Beginnning to teach a toddler!

Hi all.
A very must necessary thread for all our mom's bagged with mixed ideas and ofcourse tips.
All this pressuring comes from our surroundings(esp relatives,negihbours,cousins,...) in a indirect manner.Let me make u clear with an example.
Before Last year when i visited my in-laws place(i am newly married at that time), my elder sister in law always used to put questions for his 2y4m old boy in front of us and when that fellow used to answer sometimes,my in-laws start praising him,not only that they used to spread this newsto all our relatives to whomsoever they r corresponding at that time like my elder sister in law who in U.S, or some other relatives as if some wonder have happened.Even my first elder sis-in-law has also kids,they always repeat he is clever,this thing and that thing.Dont u think all these sentences drive away her engery while comparing to her kids?Is a child who doesnt answer to the question is not clever?I felt very bad at those instances,ofcourse i am not able to put u properly my feelings that i felt during that time.
I wondered at that time,Is is that the way I have to bring up my child ?I also had a mixed feelings abt this matter.
Recently, we went to a Mother Care Fair,where so many educational institutes set up stalls,one man came and asked us for some of our time.we granted him, .He started his lecture looking at my 1y3m boy with questions?Do u dont want to give ur child best education?dont u want to make him a Topper?Dont u want to make him competitive? and be a good explorer?so then, u have to buy all our educational kit (which is 3500SGD)and make him study from now onwards.we both(me and Hubby) were speechless while hearing all that stuff.I got so much irritated and felt in the same dilemma in wat way i have to bring up my kid?
really its a huge ? mark fo so many of us.

Cheers,
Spandhana

 

Hi,
Even i agree with u all that kids should not be forced to learn.They r burdened in schools so much that they hrdly get any time for other activities.They should be taught according to their own capabilities.If we teach them in the form of songs,games and fun they will learn more quicker.they should not be compared with other child otherwise they create inferiority complex.Let them learn with the environment. Slow and steady wins the race

 

I am a mother of a 15 month old and see all these quick learning tools and get carried away, but when sanity grabs me and I sit down and think what is it I want my son to have " I think I want him to be a loving and caring gentleman, with values such as hard work , honesty and self respect! ". As for all the other stuff I think its ok to expose children to as many things as possible as we dont know how much they absorb, however the goal should be just that " expose", not force them or compare them to another ... whose to say one skill is better than another or one child is better than the other, math, song, dance, karate whatever may it me the idea is to enjoy and feel life and I think thats what we should teach them. Its a competetive world for Competetors others get by too! And am sure we all have such philosophies.....just listen to your heart and raise a wonderful human...!

 

HI everybody

Whew, you wont imagine how relaxed I felt after reading this thread........MY son is 3yr2m old. I had tried to get him in admission in a good school in sharjah, but he didnt do well in the interactive session.

Well, all that the teacher asked him was like
How are you? For which he should have said fine thankyou, but I had never trained him to do that
Then the name of his nursery?? Again, the same , I didnt bother to make him mug up the name KIDS WORLD NURSERY
And then the last question ........she gave him a box of crayons and asked him to pick up the color of apple.........of course he knew, apple is red and he can recognise all crayon colrs........but asking to pick the color of apple seemed to me more like a quiz question for a 3yr old, more than an interactive session...And then the interview was over......and he failed

Still, I was feeling real bad that he failed in the interview, Iwas worried that is it because he is not developing properly.........

At this age, he sings nursery rhymes like ABCD, Twinkle, Baa Baa........then he identifies colors, fruits, animals.....he does form some sentences......he knows the months and week days.........but he is not much into coloring or writing.......Is this good enough for his age......I too never used to force him to learn anything.....the little he knows he learned by himself........but I am starting to doubt if I was right, feel like I didnot help him in his development.....someone help

And how can I get him to color and start writing.........I remember my neighbours kid, they are taught to write running letters in KG-2. I get nightmares when I think about that......is this the same in all schools??