Saturday, May 6, 2006

Helaine Olen's April 30 Outlook article, "Meet You at the Sandbox -- After Class," is yet another one-sided portrayal of Washington area parents as neurotic, achievement-obsessed individuals.

News flash: Many of us play with our preschoolers every day instead of worrying about their IQs. We choose to do outside activities with them, such as gym or music classes, because -- hold on! -- they're fun and rewarding.

The article calls such classes nonsense and would have us believe that the egregious example Olen cites (a rigid music instructor whose wee pupils must sit still and then perform on command) represents all such programs.

Walk into any session of a Music Together class and you will see toddlers relating to the music in their own way -- some by marching, jumping or tapping to the beat, others by just standing in the corner and taking it all in.

Parents such as myself become comfortable with helping our children to experience music through multiple modalities. We go home and sing, drum, dance and thrive on music together. It becomes as enriching a part of our daily life as reading stories. I'm sorry that Olen and her children didn't get that part.

-- Betsy Wong

Alexandria

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I would be more sympathetic to Helaine Olen's view of structured classes for toddlers and parents had Olen conducted her research more carefully. To base her article on the dissatisfaction of one grandmother with one poorly structured class taught by an obviously underqualified teacher in an inappropriate room is tantamount to tarring the education system because of the failure of one teacher.

Programs such as Music Together, which Olen has not attended, seek to educate parents to the joys of making music with their toddlers and to give parents the tools with which to do so. Toddlers are not required to participate. They will, however, absorb the fun with music in a joyful environment if the teacher is skillful and the room basically free of distractions -- which must not have been the case in Olen's music class.

The current generation of parents suffers from the failure of our public schools to keep arts education in the curriculum. These parents need all the help they can get, and, although I cannot speak to the issues of yoga, Gymboree or language classes, I can tell you without qualification that Music Together is one of the finest musical experiences a young child can have.

I am a professional musician; I have taught piano for 40 years. I am a grandmother who takes two granddaughters to Music Together weekly. I see the results. I see the joy of making music.

-- Carla Dean Day

Potomac Falls