Naeem is taking a dance class! The class is supposed to be from 2-3 years old, and most of the kids in his class are closer or past 3 because it’s difficult for a 24 month old to get the hang of a dance class. But I am being persistent and quite involved. And they let me. His 4th class is wednesday, and I’ve noticed that with every class, he has improved greatly. I join him and get him to participate if he decides to run off. The goal of the staff is to start kids off like what we are doing now and eventually weening the parents away. Since he does not go to daycare, it is great that he is starting a classroom environment. It is also providing discipline, organization, and social skills while keeping the kids active. He really loves it!
he is currently 25 months. His speech is behind in comparison to most 2 year olds, but he’s tackling other feats at the moment. AND he’s learning 3 languages on top of English. He’s starting to talk more, but it’s very basic. His intelligence is being proved in other aspects of his interests. His love for books and obsession with the alphabet has led to his ability to identify, sign, and say his letters and numbers. He can’t READ exactly, but he can identify the look of certain words he sees over and over. Ever since I was pregnant with him, I’ve read to him. And the moment he could sit in my lap and see books, I’ve read to him, pointing to the words, anunciated them, and facilitated his interest in books. It wasn’t long, perhaps 4 or 5 months, where books became his favorite toys. Most of his toys and dvd’s are educational. I think we’ve somehow managed to do mostly fun educational activities through out the day that it’s become second nature to my son. Education and learning is fun for him. We got him a V.Reader, and he figured it out in a few days. It helped that he’s been iPhone savvy for a year, and can (successfully) play letter scramble games as well as shape and number identification games. He’s figured most of these games out on his own and begs me to play with them on a daily basis.
We’ve been facilitating his physical, social, emotional, and artistic expression just as much in a day as we do education. He dances, has a great interest in sports, instruments, and coloring. He has some time during the day when he plays on his own, but we also spend a good portion of the day playing with him and facilitating new experiences. I think that sitting-down kind of dedication increases a child’s interest in all kinds of fascinating things, instead of just having a toddler that runs around and destroys the whole house, throws tantrums about staying in one spot, and has little interest in learning. I think kids naturally want to learn, but if we don’t start it, they don’t realize it right away.
Not to say my kid doesn’t get to be a kid. he’s climbing furniture as we speak. and not to say he doesn’t have tantrums. he definitely does. we deal with them simply. we don’t give in, but we still let him know that we love him. when he calms down, we reward him. his tantrums last a short while and are easily forgotten. he also does things he shouldn’t. for instance, he found my history notebook and started tearing all the pages out of it. I sternly said, “NO! we don’t tear paper.” When he wouldn’t stop after my warning, I took the book away and repeated my warning. He stood up, cried, and walked away, hiding his face. I knew he felt ashamed. I caught up to him and gave him a kiss and said that I loved him, but we don’t tear paper. He still felt upset and walked away. I gave him a few seconds, and then asked him if I could have a hug. He turned and gave me the biggest smile ever and ran into my lap and curled up like a puppy. and that was it. all was forgiven and forgotten.
my son has been an easy kid to raise, but i think our system has worked really well in helping along his good behavior and intelligence. my daughter, although still in the womb, is already proving to be far more energetic and crazy, so we will see if we will be able to maintain the same system or have to change some thing to suit her differences. I was a crazy kid, but my parents did a pretty good job with fostering my needs as a youngster while also exposing me to the world to help focus my attention and wild energy. I am really proud of my son, grateful of these past 2 years, and respectful of the fact that our way isn’t the only way. I can only hope that what we are doing now won’t have negative effects on him in the future. I want him to be smart, but I also don’t want to sacrifice his happiness for his intelligence. We are aiming for a balance, hopefully to help grow a well-rounded adult. I can’t foresee and plan for everything. We can just do our best as parents, and for everyone, that means something different.
