Yes KL was perfectly right. For the newbies it would be informative, as like the first time when i read the book, it was like wow. But with more reading and experience, you would come to certain road blocks and realise that there are some other problems that are not related in his books.
My views came across because i have most of GD’s book, except the swimming one which was just released. I bought the latest edition from the original publisher early last year. As i did too, got most of the books from Shichida. I read it twice, thrice over, dissect the book and re-summarise the key points, and make their teaching part and parcel of my daily affair. How i speak to my child, what i spoke, and how i response to them i make it part of my life now. As such there were certain qns that arise that i could not find the answers in any of his books. And was hoping the qn and answer session would help solve it.
There was a HK couple in front of me, they asked DD a qn, and his response was, “Did you read the book?”. The coupled answered yes but it was the translated form in traditional chinese. His reponse was “well that is the problem, the translated book is illegal, they probably translated from his earlier edition, and his book is in the 3rd edition now, do you read english? yes, then get my latest book” and that was it, the couples qn was left unanswered, and i really pity them, they probably would take much longer time to read and comprehend his writing, by that time their child would be much older.
When i asked him my qns, his initial response was the same, “Did i buy his book, did i buy the latest book, did i buy all his book, and did i read his book.” hmmmm… i am not sure if he treats all his reader the same … but perhaps he was disgusted by the pirated copies, and lost of royalties. I can understand his view, so i try not to be offended by his remarks.
In any case, i do recommend that for beginners who are interested, to do read his book first, that is the acquisition of knowledge, and know how, before applying it. “How smart is your baby”, has descriptions on how to make your baby physically superb as well. But i doubt working parents would have the time to do all his physical exercsie anyway, and i doubt many could afford the crawling track or the briachiation laddar. The other book i would recommend reading is “How to multiple your babys intelligence”. It covers how to teach your baby to read, math and EK, so you save on all 3 books since this one book covers all of it. But i do notice that in different editions, there are some minor changes, or up-dated, so the process of teaching your baby by IAHP, is still an ongoing process, like there was some confusion about whether to mix division with multiplication etc on maths. The subsequent editions gave clarification on it. But like i said, don’t tie down on every word it says, you would be boxing yourself in and feel despair, flexibility and open mind is better. As for translated copies … well that is a legal issue, but i do pity those in asia, or non-english dominant speaking country whose command of english is not that good yet, and therefore has to resort to translated versions. But so we are fortunate to have Brillkids forum for us to discuss it. There are plenty of helpful people here.
Another point or impression i took away from the seminar was, DD son of GD, is more of a physical educator type. His father GD and JD, wrote the book how to read, math and EK, other than revisions there really isn’t anything else new. So DD’s expertise is more on physical development, and hence why his talk is more on physical side. DD’s son just graduated and joined IAHP, (family business? maybe better commitment?) he started newsletter. I suspect his son would push the advance into the digital world. But then Brills kids there first.
As for the mroning teaching, its because the baby is well rested, fed and therefore more attentive. IF your going to teach bits of information or intelligence, best to do it during the morning when he is well rested and fed. But unfortuantely kindergartens are also in the morning, which clashes with the best time to teach your kids… hmmm kindergarten … how old before they attend most starts at 3 some at 4… but if your followed GD and start reading, maths etc as young as possible, by 3 they would have already started reading … so … i felt that was a non event …, but then again if your child takes a afternoon or evening naps, 1-2 hours, have water and some biscuits after that … he would be as good as new … and you can flash again …
