One of the bloggers I began to follow early in my blogging life was Whymommy, at Toddler Planet a scientists turned stay-at-home mom.
Her posts posed questions many thinking moms ask…
My question is, how can we use this new obsession (balls) to foster inquiry and curiousity in the child?So far, we’ve talked about colors, and started to “pick up the red ball” when asked. He can name the parts of the elephant on the side of it. …(should we) Count the balls? Sort them by color? Talk about big and little, since the beach ball keeps ending up in the pit too? What else?Or should I just stop thinking for a minute and let him enjoy playing in his own way?
or offered suggestions….
I see posts all the time looking for a new (or easy, or inexpensive) way to store all those toys and books that our toddlers seem to accumulate. Today I’d like to suggest the following homemade solution
Or drew upon her scientific background to analyze news reports…
So I clicked over to the source to find out. The initial article was published in The Telegraph (London). Perfectly respectable paper, right? So the facts are clear, right?Let’s read a little closer. The first line of the article says:“Women who use make-up on a daily basis are absorbing almost 5lb of chemicals a year into their bodies, it is claimed.”Whoa, there! It is claimed? Who claims it? How? Who performed the study? Were the results published in a refereed journal? Who funded the study, and what did they have to gain from the results?
Now sadly, her posts have taken a turn and the focus of her blog has changed…
So today is the first day after the 3 days I’ve given myself to recover from my first chemo treatment. That means that today I want to accomplish something. I feel a real urgency to do something about all this, and to spread the word about inflammatory breast cancer to the next woman.
and...
I’ve tried to explain to 2 year old Widget that Mommy has very short hair now, and wears hats, and I’m still the same Mommy. That soon Mommy will have REALLY short hair, or no hair, like baby Little Bear!
And then succinctly…
This wasn’t supposed to be a cancer blog.
But then again, I wasn’t supposed to get cancer.
But then she did.
While every mother worries about her children and every cancer patient worries about themselves, mothers bear a special burden, worrying about both…perhaps a bit more about their children as offspring of a cancer patient. Whymommy shares her intimate thoughts with us and helps me at least to put my own concerns into perspective.
Please check out her blog and her post on Inflammatory Breast Cancer.
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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Why Mommy? Why?
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Creative
Creativity courtesy the absence of X-box, game boy or TV..
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Thursday, July 19, 2007
Reasons to Limit TV - What to Tell the Relatives!
Just a quick list of reasons to limit TV from Truce - and one from me!
Since many of you already limit TV - I offer these quick rejoinders for use with relatives and friends. That is, I use many of these reasons when confronted by those who try (in vain) to convince me that I should let my DS watch more TV. In answer to their glib pronouncements that I need to “lighten up”, I find it helpful to return with one of these points.
Should I wish to be particularly catty, I target the response - #4 to Moms with children with slightly overweight children and # 1 to those who lament their children’s tendency to spurn books…then of course I must run off to confession – so I try to avoid that. But, it is tempting!
On the other hand, I can address pet peeves of relatives and friends by responding with one of these. To my relatives who value children who focus...# 2 - to those that value articulate children - #3.
So, here is my list of responses to the question, " Why don't you let your child/children watch TV?"
Start with, "Well, research says that...."
1. They spend less time reading.
2. They have shorter attention spans.
3. Their vocabulary is not as highly developed.
4. They snack excessively while watching TV.
5. They see food in programs and ads that promote unhealthy eating choices.
6. They tend to exercise less.
7. Children as young as 1 year old learn behaviors from television.
8. Children imitate actions and scripts from TV programs instead of creating their own play ideas.
9. Children under the age of 6 cannot tell the difference between an ad and a show.
10. Children are encouraged to nag their parents for things they see on TV.
11. Children learn to see violence as an acceptable form of play and way to solve problems.
12. Entertainment violence is stored in the brain as if it were a real experience. This “memory” can negatively affect behavior.
13. It’s difficult to monitor programs children watch when 375 channels are available!
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Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Making Shade Stay – Beach Umbrella Holder
If you are spending a fair amount of time at the beach, as I am this year, you probably have invested in a beach umbrella. No longer a sun worshipper, I now trek to the beach loaded with hats, sunscreen and my large beach umbrella.
