Rae Pica

Q: Throughout your career, you’ve been an early childhood movement specialist, author, radio show host, and presenter. Which aspect of your career have you found most rewarding and why?

What I find most rewarding is knowing my work has made an impact! When a teacher tells me one of my books has made a difference in her classroom, I’m thrilled to have written it. When a director tells me she opens a staff or parent meeting with an interview from “Body, Mind and Child” (my Internet radio program) and that it drove discussion about an important topic in early childhood education, I’m thrilled to be a radio host. And when someone comes up to me after a keynote and says she’s going to do things a little differently after listening to me speak, I’m thrilled to be a presenter!

Q: As a movement specialist, you state that physical activity helps children develop social, emotional, and cognitive development. How?

I’ve written a whole textbook on that question! In short, when children engage in self-initiated, self-directed play and in cooperative activities, they learn about themselves and others. When they are given opportunities to work together toward a solution or common goal—achieving a balance, or crowding together on the one remaining seat in a game of cooperative musical chairs—they know they each contribute to the success of the venture. Each child knows she or he plays a vital role in the outcome, and each accepts the responsibility of fulfilling that role. That’s part of the social/emotional piece.

With regard to movement’s role in cognitive development, neurophysiologist Carla Hannaford has said that all brain development is linked to movement. We also know that moderate- to vigorous-intensity exercise “feeds” the brain with oxygen, water, and glucose, optimizing its performance. Moreover, young children need to physically experience concepts in order to best understand them!

Q: With the recent focus on childhood obesity, what can teachers do in the classroom tomorrow to help fight this epidemic?

Teachers can accept that they’re responsible for the whole child and that childhood obesity is something we all need to help fight. In the classroom, that means teachers should:

• Utilize substantial chunks of what is set aside for circle time for movement.
• Take movement breaks throughout the day, some of which incorporate moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (like walking briskly or running in place, pretending to be in a track meet).
• Incorporate movement across the curriculum and during transitions!

Q: Much of your focus is on helping parents understand the importance of physical activity for their children. How much physical activity should children get each day?

The National Association for Sport & Physical Education has created guidelines on physical activity for young children. The document is called Active Start, and I was privileged to have been on the original task force that created it.

The guidelines state that preschoolers should accumulate at least 60 minutes a day of structured physical activity and a daily minimum, and up to several hours, of unstructured physical activity. Unfortunately, I don’t know any children who are getting that much!

Q: In your book Great Games, the focus is on non-competitive games for young children. Some say that removing competition from a young child’s life might hurt their future since, as adults, we’re faced with competition for things such as college admissions and future employment. How would you respond to the notion that getting young children used to a competitive adult environment is appropriate?

When one “competes” for college admissions and future employment, he or she doesn’t even know who the competition is. The best an individual can do is to bring his or her best self—his or her poise and confidence—to the situation. I believe that cooperative movement experiences contribute to a child’s poise and confidence—and to a life in which they consider and respect others.

Yes, there is competition in life, but we behave as though there are only, say, six A’s to go around in the classroom and we must engage in hand-to-hand combat to get one of them! We also behave as though cooperation and collaboration are not an enormous part of life—when we clearly have to cooperate with life partners, family members, coworkers, and community members. How do children learn to cooperate and collaborate when we expose them only to competitive activities—to activities in which they are pitted against one another?

When children engage in cooperative activities, one of the great benefits is that they learn to become tolerant of others’ ideas and to accept the similarities and differences among individuals. Does this not contribute more to a child’s future than the misguided notion that he is superior to others?

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