give your preschooler an edge
1:36 PM
GIVE YOUR PRESCHOOLER AN EDGE
by Michele Ranard, M.Ed.
1090 words
Everywhere you turn it seems there
is a new marketing scheme to suck us into purchasing something to propel our
preschoolers to the head of the class.As well-meaning parents, we may be
vulnerable to thinking “inside information” or alternative fast tracks will get
our children there.
However, research and advice from
early childhood experts on emerging literacy are more reliable than the latest
hype. Their advice may not always have a sexy ring to it, but experts suggest
the best foundation—those important first steps leading your child to the point
she’s ready to read—grows from daily experiences at home.
Opportunities to Seize
In the Children’s Learning Opportunities Report (2000), Carl Dunst
conceptualizes opportunities for language development and early literacy in
terms of incidental and intentional opportunities.
Incidental opportunities might
include watching leaves blow while on a walk, blowing on food when it’s too
hot, or talking about body parts during bath time. Intentional activities might
include story hour at the library or a trip to the zoo. Dunst says children
need activity settings matched to their interests
and competencies to practice existing
skills and learn new abilities. Therefore, he suggests parents:
1. Identify your young child’s INTERESTS:
• What makes your child smile or
laugh?
• What makes your child happy and
feel good?
• What are your child’s favorite
things?
• What is enjoyable to your child?
• What does your child work hard
at doing?
2. Identify your young child’s COMPETENCIES:
• What gets and keeps your child’s
attention?
• What is your child good at
doing?
• What “brings out the best” in
your child?
• What does your child like to do
a lot?
• What gets your child to try new
things?
It truly is the everyday stuff
which can give preschoolers an edge. Repetition during meal time, bath time,
diaper changes, and bedtime story routines primes young children for later
school success. Sound too simple? It’s not. Rosenkoetter and Barton’s Bridges to Literacy (2002) encourages
parents to think of building bridges to literacy by providing experiences that
include print, responsiveness, repetition,
modeling and motivation, and oral language.
3. Think PRINT.
Reading time may be brief but must
happen every day. Learning helps kids explore new worlds, laugh across
generations, and discover amazing and ordinary things. Sharing stories can be a
balm for irritable or fussy children. As Rosenkoetter and Barton (2002)
explain:
“Shared reading also provides
security and calms children’s restlessness.”
Reading together should be
relaxing and fun. It is not just about the exposure to language, it’s about
creating happy reading memories which set the stage for a love of reading.
4. Stay RESPONSIVE.
For early literacy, you want your
child to learn: language is fun, she can do it well, and she can get results
from using it. When your child speaks, help her feel successful by giving her
the attention and lots of positive affirmation.
5. Provide REPETITION with routine schedules.
Provide routine schedules that use
familiar phrases (such as“let’s have some lunch” or “scrub-a-dub-dub”) and cues
at key times during the day. Nap and bedtime routines should be kept the same,
and reading the same book over and over helps strengthen the foundation for
later academic success.
6. Be a consistent MODEL and MOTIVATOR.
It’s important your child sees you
reading since “Such routines demonstrate that reading is
important in the lives of older
people and draws attention to the value of reading for coping with everyday
life” (Rosenkoetter, 2002).
At home, point out that you are
reading the newspaper or a recipe. On car rides, be intentional as you point
out signs on the road or the names on store fronts. It’s also important to
write and draw with your child. “When children draw pictures, their verbal
comments should regularly be written on the page and read aloud.”
7. Use ORAL LANGUAGE.
Quantity matters; so talk a lot. You want to expose your child to as
many words an hour as possible. Talk to your child during work and play.
Chitchat has a big payoff and translates into broader vocabularies and higher
levels of reading later.
In Learning to Read the World (2004) Rosenkoetter and Knapp-Philo
explain how learning from their daily explorations with everyday people and
objects, a preschooler “builds many other understandings of self and
others…young children begin to ‘read their world’ and to have wider and greater
impact upon it.” Parents can help them read their world long before they learn
to read!
Nurturance & Connection Opportunities
Psychologist Richard Weissbourd,
author of The Parents We Mean to Be
(Mariner, 2010) warns we frequently miss opportunities to connect and teach
valuable moral lessons to our kids.
“Too many of us are raising
children first and foremost to be happy and we are failing at that
project—rather than instilling in them what the novelist William Faulkner
thought we as a species needed to prevail: ‘a spirit capable of compassion and
sacrifice and endurance.’” Consider these ultra-simple opportunities for
connection.
8. LAUGH
‘til your cheeks ache.
The latest research supports that
laughter can decrease stress hormones and boost the immune system! As Daniel
Pink points out in A Whole New Mind
(Riverhead, 2005)“laughter is a social activity—and the evidence is vast that
people who have regular, satisfying connections to other people are healthier
and happier.” Tell jokes, watch comedy, and most importantly, model a good
sense of humor yourself.
Habitually ask your child what
they think they do well, and then have them demonstrate. For our son, it always
thrilled him to show off his ability to effortlessly walk on his hands. What is
it for your own preschooler? Writing the alphabet? Pouring juice without help?
They love showing you their new skills and strengths, and your glowing response
makes them feel ten feet tall.
10. Leave work behind.
Of course, this is easier said
than done. But take as many family vacations as your employment allows. The
opportunities which will spring from the time away from the grind relaxing with
your children are pure GOLD and will add up to memories for a lifetime. No one
at the end of their life wishes they had just taken less vacation.
Michele Ranard has been helping students and families as a
private tutor for a decade. She has a husband, two children, and a master’s in
counseling.
Sidebars:
80 words/11. Seize this Opportunity: Listen to highs and lows.
Implement this easy best/worst
exercise into every meal-time conversation. Ask your child to identify their
best and worst daily moments. (Don’t use this time to lecture if their ‘worst’
moment involves feeling mad at you.) Open your heart and connect with the
feelings they express. Share their joy! Cry with them over defeat. If you
haven’t tried this, you may be surprised at how much you’ll learn about your
kids’ inner lives.
52 words/12. Seize this Opportunity: Create a “We.”
Rally your preschooler to help
with a project. Whether it is helping an elderly neighbor with gardening,
painting a bench, bathing the dog, or organizing the toy room, join forces and
see that the fruits of your labor extend way beyond an afternoon of hard work.
Whether you attend religious
services or not, be intentional about discussing and modeling the values of
your faith. It is quite easy to get caught up in the realm of the physical
world so it takes conscious effort on your part to provide balance.
Resources:
Dunst, Carl. “Everyday Children’s
Learning Opportunities: Characteristics and Consequences.” Children’s Learning Opportunities Report, Volume Two, Number One.
2000.
Pink, Daniel H. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will
Rule the Future. Riverhead, 2005.
Rosenkoetter, S.E., and Barton, L.
(2002) Bridges To Literacy: Early
Routines That Promote Later School Success. Zero To Three.
Rosenkoetter, S.E., and
Knapp-Philo, J. (2004). Learning to read
the world: Literacy in the first 3 years. Zero to Three (25)1.
Weissbourd, Richard. The Parents We Mean to Be: How Well
Intentioned Adults Undermine Children’s Moral and Emotional Development.
Mariner, 2010.
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