Unfortunately, I also spend a significant amount of time chasing after my umbrella as it dislodges itself from the sand and spins its way, bumping and bouncing, down the beach. Despite my best efforts, including bringing a mallet to the beach for forceful pounding into the sand, until now I had not found a quick and efficient way of anchoring my umbrella.
Enter the “Sand Screw” – an unfortunate, joke inspiring name, especially in male company. For Moms and kids though, no day on the beach is complete without it. A lightweight plastic umbrella holder, it screws into the sand with a minimum of elbow grease. The large holder fits most umbrella poles and features an adjustable screw that tightens the umbrella into the holder.
I found mine at a local drugstore but, it can also be ordered online at a variety of places including direct from the manufacturer . One warning, though – don’t raise the umbrella too high or it could snap in two at the plastic adjustable joint. I lost one umbrella this way prior to figuring this out!
For more great Works for me Wednesday ideas visit Rocks in My Dryer
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Sunday, July 15, 2007
Why Johnny CAN Add - More or Less - Kids and Arithmetic Learning
OK- Wow. Number sense.
I proceeded to explain ( in more detail than I will go into here) that birthdays, or age, to be exact, indicate how many years one has been on the earth and yes, until one becomes an adult, changes go on each year; children grow and change rapidly each year...blah, blah, blah.
This seemed to satisfy him but got me thinking about how children perceive numbers.
When you or I think of a number, we tend to use “symbolic arithmetic” – that is the symbol that represents the number. Quick, if I say “Thirty six”, did this image “36” come into your head?
Children, especially those that have yet to enter kindergarten and still have a fuzzy grasp of numbers, don’t. They may picture a hand with selected fingers held up, for numbers up to 10 but, most likely picture an array of dots, pennies, rocks, buttons, of no specific number – just a large group of items for numbers higher than ten. And an even larger group for really big numbers…like, say 100.
The implications of this “number sense” could impact they way we teach math in the future as a team of researchers found and published in an article in the journal, Nature recently. Take a Number: Kids show math insights without instruction , proclaims a popular science magazine.
Five-year-olds can come to approximate solutions for addition and subtraction problems even before they formally learn arithmetic, a new study suggests.
The researchers gave the children picture problems involving adding two digit numbers, subtracting numbers and comparing numbers. In one example the following word problem (accompanied by pictures of the items) was given. "Sarah has 51 candies. Paul has 64 cookies. John has 34 candies. Who has more candles, Sarah or John?"
In well over half the cases, children determined, correctly, that Sarah had more. Based on many adults experience with word problems, I wonder how many would have gotten that right?
So what does this mean for math education. I have yet to find a math teacher who has weighed in on this, though I have forwarded the article to Jane at Many Colored Crayons, hoping for her take. The study concluded that:
…by the time they enter kindergarten, … kids can solve addition and subtraction problems involving large numbers if they are prompted to consult their intuitive knowledge of approximate quantities rather than to compute precise solutions.
OK- so does that mean that children understand symbolic numbers up to 10? Therefore, they more or less look for the higher of the two first digits? Does it mean that they have a fuzzy concept of addition, prior to being formally taught?
My take on the study, enhanced by my DS’s questions about numbers is that, children have the capacity to memorize numbers – up to 100 or more, long before they grasp the concept of numbers. That is, counting to 100, for a 2-5 year-old, is similar to “reading’ a favorite book. They memorize the words, but have yet to decode the symbols and don’t actually picture the symbol in their heads as adults do.
Ah ha!
Taking this way of perceiving numbers into consideration can help parents deal with the frustration that can come from working with children just learning arithmetic. Rather than doing anything differently, I can see doing the things I always do with my DS…in a different light. Every time he “doesn’t get it”, looking at how he perceives it, can help me develop a different approach.
For homeschoolers, this type of information on child development can be eye-opening. And in this day and age…we’re all homeschoolers to some extent!
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Saturday, July 14, 2007
Children Show Us Our Shadow
"...all children, and especially teenagers, act as mirrors of their environment and our culture. Children show us our shadow, and teenagers show us both our shadow as parents and the shadow of our culture.
