The good news – we can all relax! Parenting isn’t about flashcards and ‘Baby Einstein’. This is a great bit of info that everyone should read. Http://bit.ly/9SX9jp
Nobody here believes that parenting is “about” flashcards and Baby Einstein, and if you and the blogger you’re linking to think so, you have bought into quite an insulting caricature of real, thoughtful, flesh-and-blood people.
We know very well that babies love learning and exploring. We are helping them do that.
I think that goes without saying… Parenting is a bit more complicated than that.
This is the first time I have been dissapointed in a post from this forum. I love this forum because the women, and men, here are sharing their experiences and love for helping their children reach their full potential. I have belonged to many forums. And when the topic of educating a child in the early years of life comes up, people either brag and brag about how smart their child is and say nothing productive, or put down parents who are interested in the topic, thinking they are crazy people trying to push their babies to become geniuses.
I am a mother of two girls, and I DO take time out of my day to provide an educational experience. But I DO NOT push it on them. And I DO NOT think parenting is just about flash cards. I just wish to give my children the best that I can. Sorry if that sounded rude, just stating my opinion about this wondurful forum
People here are not pushing their babies. Every parent loves their child and want them to give their best and the childs best, like you do… and thats what brillkids aims for!!! Though we have too much of posts related to flash cards,its meant to have fun with the baby and enjoy… may be you have to look at all topics… Hope i’m not rude too…
I second your opinion, vanichezhiyan. The problem is, most poeple dont understand the concept of early learning. They just think parents are pushing their little ones. But, thats not true.
I wished my parents had had the opportunity to use early learning techniques with me when I was just a baby. I wouldn´t like that in the future, one day my son asks himself the following question: " why my dad lost the opportunity to give me such a wonderful gift ? "
I agree. When I was pregnant with my first child I read all these books of early education and planned for a lot of the Doman activities. I remember people giving me the weird look, so I actually didn’t want to share my educational experiences with anybody, including family, because everyone will giggle and try to test my child to see if he was actually any smarter than the other kids, etc.
The truth is, that even though I don’t see a huge difference from my child to other kids, I know he really enjoys the learning process, he is always so curious and avid of learning new things, and he remembers everything! As far as I know, in comparison with myself at his age he is for sure ahead than when I was a kid.
That been said, I see a lot of parents than in one way or the other are teaching their kids and are providing with educational experiences to their little ones. Most libraries here have a “Baby book hour”, which is a start, you can turn on your tv in the USA on PBS and they have a great educational programming for babies, toddlers and kids.
Bottom line, I am excited to educate my daughter which is 3 months old now, and the truth is that I will still not share this with friends and family because it raises some kind of weird competitive feeling, is almost like you are telling them that your kid is better than theirs, which in my case I do not feel that way. I believe that all kids have the same great potential but you have to invest time with them.
Is why I was thrilled to find this forum, and I am so happy that we can even have this conversation in a civilized way 
.
MacDume, do you also go to vegetarian forums and challenge them to try meat, or ask breastfeeding forum members to switch to formula? I don’t see you participating in discussions (and I don’t think you’re reading what’s being said since you are against all this) but what’s the point of starting challenging posts like this one and your previous ones?
lol Exactly. We Internet veterans have a name for this behavior: it’s called trolling.
Parenting is researching, preparing for thier child to grow them up better than we, parents.
it is soo challenging sometimes I feel impatient and tired about parenting …
As I’ve said before, parents have to be the ones to give the child learning opportunities. We aren’t just going to lock them away in a bare room so we aren’t influencing their self-learning opportunities…
My baby tasted a bit of cheese just then. Why? Because I gave it to her. It was all MY idea. She didnt think to go to the fridge, get the cheese out, pop it on a chopping board, and cut of a slice with a knife. Good thing I come up with all these ideas, like feeding her, bathing her and so forth. Good thing I have books around for her to look at, so she doesnt feel compelled to have to hop in the car and drive herself to the library to aid her own learning. Without me around providing her with toys, books, trips to the park, interaction with other kids and whatnot, she would miss out on many many learning opportunities. I just give her more variety than most parents. And she is self-learning. It’s not me doing the learning and imparting my knowledge to her by sticking electrodes on her brain and transferring my learning across to her that way…
And for the record, even my teenage kids need to have some learning opportunities provided by their parents, such as learning to drive. I really dont want that to be self-directed learning. They need to be taught, not learn by their own trial and error with no teaching input or parental guidance…
And I sure wouldnt want them to be responsible for their own education. Even if homeschooled, they need to be guided in studies, they cant just study what they feel like or not study at all if that takes their fancy. I have 2 kids who happily wouldnt learn anything if they didnt have to. I sure wouldnt leave choosing what to learn up to them. That goes for teaching values and good character. I wouldnt want to let them get up to complete anarchy.
Re my last post…Those older kids didnt have the opportunities my younger ones have. And they went to school. Big mistake. That sucked the joy of learning right out of them.
I agree Flashmom11, eveytime I try to bring up the fact that I am using some sort of brain stimulation or early childhood education for my girls I get rude responses. No I an not trying to say my child or myself as a mother are “better” than anyone. I am simply trying to talk about my love for my children and my adventure in trying to give them the best that I can.
Parenting is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the activity of raising a child rather than the biological relationship.
I believe this is what we are doing, but I am not to sure it is what you are doing. Most likely we are both doing this, but we choose different methods. Parenting is a difficult task where people differ on everything from breastfeeding, vaccinations, discipline, etc. I think most people here are open-minded and have at least looked at what you present. Have you done the same?
Wow! Of course parenting is not “about” flashcards - Babies and children are certainly meant to learn and explore. However, I’m sure most of the members of this site are wise enough to know that they need to follow their child’s lead. If the material is not interesting and fun fir them, they don’t force it and they move on!