Yesterday
was not a typical day for me. At around
11am, I found myself sitting on a foot-high stool, eating lunch alongside a bunch of little Danish
kids, serving them shredded cheese from a bag, and trying to answer their
questions with whatever knowledge of Danish I could muster at the time. How did I end up in this peculiar predicament?
It
all started the first week that I arrived in Denmark. I was asking Inga, Jan’s girlfriend, about where
she works, and she told me enthusiastically that she works as a cook at a preschool. Curious, I asked her about what a typical day
is like for her and for the children at her preschool. Her description of what the kids’ days were
like struck me as so perfect and idyllic that I was in awe. This may have been partially because I’ve
forgotten how awesome it is to be a preschooler, but I’m also confident that
the average preschool in America is not as nice and natural as what Inga had
described to me.
Basically,
during the beginning and end of the day, as kids are being dropped off and
picked up, they are left to play on their own.
They have toys they can play with and various activities they can do. During the main part of the day, they are
split up into groups by age – 6 months to 3 years and 3 to 6 years old – and
they participate in lots of different activities – painting, singing, dancing, storytelling,
and others. Then around 10:30am the
older kids go outside and help the adult chef prepare food in the brisk Danish
outdoors. They help cut the vegetables,
and they all are assigned to bring a different ingredient of that day’s lunch from
home so that they actually see what their food is made of. After the food is cooked on a big open fire,
they usually all eat together outside.
At Inga’s
preschool, many of the teachers have been trained in mindfulness and one of the
ways they put this into practice is with mindful eating. This basically entails eating slowly and
consciously, focusing on nothing but the food – its smell, texture, appearance,
taste, feeling, etc. – and staying completely present in the current moment and
activity of eating. This also means that
they eat in silence and focus their attention inwards, on their personal
experience of consuming the food. I am a
huge fan of mindful eating and have been trying to eat mindfully regularly ever
since I learned about it in my positive psychology class. Personally, I think it leads to increased
enjoyment of food, eating only as much as you need to feel full, and increased
satisfaction after the meal. I was
surprised and amazed to hear that three to six year olds are being taught
mindfulness and I got excited when I began to imagine the benefits that this
education could confer on the kids.
After lunch, they
typically play outside on the playground and in the woods for about two
hours. The smaller kids have naptime
instead during which they are bundled up, placed in their strollers, and left
outside to nap. Leaving children outside
to nap, even and maybe especially during the winter, is a common custom for
Danish parents. As an interesting side
note, many Danish parents leave their young kids outside in their strollers
while they go inside a supermarket or restaurant. Social trust is so high and crime is so low
in Denmark that most parents see absolutely nothing wrong with this practice
and feel completely comfortable doing it.
That was one of the cultural norms here that shocked me the most when I
first learned about it. It’s easy to see
why this was shocking to me; doing this in NYC would be much less safe and
would probably lead to legal consequences, such as this case of a Danish woman
visiting NYC:
The
routine for the kids that Inga described seemed so perfect and for some reason
so quintessentially Danish that I asked if she would bring me with her to work
one day. She said of course, but
recommended that I instead visit the preschool where her daughter, Esther,
works as a “pedagog,” or a preschool teacher, since it is larger and more
spacious. We arranged a date for me to
visit, March 13th (also known as bring your mother’s boyfriend’s American
exchange-student to work day” in Denmark) and yesterday the day finally
arrived!
It
was a cold and snowy day, and Inga arrived at 7am to pick me up from Jan’s
house to bring me to Esther’s preschool.
During the ride there, she told me how the schools are open from 7am to
5pm, so technically parents can leave their kids at the school for the whole
day, and many actually do so because most modern Danish families have two
full-time working parents. She also told
me that in order to become a pedagog, you needed to attend a special school for
three years where they teach you all the necessary skills and knowledge for the
job. This seemed pretty intense to me,
but to be honest I don’t know how it compares to the certification requirements
in the U.S. Keep in mind as you read
this post that both Esther and Inga work at public preschools – parents pay
nothing for their children to attend – and that the vast majority of Danish
children attend such public preschools.
For me, it was asnonishing to see such a beautiful, natural environment
for children to grow up in being offered as a free, widely accessible public
service. I know that at least in NYC,
the competition (between the parents, of course) to get kids into high quality
preschools is nothing less than cutthroat.
They start training kids for the preschool evaluation from the womb. Here in Denmark, however, a high quality and
tax-funded preschool education beginning as early as 6-7 monhts is the
norm.
