In contrast to the last article I wrote, Scottish Widows Insurance recently published a couple of studies. One says that nearly 2/3 of families with children rely on a double income to make ends meet. In the other report 1/5 of parents and grandparents believe they are not prioritising their children or grandchildren enough.
In Yesterday’s Vancouver Sun there was an article about parent’s spending too much time with their children and how it is good to sometimes put your marriage before your children and go on dates with your partner.
Sigh.
Does the media make anyone else want to scream? I hear by announce that today is International “Give Yourself A Pat On The Back” day. Let’s assume that every parent on the planet is doing the best job that they can. We all have pressures and we all are trying to balance a million things to create the best nurturing environment we can for our children. Today is all about you, the parent, celebrating that you are most likely ignoring the media , following your instincts and doing a great job at developing the next generation.
Here’s to you!
I read an article in the Vancouver Sun recently about the fine line parents walk between providing an enriched education for our children and over scheduling them. The article like so many I read in the paper these days played heavily on the negatives. If you read the article you would believe that parents are mean tyrants who spend their lives dragging their children kicking and screaming from one extra-curricular activity to the next.
The article then goes on to discuss how children in these situations feel pressured and often begin to fall prey to anxiety related illnesses like stomach problems and depression.
Last week I was assisting a friend teach a public speaking class to a room of grade 4 & 5’s. One activity we had them do was ask their neighbour what they did last night and what they will do tonight. They then stood in front of the room to relate what they had heard.
The results were interesting to hear. 1/3 where what I would describe as very busy – by very busy I mean that they didn’t just have one activity after school. “Karate then Choir” as one girl put it. 1/3 were moderately busy – they just had one activity after school and the remaining 1/3 said that they played with video games last night and planned to play video games tonight.
It’s hard to figure out a balance of up time and down time for your child. Especially when your child clamours to take part in every opportunity that wafts past. Each child is different, two activities a night may not be appropriate for many children, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not appropriate for some. Obviously the answer is to watch your child and follow his or her cues.
Don’t discount the power of unstructured play time. Children learn through play and need to spend a lot of time playing without adult intervention, preferably with other children. Through this chaos they learn order and practice the skills they will need as adults – sharing, patience, diplomacy etc.
One thing though…the less time a child spends in creative play, the harder it will be for them to get started. You can assist by providing props – a costume box or a puppet, something to help them start Imagineering.
So what’s the best schedule for a child? One that is balanced between fun activities and free creative time. Listen to your child, but do push for some free time even if your child resists a little.
Happy Family Literacy Day every one!
Here’s a fun idea to celebrate – find a well loved book that has the same number of characters as there are in your family and have a family play. It doesn’t matter if you have an audience or not, as I guarantee that most of the fun will be in the preparations. Costumes are a must, the best ones are scavenged from around the house.
I remember doing this as a kid. My much older brother landed the part of a bee (I seem to remember that it was the main protagonist). As his only line was to say “Buzz” he made a comic strip type bubble out of card and wrote “Buzz” in it. I thought that it was wonderful!
One great way of introducing a new skill, routine or activity with your child is to make a photo story book about it. I just made a “Day-In-The-Life-Of” story book as a bit of fun for my son. It was really easy, over several days (it would have taken a day, but I kept forgetting) I took photos of him doing the things he does during the day. For example: Waking up, eating, playing, bath time etc then I printed them and put them in a dollar store photo album. As he is the main character in the book he absolutely loves “reading” it.
This type of story book can be really great if you are trying to work on a routine. For example, if you are trying to instigate a bedtime routine to help your child go to bed more easily/quickly, take pictures of your child going through the parts of the routine. Enlisting your child to help put the photos in the right order helps embed the process as well as “reading” the story regularly. Just beware, once you do this, you won’t get away with making any variances from the routine!
Another fun thing to do with these picture stories is practice sequencing – a good thing to practice before your child starts kindergarten. Going through first, then, next and last with your child both using pictures and physically around the house will help your child understand typical instructions she will get from her Kindergarten teacher. For example: First hang up your coat, then wash your hands, and lastly sit at the table.
Photo books have a huge range of applications and are great because they are easy to make and kids love having a book written all about them. If you have any other uses for them feel free to add a comment.
Dr Marian Diamond from Berkeley University has spent her life studying the brain. She was the first person to take samples of Einstein’s brain and compare them to samples of other brains to try to unlock the secrets to Einstein’s remarkable intelligence.
Diamond has a 5 step system to increase intelligence in both adults and children. Interestingly enough the steps are simple…no brain surgery required.
1. Diet: A healthy diet feeds the brain as much as the body.
2. Exercise: Exercise builds better brain cells.
3. Challenge: Children don’t have to worry about this as they are still discovering so much of the world. Adults can get stuck in a rut, when was the last time you challenged yourself?
4. Newness: We have what is called a “Reticular Formation” which is the name of the nerve system that runs through the spine and is fed by all the nerves in the body. It loves new sensations and feelings. New stimulations are fed directly to the brain.
5. Love: An underestimated but very important part of everyday life.
Announcing the birth of Alexander Benjamin Lott – Born August 14 2009. Weighing in at 7lbs 12oz.
Me – Happy, but absolutely exhauste
d after 50 hrs of labour.
