June: School reports back

Before the school holidays begin, it's the bi-annual teacher-parent meeting session.
Yeap. Even for Pre-nursery grade kids also need to meet teachers. *stress*
What can the school possibly report for a 3 yr old Pre-nursery kid? you wonder.
If you're thinking the same wavelength as I, then you will be in for quite a shock.

Apart from diet and physical development, children as young as 3 these days are assessed on their:
- Social development (helpful & cooperative/ willingness to share/ enjoys company of teachers & peers/ shows care & concern toward others)
- Emotional development (confident/ has initiative/ independence/ expression/ verbalise feelings)
- Moral development (shows respect/ responsibility/ leadership qualities/ respect rights & properties of others)
- Intellectual development (Aural/ visual/ follow instructions/ understand instructions & requirements/ concentration / memory)
- Aesthetic development (music & movement / art & craft)
- Self help (eating/ wear shoes/ dress & undress/ use toothbrush/ verbalise toileting needs)
- Activities & Skills (Speech/ Story/ Reading/ Writing/ Math)
- Structured play (constructive play ie. Blocks / Puzzles/ manipulative play ie. play dough, beads/ Imaginative play)

So many aspects!! For a 3 yr-old???
No wonder my friends sign their kids up for all sorts of enrichment programs (additional classes apart from the regular childcare centre's curriculum, like Science, Speech & Drama, Mandarin..at $100-$150 per subject per month. Yup. For as young as their 3 yr-olds).
To be honest, my brothers and I didn't even know any form of formal education until we were 5 and went to K1, but in our family, we managed to nurture 2 Hwa Chong scholars and I would consider my siblings & I as doing reasonably well in our own rights.

I feel sad for children of today's era.
They are clearly missing out alot on their childhood and are in my opinion, forced to grow up too quickly.
I wish I can strike a healthy balance between play and education for my own children.