There are several prominent myths that surround our view, as a society, about children and their behavior. Myths about what they should or should not do, what they need to be healthy and what children learn or should learn. This begins at a very young age.
Here are some common ECE myths, followed by what is fact or research-based instead.
6 Prominent early childhood myths
- Sugar makes children "hyper"
- Toddlers should wear shoes as soon as they start walking
- Children must be punished in order to learn better behaviors and/or be "held responsible"
- Children must eat vegetables
- Children should wear their coats if the adults think they'll be cold
- Children must make eye contact with adults; Otherwise, they are not listening and/or being disrespectful
Over the past several years, the word has gotten out that these statements are actually myths, but I still hear them often enough in the early education field.
Myth #1: Sugar makes children "hyper"
This one just might be the myth that irritates me the most.
Not only because it is a myth, but because our society keeps on perpetuating it in scripts for TV shows, movies and commercials. We see this a lot in shows about families. Inevitably, a child is acting out for some reason, maybe they're excited about just getting back from a birthday party. The parent or adult standing in their vicinity makes a comment such as, "I'm sorry, she's/he's had a little too much sugar," and the show continues on.
I want to yell at the screen, "That's not true! It's a myth!"
Fact: Children are supposed to run around, be excited and talk a lot
I feel as though adults sometimes blame children for things that are not true, or are definitely not their fault. Usually, children are just behaving in the way that children their age are supposed to behave.
Think about yourself. When you eat sugar, do you get hyper? Do you start "climbing the walls," running all around the house talking really fast and basically go "out of control"? Of course not!
Just because children are young, doesn't mean sugar makes them hyper-active. We are humans. Humans do not become "hyper" from eating sugar. Studies show, for some reason, that a big part of this is actually the parents' expectations from hearing this myth, over and over again.
In addition, the children know their parents have this belief, so they tend to behave with extra vigor. That is pretty fascinating, right?
If you feel as though your child is hyper after eating sugar, take a minute to reflect whether they are really "hyper" or are you just feeling that they are for other reasons? Maybe you are trying to get something done and the child is somehow getting in the way, or maybe your patience has run really low, and you need a break.
Myth #2: Toddlers should wear shoes when they start walking
When children first begin walking, many people (friends, and often older relatives) will tell parents to be sure and get a really good pair of shoes. If you remember the store, Stride Rite®, then you probably remember the infant shoes they sold (they might still sell them, but they were really big "back in the day").
The story was that the shoes needed to be firm to provide support for children's developing feet.
Fact: Going barefoot is better for developing feet
Wearing shoes actually restricts a young child's natural foot movement and can also impede their foot arch development, along with development of the muscles in their feet.
A result of restricting footwear at this early stage of a child's development is that the bones of their feet could, eventually, misalign and cause problems or deformations later in life. Young children also tend to walk on the balls of their feet first, not the heels, and shoes cause them to have to walk on their heels first.
Of course, children should wear shoes for health and safety reasons. (It's winter outside!) But it's important to give them time to go barefoot and develop those cute little feet!
Myth #3: Punishment teaches responsible behavior
Early childhood educators and researchers know that young children are still actively developing cognitively, intellectually, socially, emotionally and physically. This early childhood development happens rapidly from infancy to year 5. But despite the general awareness around how children grow, many caregivers and educators still think that punishing a 2- or 3-year-old is a good way to teach boundaries.
A child's brain is 90% developed by age 5. Think about the amount of development happening during that time! Those first 5 years are labeled as "the formative years," for a reason. Brain development is happening so quickly, but due to the age of the child, they are doing the only thing they can do; the only thing they, currently, are able to do when they come up against something.
Child development in these early years has plenty of research and science around it—but still, many people believe that young children learn through punishment.
Fact: Punishment causes more confusion than growth
Infants need to behave in certain ways to survive: They cry when they are wet, hungry, uncomfortable, have tummy-gas, and all the rest. They learn to smile and get a fun reaction out of their parents. A bit after that, they start getting on their hands and knees, rocking, crawling, standing up and finally, being able to walk (some children don't ever crawl- they just go right to standing and walking!).
Children are all so different. They develop at their own pace, and in their own ways. Again, they are only doing the things they know to do; the only things they are able to do at the particular stage of development they are in.
When young children make a mistake (that by the way, we should expect them to make, because of their age and stage of development) why would we spank them for it? Why would we yell at them? Why would we make them feel bad about this expected behavior at all?
When children are yelled at, scolded, spanked or given a time-out (which does not work in the long run)—what will the child walk away with? The resolve to stop making mistakes? How is that helpful?
The answer is, it's not. This type of punishment helps the adult more than the child, to feel that they have control, or to relieve their own emotions.
As humans, our brain has one major goal: To survive. When we are afraid or upset, the area of our brain that helps us to reason, calm down and learn is blocked off by the area that causes us fear.
