I’m totally biased, but Iddo is super smart.
I’m well aware that “smart” is a subjective term and varies greatly based on how it is being measured. I know that so far the best we’ve been able to figure is that it’s a combination of nature and nurture. The experiences a child has when they are young, particularly real young, pay huge dividends down the line. But they don’t need to be complicated experiences. In fact, you can boil down the basics to just 5 simple things – talk, sing, read, write, and play.
NPR ran a piece a week or so ago about how community libraries are stepping in to help parents figure out how to do those five things, and how simple they are to do. It was a good piece, except for the opening paragraph:
Literacy begins at home — there are a number of simple things parents can do with their young children to help them get ready to read. But parents can’t do it all alone, and that’s where community services, especially libraries, come in.
There is nothing about talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing with your child that parents can’t do all by themselves. The key is if they know they need to do them or not. The opening paragraph admits they are simple things to do, but then follows it up immediately with saying they can’t do it alone. Suddenly those simple things seem rather intimidating.
We do all five of those things in our home. Currently the writing part is increasingly confident lines drawn with crayon, but that’s where we start. The only resources we have are books (yeah used book stores!), crayons, and paper. Also helps that I have a mother who loves crazy songs so I’ve got a whole bunch of those up my sleeve as well as the book Mockingbird Flight
None of the five things to help give kids a leg up in education requires a lot of money or materials. They just require a little bit of time and a tiny bit of know-how (even if that know-how is how to get to the library for books and how to google children’s songs).
What’s your favorite child-type song?
I am an educator and PhD. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am infertile. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, wife, and mom.
Brett L. Dennis
Mama g
Giggles
AmandaStretch
I grew up listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary. I specifically remember listening to their “Peter, Paul, and Mommy” album. Lots of fun stuff there. 🙂
Great post, it’s really about time and including as much as we can in introducing the world to them. We read a lot to our little boy and I TRY to sing. Luckily he is in Primary with me so he gets a lot of singing time with the big kids!
My particular favorite was always “Baby Bumblebee”. As kids, we listened to a lot of Joe Scruggs albums and we even got to see him in concert once!
“It is extremely simple to do this trivial task, but we’re pretty sure that YOU are still not qualified to do it alone. Please get help.” Great pep talk, NPR. :brett:
I have hundreds of favorite children’s fun songs, and I keep finding more. 🙂
I agree with you.