Pacific Oaks Children's School is sponsoring a parent education event with Dr. Susan Linn on Tues., Feb. 7.
Linn, an instructor on psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, will speak about the importance of play and her views on how such variables as commercialism and media prevent children from creative play.
In her new book, The Case for Make Believe, Linn argues that while play is crucial to human development and children are born with an innate capacity for make believe, the convergence of ubiquitous technology and unfettered commercialism actually prevents them from playing. In modern-day America, according to Linn, nurturing creative play is not only counter-cultural—it threatens corporate profits. Both timely and important, The Case for Make Believe helps readers understand how crucial child's play is—and what parents and educators can do to protect it. At the heart of the book are stories of children at home, in school, and at a therapist's office playing about real-life issues from entering kindergarten to a sibling's death, revealing feelings they can't express directly, and making meaning of an often confusing world.
Pacific Oaks College & Children’s School has played a crucial role in the development of early childhood education in the United States for more than half a century. Founded in 1959 by a small group of Quaker families, Pacific Oaks College is dedicated to the fundamental Quaker principles of inclusion, social justice, and the valuing of every human being. The College’s faculty has developed innovative curriculum and tools that are widely used in early childhood and teacher training programs—both in the U.S. and throughout the world. Pacific Oaks is well-known for its leadership in a learning-through-play curriculum, and for the ground-breaking anti-bias curriculum that has been implemented in schools throughout the country and is often required reading in early childhood teacher training courses. Founded in 1945, the Children’s School is widely recognized today as one of the finest preschools in the nation. For more information, see www.pacificoaks.edu.
When: Tues., Feb. 7, 6:30 PM.
Where: Pacific Oaks College, 55 Eureka St., Room 40, Pasadena
Cost: Free and open to the public.
