kyo͞ot

I don't do it.

Cute, that is. As far as I'm concerned, "cute" is a four-letter word.

I've been teaching in the field of early childhood for almost thirty years and one thing I have never had the remotest interest in pursuing is "cute".

Young children are curious, enthusiastic, creative, imaginative, thoughtful, and energetic. Their work is play. Their play and playtime creations can be thought-provoking, funny, complex, unusual, deceptively simple, unexpected, engaging.

Teachers are there to support that vital work, and give them the tools to grow as artists, detectives, scientists, creators of worlds and builders of relationships. Too many people think that early childhood is handprint turkeys and identical holiday headbands. How often do we look at videos of tiny performers who were made to get up and parrot adorable songs for the amusement of their elders?

"Oh, they're just too cute!"

No. Just no. The work of early childhood is joyful, and playful, but it is not cute. In my opinion, it is the most important work of all because young children are in such a crucial time of brain development, physical development, and social-emotional development, all of which provide the foundation for everything that comes afterwards.

Everything.

When you witness an excellent early childhood classroom, the words that should come to mind are, "Cool! "Wow!" "Aha!" or perhaps a thoughtful, "Hmm..."

If you were to observe my teaching and you came away saying, "cute!", I would feel that I had failed..

From the blog, Not Just Cute, by Amanda Morgan:

As supervising teachers in the child development lab, my cohort and I would often lament that if we heard one more student teacher describe an activity on her lesson plan as “cute” our heads might literally explode.

Cute is not a developmental objective. Our kids deserve so much more than “cute” when it comes to their education and development. 

If you look at your child and are filled with the joy of how cute they are, that is your right. But it is not the child's job to be cute, nor the preschool teacher's job to produce cuteness. The abilities and imaginations of young children are far, far larger than that.

Give us the room to be bigger than cute. You'll be amazed at what happens.

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