Betsy-Tacy

By Maud Hart Lovelace

Copyright 1949

This edition 1979

Betsy and Tacy are two little girls who meet just before Betsy’s fifth birthday.  Tacy moves in across the street and soon the two girls are nearly inseparable.  Not long after, when Tib moves in down the block, the three become best friends.  There are 10 Betsy-Tacy books in all, starting at age five, following through to Betsy’s wedding.  These books are semi-autobiographical and to this day, you can go to the town of Mankato in Minnesota and see Betsy’s and Tacy’s homes.

 

What struck me upon rereading this first book is the freedom the children have to play.  There are no organized sports, no drilling on sight words or math facts, no after school clubs or lessons.  In one of my favorite chapters, Betsy and Tacy opened up a sand store.  Inspired by the building of an addition onto Betsy’s house, the girls used extra sand from the mason and colored it with leftover dye from Easter eggs.  After filling clean glass jars with layers of the colored sand, the girls set up a market in an old wooden piano box.  Most of their stock was sold for pins, but one fetched a whole 5 cents!  The idea was completely their own and from start to finish, they were in control of the project.   

 

While there was no formal instruction, the friends learned valuable lessons on business, customer service, problem solving and math.  This is how five-year-olds should be learning still - no matter what the kindergarten classroom looks like today, with play centers gone in favor of desks and chairs and playtime and recess losing out to extra reading instruction.  What studies show repeatedly is that play is how young children learn best.  Let’s start paying attention to what the children need, rather than trying to force facts into their heads before they’re ready.  Just let the little children play!