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The Arts & Education of a Child

By Tina Serota

Seeing history and the arts come alive greatly enhances a child’s education of self and his/her world. Learning about the arts and sciences first hand, gives our children the opportunity to unearth their inner selves and how each of us relates to the greater whole of society. Children need the ability to discover and explore their inner selves in order to reach a healthy and productive adulthood.

From the moment a child is born he/she is constantly moving, albeit sometimes taking 3 steps forward and 2 steps backward towards independence from his/her parents. For past generations this came in a much more natural progression. Young children could play outside without adult supervision. Through their pretending and childhood games, they discovered who they were and how they fit into their world and the greater world at large. As children grew, they were given more independence to walk alone or with friends to school, the library, playground or even the corner ice cream store. All the while, they practiced the skills with other children and adults in their neighborhood that they would need to become self-sufficient adults. The neighborhood helped raise the children and keep them safe. As they grew and proved themselves more responsible so did the amount of personal freedom afforded them by their parents.

The world is a much-altered place for today’s child. The neighborhood of adults at home watching the kids barely exists anymore except on weekends. The natural progression toward adulthood that we took for granted has been usurped by parental fear for their child’s safety outside the home and overloaded parental schedules. Freedom to come and go on their own, to play outside alone or with friends as they discover the mysteries of their world has been replaced by overscheduled kids booked into every known possible activity. This leaves little or no time for the important act of self-discovery through free time. Whether used to pretend with friends, paint a picture or to travel to some far off place in a book this time is crucial to a child’s development.

Children will seek their independence in acceptable or unacceptable ways, depending on what they view as available to them. As the loving adults in their lives, it is our job to offer them a safe and acceptable means of self-discovery. The arts and sciences, in most any form, visual, performing, fine or cultural, offers children an appropriate way to discover and explore our shared heritage, as well as, gives them a key to discover and explore their inner selves and all the possibilities that await them in the future.

A walk through The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC or even seeing a Broadway play or ballet offers children a view of our heritage through the visions of great artists. The Houses in Fairmount Park, administered by the Philadelphia Museum of Art provide an educational, hands on tour of colonial life. Children learn to wash clothes on scrubbing boards and string vegetables and fruits to dry for later use through the winter months, while dressed in colonial garb; the kids discover this is no easy feat! Through The Costume Institute in NYC, children can learn to appreciate what fashions say about a person, a society and the various eras. This experience also opens up channels of communication in regard to our own views of fashion statements and how they relate to our preteens and teens. The Education Department of Ellis Island offers another wonderful look into our shared past, the collective and individual beauty of our ancestor’s dreams for our future. A mock whale rescue on the beach presented by the Nature Center of Cape May and an educational boat ride through the marshes and wetlands of Stone Harbor teaches children to take responsibility for our collective future.

The creative arts, offers today’s children a safe and acceptable form of self-expression and discovery, from the creative use of textiles to gourmet cooking to making their very own porcelain doll. Cleaning up a playground and painting murals on local buildings, under the guidance of The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, to help beautify a neighborhood builds character and understanding in children. Digital photography along with scrapbooking and videography gives children the opportunity to preserve their present for future generations. Children can find the road to self-expression, maturity and social awareness through exposure to the arts.

Tina Serota is the director of Superior Beginnings Private School and Summer Camp. Our Preschool & Summer Science Camp offers a solid educational foundation and our Kindergarten Enrichment Program provides a historic and cultural view of our world. For more info contact Superior Beginnings by phone: (856)424-7037 or e-mail: Tina@SuperiorBeginnings.com.