Toddlers and preschoolers need time to let all the amazing things they are learning settle in. They need alone time with their thoughts. If we are directing their every move, especially in play, they don’t get that. They don’t get to create things, scenarios, sentences in their own mind. This contributes to rebellion (crappy behavior) in the moment, but the consequences are even worse as they get older. Kids who have been directed their entire lives won’t be able to think critically in the later years of childhood.
