I like to read both the pro- side and the anti- side to everything, including my kids’ education. While reading “Magic of the Mind” I came across the phrase “hot house” preschool" or “hot house” parenting to refer to doman style early education, as well as the “better baby” movement.
So I looked it up online and came across this book, what I have read so far is interesting. Like I said, I like to see both sides of an argument and learn about the strengths and weaknesses of a particular topic, in this case an educational philosophy. So one author’s opinion…
Hothouse Kids: How the Pressure to Succeed Threatens Childhood
By Alissa Quart
http://books.google.com/books?id=nbULR0WHPeQC&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=hothouse+doman&source=bl&ots=lea70W4plo&sig=S6QRY88JiCyMI95L5idvToU7EHY&hl=en&ei=d0RvTIS9KcH58AaMlfmMBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
I think as long as you give your child a lot of and variety of learning experiences and opportunities (an enriched environment) and then concentrate on what their interests are without obsessing over it, you are doing well. I am trying to raise well-rounded children who may not read at one or be the world map master at 2, but as long as I’ve helped fire lots of different brain connections to help them later on, I’ve done well. I find because I focus on such a wide variety of ways to fire these neurons and synapse connections, they are more a jack-of-all trades, master of none at the moment. As far as I can see. But soon enough, I might discover an area they are particularly good at, and feel that I helped to facilitate the ease at which they can excel in that area. I dont consider myself pushy, and try not to feel guilty for not doing enough, because I know that compared to other kids they are getting what I would have liked to have received when I was a kid. Perhaps not enough of it, but something.