Kathy: The second-best thing you can do is talk to your child’ s teacher because we all have the same great thing in mind: Loving your child and helping your child thrive. Beyond that, it’ s to learn to see what they see. I’ ve advised teachers to change family night around and, for example, put two buckets and shovels at the front of the room. Ask,“ What do you see?” Families will tell you,“ I see a bucket and a shovel.” You say,“ Oh. I actually see a math game.” Or take balloons or beach balls, and ask parents to bounce them up and down. Make two or three teams, depending on how many family members you have, and see which group gets the most bounces. Have them count and compare. And at the end ask,“ Did you enjoy our STEM activity?”
Here’ s a really simple game you can do with families. Ask them to follow you:“ When I clap once, you clap once. When I clap twice, you clap twice. Now what I want you to do, are you ready? This is the hard part: When I clap once, you clap twice. When I clap twice, you clap once.” You’ ll see that hesitation just before they do it. Ask,“ Did you feel executive function at work? That’ s impulse control, and that correlates to later math and reading scores when children get into school.”
Michelle: We’ ve been talking about play, and so many people who are reading know how important high-quality early learning experiences are. For decades, NAEYC and other organizations have been working to elevate the research as well as the expertise of early childhood educators in supporting high-quality, play-based learning. How do we convince policymakers and the public to support the field and to invest in early learning for all children?
Kathy: Isn’ t that the million-dollar question? It’ s astounding that the United States is among the worst in the industrialized world in supporting young children. The data, to me, are very clear. There are longitudinal data looking at the long-term effects of high-quality child care all the way up to age 26. We find that those who experienced high-quality early learning and care are more successful. They do better in school. They don’ t get married as early. They don’ t have as many behavior problems. All the data that I know of suggest that it is financially, dollar-for-dollar, worth it for a society to invest in its young children. If you were investing in a business and you could get, in some of the newest research, $ 8 back, and you could have brain building, and children are going to be better prepared for the workforce of tomorrow, do you invest in that business? You sure do.
Michelle: Those are good numbers. That’ s a really good return.
Kathy: Economists have looked at this time and time again. I don’ t know where we got the idea that everybody knows about education but educators. You don’ t let somebody who is governor be a dentist who’ s going to give you a filling for your cavity. Similarly, you can’ t put just anyone in a child care setting. High-quality early learning and care demands that you have that lens, that ability to see the magic in a child and to help every child grow. I challenge policymakers to come into an early learning setting for two hours. I’ m not even asking them to take the whole day. Come in for two hours, and look at what high-quality early childhood educators do. I challenge policymakers to see if they can do it and then tell me what they learned.
I bet you there would be new respect for what educators are doing. And if they don’ t walk out of there blown away, then just take it as a business. A business where you can get this return on investment is worth the time and energy, so make it a priority.
About the Participants
Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, PhD, is an author and professor of psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.
Michelle Kang is the chief executive officer of NAEYC.
Fall 2026 Young Children 11