Your Child's Journey

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Teaching Math Concepts to Your Preschooler

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Great Schools.com has a great article on what your child should be learning about math in preschool.

For this post I will just extract the things you, as a parent, can do at home to reinforce math learning in preschool. Have fun and teach at the same time!

  1. Show how math relates to daily life. Involve them in measuring ingredients when you cook or in figuring out if a container is big enough to hold their toy cars and trucks.
  2. Play board games using dice or play money. Help your child count out the spaces to move his piece on the board. Play simple card games like Go Fish.
  3. Count things at home and on the street: cars, books, toys, silverware. Count objects in book illustrations.
  4. Call attention to different patterns and shapes: plaids, polka dots, paisleys, and triangular and rectangular shapes in the sidewalk.
  5. Use terms such as above, beneath, level, larger, smaller, and equal, and words such as horizontal, vertical, perpendicular, and parallel, to describe things you see. You might ask your child to bring you the smallest cookie or to find the book beneath the large table in the living room.
  6. Take your child to the supermarket with you and involve her in comparing prices.
  7. When you balance your checkbook or pay bills, explain to your child what you are doing.
  8. Take your child to the bank with you and let him watch you count money from the ATM.
  9. Weigh and measure your child and make a chart to record her growth.
  10. Buy a set of hardwood blocks for your children to build with (look for a secondhand one if new ones are too pricey). The educational benefits of blocks are unlimited; they will be one of the best investments you make.
 Read the entire article at: GreatSchools.com

 

Temper Tantrums

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Here are some notes from a class I taught to moms in  Hanoi. It is a good quick review of Temper Tantrums—Why and What Helps. Each child and each tantrum is a bit different. But there is some general information that will reduce the number and intensity of the tantrums.

Causes of Temper Tantrums:

  • 9 months to 2 1/2 years – inability to communicate their needs is the most common cause.
  • 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 years- power struggles with adults is the most common cause.
  • Toddlers are easily overwhelmed leading to tantrums.
  • Toddlers want to do more than they are capable of doing.
  • Toddlers do not understand delayed gratification.
  • Toddlers think they are the center of the universe and everyone should do as they want.

Preventing Temper Tantrums:

  • Keep predictable routines. Toddlers love to know what to expect next.
  • Have reasonable expectations for your toddler. Know what he is capable of doing.
  • When you see your child beginning to get frustrated, change tactics before meltdowns start.
  • Avoid known temper tantrum triggers
  • Offer two choices, but ONLY two. They feel like they have more control when they get choices. But you like what they choose because they are both things you want for them.
  • Give enough warning before coming changes. Some children need more lead time than others.
  • Teach baby sign language to use at least until they learn to speak
  • Give more frequent, smaller meals to keep blood sugar and moods level.
  • For older toddlers begin saying yes first, then the limitation (yes you can ______, but first you must _____.)

Defusing Temper Tantrums:

  • Distract them. This works best with younger toddlers.
  • Act Silly – if you can get them to laugh, they may forget what upset them.
  • Ignore it and go on with that you were doing. If it was just for attention, that will reduce the number and length of tantrums
  • Bear hug- holding them until they are calmed down. They feel secure and loved even though frustrated.
  • Remove them from the scene until they calm down.
  • Acknowledge the child was frustrated and demonstrate a better way.
  • Keep your voice soft and stay as calm as possible. As you get agitated, your child gets more upset.

If you have some techniques that have worked well for you and your child, why not share them with others. Email me and I’ll add them to the site for others.

New Kid by Friday- part 3

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Over the last two months I’ve been sharing some insights form Dr. Kevin Leman’s book, Have a New Kid by Friday. In February I reviewed the three pillars of a child’s self worth: Acceptance, Belonging, and Competence. Then in March I reviewed the first of the top 3 long-term concerns of parents, Attitude. I planned to talk about Behavior this month, but since I’d like to expand on that topic over several months, I’m going to skip forward and cover Character this month.

  • Here are some things Dr. Leman says about character: Character is “who you are when no one is looking.”
  • “Character is not only everything, it’s the only thing in the long run. It is the foundation for your attitude and behavior.”
  • “Character doesn’t mean you are perfect. It means you have an inner standard that cares about others more than yourself.”

[Read more…]

Sleep and Why it is So Important

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I am concerned about baby and children’s sleep as it relates to their behavior and intellectual development. Since we all want smarter, healthier children, sleep is far more important than what milk we feed them or which vitamin is touted to give them the edge.

I read some articles based on the UK Millennium Cohort Study. They are studying 11,000 children born in 2000 and will follow them through adulthood. There were some interesting facts to emerge from the study.

The children were evaluated at 9 months, 3, 5, and 7 years with parental questionnaires and in-home studies. The questions about the children’s sleep related to whether they had a regular bedtime and whether they slept before 9 pm. They did not report how many hours their children slept, however.

The results of standardized tests in math, reading and spatial abilities when they were 7 years old showed a definite difference between children with a regular bedtime and those with none. Children with consistent bedtimes throughout their early years showed better performance across all subject areas, while children with irregular bedtimes had lower test scores on all subjects.

We know from other studies that the brain is subject to change — especially when it’s laying down nerve tracks and making new connections in early childhood. The key to keeping the brain in this adaptable state is sleep. Reduced or disrupted sleep, especially if it occurs at key times in development, could have important impacts throughout life.

The link between lack of sleep and a child’s behavior often isn’t as obvious as with adults. We can mistake lots of energy for being well-rested. Instead of being sluggish and grumpy like an adult, kids often become hyper or have extremes in their behavior when they don’t get enough sleep.

Although there are an average number of hours babies and children should sleep, each child has their own optimum. You may have to experiment to find the best pattern for your child.

Some ways to see if your child should sleep earlier or longer can be seen by their behavior. If your child’s eyes start looking droopy or glazed over, you should probably be putting him to bed. Fighting to stay awake past that slow down will usually result in hyperactivity or misbehavior and a much harder time settling down to sleep. Then when your child wakes in the morning after enough sleep he or she will wake easily and be ready to get dressed and eat and get on with the day. If your child keeps trying to go back to sleep or resists getting dressed or eating, they may need more sleep.

Sleep deprivation adds up over time, so an hour less per night is like a night without sleep by the end of the week. Symptoms of insufficient sleep can lead to decreased attentiveness, decreased short-term memory, inconsistent performance, and delayed response time.

So here are the average number of hours of sleep for different ages:

Babies up to 6 months need 16-20 hours, roughly divided equally between night and day.
6-12 months need 3 hours in the day and 9-11 hours at night.
Preschoolers to 12 years need 10-12 hours at night.

I know for some of you, you see this as an impossible dream. But with science and experience to back it up, we should be doing all we can to make enough good sleep for our children one of our goals. Think about solutions that will give your children more uninterrupted sleep. If you make some changes that work, I’d like to hear from you:  Diane