Evil Tot Schoolers...
As you can see from the majority of the content here at Teach Cook Love, I am really big on "homeschooling" my children. Now, my girls are only 25 months old, 11.5 months old, and not-quite-yet- born. This doesn't stop me. Not at all! In fact this is the best time to teach our little ones. Their tiny little brains are like sponges! AND it gives us the opportunity to show them that learning can be fun!
So, where am I going with this? I tend to blog about my activities with the girs as well as make regular Facebook posts about our time together, so my views on early learning are certainly no secret.Well, recently I had a very well meaning friend of the family take it upon herself to send me a message about the dangers of my practices. Now, if this was someone with whom I had a long-standing "Facebook Relationship" by which she posted to say things like "Happy Birthday to the girls!" or "Congrats on the pregnancy!" I would not mind. This however, was not the case. She had, in fact, NEVER said ANYTHING to me on Facebook before! This is what she decided would be our first FB correspondence:
"...i know you mean well but they are just babies and are only little children once. both you and they should just enjoy their childhood."
I tried to write back to her saying,
"Hi *****! We only do learning activities when it's fun
Violet cries when I stop and says, "More! More""
Don't worry, I'm not a total nutcase drilling them so they can be geniuses."
She, of course, did not want to have an ACTUAL conversation about it, so she disappeared. I then updated my status to read:
...wants to clarify for all of those people who think I'm a nutter stealing my children's childhood by teaching them - it's all play for us! We stop when they are not interested, but normally they BEG for more. Violet cries when I try to stop, Lily yells, "Wanna learn more, Mom!" Rest assured, I am not tying them down and propping their eyes open with toothpicks while I show them flashcards!
Maybe it was petty, but it made me feel better!
Seriously, people, what could you even DO with a young child that was not educational?? I can't even imagine how that would be possible. Seriously, please do tell. Enlighten me!
So, where am I going with this? I tend to blog about my activities with the girs as well as make regular Facebook posts about our time together, so my views on early learning are certainly no secret.Well, recently I had a very well meaning friend of the family take it upon herself to send me a message about the dangers of my practices. Now, if this was someone with whom I had a long-standing "Facebook Relationship" by which she posted to say things like "Happy Birthday to the girls!" or "Congrats on the pregnancy!" I would not mind. This however, was not the case. She had, in fact, NEVER said ANYTHING to me on Facebook before! This is what she decided would be our first FB correspondence:
"...i know you mean well but they are just babies and are only little children once. both you and they should just enjoy their childhood."
I tried to write back to her saying,
"Hi *****! We only do learning activities when it's fun
Violet cries when I stop and says, "More! More""
Don't worry, I'm not a total nutcase drilling them so they can be geniuses."
She, of course, did not want to have an ACTUAL conversation about it, so she disappeared. I then updated my status to read:
...wants to clarify for all of those people who think I'm a nutter stealing my children's childhood by teaching them - it's all play for us! We stop when they are not interested, but normally they BEG for more. Violet cries when I try to stop, Lily yells, "Wanna learn more, Mom!" Rest assured, I am not tying them down and propping their eyes open with toothpicks while I show them flashcards!
Maybe it was petty, but it made me feel better!
Seriously, people, what could you even DO with a young child that was not educational?? I can't even imagine how that would be possible. Seriously, please do tell. Enlighten me!
I applaud your energy level with your girls and pregnancy. If they want more - great! If not and you stop - great!
ReplyDeleteThey're your children and not for other people to criticize.
You go girl!
The other day my 2 year old and I "played" cars. Yes, we sorted them into color piles. It was a really fun way to teach him his colors... We mothers have this instinct to turn everyday things into learning ♥ Life is school and all those moments when you are interacting with your child you are teaching them ♥ and even when you are not, they are learning by watching you. How blessed your children are to have your time, LOVE, and attention ♥
ReplyDeleteRecently I have also received few emails from well meaning "friends". I wish they could study our blogs in depth to see and realise that it's not harmless but beneficial for our kids. We do this to develop our children's potential not to prepare them to the rat race. Keep the good work. In fact you cannot satisfy everybody.:-)
ReplyDeleteHugs from Poland
Ewa
It's always nice to have some support - thanks everyone!
ReplyDeleteI just find it so odd that someone would actually have a problem with "meaningful play". I mean, even when we do something as simple as playing lego we're learning new things!
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI realized that people who says words like that lady from Facebook comment don't know anything about early learning. I stopped commenting or giving reasons why I do early learning. I just simply ask them: What do you know about early learning? And.. I never get an answer.
I have few members in my family too that are against what I'm doing, but that's OK, everyone has it's own philosophy of life!
Enjoy your teaching ;-)
I found your blog through a search for learning goals for my 3 year old for our term at Playcentre. What you do with your girls looks to me way more formal and organised than anything I do but I totally agree with you that when you're at home with your littlies you are always doing 'educational stuff' whether you're aware of it or not. What I love about what you do is that it's intentional and I'm sure you and your children having heaps of fun together. So I guess you've just been criticised for spending too much quality time with your kids. Which is actually a compliment if you think about it.
ReplyDelete