Small Talks, No. 63

June 10, 2022

Jun 10, 2022

Dear Small Talker,

Welcome to the sixty third edition of Small Talks. Every Friday, I highlight 6 areas of weekly joys and reflections in early childhood and the whole family. Small Talks leverages my experience at the intersection of education, philanthropy, and impact investing. Enjoy!

toddlershirt, Fashion, Love, Shirt — — Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make colors appear —

What I’m celebrating -

This report “Rebuilding Systems” by the LEGO Foundation explores how socio-emotional learning is a must-have across the globe. Education leaders in Australia, Colombia, Finland, Peru, South Africa, and South Korea comment on how socio-emotional learning is central to each education system.
A must-read piece by Alia Wong for USA Today on how young children are faring during the pandemic. Unfortunately, there is an uptick in developmental delays and challenging behaviors in children born during or shortly before the pandemic. Many of these children are talking, walking and interacting later and less frequently.
- Researchers estimate a threefold increase in the number of babies needing referrals for early intervention.

Home Grown, a philanthropic collaborative focused on home based childcare, launches a new initiative, the Thriving Providers Project, focused on testing the impact of direct cash transfers to home based child care providers to improve consistency and quality of care.
A beautiful story of a middle schooler whose classmates would not sign his year book, so older students stepped in…

What I’m listening to -

This new podcast “The Earliest” does an excellent job at highlighting mental health in the earliest years, and also elevating parent distress.

I was honored to join the Head Start community to share thoughts on the importance of early relationships. 1 in 3 young children do not have a caring adult relationship. 40% babies do not have a secure attachment.

What I’m reading -

In “Genetic Lottery”, Kathryn Paige Harden attempts to make the difficult case that the genetic lottery can serve equality goals. In the past, genetic differences have served eugenic arguments. While I admire the attempt and goal, the book left me with many questions. Good book review here.

What I’m watching -

A short documentary about the future of learning produced in 2016. Inspiring words by Sugatra Mitra, known for his ‘hole in a wall’ experiment, who provokingly states that arithmetic is no longer a core required learning in a knowledge-filled world, and concludes on three critical learning: reading comprehension; online search ability; believe (or critical thinking) to be armed against doctrine.

What I’m learning and exploring more deeply -

Excellent reporting by Mark Swartz for Early Learning Nation on missed opportunities in bilingualism.
- “[One study] concludes, “Infants growing up in bilingual homes learn two languages simultaneously without apparent confusion or delay.” A definitive 2017 study from the National Academy of Science reinforces this consensus. The insistence that children learn best when they learn one language at a time, the report maintains, belongs to a long and destructive legacy of language suppression.”

Child care workers had 2x higher fatality rate from COVID as K-12 teachers, a level close to other essential workers...Sobering data (from new research from Dr. Walter Gilliam) further highlights the need for support for early educators.
Sometimes, research confirms what we think we know: Moral sense is found to be innate in children, and it can be nurtured through social interactions and various environmental factors.

Poem I’m pondering -

Feedback is a gift. Which part above is your favorite? What did I miss? What do you want more or less of? Other recommendations? Please kindly let me know. Thank to all of you who are sending me amazing suggestions.

Small Talks