

It's interesting to truly examine the times we live in and to consider how youth is experienced by children today. If the above quotes teach us anything, it's that children are a representation of all of modern society, not just our education systems. If a child can pass a standardized test and that recorded score goes down in the annals of history, what good is that score if the child doesn't learn proper social behavior skills or how to keep physically fit or how to simply have fun? Celebrating a child's life should offer us a prime example of the exuberance of our world as seen through the eyes of the young.

This week is the Week of the Young Child, an annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Its purpose is to raise public awareness on the needs of young children and their families. One of the main goals of raising this awareness is to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet the needs of such children and families. At Mi Escuelita Preschool, we are proud to not only be one of these programs that services the Dallas community but we are also firm believers in truly celebrating what it means to simply be a child (and all the fun that goes along with that).

All week long, throughout our five campus, Mi Escuelita site staff and teachers will be dedicating a portion of class time to celebrating what it means to be a kid. From crazy hair day to parent-produced puppet shows to an end of week carnival, each Mi Escuelita campus is incorporating unique themes into the student's daily routine. Some of the activities, such as the children portrait projects, is specifically aimed at helping parents express to the entire school just how much they value and appreciate their children. They accomplished this by creating paper doll cutouts of their children and decorating them with words of encouragement and love. These works of art were hung in prominent areas of several of the Mi Escuelita campuses, where the children pass by everyday and are able to see for themselves just how special they are to their parents.

Mi Escuelita's St. Matthew's site in east Dallas combined fun with safety with "helmet day", emphasizing the importance of wearing bicycle helmets when enjoying a bike ride.


Mi Escuelita's Bethany Site in northwest Dallas celebrated Week of the Child with a special "dance day" where the children showed off their dance-floor skills while being introduced to new dances from various types of music.

And of course, a week as important as Week of the Young Child deserves a proper send off. At the end of this week, each of the Mi Escuelita campuses will have a site wide carnival where all the children can let loose and have fun. Face painting, parent readers and games are just a few of the festivities planned for Friday. Even as I write this blog, the room I am in is buzzing with parent volunteers furiously constructing banners, preparing games and planning snacks for the "big day". Wait until you see the pictures of the kids enjoying this special event that celebrates their lives and the people who help them grow. Those photos of smiling children, parent volunteers and Mi Escuelita Staff all joining together in joyous appreciation of one another is what should stand as history's proof that in this place, in this time we understood and celebrated the pure fountain of youth alive in us all.

Find out how you can celebrate our community's young children by visiting our involvement page here at Mi Escuelita Preschool's website. Show a child you care, today.