Unfortunately, I think you can only watch from the UK, so to summarise
A group of kids was given a particular book containing two made-up words. Half were also given the book on tape. For three nights before bed, half the group were to listen to the book on tape and independantly read the story, the other half were to listen to a parent read the story to them. It was designed and tested by a psychologist, and the result was that 80% of the children whose parents read to them had learned what the made-up words referred to in the book. The half that listened to the book on tape did much worse - only 20% learned the words.
It just goes to proove what everyone here already knows - spending time with your kids enhances their learning ability dramatically! :ohmy:
Too many parents rely on preschool and the tv-babysitter to teach important concepts like shapes, numbers, coloursā¦ the same program showed a statistic that the average UK child spends only 49min a day interacting with their parents. That is less than the average UK dog gets walked!!! Iād hazard a guess that this is the same in most of the rest of the ādevelopedā world.
I now feel much less guilty when, on a ābadā day, I only manage two or three hours playing with my son :biggrin:
Thank you for sharing! Very important point. I think also part of the reason why my children enjoy LR over a Video, is that interaction-laced learning. So true!
WOW thats very interesting! How sad is it that children only get to spend 49mins a day with there parents. Iām home all day with my son, but I purpose 1-1.5 hours a night to work on reading, math, violin and just spending time together one on one.
Boy, would I like to send this to a friend of mine! But sheād have a very hard time reading it.
Her precious three year old daughter is sent to āschoolā at 7:30 am and picked up at 6:30 pm every day. Monday to Friday. This isnāt a home daycare where the same caregiver is with her the entire time. Itās at a school. Sheās there for eleven hours. I canāt say for certain, but I canāt imagine any teacher agreeing to an 11 hour shift Monday to Friday. That means she has several different caregivers/teachers within those 11 hoursā¦at three years old.
Soā¦who is learning more? My three year old at home making cookies, naming coins as he āpaysā for a treat, and devouring books with mommy about circumference/three dimensional shapes/place value OR her three year old learning away from the people who truly do love her the most? So hard not to be judgemental.
I know the feeling Kidzudo. My nephew is a couple of weeks younger than my son, and spends three days a week, 8am-6pm in nursery. I understand this term-time, as my sister studies three days at college, but she wants him to stay for the whole summer so that he āstays in his routineā. The rest of the week he spends a LOT of time with my sisterās friend/my other sister/my mum/my dadā¦ you get the picture. And he sleeps 12 hours at night and 4 in the day :ohmy: :ohmy: :ohmy: (Jealous, much I havenāt ever had one 12-hour night)
I donāt know when my sister actually spends time with him - more often than not when I see her it is alone. And she spends 1hr on her hair in the mornings, watches āherā tv shows, and leaves her son with a select few (not messy!) toys to entertain himself. Yes she loves him and takes good care of him, but she doesnāt play with him!
And she says Iām bad for keeping Nikki at home (heās not socalising! Apart from twice a week at playgroup, and when we see Benji, and when we spend time with my mum, brother, brotherās friendsā¦) and that my house is a mess (Nikkiās books are pulled off the shelves where he was looking at them, or his shapesorters are scattered across his play area).
She specializes in parent-child bonding. She says āBreastfeeding, sleeping close to your baby and keeping him or her close to you as much as you can are all part of the natural human process.ā She doesnāt use any childcare at all and homeschools to have more time with her kids.
Sadly, as a full time working mother, I cannot spend so much time with my daughter. Sheāll be in day care from Sep, thatās 8am to 6:30pm at least. My mom is now taking care of her. I only get to spend time with her after work. But after dinner, followed by LM, LR, starfall, learning chinese character, I now have to move the story time (in both English and Chinese) after her bath, and at bed time. I cannot find time to play real games with her. Luckily, she thinks all the early education are games. Itās just very stressful for me.
Do not feel guilty, you as a mother a doing your very, very best and you are still interacting with her every night and doing early education stuff with her. Guilt is a useless emotion when you have to work because you still have to provide and care for your dd and if that means you have to work then so be it. I think you deserve a pat on the back because even when you get home from work im sure absolutley exhausted you are still making a huge effort to spend time with your daughter when a lot of parents are just too tired or can not be bothered. Your Daughter wll thank you one day and knows in her heart that you love her very much or you would not make the effort that you are.
Also be reassured that all this effort and time you are putting in will pay off in the long run. :yes: :yes:
Thank you very much for your encouragement. When I talk about early childhood education with my friends, many of them think Iām denying my DD a normal happy childhood. I explain as long as the stress is on me instead of her, and as long as I make the learning process fun, I should expose her to as much knowledge as I can. Iām just glad to find this website. I tried Doman flash card for a few months then stopped. DIY the materials was just tedious. With LM and LR, my life is much easier now. Heheā¦
I, too, commend you for busting your behind to make things work for your family and, on top of it all, for spending the time (and effort) to do early learning activities with your little one. AND, trying to keep it a joyful experience for all involved!
The thing that I find hard to swallow is when parents send their child to daycare M-F for 11+ hours, have someone else pick them up from the center and feed them and then FINALLY are tucked in with a cuddle and a kiss by their real parent - all because of the āneedā to have enough money to vacation in Europe, have a wide-screen tv in every room, drive the best of the best cars, eat at the snazziest of restaurants, buy groceries at fancy import stores, etc.
ā¦Not that I wouldnāt like all those things too. Really. Iād love them, but not at the expense of not knowing who my child was.
Zephyrfei, itās nice to hear that even in your busyness you also have a strong commitment to making your childās learning a priority. Bravo.
I havenāt ever had one 12-hour night)