Leave learning alone people. Babies are soaking up as much information as they need. They don't need to learn sight words now. Let babies be babies!
This reminds me of process elimination or whatever they call it. Teaching babies how to use the toilet. When in reality its teaching the parent how to know when to hold the baby over the toilet.
I don't know why this all bugs me. Nature knows how to allow babies to learn. Why speed everything up so much?
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25 comments:
I would love to respond to your post, but I'm just rushing out the door to Your Baby Must Read by Two if They're Ever Going to Get Into Harvard class, followed by Organic Gardening for Pre-preschoolers, then off to a lecture on the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Babies. I'm telling you, I cannot wait until they offer driving classes for babies... I'm getting tired of hauling him around, and he's practically got enough head control to check his blind spot, right?
The "your baby can read" thing is ridiculous. That said, my sickie kid learned his letters while spending lots of time in the hospital watching Sesame Street.
Elimination communication comes from when we used to carry our babies around with us all the time, and we would learn when they were going to go so that they wouldn't pee on us! In reality, those kids don't learn to take themselves to the potty all that much earlier than kids who wear diapers do. I wish I could do elimination communication, not because I think my kids are so smart, but because diapers are gross and my kids get nasty rashes!
These things drive me crazy too. What happened to letting kids just be kids and learning naturally? Remember when kids didn't have to know how to read and write when they are 3 or 4?
How can you follow the comment by projectkjetil? Hilarious!
No one is satisfied with just thinking their kid is the greatest anymore - now thier kid actually has to BE the greatest. I'm pretty happy with my quirky, stubborn, non-sharing little menace. She'll probably do what I did - teach herself to read when everyone is ignoring her.
Sorry, that should be their (the second time). I should really proof-read. Before I hit publish.
I totally agree!
Why can't our kids be kids???
The elimination communication thing is actually normal, if you look at the cross-cultural record. Though you are right, it isn't so much the baby learning anything- it's the mother.
Unless teaching my 2 yr old to read means he can do my taxes, I see no use for it ;)
I love projectkjetil's comment! Boy I can't wait until someone is telling me everything I should be doing and everything I'm doing wrong. That's gonna be so much fun!
On the other end of the spectrum... if you're too lazy to care for your pet you can let your dog pee in the house on his potty patch and your cat groom his own nails on his cat emory board. So you can't care for your pet, but your baby can read!
I'm so sick of "info"mercials!
I completely agree. I also think it feeds into the whole competitive parenting thing, which I hate. Look! My kid can read/talk/walk/go to the potty before yours! That must make me SUCH a better parent. Give me a break.
I am 100% with you on this. I once knew a woman whose daughter had her baby potty-trained at 6 months or something completely freakish like that. She was A PROUD GRANDMOTHER and I was all let's see this relationship in 15 years. I am CERTAIN it will be a disaster.
LOL on these comments... I think too much learning is bad for a baby too. Let a baby learn naturally!
I'm totally annoyed by those commericals too and it goes against my (and the pedi) view on no TV till at least 2 years old. Why would I want my baby to read anyway that young??
I cringe every time I see these commercials. As a person with a Child Development degree is goes against everything I have ever learned. It just is so unnatural, not to mention developmentally inappropriate it is.
Just wanted to let you know, I haven't been commenting very much, but I have still been reading, every post.
That system is stupid because it just teaches memorization and does not teach babies/kids to read phonetically.
I was thinking of getting those videos, and I'll tell you why. Not because I want to push my kid to read. He's not even two yet! But he has somewhere somehow picked up letters and numbers. He can't get enough. I blame Blue's Clues. And when he sees a sign, any sign, he spells it out. When we tell him what it says, he gets the biggest kick out of it. He's fascinated by how letters in groups mean things. I'll spell "E X I T" and he'll gleefully proclaim "EXIT!" (He's fascinated with exit signs for some reason.)
So I'm thinking he would enjoy reading. And I'm all for helping him do things he enjoys. I'm not driven to make him read and learn - there's certainly time enough or that. But I was reading before I hit kindergarten, because I WANTED to, you couldn't stop me. And he seems to be heading in that direction.
So that's what I have to say about that. Thought maybe a different perspective might be helpful. I have a momma friend who IS pushing her kid, and it's sad. But if the kid likes it, if he craves learning like mine seems to be in certain areas, I can get behind that.
And to be clear, I'm not saying my kid is a super genius or better than other kids. Though of course I think he's pretty awesome. ;-) He has no interest in weaning or learning his animals or colors. But letters and numbers fascinate him. Every kid has things s/he fancies. His is exit signs and the alphabet.
I agree totally--this stuff drives me insane. I think it feeds the "competitive parenting" thing that I can't stand.
Honestly, I even get annoyed when baby toys are bilingual. Do we really think they're going to learn to speak Spanish from a Baby Einstein Exersaucer?
I could not stop laughing at Projectkjetil!!
This is the new way of wanting everything right now!! Can't they just enjoy babyhood, the sweet innocence of it all. Before long the kids will be trying to tell us what to do! Why rush that?!?!?
I'm glad I'm not the only one bugged by that.
I sometimes feel parents are in such a rush to have their babies grow up and reach certain milestones that they miss out on them being a baby.
My son is growing so fast, and while I do what I can to encourage development, I certainly dont try to rush it. I didn't have another one just to rush him into a teen.
Okay, not making sense. Going to bed now.
Kids can figure out reading themselves - some will do it earlier or later, but they don't need to be plonked in front of dvds (or however it works) to do so. Enjoying books with children is far more useful IMO.
We've practised elimination communication from when TTG was 6wks old. It's not about a race to toilet independence at all. Babies (of any species) do not want to pee/poop on their parent or themselves, they just need help to eliminate somewhere else. It's a focus on communication for most people doing it now.
BTW school alone is totally outside of nature :)
A friend of mine 'swears by' this, and also 'swears' that her 20 month old can 'read' 30 words when shown them. When another friend spoke up and said 'he can NOT say "elephant"'... she said, 'well, he says ee-o, but it MEANS elephant'. Uhh... okayyyy... if you say so.
Agree. As an educator, these videos go against everything I know and believe about teaching our kiddos.
It's all about being prepared for the PSAT (Pre-School Aptitude Test). If your baby tests poorly they may pressure you to enroll in vocational pre-school.
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