Once
we arrived at the school, I was greeted by Esther, who gave me a full tour and
introduced me to her colleagues. She
showed me the various rooms: the singing and dancing room; the climbing/rough
play room, which has mats on the floor and a mini rock-climbing wall and
gymnastic rings; an art/painting room; the kitchen; and the open/free play room
with toy cars and dolls and other toys.
Outside, there is also a big playground with various hand-made wooden play
structures and a hill that the bigger kids use for sledding. In short, this is pretty much the place I
would want to be if I were a 1 – 5 year old and my parents had to work, and the
place I would want to send my young ones if I had kids.
Throughout
the day, I hung out with various groups.
The day started with some songs about the class animal, the raven. The theme of the preschool was Nordic
mythology so they learned about the myths and sang songs about the different
mythological characters. At one point later
in the day I was with a group of 3-4 year old girls painting recycled milk
cartons (I didn’t paint myself but I watched and helped some of them). Next I was with a different group of about 15
or so 3-5 year old boys and girls who were doing “massaging.” When I first heard that these little kids were
going to massage each other, I was bewildered.
Can they really handle that? Will
they be able to sit still? Will they
feel comfortable touching and being touched by each other? But as soon as it started, all of my concerns
melted away. These kids were incredibly
sensitive, kind, and gentle with each other.
Each pair of kids had a paintbrush that they used to gently brush each
other on the hands, feet, face, tummy, and back. It was probably the cutest thing I’ve ever
seen.
In
general, all the kids were so nice and kind and well behaved. There was no fighting over toys, no yelling
or screaming, no hitting each other.
They all just got along so well with each other, which was extremely
impressive. I think learning to get
along with others and to compromise is the most useful thing that can be taught
in preschool, along with developing self-efficacy and positive self-concept. In many ways, the communitarian style of the
preschool seems to serve as a perfect segue into the social democratic society
of Denmark. Everything in the preschool
is done together, and there was not much individual praise. However, the pedagogs were extremely nice and
always gave the kids unconditional positive regard, encouraging them at every
step along the way and never berating them for doing something “wrong.”
After
the massage session, I joined the other group of 3-5 year olds for their food
preparation and lunch. Since it was
snowing outside, it was impossible to set up a fire, so all the cooking was
done inside. Afterwards, we all sat
around a table and relished the delicious meal.
This preschool, unlike Inga’s, does not practice mindful eating, but the
kids were still relatively calm during the meal. The cook gave me the bag of cheese for some
reason and asked me to help pass it out to the kids. I guess it was the type of bag that made it
difficult for small children to get it out on their own. We had pitas with a beef filling, cheese,
veggies and dressing. It was a simple
but wholesome meal that everyone seemed to enjoy. I was amazed by how much some of the kids
ate; I was completely full after 2 pitas but many of them finished 2 without a
problem and I think one of the 5 year old boys even went for a third!
As
we sat and ate, we did our best to communicate with each other. Since my knowledge of Danish is pretty
limited and they don’t know any English, this was a realchallenge. It was extremely fun though. I explained that I was a student from the USA
now studying in Denmark, but considering their looks of confusion I’m not sure
if they fully understood me. Then one kid started asking me if I have a father
and if my mother is dead and if I have a girlfriend (yes, no, and no). I don’t know what would make him ask about
these things but I found it pretty hilarious.
Overall, even though the communication was limited and a lot of the time
I just sat there with a goofy smile on my face because I didn’t understand they
were asking me, I had a lot of fun interacting with the kids.
Before
I knew it, it was time for me to go home!
Inga came to pick me up at noon, but the kids stayed at school for a few
more hours before they would be picked up by their parents. Overall, I think I had a successful first day
back at preschool after a 15-year hiatus and in the process gained a lot of
insight into the Danish early education system.
While they don’t teach any concrete knowledge or skills like the alphabet
or simple math in the preschools, a fact that I’ve heard some Danish people
criticize, they do seem to prepare kids for real school and the real world by
teaching them to get along, be calm, and have respect for themselves and one
another. In addition, all the activities
they do are aimed at ensuring the kids’ physical, emotional, social, and
cultural development. Sadly, it seems as
if early childhood education represents yet another area in which the U.S. lags
behind other countries such as Denmark.
Fortunately, however, it seems like President Obama has made early
childhood education one of his top priorities for his second term, and much legislation
regarding this issue has been proposed recently.
Hopefully, in the next few years our elected representatives
in Washington D.C. will be able to stop squabbling like little kids and will learn
to reach a solution together like good little Danish preschoolers!
