“…Vivian Paley observes in her classic study of social inclusion, “You Can’t Say You Can’t Play”…
“Certain children will have the right to limit the social experiences of their classmates. Henceforth a ruling class will notify others of their acceptability, and the outsiders learn to anticipate the sting of rejection” (p.3)What then if, as Paley documents in her work, we took a stand against such exclusion, and actively (intentionally!) sought to shape and guide the social relationships occurring before us, just as clearly and strongly as we seek to shape the other kinds of learning that happen in our settings everyday?
http://thespoke.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/what-if/#comments
Lovely – we bought dolls for our son, but he didn’t play with them much. But then his sister didn’t either – much preferred their animals. So there was no one there to play Mummies and Daddies. Still, of course boys need to learn parenting too!
Virginia, I have a lovely story to tell about my three-year-old grandson being lured away from his ‘beloved’ cars by a baby doll that needing some TLC.