I am really lost and need someone to help me!
I have a 1 year old daughter, I started her on the YBCR at around 9 1/2 months. She really liked the videos at first, now it is getting harder to keep her attention, I am not sure how much she is getting out of it. When we do flash cards, she wants to hold them and bend them, so I give her one of the messed up ones to have in her hands while I try to do the rest of them. She has learned where her body parts are, but just holding the word up, she doesn’t know unless I “read” the word before she points to something. Is it too soon for her to know the word without me reading it to her? Does it take longer than that?
I have ordered the Doman books and Tweedlewink program and bee smart baby. We are doing a little of the math dots, just started this week. I am really lost and don’t want to overwhelm her, she does like to watch the video in the car for the most part. Am I doing something wrong? I work 4 days a week and she goes to her grandma’s and aunt’s those days, I do send her video and cards there also, she should do a little all day right?
Just need a little direction, getting very overwhelmed!
If you’re getting overwhelmed, then chances are, she’s going to get overwhelmed too. Just relax and take it easy. Do what she seems interested in. If she starts to get fussy or fidgety with a lesson, then you need to stop and let her play for a while. You can always go back to it later. And you don’t have to get everything done every day. Split it up over several days so neither of you get overwhelmed. And yes, you should try to split up lessons throughout the day so that she has plenty of time to play. I think you should leave at least an hour or two between lessons.
As far as YBCR, I think every baby reaches a point where they get a little bored with the DVDs. It’s because they watch the same thing over and over so many times. I think it happened with Gabriel with video 1 (you are supposed to watch it twice a day for 2 months). He started getting fussy when he watched it. But after a few days he was fine. They don’t have to have their eyes locked on it the whole time. They can still get something out of it whether they are looking straight at it or not.
It sound like you are working really hard to be a great mom! I’ve read several threads about children losing interest for a while, but they say it comes and goes. Is your little one becoming more physically active? They say that those are times when the baby is putting a lot of energy into learning a physical skill and may show less interest in sitting and “learning.” However, they also say that babies can learn a lot even when they don’t seem to be paying attention (like when she is watchign YBCR).
Try to relax and just enjoy the process. Don’t stress (she’ll pick up on that, too). Don’t worry if she isn’t showing you that she is reading, just keep giving her the info and not worry about her giving back. She’ll do that when she wants to. Just try to make what you do fun, and if you have to decrease the number of words for a while, that’s okay. Don’t worry, just like she’ll eventually learn to talk, she will eventually learn to read, if you continue showing her the words (even if it isn’t many at a time). Have you tried Little Reader? My little one, who didn’t like cards would watch LR, especially if it had sounds (like the animals).
Sounds like you are doing a great job trying to be a great Mom - its a tall order and at many stages we parents will feel overwhelmed with something or other.
Your baby doesn’t have to pay full attention to something. My daughter has picked up on things when I was only paying attention to her cousin and my daughter was playing with something else on the other side of the room - they are taking it all in even if it doesn’t seem like it.
Just relax and have fun with your baby - the more games you can think of to play with the flashcard words, the more fun it will be - my daughter loves pulling them off the wall because she likes to play with the prestik on the back - whichever one she choses to pull of gets read to her. Don’t expect a response from her ever (she will respond and probably sooner if you expect nothing) The more you try to force a response from her (especially at this age) the more she is likely to resist - thats why Doman says you shouldn’t test them - I wouldn’t even ask her to point to words or the object more than once a month at the most.
I felt overwhelmed and disappointed in myself that I didn’t start earlier, but all the while Marina was taking things in. Now, I’m overwhelmed by what she does know. Everyday she surprises me with a sign I didn’t know she knew, or a letter or number or word she knows and can now say that I had no idea she had grasped. So take heart, and be very careful what you say!!
