Is it my imagination, or are parents emphasizing to their young children the preacademic concepts of color names, numbers, and letters of the alphabet much more often and much earlier than any previous generation of parents? Is our society causing us to believe that we are bad parents if our children don\'t know these things as early as possible?
In my view there really are many more interesting things for parents to talk about with very young children, and no doubt our children would benefit if they did.
\"Force feeding\" academic related concepts before a child is developmentally ready can lead to frustration and may cause stress and avoidance or reluctance to learn such concepts. Young children need to learn and deserve to learn a variety of other important early concepts through their own exploratory play and observation.
I\'m not an expert on the subject of the best times to teach preacademic concepts, but I think that learning in this area is probably not so different from the speech-language learning that children need to accomplish. If parents pay attention to their child\'s interests, then they will create a better match between the child\'s thoughts and her ability to acquire new skills.
Most baby toys have bright colors, but that is more for visual interest and contrast. It is not necessary for parents to tell and quiz toddlers constantly about colors.
Some children do become aware of numbers, colors, and letters of the alphabet at a young age. For these children we should follow their lead and reveal these concepts through fun activities such as singing the ABC song, counting steps as we walk up stairs or walk along the sidewalk, counting napkins as we place them on the table, saying the names of colors of their favorite things, and so on.
Otherwise, before children are interested in such things, resist the urge to stress this information. The toddler stacking blocks does not need to be questioned about or told the colors of the blocks he is using. What is more important is that he is stacking the blocks and making a tower or a house--or whatever it is--perhaps a garage for his cars? It might be fun to count the blocks before they fall--that might even contribute to his desire to do it again and try to add \"one more.\" But naming the letters on the blocks and staying too focused on the color names is probably not where the child\'s focus is or should be at a young age.
There are more and more electronic toys on the market for younger and younger children that have voice output with letter names. Forget these! Your young child needs to be building things, using materials in different ways, and experiencing cause and effect actions. It will be cheaper for you and better for him if you buy more classic toys he can make things out of.
My advice? Forget about having your child \"know\" certain preacademic concepts before her cousins or before your neighbors. Play with your child, notice what interests her and talk about those things. If the color of something or the number involved is important to her activity, then comment on it. If your child notices you writing and wants a paper and pencil, provide them. Give only as much help as requested. Resist the temptation to make your child form or copy certain letters before she is ready.
Helping your child learn many names of things (nouns), how and why things work or happen, how things feel, how things change, how to solve problems that arise--these concepts give your child a strong foundation for language learning and for later academic learning.
Mary Lou B. Johnson, M.S., CCC-SLP, is a speech-language pathologist with over 32 years experience working with children and their families at The Children\'s Hospital, Denver. In her eBook, How To Help Your Child Learn to Talk Better in Everyday Activities, Mary Lou shares with readers the information, insights, and ideas that she has shared with parents in her practice. Mary Lou hopes that her eBook will enable a parent to gain new ideas and more confidence in her abilities to help her child acquire new speech-language skills. The reader can see the topics covered in the eBook by viewing the Table of Contents on the home page of the web site at http://helpyourchildspeak.com
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