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Washington Babies
Oct 2011 3 1/2 years old.
Robert Williams Birth date 5/16/2008
How do you "teach" your children
Robbie seems to not be able or want to sit still. I try to read him books or talk to him about colors and shapes. Or a book we have with pictures of animals and all he wants to do is throw things or chew on things.
Is it just a boy thing? Should I just keep reading or talking to him over and over and just know he is hearing and learning stuff?
I always imagined he would sit on my lap or on his chair and want to listen to books being read but not so much.
Oct 2011 3 1/2 years old.
Robert Williams Birth date 5/16/2008
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Re: How do you "teach" your children
Tillman was older when he started sitting for books. I don't remember exactly, maybe 2. Even then, he didn't want to read with me for very long. Now, though, he would sit and read with me for hours if I would do it.
I think just keep doing what you're doing. Trying. Eventually he'll listen for a few minutes, then a few minutes longer.
TTC #2 for a million years: SA normal, CD 23 bloodwork shows nothing amiss, ovulation detected. Next step: ? maybe CD3 bloodwork to check eggs? All out of pocket, so limited IF tests/treatments.
Do you have any of those lift-up-the-flap books? That's what initially got Payton into books. It was something interactive rather than just reading words. She doesn't sit for long stories either, only short ones that she can almost recite and point at pictures. Keep at it!!
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No Cruz really didn't want to read books until he was 14-15 months old. One day he picked up a book and climbed in my lap and wanted me to read it. Hang in there he will get to that point I think he may just still be a bit young for it? Some kids love books from the beginning, I know Lauri always said Audrey did but Cruz wasn't interested until recently. Now he will sit and spend a good 1/2 hour reading his books!
DD was initially only interested in the touch and feel and lift the flap books and she would quickly turn the pages, not really listening to the story. So, we just talked about whatever was on each page, "cow", "what does the cow say"? lots of "peekaboo", etc. Just now at 15 months, she is starting to bring us books and listen to the whole story (and then sign for more immediately after we finish). Right now she seems to enjoy books with fun sounds or sing songy words (Sandra Boynton: Doggies, Moo Baa Lalala, and Barnyard Dance are three favorites) more than the lift the flap books.
WRT learning I usually just try to look for learning opportunities with whatever she's interested in at the time. We do colors in the bathtub with her bathtub toys (although everything is "yellow" and i don't think she quite gets the concept yet), in the car we do a lot of animal noises - I quiz her or sing 'old mcdonald' and if she knows the sound, she'll say it.
Instead of reading the actual story, you can just flip pages and name a color or something on each page.
And, even if he is playing around you while you are reading out loud, it is still beneficial to him. Even reading your own books out loud is good for them.
I also recommend either turning off your radio when you are in the car and sing/talk to him, or invest in some great sing a long music to play. My car stereo was stolen when ds was about 10 months old, and I took almost 2 years to go in and have it replaced. In those two years, I talked or sung to him constantly in the car. His vocab was terrific, and even now, the car is where we have our most serious conversations.
Evie loves books, but a lot of the teaching we do is during play time. For example, we've been teaching colors by using mega blocks. We do animal sounds with stuffed animals, songs, and flash cards. We sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" to teach body parts, and talk about parts of the body during bath time or when we're dressing her.
One of Evie's favorite books is First 100 Words. There are bright colors and lots of pictures. She can say most of the words, and can point out just about everything when asked. It's not a story; just lots of words and pictures.
The other thing is that if a book has more than one or two short sentences on each page, I don't read all the words. She doesn't have the attention span for that. We either skip over parts or just talk about what's going on in the pictures.
"This"
same for DS pretty much. He wants to read all day now and also to Pixel's point - something that is interactive. We love the "PriddyBooks" they have all different kinds of interactive books. GL! He'll get there.
I haven't read the other responses...
BUT, you just need to follow the lead of your child. You do not need to "teach" them things. Play with him, interact with him, talk to him, etc. He will learn. You don't need to sit him down and say "we're doing colors now". He will learn it.
I was amazed when Ben would suddenly know things like body parts or shapes or something. He is a sponge and he picks it all up. But he doesnt' sit still to read except at bed time. And he never would play with a shape sorter or stack beads on this color sorter thing we have, etc. He just runs around like a crazy kid and plays with cars and knocks over blocks. Even at 2 1/2, he's just BARELY starting to build things with blocks. He *can*. He just would rather destroy.
At 13 months, I'm pertty sure there was no quiet attention span for things. Just see what he likes to do and do that. When you're talking about things you can say "there's a red truck and that one over there is blue" - that kind of thing teaches colors. Or when you're at the grocery store, talk about what color fruits and veggies are or something. Just keep talking. He hears you. But dont' stress about "teaching" until he's in school - and I mean like 1st grade. Even pre-school should be "play based" to really work for small kids.