but sometimes sharing is caring! If that was my kid, i'd just let him sit on my lap as i teach him how to use my comp.
This is good advice if you feel you must start your child off early but be sure to do small amounts of this. Remember, you child will learn how to use a computer in elementary school at a more appropriate developmental age. There are certain ages where things are better to be taught and education is a very planned process of helping children learn what they should learn at the age appropriate time. It bugs me that many parents (not necessarily you or anyone reading this) push their kids to learn everything before they even enter school. Those are the kids that are pushed to start reading, given math workbooks at age 3 or 4 or even 5, pushed to do "extra math" practice in the evenings or weekends after Kindergarten class, among other things are they are usually the ones who end up getting bored in school or put too much pressure on themselves (and can often end up not being the highly successful ones) because it becomes so difficult for the teacher to engage the child among other reasons. Only the best teachers are able to engage this type of child and at the same time move the rest of the class forward all while controlling behavior.
Our children are being bombarded with screen time in so many ways. It won't be long until that crib lights toy is replaced by an LCD screen! A small amount of screen time for children younger than 5 is fine, but please please if you hae small children limit that time. I was a stay at home father for 6 years with my two little ones. I know how hard it is to resist screen time with kids. (I have to admit my own kids probably caught a little too much Sports Center out of the corner of their eyes while I would sit on the floor and play ball with them!! But I was almost always playing with them and they didn;t just fixate on the screen!!) And choose screen time which has some purpose other than babysitting. The little einstein videos which show regular baby toys set to classical music are a good choice.
In fact, too much screen time can have very detrimental effects as well in both development and behavior areas. Children who get too much screen time often have more severe ADD and ADHD symptoms, and are usually much more difficult to engage in an educational setting unless there is a screen involved!
The most important thing parents can do for their children to help them be successful in school and later in life is to :
1. Read, Read Read. Read to them, let them flip through books, have book always lying on the table, let them see you read books, go to the library. My wife read to our kids even before they were born. The day they were born we read to them. Every night since birth they have had several books read to them at bedtime as well as dozens throughout the day. When they got to where they no longer wanted to eat the books we let them "read" on their own and even as they fell asleep. They could not read yet, but could look at the pictures and enjoy books. When they get older, like second or third grade and actually start reading on their own, don't stop reading aloud to them. This is still an important age for an adult to read aloud to children. It helps them learn how to read with emotion and builds reading fluency. Even if a parent can't afford to buy books, get them from the library, get a library card for your child at an early age, make it a thing they *love* to do every week!
For the record, I was not a "reader" as a child. I was actually a horrible student- part of the reason why I am not a teacher- I don't want children to get lost in the shuffle. My son, who also loves to play video games with me, is a far better reader than I was as a child. He is in the third grade, scores in the 99 percentile in his reading scores and can read anything we put in front of him. My daughter scores in the 78 percentile in her reading scores as well. I believe both of my children doing well is a direct result of what I describe above (no, not the sportscenter exposure!
) but the READ READ, READ paragraph! Neither of them read at a particularly early age and that is by no means my goal of the above advice. However, what it did do was provide them a love of books and love of learning. My son wakes up at 5AM and pulls out a Charlie Bone book and reads it for an hour and a half before even asking for breakfast- and that is a big deal if you knew my son- he loves to eat!
More than enough advice for today!
Now I have to go eat myself- I love to eat too!
