Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

How do I know if I am doing enough with Jack? We play together throughout the day, I read to him, but I have to say - I do not sit there and say "RED CIRCLE" --- should I be? Are there things I can do to "teach" him things? I don't want him to be behind bc he is home with me and not around other children at daycare.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

Neither do I. I think of day to day activies as a learning experience. Even just listening to you and your DH everyday. I hate to admit this, but Luka has picked up so much from Noggin. Yesterday he said his first sentence which was "I wanna go home" (we were heading home from the mall) .
Just by you playing with him and telling him what you are doing you are teaching.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

what I try to do is use words for everything. Like if I am going to pick her up I will say "do you want to come UP?"

If I am taking her out of the tub, I will say "do you want to come OUT?"

etc

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

Posted by Seles81

Neither do I. I think of day to day activies as a learning experience. Even just listening to you and your DH everyday. I hate to admit this, but Luka has picked up so much from Noggin. Yesterday he said his first sentence which was "I wanna go home" (we were heading home from the mall) .
Just by you playing with him and telling him what you are doing you are teaching.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

D, I would just verbalize more things you do.

time to eat
we are eating xxx
time for diaper
time for bed
and when you walk around the house talk to him on what you are doing, where you are going and what you see.

I say Sofia see the mirror and stand next to it. ahh I like hearing my own voice..

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

That's what edumacational toys are for, no???

I sing to Alex a lot, we talk to Scout, and I speak to her in Spanish almost all of the time. Poor kid is never going to talk, she'll be so confused!

Message edited 2/11/2008 11:27:33 AM.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

Did I teach them? Yes, sometimes formally; other times informally.

He's learning by watching you. When you talk to him & say "Now we go up the stairs..",he's learning "stairs", he's learning to communicate with you.

Now is the time because they soak everything up.

Babies can learn sign language & communicate earlier than babies that are trying to learn how to speak. They learn the sign for food, drink, etc.

I had flashcards with Joseph & did them often. Nothing floored me more than when I held up a card & he pointed to the body part. Remember words are "symbols" to them so they can sight-read at an early age.

With Maddie, I didn't do it because well, second child syndrome . There is a difference in intellect between my two. While I'm not sure it has to do with flashcard, I do think a lot of it has to do with having the time to read, etc & not have her brother horn in on her learning.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

we look at books that have photos of real life things- and I point to the items and name them.
For animals I point to the animal and say the cat says meow, etc etc... so far she knows that the cat meows, the dog woofs, the cow moos, the bear grrssss, and the duck quacks.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

I do the animal sounds - we have animals that make the sounds and I will go over it with him when we are playing.

Barb - when do you think I should start the fflashcards? Now? He is 7 months?

I def. talk him through everything throughout the day - and with whatever we are doing.

Some good ideas here - keep 'em coming!

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

Message edited 2/11/2008 11:32:47 AM.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

like everyone else said, regular daily activities/speaking, etc is teaching him...

when you play with is toys, just start saying those things...like red circle, blue square etc...

I would def start with the flashcards... DD knew a whole set of flashcards by the time she was 9 months...

Like Barb said, now with #2, who knows if she will ever learn, sit up or crawl since she is always in her bouncy with a paci while I deal with Syd

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

Personally, I really dislike flashcards for children who are very young. They may be useful for those who are in the school age years, but there are so many everyday things you can do with DS now that don't require flashcards and are more fun than flashcards. Sorry if I offend anyone who uses them, but this is JMO.

Instead of showing him a flashcard with a red circle, show him something ordinary, like a tomato and talk about the color and shape. Or show him pictures in a book. Talk to him when you go grocery shopping or walking through the neighborhood about the things you are passing. Also about objects around the house.

I'm doing this with my 2 month old, and I know he doesn't understand what I'm saying, but I think it's good for him to see things and hear me speak.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

I agree...he is learning by watching you. As you explain your day to him he absorbs it all.

We do a lot of counting with Lucas. When we set the alarm we count 1-2-3-4-5 (as we punch the real code). I also use the window blinds for open and close. Now when we walk past them he gets all excited and when he plays with the FP house and the door opens and closes he looks at me for the window.

So long as you are talking to him throughout the day and explaining your world to him...it becomes his and he will really absorb and understand.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

I am ALWAYS talking. I feel like I never shut up!

If we are in the house, I explain everything I am doing to her. If we are outside, I tell her everything we see. If the music is on, I try to teach her different moves "raise the roof, boogie woogie, etc." When she was really little, I didnt point out the right names for everything like red circle but when she hit like 10 months, I started to.

Now if we read a book, its about pointing all those things out. She rarely wants to listen to the whole story so I make up my own, pointing out objects in the book. She has picked up on a lot. As we transition from one thing to another, I tell her what we are going to do. I tell her we are going to take a bath and she knows to go to the bathroom. When I tell her we need to change her diaper, she goes and gets one for me. If I tell her that we are going bye bye in the car, she will get her hat.

I talk more now than I EVER did before. I am not into flash cards or things like that because I think speech through every day life works better for a young child. She has a long time to use educational tools in her life and right now I just find that she learns more through day to day activities.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

I try to "explain" things I'm doing, like OP have said...saying "want to come UP"...and I'm getting good with "No no no Bella!" Since she's been crawling, it's all about the dog food I point a lot out to her and read.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

I talk to my daughter a lot , tell her what I am doing, read to her, sing to her a lot, counting songs, abc songs,head and shoulder songs and so on, I also talk to her in Georgian all day when my DH isn't home(b/c he doesn't speak Georgian) so they learn.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

as a kindergarten teacher, you'd be surprised at how many kids come in not knowing their colors - please use color words when ur child grows up such as - put your blue shirt on or get the yellow hat from the closet - just those little things can make a big impact.

i agree w/the counting - you can count steps you take, or count as you drive. repeat rhyming words aloud and as the child grows play rhyming games in the car.

its never too early :)

i also agree w/the pp, talk everything out :) ur doing a great job mamma

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

I count everything also.

I will start with the colors when I am dressing him.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

I think everything you do is teaching your child! They pick up on everything you do! I do a lot of modelling with words to increase his vocabulary, but thats the only conscious thing I do!

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

Diana - I've been doing simple signing with Ale for about 3 months now. I have no idea if she gets it yet, but I do it for "eat" "sleep" "drink" "more" "no more".

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

I spell things out for him all the time. I learned that from my mom, who would always spell out words when she didn't want me to know what was going on.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

I know it's controversial or whatever, but I do believe the Baby Einstein DVDs help a lot.

He LOVES My First Signs and Baby Van Gogh (colors) and he does seem to get some things from that.

When we play I reinforce all of that by repeating and helping.

I count incessantly (we have 12 stairs in our house...everyday!) and I chat with him.

And I kind of do everything a little "bigger". Big head nods, big arm movements, etc.

Re: Are there things you do to "Teach" your children?

What about if you sing 80's music to your son?
We do this often