The importance of being little : what preschoolers really need from grownups / Erika Christakis.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [305]-364) and index.

Little learners : the classroom called childhood -- Goldilocks goes to daycare : finding the right zone for learning -- Natural born artists : the creative powers of childhood -- The search for intelligent life : un-standard learning -- Just kidding : the fragmented generation -- Played out : habitat loss and the extinction of play -- Stuffed : navigating the material world -- The secret lives of children : fear, fantasy, and the emotional appetite -- Use your words : hearing the language of childhood -- Well connected : the roles grownups play -- Hiding in plain sight : early learning and the American Dream.

Parents of young children today are in crisis: pick the "wrong" preschool and your child won't get into the "right" college. Christakis believes we have confused schooling with learning: children are hardwired to learn in any setting, but they punch below their weight when "learning" is defined by strict lessons and dodgy metrics that devalue a child's intelligence. Here, she explores what it's like to be a young child in America today, in a world designed by and for adults.