Multi Sensory Learning has been a buzz word in education for decades now. It sounds very serious but few people know about the benefits it can offer.
What is Multi Sensory Learning?
Multi Sensory Learning is very simply learning through all the 5 senses. If you teach any one a concept through sound, sight, feel, smell and taste the chances of them ever forgetting it are very small. For example lets take something boring like fractions.
Sound: First explain what half and a quarter is to your child.
Sight: Take an apple and cut it into half and a quarter
Feel: Allow your child to cut up other pieces of fruit into fractions.
Smell: Take three glasses of water. Using vanilla essence measure out three servings into the three glasses using fractions. How different do they smell?
Taste: Taste the difference between the three glasses.
Do you have to use all the senses all the time?
No, some senses are harder to engage than others. Try to engage as many senses as is natural for the topic you are working on.
Isn’t Multi Sensory Learning used mainly for children with learning challenges?
Multi Sensory Learning has been very successful in teaching children with learning challenges. However it’s uses are much wider than that, it is a great tool for teaching any one any thing – I like to use it to teach adults concepts too. One thing it does is get you to think much more creatively about the topic you are explaining. Taking any thing out of a text book and into 5D is much more engaging and in the long run easier for you. A little more effort at the front end equals less time going over topics and re explaining old topics when you are trying to build on them.
Next time you are looking to explain a concept, try to think in 5D (using your 5 senses!) For information on a Multi Sensory literacy program see the rest of my website.
There are some great computer or internet based literacy games out there. They are fun, interactive and quite amusing, small doses are a great way to add another dimension to your child’s learning.
A while back I spent a fair bit of time in a down town east side school here in Vancouver and one of the things I did was take the kids for computer time. Over a period of time I made a couple of observations which I’d like to share.
- Computer time is a really fun time, kids really enjoy it and do an amazing job of figuring it all out (usually before I have)
- Computer programs are very graphically designed. Kids can enjoy the games by clicking on lots of stuff but without reading the screen. If your child is just starting to read, it would be a good idea to sit with your child while they play computer games and encourage them to read the screen.
- Computer programs can be very controlling. Your child will often find the easy route through the games instead of engaging their brain. An example of this was a story that could be read, but if the child was stuck then they could click on the word and the computer would pronounce it for them. The kids I was working with didn’t realise that they were supposed to be reading the words themselves. Instead they were labouriously clicking on every word and waiting for the computer to pronounce it. Once your child is reading, keep an eye on them while they are playing computer games to make sure that they are using them in a way that has some educational benefit.
- Sometimes computer games can overstimulate a child to some extent. They begin to click away fast and change games without playing and finishing one. If this happens, you will need to step in and turn off the games for a while. Next time, you will need to direct your child into playing one or two games only.
I’m very pregnant right now and have been reading a lot about slow birthing on Jacquie Munroe’s Blog and it has made me think a lot about slow parenting and the slow movement in general.
We’ve heard it all before “life’s too busy, we need to slow down and smell the roses.” We all agree, but we just find it hard to find the time to slow down. Speaking as a typical A-type personality I certainly didn’t have the time to slow down until pregnancy forced it upon me. But here I am and I have been thinking a lot about “Slow Parenting”
So what is Slow Parenting?
Slow Parenting is about trusting that your child is the best person to be in charge of their own development. By that I mean trusting that your child will explore and develop at the pace that is right for them. Slow Parenting allows children to engage in creative play with what ever is to hand (cardboard boxes, dolls, climbing frames etc) instead of filling the child’s schedule with organised sports, music lessons and dance classes. Sure these things are great, just every thing in moderation as every one needs down time.
Slow Parenting is about really spending time with your kids, it could be as simple as making an extra special dinner together or you could have fun playing some games together. See my website for learning games that you can play with your child.
If you’re like me, you probably agree that this is a great idea but wonder where you will find the time for all this. That’s ok, you don’t need to be an Uber Slow Parent overnight. Try one thing and see if it works for you and your child, then try another. There’s no need to rush into Slow Parenting.
Reading like any new learned skill can get quite rusty after a summer off. Here are some tips to keep your kids in practice over the long hot summer months.
- Take a digital camera with you on a day out with your kids. The next day print off the photos and help your child make a book telling the story of the day out. This book can be read by your child when ever he/she wants to read it.
- A fun variation on this is for your and your child to spend the day photographing a favourite toy in various places and poses around your neighbourhood, you can build this into quite an adventure story!
- Check out your local library for events. There is bound to be lots of kid friendly activities on over the summer, while you are there spend some time together in the kids section and help your child pick out some books to take home and read. Don’t worry too much about trying to find books that are challenging. Kids learn a lot about the enjoyment of reading from books that they can pick up and read fluently by them selves.
- Cook together – and get your child to read the recipe. Even better – turn your baking into a pretend cafe and have your child make up some menu’s and signs.
- Any time you are in a restaurant together this summer, let your child read the menu and pick their own meal.
- Planning a road trip? Make a bingo board out of road signs and place names that you think you will see on the way. When your child sees the sign then they cross off the matching words on the bingo board.
- More on that road trip – give your child a map before hand and let him/her plan the route.
- Do you have parents that live out of town? Have them email your child and let your child return the emails.
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