Finland has quite an intensive checkup process, with it pretty much starting from pregnancy and continuing on for years. Just after birth, they send a children's nurse to the home to see how the baby and parents are coping and check home conditions, and that nurse will pretty much be the child's nurse for the next few years.
Tomorrow morning, Smallsteps will have her 4-year checkup, which looks at motor-skills and makes sure she is developing "normally", whatever that means these days. I don't know what happens if she fails things, but I have heard many stories of parents prepping their kids to pass the tests, as if passing the tests is the point.
I am not sure how many of the people who do this testing daily are fooled, but if they are, parents could be covering up developmental issues in their children. It is probably better to know earlier than to find out later. They will pay extra attention to language as she is a dual mother-tongue child and this seems to be treated as an indication of potential learning issues. I think that it is very misinformed, but I can see that if parents don't do a good job of separating languages, it could cause some problems early on. In some ways it is like homeschooling, it is great for kids if the parents know what they are doing and are conscientious about doing it. I sometimes feel people make decisions on trends, not whether they can actually pull it off or not.
We also had to get an assessment form filled by the daycare, with their evaluation of her abilities. There were no problems there except I disagreed with one point, they wrote that she can put together a 20-piece jigsaw puzzle, which is true, but she is also quite happy doing 100 piece puzzles at home, as she loves them.
I think there are two main ways a parent can go wrong in raising a child - not paying enough attention and, paying too much attention to their child's development. While I often talk about the former, the latter is potentially just as damaging, although it might take longer to become apparent, as the kids can be high achievers, but not necessarily be happy doing what they do.
I am not concerned with her passing these tests at all, as I am pretty sure that she is fine in pretty much anything they would ever throw at a four year old, especially on the mental side of things - which she must get from her mother's side. I think we have done a pretty good job of finding the time and energy to spend with Smallsteps and the space and resources for her to be independent. The trouble for us as parents, is that she has a very strong internal locus of control and is just as stubborn - which I would like to say is all on her mother's side as well - but it is very much a fifty-fifty spread. I think it will serve her well later in life with anything she turns her attention to.
It is easy for a parent to make "predictions" as to what their child could be when they grow up, but I have absolutely no idea. Firstly, I don't know what kinds of opportunities there will be in 20 years from now, nor do I know what kind of world she is going to have to face. What I am confident about is that if she remains on a similar trajectory, whatever she will meet whatever she does face head on. I think as parents raising children in so much uncertainty of opportunity, the best we can do is prepare them to be able to learn as they need and more importantly cope mentally in adversity. Even now, I see more and more people fail at the latter and I do not think the bottom is in on the downward trend yet.
Because I will take Smallsteps there myself, as my wife has a cough and isn't allowed to join - my biggest worry is that they will grade her based on her father's abilities to fill the forms and talk with them. If I am part of the assessment - she is in trouble.
Taraz
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