As adults, we sit a lot. I’m sitting as I write this. You’re likely sitting as you read it. In class, children are taught to sit much of the time. Yes, they get up and move around for physical education classes, but they’re not encouraged to jump up and down when the teacher is talking, most of the time.
We just finished a quick weekend holiday, and this holiday involved several stints of sitting in the car for over an hour and two ferry rides that also involved their fair share of sitting. Since my daughter has never been skilled at sitting still, I was pleased that we only had one temper tantrum to deal with during the entire trip.
Today, my daughter visited the nature center where I work. She came to watch a presentation on owls, and there was a live owl and a live hawk there at the presentation. She sat for almost an hour in a crowd full of children. I always find it amazing how children can sit when they’re enthralled by something.
Now, as adults our children will likely need to sit in offices and in cars and on airplanes. They will need to learn how to be patient and quiet. But is sitting still a skill that we should ask our preschoolers to learn? So often I see parents and teachers of preschoolers who desperately want their children to sit down and listen. As someone who has to move around to learn, I have a hard time sitting still as an adult. This is a lot to ask of our preschoolers.
Should sitting be taught? I think that preschoolers sit when they are engaged in something interesting. They also sit when they are relaxing. Getting engaged in activity and relaxing are both things that I want my preschooler to learn. What I don’t want is for her to constantly have to sit under threat of consequences. There’s enough time for sitting in life. In school, I’d much prefer that my preschooler learn how to enjoy moving her body and develop small and large muscle control. I’d also like her to learn how to sit and how to listen, but in small doses appropriate for preschool-aged children. Most of all, I want her to be engaged in what she’s doing, and if this leads to silence and sitting, that’s great. If it leads to shrieking and running, that’s excellent as well.
What do you think? Should children be taught to sit?