When Should Children Start Formal Schooling?
When should children start formal schooling?
As late as possible, according to Canadian psychologist Dr. Gordon Neufeld. A recent article published by the IMFC (Institute of Marriage and Family, Canada) Dr. Neufeld explains how attachments to peers can cause a plethora of problems which may not be recognized until later in life when the affects of the peer attachment develops.
Neufeld suggests that sending young children to daycare because it will help them overcome shyness, or get along with others, or in fact because the child “loves to go and spend time with her peers,” is the wrong thing to do.
Children who spend long hours away from parents fail to develop vital attachments and family ties which will serve them later in life as mature and confident adults. Dr. Neufeld has written about this subject extensively in his book on attachment parenting called Hold on To Your Kids.
Dr. Neufeld believes that parents should fulfil the attachment hunger of their children and that parents are uniquely able to provide attention and nurtrance that delve to the deepest parts of children’s psyche.
He asserts that a child belongs to the parents; and that parents should take the initiative to supply their child’s need for love and attention. And if these are not supplied by parents that children will look elsewhere to fulfil them. In fact, if parents do not take this initiative, they may well find that later in life they have rebellious or un-attached teens or adults. And then where will we be?
To read more about this, check out Dr. Neufeld’s book Hold On To Your Kids.
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