04 Mar When parents band together, much more can be achieved.
#collectiveaction is all too familiar to us in this heartbreaking time of increased global antisemitism. We will continue to band together as a Jewish nation and demonstrate ometz lev. May G-d give us the strength we need.
This article is a calling for parents to band together to achieve two goals which I believe we all feel are vitally important. All parents and teachers want the learning process to be easier for every child, and for every child to have a flourishing wellbeing.
On Thursday 20 February, I met with parents of children in Years 4 to 6 about how they can band together with Yavneh to achieve these two goals. I would like to thank the parents who were able to attend for their attention and enthusiasm. I have condensed my presentation and am sharing it with you, as we need as many parents as possible, if not all, to band together in the best interest of our children.
Parenting is both wonderful and hard. The world in which we grew up as 10- to 12-year-olds is different in many ways to today. In some ways it’s like foreign territory which we are navigating without an outdated map. Thank you sincerely for doing your best – that is not to be taken for granted.
It’s helpful to keep in mind that children of 10 to 12 years of age are between childhood and adolescence. “They are as playful as younger children, yet they are beginning to develop social and psychological complexities of adolescents.” (Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation)
A major difference between your childhood and that of today is that you had a play-based childhood and today, children from as young as 10 are having a phone-based or online-based childhood, with specific behaviours and mental illnesses arising from that. I encourage you to read The Anxious Generation to further your understanding.
For many parents of 10- to 12-year-olds, it can feel impossibly hard to make reading happen at home, and it’s not a battle you want to fight night after night. But reading and comprehension are critically important for success in learning and even more importantly one could argue, to be able to think critically and not fall prey to misinformation.
Reading before bed can also become a relaxing experience and improve the quality of sleep. Excellence in reading and comprehension boost confidence and engagement with learning at school.
In a recent survey ALL children in Years 4 to 6 agreed that understanding what you read at school is very important for success in learning. Many children don’t prioritise reading at home for a variety of reasons including:
- They don’t enjoy it
- It’s difficult for them.
- They believe the myth that reading is not cool.
- They don’t see parents reading.
- They prefer being online.
- They’re disorganised.
- They believe no one else in their class is reading and so are resistant.
At school we are banding together across Year 4 to 6 to make it easier for reading to happen at home and we are asking you to take collective action with us.
What about mental health?
Research from across the globe shows that reducing anxiety and other mental health conditions and increasing self esteem is becoming more and more of a need as a direct result of the shift from a play-based childhood to a phone-based/ online based childhood.
Jonathan Haidt’s posts below succinctly express what we know to be true.
Additionally, you will not find yourself locked in battle with your stressed or anxious child over logging off/ putting smartphones devices away, doing homework, chores, reading, bedtime routines, etc.
We see how protective you are about keeping your child safe in the real world, sometimes parents are even overprotective. Yet when it comes to keeping children safe online, parents hand devices and smartphones to children giving instant access to the internet and social media. Unless you can do the impossible, which is to sit with your child and watch their screen all the time, you would not know what they are viewing and exposing themselves to or being exposed to through their peers’ sharing.
So, what could parents’ collective action look like:
- Band together with other parents and agree on a time that your children will log off.
- Agree to set up a reading routine at home ensuring reading becomes the norm.
- Agree to buy your children a dumb phone instead of a smartphone until at least the end of Year 9. They can still make phone calls when needed but are shielded from mental health issues which arise from being online.
Yavneh’s mobile phone policy has made it even easier for you to make this responsible choice as we don’t permit access to phones at all during the school day until then end of Year 9.
Some parents at Yavneh have already signed the “Wait Mate” pledge and you can too.
The Online Safety Amendment Bill passed by our government in November 2024, sets a minimum age of 16 for using social media platforms.
Banding together takes the pressure off you. It also takes the pressure off your child if everyone is reading, and everyone is offline and if everyone has a dumb phone.
Please take collective action so that you can make learning easier free your child. Take collective action so that you can free your child, and they can return to a play-based childhood where they invest their time in healthy pursuits like playing outdoors, connecting meaningfully with friends and family members, reading, board games, hobbies and age-appropriate risk taking. A play-based childhood which embodies these elements allows children to become independent, resilient young people with a strong sense of wellbeing.
By Hailey Joubert