My Favorite Early Learning Resources

Papa Green Bean's Top Twelve 

Here is a treasure chest of free resources for parents. Give each a look and please follow the ones you like. They are the best of what I've seen anywhere—honestly helpful and inspiring.

1) Teacher Tom's Blog  (Age Range 2 - 5)

Teacher Tom is my favorite early learning writer. He understand children like no other I know. He posts five times a week. If you have a Facebook account, please like his Teacher Tom page. It is often my favorite read of the day. Tom Hobson is the only employee of the Woodland Park Cooperative School in Seattle, Washington. In his words, "The children come to us as 2-year-olds in diapers and leave as "sophisticated" 5-year-olds ready for kindergarten. The cooperative school model allows me to work very closely with families in a true community setting." 

I love when my dad reads Teacher Tom's blog!

2) Forty Short Films for Early Learning  (Age Range: 1 - 6)

The Department of Education in Zurich, Switzerland has created an astonishingly beautiful series of forty films—less than five minutes each. They are "designed to support professionals who work in early childhood education, care and upbringing: In the areas of family support, parental counseling and education. For this reason, the short films are available in 13 languages with extensive expert commentary."

Play based learning is the best!

Wild, Wise and Rad: Tea Party Time

Healthy Environmental Family Fun

Alice in Wonderland's tea party three minute scene depicts silliness, imagination, wit and and a deep sense of humor. It is indeed a most curious event when children are in the midst of playing—magic happens—adventure is created.

Understand the desperate need for children to create worlds of their own, bubbles of make-believe play that are building blocks for their self-confidence, and comprehension of the real world they live in.

What children deserve from us is respect. We owe them a full and complete—like in 100%—level playing field. Respect: a reverence, a deep admiration. No less.

Introducing 'Ping Parenting'

The Equator of Life

"The middle region of our being is the temperate zone. 

We may climb into the thin and cold realm of pure geometry and lifeless science, 

or sink into that of sensation. 

Between these extremes is the equator of life, of thought, of spirit, of poetry, 

— a narrow belt."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ping Parenting

An ideal situation for a newborn growing up over the first five years of life—before formalized schooling—would be to have adults who were not 'Helicopter' parents, who were not authoritarian parents, who were not neglectful parents. There is a sweet spot in-between for the ideal parent, and therefore, the ideal environment for children.

The sweet spot on a baseball bat is about a third of the way down from the end or tip of the bat. This is where the ball upon contact will 'ping' off the bat and soar back in jubilation!

Real Neat Blog Award

This Award is Recognition for Trying to Make a Difference 

I would like to thank The Peaceful Papa for his nomination of Papa Green Bean for the Real Neat Blog Award. The Peaceful Papa's Facebook page is full of positive tips on raising children. In fact, his wife just delivered a little baby girl less than a week ago. He is blogging in real neat daddy time!

Let's Spend the Night Together

Cosleeping and Independence 

"Let's spend the night together", the title of this post, has a very appropriate second line... "now I need you more than ever". This is a classic Rolling Stones song but those two lines apply to every newborn baby's plea to their parents upon being brought out of the safety of the womb.


It's time parents get the correct message about cosleeping with their children. Dire warnings against infant bed sharing backfired. Many young parents have obeyed the unfounded warnings of infant bed sharing for much too long. Untrusting of their innate ability, and of their child's "motives" in giving perfectly clear signals (crying), parents have been misguided into forcing their newborns and infants to sleep alone.

International Day of Peace

Peace In – Peace Out

Who has read The Absorbent Mind by Dr. Maria Montessori?

I credit some of my words here to that book, which I first read in 1986. 

These next 4 lines I wrote for my daughter:

The heart and soul—the strongest—most beautiful of creations

Are inside you—the future is within.

So grin as you listen to its din.

When my daughter, Anna, was born I began to study the work of Dr. Maria Montessori, even taking off a year to obtain a degree from the Association Montessori Internationale in Atlanta. 

Dr. Montessori: Peace Advocate Superb

Allowing Human Nature to Work Successfully

The Continuum Concept

Christmas dinner was twenty minutes from being served at our friend's home. My second glass of red wine was disappearing. That's when the contractions began in ernest. My wife said, "Honey, it's time to go". My daughter, Anna, was born on December 26th, 1986. A healthy 9 1/2 pound bundle of joy. 

Six months before Anna was born, I bought my first book on parenting. It wasn't recommended to me. But it caught my eye as I intently browsed through the early childhood development section of the book store...

 The Continuum Concept: Allowing Human Nature to Work Successfully -  Jean Liedloff

What's Missing From "Best Practices"?

What's Missing That is Most Important?

Well, there are an infinite number of ways to raise a child, aren't there? 

No! there are not. 

In my opinion, the way to raise a child is simple. And, the best way to raise a child begins with something not mentioned in the following lists of 'best practices', all of which I agree with by the way. I'll give you the missing ingredient from these lists in my conclusion.

True joy!

Today, there are many early childhood development and education philosophies, some of which have been adopted into high quality early childhood programs. Waldorf schools, the Reggio Emilia Approach, RIE (Resources for Infant Educaring), Attachment Parenting, and the Montessori Philosophy are five 'approaches' to raising children. These all have their devout followers. 

Nurturing Human Nature

 Baby's "Joie-de-Vivre" 

Introduction

Yes! Babies are born ready to work at learning. Humans are born with "creative sensitivities". It is due to these that the whole psychic life of the individual stands upon a foundation which is laid down in the first years of life. No! Babies are not born lazy.

To A Better Collective Future

UNDERSTANDING - SHARING - DOING

Step One was detailed in last week's post entitled Step One To a Better Future: Understanding (click).

                                                              _________________

Step Two: Sharing

From Dr. SEUSS To Dr. MONTESSORI

    Humor and Philosophy Do Mix

Grin and Read It

Theodor Seuss Geisel (Dr. Seuss) was a perfectionist for rhyme, alliteration, consonance, and assonance. But, his true genius was his sense of humor. He revolutionized early childhood books by

The Cat in the Hat

making it fun to read aloud. He helped parents make learning to read a joy - not a task.

Papa Green Bean's First Post: Yes, Let's Rally For Newborn Babies

Yes, Let's Rally For Babies

Initial Thoughts - "From Little Peas at Birth to World Peace on Earth"



Papa Green Bean gets ready for a bike ride with his daughter, Anna

As the first official post of my first blog, I was wondering what specific topic to cover. I starting combing through the thirty years of brain storm notes, inspired poems... clippings of quotes, cartoons, book reviews, expert interviews, and so forth, all rallying the thesis that if a child is to grow up to be a contributing member of society, the beginning of life is the best place to start working on it. It seems obvious. Simply, the best solution to achieving world peace, right? Okay, I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Blogs I've been told (by my blog instructor), must be short and sweet, otherwise they end up being "bounced" or bookmarked to die a slow death like a well intentioned pile of dusty National Geographic magazines. So, let's start philosophizing...