What would you have done differently?

Early Learning Early Learning General Discussions
1

So we’re all trying to do the best we can and teach to the best of our abilities/knowledge/time/ressources etc.
Now that our children are older and that we have a bit more knowledge and experience on early education… what would you have done differently? (or, I might rephrase with: What will you do differently with your next child?)

I would have started flashing before the age of 6-7 months. I had all the material, time and motivation but i felt ‘silly’ showing facts and words to such a tiny baby. My baby would have been more keen I believe, as 6 months meant sitting, crawling and then on to standing, walking, climbing etc.

2

I will show infant stimulation cards and flash cards earlier. Gabriel was 6 months old when we started all the early education stuff. I will show BST earlier than I did with Gabriel. I started signing with him when he was 6 months old, but he didn’t really sign back until we started BST/ST. I will also put my next child on his stomach more.

3

Like Nhockaday, I would put my next child on his stomach more so he/she will be able to proceed with his physical development during the month he/she is supposed to. I would also make sure that I already have a daily plan plus supplies filed and ready for use by the time I am pregnant (I have a hard time being pregnant) so I will be able to concentrate on my child and helping myself heal/get well faster instead of trying hard to remember all of the things I have to do and prepare, concentrating more on one child and neglecting the other/s. Another thing I am going to do is persuade our library to buy BST/ST videos so I can borrow them as often as I need to (unless I find used ones that I can afford).

4

With my next child (coming soon) I will do baby swimming and constantly put baby on his stomach, and may be I will start math at 6 months. I learned about Doman when my first child was 16 months old; it was too late for the basics of physical program but nothing was too late for flashcards.

5

With my first child I could do very little but with the next one I guess I am prepared with a lot of things like playing classical music, Infant stimulating cards , talking to my child & giving right physical exercise. now I am pretty sure at what age should I start maths & flash cards.

6

Here is what I would do:

  1. work hard on building routine early on
  2. start early with infant stimulation and Lr/flashcards and LM. I started way too late.
  3. Exposure to music
7

We started flashcards when my baby was 4-1/2 months…That too, at the compulsion of my husband. We bumped into Brillkids even before my kid was born, but I had too many things to preoccupy me that I didn’t give much attention to this…After he was born, I got to know about infant stimulation cards, but didn’t want to try as I thought it might affect my baby in some way…madness! :frowning:

So if we happen to have another one, we would do:

  1. Fetal stimulation (talking to the baby, more music etc.).
  2. Infant stimulation cards.

Questers.

8

If I have another child I would read to them from birth. I usually wait until they are older, but starting at birth is so important.

9

When I have my next child.

  1. Talk to them a lot more about what is going on I didn’t talk to Sophia enough.
  2. Have more EK cards and brill kids presentations with a cirriculum set out so I know what I am doing
  3. Put my bubby on their stomach more often.
  4. Sign to them earlier

And probably ten thousand other things I would do differently.

Kimba

10

Not worry too much when baby is still in utero.
Read books while still in utero (I haven’t read aloud a single book to her when she was still inside)
Exercise more during pre-natal prenatal to stimulate baby.
Have a varied diet for baby to lessen food preferences.
Be more consistent in her lessons.
Start infant swimming and be consistent with it (though it’s very difficult given our set-up)
Mantra: “Just do it” instead of spending too much time online & reading about early learning than actually doing it

11
  1. I would also start earlier, around 3 or 4 months. This time I started at 6 months. I read very few recommendations about Doman books from Amazon so I did not take notice until I found this website.
    But I am still thankful that it did not take me too long to notice the success. She does focus when I show her all the cards. And I still have a lot of time to teach her more and more.
    Nadia I think it was when you posted videos of your daughter, that I first time tried this. they were very encouraging…thanks for posting them. congrats on her turning 1.
  2. I did try sign language very soon, but since my daughter is not with me all day so there is very much inconsistency. But she has picked up few signs. I have some signing videos but I am afraid to play them, without me being there because then she might pick up signs that I will not know about :(.
  3. I hope that I am more free with my next child also, right now I am out of the house 7-7pm. But the upside is I don’t have to clean :biggrin: When I am there, I devote all my time to her but there is soo much less time to do all the cards with her. We can only get done 1 set reading and 1 set math.
  4. I would very much like to continue learning from what other parents are doing with their children. I see that many are buying tweedlewinks but I don’t see the point of playing videos for her when I am not there because I know she will not focus unless someone sits there with her.
  5. With next child, things will be soo much different as we will already have one elder to take care off and their growth will be just as important. How do people handle two???

Good luck everyone! You guys are doing great! Sieze the Day when it is still there!

12

That’s great, thank you all for contributing.

I would have bought educational material earlier on, such as TW or YBCR.
And also, like nadia said, spend less time reading instead of teaching :slight_smile:

13

I would
1)Co-sleep from the beganning
2)Breastfeed longer
3) Follow mY gut more
4)Teach signing WAY earlier
5)Limit the amount of vaccines given
6) Infant stimulation cards
7)Start flash cards way earlier
8)Do a Math program(dots)
9)More tummy time
10)Talk more

14

If I had known earlier about Doman I would have prepared more cards while I was pregnant and had the time!

15

With my next one, I will:

Start a physical program, not let everything happen on accident
Start Your Baby Can Read, and Little Reader by 9 months
Start signing early
Be a stay at home Mom
I know so much more about nutrition now, my next child will not have processed foods as staples as we have done with my son.