In other words, sometimes the characteristics that we as parents refuse to acknowledge in ourselves, or in our society, can be seen in our children. If we were not allowed to show anger in our childhood, then often our children demonstrate lots of anger and ignite our own. If we were taught to be afraid of anger in our childhood, then our child can control us with outbursts of anger when he or she wants something. "http://waldorf2.intercast-media.com/2005/03/confronting_our_shadow.html
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Self calming - Kids can do it too!
Can you picture this scene in your head? I sure can with me on the receiving end.
Children without these skills are often called bad-tempered, strong willed, or difficult. While parents may encourage children to “calm down” in general the advice is more along the lines of, “be good’, “stop that” or “ 1…2…3…”. While that approach tends to stop the behavior, in the moment, it does little to provide children with the skills they need to become successful, in control, adults.
When children can take control of how they express their feelings, they feel much more in control of their life because they are making the decision about how to respond to a situation. Children will also be able to think more clearly.
As a student of child development, I’m hyperaware of the differences between children and adults; of which behaviors are innate and which need to be taught. Or, at least I’m constantly asking myself which is which!
As a highly excitable young adult but, much calmer mid-lifer, I’m also aware of the some of the techniques that lead to becoming a calmer adult. I just wish someone had taught me earlier!
My DS is luckier. Armed with my studies and the internet, I have in my arsenal a wide variety of techniques to help him . When he acts, “bad-tempered, strong willed, or difficult”, rather than label him as such, I find viewing him as a child in need of some “coping strategies” calms me down enough to provide some.
Here are some of my favorites:
1. Silent Support - allow him to sit quietly, with NO ONE asking, “why, why? What? What? Are you OK? There, there.” I’ve used this since he was an infant whenever he had a “boo-boo”. Once I establish that he is OK, I just sit and hold him quietly until he feels better. Now he has the capacity to run to me or another close adult, and sit silently by himself
2. Oral support – As an infant, it was breast (or pacifier), later anything that would go in his mouth. Now, a fruit pop to suck. For me, as an adult it’s gum or food…maybe you too eat when you are stressed? It’s a great self-calming technique (just don’t eat the whole cake!)
3. Time in - A non- punitive version of Timeout – We’ve never used time out as a punishment, but the whole family has always taken some time alone to calm down. My DS, now 5, routinely walks away to give him self space to calm down. (as opposed to “stomping away” – which, of course he still does sometimes, too – of course, so do I)
4. Deep breathing – A few of my friends use this technique – for themselves and teach it to their children. Starting with, take 5 deep breathes, it can, eventually lead to a form of meditation. It seems to do a great job of a child to focus on breathing as opposed to pinching that other child who grabbed his toy.
5. Go to a quiet place- away from others and chaotic environments – A slightly different version of “time-in”. This can be used in anticipation of a tantrum and – avoiding or correcting lousy local conditions - children learn to do it themselves eventually.
6. Journaling or making books – For younger children, helping them make a book to express disappointment or fear works great. Older children can make a book or just write in a journal.
7. Relaxation techniques/yoga – Along with deep breathing, there are a number of yoga positions and techniques which promote self calming.
8. Hug a lovey – Most parents know this one. There is nothing like a favorite stuffed animal to calm a crying child
9. Calming song or calming music CD - Classical music, a favorite lullaby or nature CD can calm more than just “the beast”
10. Warm bath – while I find this calming after a long day, I hadn’t thought to try this for my DS – sounds good though.
11. A massage – another great adult stress reliever that also works with children
12. Go for a run/walk – a favorite with adults. Young children may like to do this but, parents should plan to walk/run a bit behind…in sight but not close enough to elicit howls.
13. Fish – I really liked this idea. As an article I read states, It’s no accident there are often fish tanks in hospital and dental office waiting rooms. Many people find watching fish relaxing and soothing.
For more tips – see the website or read this great book, Dealing with Disappointment, helping kids cope when things don’t go their way.
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Wednesday, July 11, 2007
For the Visual Learner - Learning Mats
When I set out to teach The Hamster his alphabet, I struggled with identifying his learning style . Unlike many boys, he seemed to be less a kinesthetic learner than an auditory or perhaps a visual one.
