Teaching your children

Continuing on with the thoughts about the value of moms and the blessings of motherhood...I was going to write something else but then I was reminded of moms as teachers when I was grocery shopping today. Tomorrow we have a birthday at our house, so I needed to get to the store on Friday instead of Saturday...plus my dh was home today, so he stayed with everyone and oversaw the schoolwork and I ran off to Meijers. While there, a mom was shopping with her son, and he was asking her every question under the sun and she was answering him and explaining things to him, and telling him why she bought this brand instead of that brand of juice as well as explaining why he couldn't have the cereal he wanted (she showed him the label and that it had too much sugar in it), and so I sort of enjoyed shopping in the same sort of pattern they were shopping in....because four year olds have a million questions about how the world works, and as moms we have the very amazing privilege of introducing them to the work they live in and how it works. Moms are a child's first teacher, laying a foundation for all later education...some do this well, others...well...don't.

I'm not talking about homeschooling either, exclusively anyway. I homeschool and believe in it, but even without homeschooling in the equation, Moms still are a child's first teacher.

Think about it...before the age of 4, think about all of the things a child learns how to do. Most of this is pre-programmed learning--eventually children learn how to walk, talk, go potty, feed themselves, and so forth unless some serious handicaps are present or neglect has gone on. It's quite a transformation from baby to toddler to preschooler!

Then there is other learning that goes on in that time frame too...or rather, learning that may go on when a child is given the right stimuli--learning colors, counting, tying a shoe (i'm so glad I don't have to do that again...even teaching phonics is easier than the shoe tying thing), how to ride a bike, maybe even learning the alphabet and some children even do some simple reading by 4. Children learn some manners, they learn yes and no, they learn to listen. Children can learn all sorts of things at that age. They can learn to do some simple table setting (plastic plates, flatware, and napkins), and learn how to be a helper. By the time a child is four they know that the same toys that get dumped out of the toy box can be put back in the toy box (some do better with this than others ;)).

When mine were quite little, there was a very funny thing that happened to me...well, funny and sad at the same time. A Christian lady we knew, who went to a different church from us, met me in the store one day, and said, "Oh my! Five Children! How on earth can you afford all of that daycare?" Well, we do a novel thing where I forgo paying for daycare by staying home...lol...but later on, I ran into her again, this time my children weren't with me, and she asked me in all seriousness why I would "do that" to my children (stay home with them--mind you they were all 4 and under, and I was pregnant with number five), because how were they supposed to learn their colors, numbers, and so forth? She really, seriously, couldn't imagine that they could learn this without a daycare, which I thought was really strange, but sort of funny. It is a scary thought that we may be coming to a day when people think that daycare is necessary for children's development.

I'm not talking setting up a preschool environment in your home...so much is taught in the everyday life of a family! "Look at those pretty yellow daffodils! Do you see the red tulips? I like the blue hyacynths too!" (My kids didn't just know colors, but flowers too!) I talk too much (LOL) but I use that to my advantage, especially when they were little...by talking to them about everything I was doing at the time, from baking bread, to gardening, and shopping, and cleaning. Reaching to our children (Even if they are not sitting perfectly still) is also very helpful. We still have fond memories of books we read together as a family.

We also teach by sitting down and playing games with them. Games are so fun for teaching these things...like Candyland, and chutes and ladders, and as they get older, games like Jr. Scrabble, Jr. Boggle, and Jr. Monopoly are so helpful too (as are the adult versions when they progress beyond that level)...or vocabulary building games like Catch Phrase (a family favorite--you have to be able to read quick, think quick, and you learn some new words along the way)...or logic games like Sudoku (we usually compete to see who can do it fastest or we work on a puzzle together).

As they get older, they get to learn more complicated things...like cooking for themselves. A few years ago, a friend of mine was saying that she buys frozen pancakes because she hates having to make pancakes for her son, who is 16, and this way he can heat them up when he and his friends want a late night snack. My son was standing next to me and piped up before I could stop him, and said, "If he's 16, Why can't he make pancakes?"...because my son, since he was 8, has made breakfast every morning without being asked to. He likes to cook. Bobby Flay is one of his heroes! Teaching a child to be careful in the kitchen, and how to actually cook is a skill they will need well into adulthood--everyone needs to eat. French toast on an electric griddle is not hard at all. Someday, he is going to make a fine husband for some very lucky girl.

Right now, as I type this, I have a child who is decorating a cake for the birthday girl tomorrow. She wanted to make the cake and decorate it without me helping, and so I have allowed her free reign in the kitchen. Another one is making a present for the birthday girl.