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‘The Happiest Preschool’ teaches toddlers it’s OK to be sad or anxious

Preschool students play with cars. (Courtesy of Martha Heineman Pieper)
Preschool students play with cars. (Courtesy of Martha Heineman Pieper)

A psychotherapist is advocating for preschools to take a different approach to supporting young children to benefit their emotional well-being. Martha Heineman Pieper suggests some of the traditional ways toddlers are being taught to cope in classrooms is not age-appropriate.

She joins Here & Now’s Deepa Fernandes to talk about solutions from her new book “The Happiest Preschool: How to Create a Classroom Culture of Caring, Cooperation, Creativity, Learning and Emotional Health.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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