When we are afraid, we cannot reason, and we cannot learn well, if at all.
Myth #4: Children must eat their vegetables
First, I need to say that there is nothing wrong with introducing children to vegetables. Vegetables are great! If they like them, that is absolutely wonderful.
However, you might hear the message everywhere from early childhood education programs to family holidays that kids need to "eat their vegetables." This element of early education tries to prioritize healthy habits and nutrition, but it causes harm because research supports a wide array of nutrients in plenty of non-vegetable foods.
It makes you wonder if adults believe (on some level) that children should be made to do things they dislike—on principle.
Fact: Children must eat nutrient rich foods, which don't have to be vegetables
There are so many foods that are rich in the vitamins and minerals we get from vegetables, such as beans, fruit, whole grains and poultry.
Why do we insist a child eat vegetables if the child doesn't like them?
Honestly, most children do not like vegetables. It is definitely a thing, isn't it? Have you ever wondered why?
Once again, research on development from an early age can offer an answer. The main reason children dislike vegetables is that young kids have about 10,000 more taste buds on their tongues than adults do. That's right—10,000 more.
Vegetables definitely do not taste good to most kids. We go to such great lengths to try and hide the vegetables in other foods and trick children into eating them. People have even written cookbooks, about labor intensive ways to sneak in more vegetables. Why do we find this necessary when we could just offer other nutritious foods?
An early childhood education important principle is that the relationship children have with their caregivers is essential to their growth. Every day, parents are getting in unnecessary power struggles with their children by trying to coerce them into eating vegetables.
Consider what these experiences might to do a young child's emotional development and their relationships with parents or caregivers.
If the child is old enough to understand that the adult is trying to trick them into eating vegetables, what might that do to their trust of the adult? How might this affect the child's behavior? We need to be thoughtful about situations like this and ask is this necessary?
Myth #5: Children must keep their coats on
They might get sick!
This myth is one that I feel more people understand today than when I was growing up. However, I still hear adults from saying over and over again, "You need to wear your coat or you'll get sick!"
Do you remember being made to wear a coat when you were a child, and that uncomfortable feeling of being hot and sweaty? It's because you weren't cold. So, putting a heavy coat on only made you hot.
Fact: Being cold does not cause viruses
We know that people get "colds" due to viruses, not because their skin contacted cold air. Some research did question if children had weaker immune systems when they were experiencing cold, but all in all it did not support that going outside without a coat had any impact on sickness.
If children are running outdoors and playing, they are likely much warmer than the adults standing around watching—even if it's very cold out. Forcing them to keep their warm coats on when their bodies are hot isn't necessary.
Myth #6: Children should make eye contact to show attention and respect
This myth is something that I have often not understood. First of all, when I told my own children something and felt that they were not listening to me, I would ask them, "Can you repeat to me what I just said, so I know you heard me?" That's easy. No stress for anyone, and all is well.
If I were to say, "Look me in the eyes when I'm talking to you," especially in an angry tone, I would likely get a negative response. All that does is heighten tension.
Fact: Eye contact is not required to pay attention
There is no evidence that says if we don't make eye contact with someone, we lose the ability to hear or understand what they are saying. In fact, in some cultures, it is disrespectful to look adults in the eye when being spoken to (more on respect in a minute). This is when the not listening often turns into the adult feeling that the child is being disrespectful.
Here's a fact about respect. It is a higher-order thinking skill that children just don't have yet. Gabriel Young, PhD. says, "Abstract concepts like respect, have no meaning to kids...and it cannot be forced."1
To teach them respectful behavior, stop worrying about eye contact and teach them to put their toys away when they are done playing, put their dishes in the dishwasher or say please and thank you. And understand they won't really understand what the concept of respect means until later.
Critical thinking is so important in ECE
Saying something (or hearing something 50 times) doesn't make it true. Thinking that children must do something or "be" a certain way can be really frustrating when the children are, naturally, not that way.
A lot of the information, traditions and practices with parenting and educating young children are based on beliefs or assumptions that are not true. ECE students earning early childhood education degrees are often astonished at how much there is to know about how children’s brains grow and how much easier their education and care can be when you work in tandem with their development.
Early childhood education facts can be hard to sift out from years of tradition and repeated myth. It's vital that educators, parents and anyone who works with young children think critically about the messages they've internalized. Check out 5 Reasons the Importance of Early Childhood Education Is Impossible to Ignore to see why.
Rasmussen University ECE programs do not prepare students for licensed teaching positions in any public school setting, but students will have the opportunity to help shape the futures of young children from birth to age six in a childcare or non-public school setting or leadership role.
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1Young, Gabriel (November 28, 2022) Why Kids Don't Show “Respect,” Psychology Today, [accessed 11/6/2024], https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shrink-mindset/202211/why-kids-dont-show-respect.
