I have a 2 year old who is obsessed with cars … once he gets ahold of a new car he gets so absorbed and excited that he just wants to play with it the whole day and carry it with him everywhere. He doesn’t even pay attention to his food if he has his truck. he starts getting very moody and doesn’t follow his routine. He just wants to run around and play. I do want to see him be happy and laugh … but i feel that it can be a struggle when i am trying to teach him something. so i put away his car so it doesn’t mess up his day’s routine … then i give it to him at some random times. without his car he pays a little more attention to his lessons for the day. he is very inconsistent, if it was up to him he would probably just want to play all day long. i have to “lure” him into studying and kind of “create the right mood” for him before he starts to pay any attention. because i want this studying to be a part of his daily routine … he gets more than enough playtime and funtime in a day, he goes outdoors atleast once a day with his dad to play. so i try not to have too many toys around the house for him to be too absorbed in. sometimes i feel i have to “push” him a little, but i also see the results, that he is learning. i don’t like being too pushy either but at the same time i don’t want this studying program to end altogether (if i just follow his will). i think his resistance is related to the age he is at. at 18 months he was better in paying attention.
do any of you have the same experience with your child? and if so, how do you deal with it? It’s so true that they are so moody at this age, wish he was 9 or 12 months old again, it was so much easier to teach them at that age! :rolleyes:
I’ve got the same trouble 
he doesn’t like math at the moment it’s too long to see 10 words 
for him
I’m trying to do all at the morning, he has more attention, but he loves brum brum (cars) too and he is playing a lot,
I’m trying to do a lot of activities like prewriting, drawing, making puzzles, washing fruits and vegetables, so he is learning by the way
:clown:
ed.
theres no turning back once they are 2.
i think that its their personality. they are too absorbed with their environment. they also like their toys. moodiness does start to set in. they are also very egocentric.
i havent limited playtime as i teach while he is playing. i have to catch him when i want to teach but the flashing is so fast especially with LR and LM that he does not even know what hit him!
they need to learn about their environment and learn about themselves too. if i didnt finish my target of story books or specific activity because he was too busy for it i just do it the next day. i rather make the most of happy times then teach when he is unhappy. its not easy though.
this is such a challenging age.
good luck!
I have a similar situation but his interest is in animals and not cars.
Almost at 18 month old we got Old Macdonald DVD from Kissongs and from there on everything for him is EIEIO.
I want to spend morre time teaching him all i can now because i am afraid that in a few months or years he will loose interest in learning.
The issue here is that we allways heard that all extremes are not good and if he onlly wants animal or car topics and nothing else we have to try to make it nice for him and play with other things.
NidaZafar, is he absorbed only with car toys or also books on cars and so on. Maybe if you start with books on cars then you can go to other books to capture his interest.
If you get good results try afterwards this books:
Brown bear, Brown Bear what do you see
Polar bear Pola bear what do you hear
and
Panda bear Panda bear what do you see
The thing is that if I show him a “Car Book”, he gets stuck on the page with the car and keep pointing to it and saying “car, car, car!” It’s unbelievable! lol
I know how you feel about being afraid that he would loose interest in learning … I also make it a point to make LR and LM and flashcards a part of his daily routine … because I feel that at this age they are resisting EVERYTHING that they are being asked to do! But I still keep trying to “sneak in” a flashcard here and there … and i’ve noticed that alot of times it works! It’s kind of like when you are trying to get them to eat something new … in the beginning they resist, but if you keep trying, then they will get used to it and eating that thing will become a part of their routine. Like my son just started eating some green beans, which he used to refuse before.
I don’t really set limits on play time or have a time set aside specifically for teaching. My husband and I just try to find teachable moments. For example, when grocery shopping I may hand her the produce, talk to her about the color, texture and then count them as she places them in the bag. So when we sit down at the computer to use LR it is just a different form of play to her. We don’t force it, because then she would be determined not to comply.
I would suggest creating a word set with pictures of his cars and of him plating with his cars in a variety of settings. Hopefully that will show him that there might be something to this LR thing. Then you can slowly transition to other topics.
I try to save a set time in the morning for learning, because I feel he is the most alert between 9-10:30…afterwards, I think he just wants to play, jump, run and kick. Then i try to incorporate some learning throughout the day. He has a very low attention span, which is frustating for the both of us. Its a struggle finding new activities for him, but I recently bought the busy book for preschoolers, and it has some great ideas which I will start to use. I would recommend it for busy preschoolers. I am having a tough time with teaching math concepts, and hope to purchase the Little Math soon.
Children are learning during play time, but anyway having constructive play time that is planned or having free play time where the kids does what ever he wants are to different things. I call my planned play time my center time, all educational toys only or the theme for the week. Usually this is after homeschool which is early in the morning from 9-11 is homeschool then 11-12 is center time (remember to have posters up so the child knows which one to go to first etc,) to get those you can go to http://www.carlscorner.us.com/Centers.htm (you don’t have to use all of them everyday just pick 3 for each week and rotate them) playing and stopping music (www.kididdles.com) to switch centers is a great way to get past the transition thing, then from 12-2 is his play time with little brother and in this time I have recorded LR on my camcorder, to play in his DVD player in his room, then 2-4 is nap time, then 4-6 is homeschool with physical activity right before bed and outside time, then off to bed.
My son loves cars as well, car, car, car he says so I have now started making his curriculum with cars. All of his activites and worksheets have cars. If the theme is about Jesus teaching, then he is doing it in a car or standing besdie a car, I know funny! lol But if it works, it works, and it does, so why not anything to learn. Gradually we will move on to something else, like motorcycles, which he calls mo, mo.
Modifying the content may be the key, but I’m sure it is all a phase and soon it be something else like boats, or bicycles for me. Just be patient and try to include other content but also mix in the ‘item’ loved. Maybe a little give and take can be achieved, give a little of car then give a little of the new content.
Making your own content is not hard just time consuming. Take photos of your child’s favorite cars, all colors, car books, and go to www.mes-english.com for great flashcards that can be used as paper dolls or sorry for boys paper cut outs that can be played with, make file folder games with the flashcards and match the smaller flashcards with the bigger ones. You can take tire cut out some small and some bigger to match the smallest with the biggest. That is if you have the time. I have created a whole curriculum for transportation like this if you want to see it I will have it on a video soon here.
If you want a copy of it then PM me.