The Joy Of Learning

Do not let your children hold the car keys

Do you still remember the news of a van driver who accidentally left a six year old girl in a van parked in the heat and the girl died of dehydration? The girl apparently fell asleep at the back seat of the van and the driver didn’t notice she was still there because he was in a hurry to rush off. He came back to the van about an hour later to find the girl dead.

Despite of all this news, I saw a mother who left her toddler alone in a locked car with engine running while she went into the bank for about 5 minutes! Her toddler was climbing back and forth from the front seat to the back seat while her mother was away! It was so dangerous!!

You should never leave your child alone in the car unattended nor let your child holds the car keys. Have you heard about the story of a mother who had her child accidentally locked in a car parked in the heat? What happened was : she put her child with the keys at the back seat, between the time of shutting the back door and opening the front door, the little child pushed the “lock” button!

So, always make sure that you have everything ready before putting your children into the car. You should keep the car keys out of reach from your child and keep spare keys of your car and your house as well!!

Your children need your presence more than your present

Many parents are working very hard making a living or to better the financial future of the family. Jobs, business and other activities may be the reasons they cannot spend a lot of time with their children.

Many parents would try to give everything their children want to lessen their guilty feeling. Compensating them materially for not spending enough time with your little ones though seems fine right now but it may backfire in the long run.

It’s understandable that we might have a demanding job, or we need to work hard to be able to support the family. But, your kids need you to be there when they grow up. Children of course love presents but, your presence is actually more important. It may not seem urgent to spend time with your child right now, it’s precious time that no amount of money and designer jewelry can buy it back.

Books are best gifts for children

As a little girl, whenever I am asked what present I would like for my birthday, my answer has always been “Books!”. Books were all I need to immerse and drown in the beautiful world of the story, or to allow myself to think hard trying to understand what’s being read.

I enjoy reading so much that it influences my younger siblings, they grew up reading all my book collections and inherited my habit of splurging big portion of salary on books. The best gifts I have ever received are books. In fact, the gifts I would buy for children are books.

What about you? Have you bought a book for yourself or your beloved kids this week? The next time when your children receive birthday invitations from their friends, get them some of their favorite books !

Read aloud with your 3 or 4 years old

Reading aloud with your three or four year old is an excellent way to help him to widen his knowledge and augment his cognitive ability. Your child will learn and get used to talk intelligently and think structurally.

At this age, your child would start asking you lots of question. One day he may ask you “what is CAT6?” and the next day “Where do I come from?”. You might find difficulties in answering some of those. What should you do? Just tell him that you don’t know the answer and invite him to look for it in books, magazines or encyclopedia. It is also a good way to ‘teach’ kids that books are important without having to preach about it. In another word, you are modeling the habit of looking into books for information.

Montessori 101-basic information every Montessori parent should know

Not all Montessori schools are created the same, especially not all Montessori that called themselves Montessori are true to the philosophy of Montessori education.

As parents who are going to pay good money for a Montessori education, it’s important that you educate yourself on what is Montessori, so that you get what you pay for and your child gets what he deserves.

You may find this “Montessori 101” helpful in giving you some basic information that you should know so that you can differentiate the pearls from fish eyes. :-)

Wean your child off thumb sucking or pacifier

Thumb-sucking pushes the top jaw forward and the bottom jaw backward, which can cause jaw misalignment and malformation over time. Also, a baby’s thumb can be dirty, which introduces bacteria into the mouth that could cause illness. It can also be a tough habit to break since a baby’s thumb is always handy.

Some people might discourage thumb sucking by giving the baby a pacifier. But then you need to wean your baby off a pacifier too as prolonged use of a pacifier can change the shape of your baby’s growing jaw, and also increase the chance of ear infections.

Instead of using the conventional pacifier, the Michael Olaf Montessori Company sells a product called the “Perfect Pacifier”. It has various nubs all over it for holding/sucking. When the infant needs non-nutritive sucking, the parent needs to hold it in place until the child can hold it on his own. This way, it is used only when the child’s needs are to be met. Don’t you think it’s a better idea than a typical pacifier that is constantly in the child’s mouth?

Children and chores

When it comes to kids and chores, many parents have low expectations. They would say:

“My children are too young to do chores,”

or

“I don’t want to rob them of their childhood by making them work.”

Others would rather avoid conflict:

“They protest and resist when I do assign chores, and it’s easier to just do the job myself.”

Can you relate?

It’s important to teach children responsibility, self-discipline and character through work. In fact, when children start to show interest to help and want to do things on their own when they are about 2 1/2 years old, we should bank on the eagerness to start the training instead of discouraging him.

Children who ask questions

Parents often get really impatient with the endless whys and hows their little ones throw at them. Especially if they are exhausted after a hard day at work or have plenty of house chores to catch up with.

Children are naturally curious and inquisitive, we should be proud that they are asking all this intelligent questions, that show they are observant and smart. If you don’t know the answers, do not just yell at them or just sit there. Be a resourceful parent, and be as smart as your child. Grab a book, search on the net, they are many things you can do!

Teenagers often complain that their parents don’t know ANYTHING! If you do not care to help your child finding answers to his questions, one day he will tell you to search on Google before asking dumb questions.