For nine months a woman carries her baby, who is snuggled against the walls of her uterus. The baby kicks, and the mother might wonder to herself: Is my baby going to be smart? Will he or she reach her full potential in life, or will they mooch off me and in the basement for the rest of their lives? Parents nowadays are obsessed with getting their children the best education that's out there, including buying expressive software that's suppose to help their kids get a head start in life, which encourages them to be able to read at a young age before kindergarten.
My mom started teaching me to read when I was 3, P.D. Eastman's book "Go Dog Go was one of the first books I was able to read all by myself. When I entered Kindergarten I was able to spell my name and do the homework assignments. But, unfortunately some kids in my class when they got to first grade could barely read or write, and had to repeat. This was due to the fact that their parents weren't helping them with their homework at home, and putting all the responsibility of for the kids education solely on the teachers. Of course this was in the nineties, the Dawn of online computer games that helped kids learn math and spelling, when Parents started to become worried about getting their kids prepared for the fast paced working world when they realized our generation would run the country one day.
Parents go at such lengths to stimulate their child's brain power: playing Classical with special headphones on the pregnant mom's large belly, flash cards for toddlers, Phonics's DVD's, and to really make the kids minds explode put them in summer Math and Reading camps. By doing all of these different methods is suppose to secure the possibility that their kids get into good colleges. Its all about the Benjamin's, a degree allows you to get a well paying job, and financial security. No one can survive in America if they are illiterate, especially at jobs that involve excessively amount of reading and being computer savvy. This mentality of "you have to succeed," can cause children to become stressed out and feel under pressure.
I had a friend in Grammar School named Chrissy who's mom made her along with her three sisters to do extra homework, and study so hard, that they barely had enough time to play.One day my friend broke down crying in the middle of class because she got a B+ thinking that she somehow failed her mom.
I saw this Commercial on T.V. "Your Baby Can Read," which is supposed to be a DVD that teaches kids how to read with simple visuals+words=learning. It promises that this method can teach your young baby to read. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR12UAq0rys
I'm not saying that what this commercial advertises doesn't work. But I believe that even though its important to teach a child how to read early, by sitting face to face with your child, and spending time teaching them yourself is effective as well. Generations before us had learned how to read and write without computer software, why can't it be the method of choice for this generation? Also what if the child doesn't add up to a parent's expectation. What if after all the methods and expensive software doesn't work, every child learns differently; comparing your kid to another, especially one in a commercial isn't fair.
So as you pregnant mothers get your ultrasounds, take in to consideration that your child will develop in his or her own pace.
(Image of cute baby from www.readtome.com/images/photoabout.htm and Image of book: www.bainbooks.com)
Kinda makes me sick that we are teaching babies to read; however, if we resist the faster, bigger, better, someone else will get there instead of us. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteBTW: glad you embedded the video. Start using links. Dr. Seuss, for instance, yelled out for a link. Other places, too.