The Country School is an independent, coeducational, Pre-K through 8 school founded in 1934.
News
Distracted Parenting
Mr. Mufson recommends that parents set aside their electronics to be truly present with their children.
A summer issue of The Atlantic included an article with a provocative title: “The Dangers of Distracted Parenting.” Erika Christakis began the piece like this: “Smartphones have by now been implicated in so many crummy outcomes — car fatalities, sleep disturbances, empathy loss, relationship problems… — that it almost seems easier to list the things they don’t mess up than the things they do. Even so, emerging research suggests that a key problem remains under-appreciated: more than screen-obsessed young children, we should be concerned about tuned-out parents.”
The article notes that, despite dual careers and all sorts of busyness, although parents actually spend more time with their children than almost any other parents in history, “the engagement between parent and child is increasingly low quality, even ersatz. Parents are constantly present in their children’s lives physically, but they are less emotionally attuned.” Linda Stone, a technology expert the article introduces, labels this phenomenon “continuous partial attention.” She maintains that our “new parental-interaction style can interrupt an ancient emotional cueing system whose hallmark is responsive communication, the basis of most human learning.”
Christakis goes on to note that what researchers call the “serve and return style of communication,” or the “conversational duet” has marked parent-child interactions for centuries and is responsible for essential, varied, and substantial early learning. She affirms that “language is the single best predictor of school achievement.” But, she maintains that much of this critical early learning gets interrupted and compromised when parents regularly engage in activities like checking their messages or Instagram. She also notes that “as smartphone adoption rose, childhood ER visits increased.”
Beyond lost early learning opportunities and physical danger lurk what parental disengagement communicates to children about what is most important — an incoming text more than a child’s bid for attention, virtual communication rather than human interaction and connection. Ultimately, Christakis thinks we need to sit up and consider this: “We seem to have stumbled into the worst model of parenting imaginable — always present physically, thereby blocking children’s autonomy, yet only fitfully present emotionally.”
Recent News
List of 5 news stories.
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Kindergarten Students Serving Others!
Kindergarteners have been participating in a 3 part HOHO (Helping Others; Helping Ourselves) project lead by Ferris and Laura Butler. Students packed boxes to be shipped to veterans and their families. The boxeswere filled with child friendly, donated items. Also in the boxes were handwritten letters from the students along with a handmade American flag craft. The Butlers carefully orchestrated this project, and we are very grateful for their time and efforts. -
Spring Athletic Award Winners
Congratulations to all our spring athletics award winners and to all our Cougar athletes who participated in sports and clubs! This spring, TCS offered Boys’ and Girls’ Lacrosse, Pickleball Club, Running Club, and Volleyball Club. Providing so many athletic opportunities took a village—thank you to our amazing coaches, volunteers, and parent drivers for making it all possible! And thank you to our students for setting an example of dedication and sportsmanship!Read More -
Summer Trips for Upper School Students in 2025
It is with great excitement that The Country School announces the addition of 2025 summer trips for our Upper School students!Read More -
The Country School Celebrates 90 Years and Installs Jay Parker
Read MoreThe Country School is proud to be celebrating its 90th school year. This milestone year also marks the beginning of a new chapter with the appointment of Jay Parker as the 7th Head of School. -
Conversation & Homecoming - Saturday, February 24, 2024
Read MoreThe Country School, Talbot County Free Library, and the Avalon Foundation, sponsors, join with fourteen other community organizations to present Conversation & Homecoming with Carole Boston Weatherford and her son, Jeffery Boston Weatherford, a program free and open to all.
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