While he enjoys listening to his “story CDs”, he also enjoys looking at his books and is positively mesmerized on those rare (less rare than I would like) occasions when he watches a movie. So, is he a visual learner, an auditory learner or some combination of all three styles? After taking a few tests , designed to help me determine his learning styles, I decided…I’m not sure.
While obviously a discussion of multiple intelligences , and how that impacts the way a child learns, is in order, in general, I stick to the classic three types when determining what learning tools to buy. Since, my DS seems to be a combination of all three, I get to purchase a wide variety of materials…isn’t that special?
One tool that makes learning fun for him is learning placemats. Over the past few years we have collected quite a variety of them. Alphabet songs have been reinforced by our alphabet placemats. Any story is enhanced by our World and United States mats. We point out various places as we tell the story and show the path, by water or land that the protagonist might have taken. A recent viewing of “Happy Feet” (which I hated for the disrespectful and lazy language, despite the positive message) led us to determine that the star penguin must have landed near Argentina…other land masses near Antarctica being much too far to swim.
Now that he is exploring the concept of money, we have purchased a “money mat”. I spend little time actually going over the concepts of money value with him but, rather just allow him time to look at the pictures during mealtimes and ask questions as they arise.
I find these mats a wonderful opportunity to enable child directed learning while guiding him toward subjects he will encounter in school next year. Though they are available at a wide variety of places, I tend to find the best selection at our local teacher’s supply store. It works for me!
For more great Works for me Wednesday ideas visit Rocks in My Dryer
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Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Role Play
role play toys are perfect for encouraging (pretend)play, ..and dressing as a faerie, pirate or knight and acting it out is just one example of the possibilities of role play.
“There's a lot of media and research today that states to parents that kids need to get up and moving again and return to basics in terms of child development,” ...“Parents are already keying into the necessity for kids to get up and go out and play, and I think [role play] helps with the physicality of it. And number two, there's the imagination. If they're sitting in front of a show on television, as a child, it does not enlist your own imagination. Whereas with role play, it's becoming creative, it's about becoming imaginative and it really helps them develop cognitively.”
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Let Me Count The Ways to go Green -A Review of The Green Book
Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen
2007, Three Rivers Press
Summer vacation, as all parents know, is less a time to relax and read a few beach books than it is a time to figure out how to get anything done while organizing multiple summer activities for one’s offspring. Despite that, I did, (finally) get a chance to read, The Green Book, by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen, at the beach no less!
A great book to leaf through; it features multiple celebrity vignettes – (folks, next run, feature the celebrity endorsements on THE FRONT cover of the book – especially if you get distribution into the major bookstores!) I was myself was not surprised to see Robert Redford featured but was interested to find out that both Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston drive a Prius. On the other hand, so apparently does Al Gore III – very fast.
Big names are spinkled throughout the book. Celebrity blurbs open each chapter beginning with Cameron Diaz, a close friend of one of the authors, and host of the short-lived MTV show “Trippin”, who wrote a thoughtful and well balanced forward.
Well balanced actually, is what this book is all about. Less a quick read and more a reference guide, this book is stuffed with tips for going green. Easy tips; tips you might not know; tips to make you feel less guilty while tooling around town in your SUV (which I do, with alarming regularity and substantial guilt).
Since, this book is less a narrative and more a compilation of tips, I’d love to see the authors offer a “tip of the day” delivered via RSS feed from their web site . After reading it, I was hard pressed to actually remember to implement the tips I really liked…my head was spinning.
That said, I do plan to feature some of the easy to implement tips in future posts. I also have the opportunity to follow up with the authors, Thomas Kostigan who writes for Market Watch and The Huffington Post (one of my favorites) and Elizabeth Rogers, a player in the Hollywood “green scene”. I’d like to see what they have up their sleeves next!
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Saturday, July 07, 2007
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Loose Parts
If play environments are the primary classrooms for young children, then loose parts are their best textbooks. The most important aspect of your outdoor learning environment, in our opinion, is the provision of safe and appropriate loose parts. Without loose parts, children face environments that are static and adult-driven. With them, children learn to take initiative,create, share, build, plan, demolish and start over.
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