.: When, What, and How You Should Teach Your Preschooler
Category:Home / Family / Parenting
A while back LeeAnn from Las Vegas asked my opinion on just when is the right time to begin teaching her 2-year-old daughter. She has already begun teaching basic concepts such as alphabet, colors, and numbers, but some members of her family feel that she is pushing her little girl.
In my opinion, the easiest way for LeeAnn to test whether or not she is pushing her daughter can be found in this quote: "Is it too soon, or should I let her keep going as long as she is interested and is having fun?"
If LeeAnn's daughter is interested in the concepts that she is learning and having fun while learning then it is definitely the right time to teach her.
Young children are interested in the world around them and they are interested in what their parents know. Building on that interest to teach basic concepts (just as LeeAnn is doing) is not pushing your child -- it is meeting your child's needs. One of the most important things you can do for your child is to offer an environment rich in learning opportunities. If you give your child the opportunity to learn then he will learn -- it really is as simple as that.
Remember, young children are learning a great deal about themselves, their family and caregivers, and their world ever day. For most of those lessons you are the teacher. By the time your child has reached the age of 2 you have already taught hundreds, even thousands, of important lessons about how to function in the world and society. Indeed, many of the everyday activities you perform with your child also have academic implications. For example, the books that you read to your child and the songs you sing with your child have a lasting impact on literacy. It is no great stretch to add other concepts into your repertoire and this can make a great deal of difference in how prepared your child is for preschool and kindergarten.
There are really only three things you should remember:
~ Keep it fun Making learning into a game and your child will always enjoys what you have to teach her.
~ Keep it light Educational products and activities that are actually games are wonderful but don't force your child into spending time each day with flashcards or the like. They'll most likely learn faster and more meaningfully if you have an alphabet scavenger hunt at the supermarket.
~ Embrace the teachable moment but don't schedule lessons and force educational activities on your child. When the opportunity presents itself (and it will countless times in a day!) take advantage and use it for a lesson. For example, simply putting on socks can be a lesson in right and left, colors, or counting!
HOW TO TEACH
So how do you teach your preschooler without scheduling lessons and forcing them to pay attention? You embrace the teachable moment!
What is the teachable moment? It is simply an opportunity that springs out of normal, everyday life or as children become older and more verbal a timely question or comment.
Time when you and your child are in the car, for example, is a wonderful teaching opportunity that many parents overlook. If you are reunited after a day's separation then you can share stories about your day-and in the process work on vocabulary and literacy skills as well as teach your child about the world around them. You can also use cars and trucks to teach colors, road signs to teach shapes, and so on.
Mealtimes are also wonderful teaching opportunities. Counting is easily worked into almost any meal, such as telling a child they can have two cookies or giving them five tater tots. Shapes and colors can also be brought into mealtimes. For example, my son likes to choose the shape for his sandwiches-triangles or squares? As a child grows older you can also do letter sounds with the various foods, such as milk starts with "mmmmh".
WHAT TO TEACH
Skills you should work on with your child fall into eight basic categories, according to early childhood educators:
~ Social/Emotional Skills, which will be the greatest predictors of success in life.
~ Self esteem, which is crucial for all learning.
~ Physical Skills
~ Communication Skills: listening, speaking, singing, drawing, gesturing
~ Basic Concepts such as colors, letters, numbers, vocabulary
~ Categorizing Skills, what is the same and different
~ Compare and Contrast Skills, which is the higher order level of Categorizing
~ Experiences on which to draw. These are perhaps the most important of all, as they provide a frame of reference for future learning. The more experiences from which a child can draw, the better s/he will understand both learning and the world.
These are all literacy skills and they are all key to your child's future success. If you need still more help identifying concepts that your child should master then study the developmental milestones for your child's age at http://PreschoolersLearnMore.com.
So rest easy, LeeAnn, you are doing exactly the right thing for your daughter!
Article keywords: preschool, early childhood, kid, read, alphabet, literacy, book, kindergarten, parent, reading, writing, rhyme
Article Source: http://www.articles32.com
Visit Teach Your Preschoolerat teachyourpreschooler.com for preschool learning resources.
Submitted with Article Distributor.
.: New Parenting Articles
1). Helping Your Child Understand What You Do at Home
Being a stay at home mom is a tough job. Encouraging your children to help out helps them to understand what you do and to respect it.
2). Who Loathes Laundry?
Laundry is a pain but it must be done! Enlisting the family to help makes it a bit less of a chore.
3). How To Create A Baby Gift Basket
This article is everything you wanted to know about baby gift baskets.
4). Tips On Different Parenting Style
I worked out very early in life that no two parenting styles are alike.
5). How To Keep Your Child Safe On The Internet
The Internet can be a source of entertainment and information for your children, and it will be a workplace tool as they grow older.
However, it also poses threats to their safety. This article gives you some tips to help keep your child safe.
6). Daughter Commits Abuse Mother Goes To Jail
After questioning, Josephine admitted the she had caused the bruises on Scott when she was under stress. She was in tears.
7). Good Tips For Potty Training Girls
Discover helpful insights and tips to help you potty train your child.
.: Top Parenting Articles
1). Prevent Your Teenager From Becoming A Statistic
Parents please don't be naive in thinking that your teenager is not having sex, the majority of teenagers are. We have to better educate our children on the risks of unprotected sex. This task may sound embarrassing for both you and your teenager but it must be done. Schools only scrape the surface when discussing unprotected sex, stating that they can catch STD's and fall pregnant; where they fail is by not shocking our teenagers with the realities of these subjects.
2). Solving Baby Slep Problems - The Ferber Method
Nothing can prepare new parents for the mind numbing weariness that comes with lack of sleep. A new baby may be tiny but the havoc they wreak to your sleep is huge. It can take work to establish good sleeping habits. One of the hardest things for your baby is to learn to fall asleep on his own.
I firmly believe that parents need to reclaim their evenings.
3). Child Discipline: What Really Works?
One thing I hate to do is discipline my son. He is such a good boy most of the time, but when he gets angry he is awful! Disciplining your child is one of the hardest things to do as a parent. It is important that they understand that you are in charge, not them.
I remember getting spankings until I was around 6 or 7 years old. I did everything I could to avoid making my mother and father angry.
4). Why first borns fuss, seconds are resilient and youngests like to laugh
How can two or three children in the same family be so different? They are brought up in the same broad social environment, under a similar set of rules and an identical family value system. They also come from the same genetic pool yet they can be so different in personality, interests and achievement. While they may be born into the same family they are not born into the same position.
5). Teaching a Child Responsible Behavior Begins at Home
Parents are teachers, too. When it comes to child rearing, one of the most important lessons a parent can teach their youngster is responsible behavior. This means helping the child learn how to interact with others in a way that displays self-respect, as well as respect toward others.
No child comes into this world pre-programmed with good manners and virtuous attributes such as a willingness to share, consideration for the feelings of others, respect for others possessions, respect for authority figures, and a selfless attitude.
6). Is My Teen Lying?
All teens lie, right? Teen lying is something that is done harmlessly and viciously. Teens lie for many reasons; most of them have to do with their ability to do it. Pulling a fast one over on mom and dad is something you probably tried too. But, in today's world, lying teens can get into a whole lot more trouble than you could. That is what makes it so important to know if your teen is lying to you and then to handle it.
7). Partnership Between Parents and Kindergarten Teachers
Pre-school is an educative learning partner of the family. Some reasons that kindergarten is an extremely important educative factor are:
- Kindergarten creates an environment for children and it helps them develop their social skills
- Kindergarten prepares children for primary school
- is a protective environment and passes the time with children.