Want to Raise a Bright Child?

Parent’s want to raise bright and intelligent children. So often both parents are working and dealing with the resulting busy schedules. It’s no wonder parents are tempted to seek out and turn t turned to “quick” fixes like the Baby Einstein tapes, etc. But the problem that remains with such a tempting time saving solution is that we know children learn best when they are actively involved with their environment. How does a passive activity like watching a video that provide for this essential developmental requirement.

I am constantly confronted by parents asking, Wouldn’t my two to five-year-old child “learn” more if they were in a school “classroom” environment? A teacher certainly can impart knowledge of the ABC’s. Children will absorb that kind of knowledge, and it’s certainly true that children can practice writing letters and numbers they’ve learned in such lessons.

But don’t jump on the “classroom instruction” band wagon quite so quickly. I can’t tell you many times proud parents have told me that their children know the alphabet and numbers and that we should therefore really treat their children as if they are very much advanced in their development. But then while pointing to a letter I ask the child, “What is this letter?” far too often the child replies” I don’t know.” When I’ve held up two fingers and asked “How many fingers am I holding up?” the child will answer, “I don’t know.”

A child’s ability to recite letters and numbers is not an indication that the child knows and understands the meaning of the letters and numbers they can recite. In order to read a child has to recognize not only the the letters but the sounds they make and how those symbols and sounds can be made into the groups of letters from which words are formed.

Remember, letters are shapes. Therefore, a thorough understanding of and the ability to recognize shapes is an extremely important prerequisite to learning letters and numbers. Blocks, parquetry, and puzzles are the sorts of manipulative materials that provide children in active participation with shapes help children. These physical activities provide children with active, multi-sensory learning experiences. It’s the same principal as an adult learning dance steps by actually dancing than by watching someone on TV dancing. There is no substitute for being in the game.

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Tagged as: Baby-Einstein, Child Development, classroom-instruction, manipulative-materials, Miscellaneous, raise-a-bright-child, recognize-shapes