Arts As A Distraction In EC Curriculum?

A perpetuated view of arts as a distraction which gets in the way of more serious curriculum subjects (referred to literacy and numeracy) has confronted early childhood teachers with the different perceptions of what is the best curriculum subjects to provide to the children to enhance their learning. These bring forth the need for teachers to be able to vier away from that view and instead to constantly re-define arts knowledge and re-evaluate our practices, in order to support children through the process and have confidence in children as artist.

My own pedagogy understanding which runs parallel with the Reggio Emilia approach, believes that we need to provide opportunity for children to act and explore, by giving them "the freedom to express their own ideas in the ways they thought best"(quoted from Loughran's "An artist among young artists: A lesson for teachers). Forcing literacy and numeracy through reading and writing as the main and most important curriculum subject maybe developmentally inappropriate experiences for these early years children. It may only cause distraction to their learning interest and even leads to frustration, and will give them a negative impression about school later on.