Value Bookshop's Reading Notes

Preschool can be very difficult for young children.  They don’t have a concept of time, so it is hard for them to understand that they will be at the preschool for a portion of the day and then you will pick them up again.  Kids can have a difficult time letting their mom or dad leave.

Everyone has seen scenes where a child is clinging to their parent, tears coursing down their face, and the parent is reluctant to leave, glancing around for some help.  This is not only hard for the child, but also for the parent.  I think we have all seen or faced this experience.

Situations like these can be less stressful if you follow 2 simple ideas.

• Familiarization.
  If you are starting out at a new preschool, visit before the first day and take a tour of the school.  Tell your child how they get to be big now and go to school.  Show them where their things will belong.  Find out what they will be doing on their first day.  Most schools have a schedule with themes and activities mapped out.  You can talk about how they get to paint today, or they are learning about clowns.  Get your child excited about what they will be doing. Prepare them by telling them what to expect.
• Don’t over sensationalize.
  When the day arrives to take them to school, don’t make a big deal about saying goodbye.  Help them hang up their things and take them to their teacher.  Give them a quick kiss or hug and say goodbye.  Then turn around and leave.  This is the hardest part – walking away.  Dragging out the goodbyes only makes it more emotional for your child.  If you don’t act like you will be missing them throughout the day, they won’t act that way either. If you are tense and worried, your child will pick that feeling up from you.

Having your child go to preschool for the first time can be an emotional experience for both parent and child. It may be rough the first few weeks especially if your child is going through separation anxiety. Don’t deny their feelings. Instead, acknowledge them. Then keep on reassuring them and soon, the difficult part will past. Don’t forget to work with the teachers and get their input. They’ve faced many such situations. They are your best ally.

It’s not good for children to watch too much television. Unfortunately, many of us mothers find television to be a very useful babysitter. If you are cracking your head on how to keep your children busy and away from the television, here are some ideas.

• Do simple crafts. Little children can do some gluing e.g. gluing beans on an art paper to form the letter B.  There are lots of things you can do with paper plates and toilet rolls too.  See how I did this kite craft with my kids.  If you need more craft ideas, check out this affiliate link: LITTLE KIDS CRAFTS
• Older children can learn origami.
• Maybe someone’s birthday is coming up, or a celebration like Christmas or Father’s Day. How about crafting a card.
• Make a candy flower.  Or a lollipop flower.
• Teach them to do some Manga drawing.
• Give them balloons to play with. Oh, this one will definitely keep them occupied for a long while. You can also encourage them to draw on the balloons. This is actually a good pre-writing activity.
• Alternatively, make water balloons for them to burst. Of course this one has to be done outside the house.
• Playdoh. Here is a recipe for uncooked playdoh and another for cooked playdoh.
• Go bicycling.
• Make cookies or muffins together.
• Play boardgames, card games, puzzles and many other kinds of interesting indoor games you can find on the shelves of at the stores.
• Bubbles
• Singing time. Sing nursery songs, folk songs, church primary songs etc….
• Read books.
• Make a smoothie.
• Play with Lego or building blocks.
• Put out the kiddy swimming pool.
• Playing with a ball. Use it to bowl over some bottles. Try to throw it into a box or your laundry basket.  Toss it up and catch it to improve coordination.
• Play hide and seek. An alternative is you hide their teddy bear (or whatever) and they have to find it.
• Pretend play. Pretend to be a doctor and care for all the injured soft toys. Pretend to work in a restaurant where they need to take people’s orders and cook the food. Pretend to be a teacher.
• Play charades. Take turns acting out something and the other has to guess what it is.
• Give them simple house chores like wiping dust off the furniture.
• Give them blankets and sheets to put over chairs and tables to make like a camp.
• Let them watch you as you cook. Teach them the name of foods and vegetables. Give them kitchen tips like “how come mommy doesn’t cut her hand when she cuts the vegetables?”
• Make and play with sock puppets.
• Take a walk round the neighborhood and count stuff like trees, cars, houses etc….
• Make flowers out of colored tissue paper. Here’s a video to show you how.

There are lots of things children can do, so don’t just let them sit in front of the television. What are some things that you do to keep your children away from the television?

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I’m sure you’ve heard about baby massage. One of it’s benefits is to reduce baby colic. If you want to give it a try, take a peek into this baby massage class to see how they do it.

For more baby colic remedies, click here: HOW TO STOP BABY CRYING
Click this affiliate link to get more info on Infant Massage Oil – Gentle, safe and natural almond massage oil formulation for newborns.

Learning these days have become so rigid. Many parents believe that learning means reading books, doing endless worksheets and slogging away at homework. But what happens when the child becomes unmotivated? How do we help them continue learning? Well, ABC news has a story that might just help us be more flexible in our teaching methods.

It’s a story of how David Gilmour, a former Toronto film critic, allowed his son, Jesse, to drop out of high school and turned to homeschooling. Afterall, his son was doing horrible at school with bad grades and bad attitude. He decided that Jesse needed a different kind of learning. What did he do? He used famous films to teach Jesse important life lessons. This is what David said:

“I thought, ‘we have got to do something. Movies are the only education that he’s going to get that I can actually get down his throat without a jack hammer.’”

So they watched at least 3 movies a week, every week. Jesse’s “syllabus” included movies such as “The Godfather,” and “Ishtar.” Father and son studied famous actors, the movie scenes and searched out life lessons.

And did it work? Absolutely. 2 years later, Jesse obtained a high school equivalency. And guess what? He is now applying to film school. No surprises there I guess.

Well, I’m not advocating that you plop your children down in front of the tv the whole day. The point I’m trying to make is this — there are many forms of learning. If your child has become unmotivated in learning, then it’s time for you to see what kind of changes are to be made. Learning doesn’t always have to be about worksheets and extra tuition.

Oh, another point that shouldn’t be missed. Here’s another quote from David:

“In a way, sometimes the movies themselves weren’t that important, it was the time that we spent together.”

To a child, spending time with parents is another form of learning. So don’t forget, you are their most valuable teacher.

Do you know what is the secret to raising an A+ student? The answer is revealed in Reader’s Digest Asia. Here is a statement from their feature article:

Dozens of studies have shown that the most consistent indicators of student achievement – more than income or social status – are the home environment and parental involvement.

They highlighted 3 families where the children have excelled – a Malaysian homeschooling family, and single Filipino mother of three and a Singaporean mother.

Reading the comments and experience of these 3 families, I found a common trait — they all read to their children and encourage their children to love reading. Here are excerpts about the 3 families.

• The Malaysian family – “Most critical of all, there are books – a home library with all kinds of books for adults and children. Their parents began reading to the children when they were just a few months old, instilling a love of books. “
• The single Filipino mother – “…she had to get her kids reading early on. So she took them to the local public library. “They borrowed books after their nursery classes and read at home.” At night, she read aloud to them despite being tired after a full day of work.”
• The Singaporean mother – “She reads to her children ‘all the time.’”

So as you can see, the “nursery” for raising an A+ student is not at school or tuition centers but at home. Parents need to be involved in their children’s learning and one of the most important thing you can do for your children is to teach them to love reading. It starts with 2 very simple acts:

• Read to them often
• Create a home library so they are always surrounded by books

This is one good parenting skill we should all strive for.