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cher062
Just moving this topic out of another thread so we don't hijack the post this came from. For those who haven't read that. There was a discussion on camp and the fun of it. Then the discussion morphed a bit to talk about mixing age groups in the camp with young kids say 5 - 8 yo working with older kids in their teens and is that appropriate. S
Everyone does have an opinion on what is appropriate and what is not regarding social, ability and age groupings with kids and I respect what you believe but the reallity on this is there have been many studies on this by many professional in the field and they show that mixed age groups actually are very appropriate and actually the more natural setting. In general regardless of the age gap children, teen etc should always have an adult supervising to some extent to make sure things are going well.
I agree with the benefit of mixed age groups to a degree. My dd was in a Montessori school from the ages of 2 1/2 through kindergarten and did very well in this mixed age group setting. However, I think that the mixed ages can get complicated as the kids get older. Personally, I think it is innappropriate for a 10 year old to be sociallizing (sleep overs and weekend get-togethers) with a 13-14 year old. When kids reach middle school there are many emotional issues that are specific to just their age group that elementary school kids need not be exposed to.
Stepping down now. This is an interesting topic. Maybe we should start a new thread on this topic so that we do not further hijack the OP post on her dd and her camp experience.
Everyone does have an opinion on what is appropriate and what is not regarding social, ability and age groupings with kids and I respect what you believe but the reallity on this is there have been many studies on this by many professional in the field and they show that mixed age groups actually are very appropriate and actually the more natural setting. In general regardless of the age gap children, teen etc should always have an adult supervising to some extent to make sure things are going well.