Helpful Mom

As I stated before I am a self proclaimed Leapfrog fanatic.  The only thing they don’t seem to have is toys to help teach kids tell time    But they have something for nearly every other subject you can think of, ranging from the newborn baby with their activity gyms the baby lies under to the quantum pads that teach world geography and human anatomy.  Well we haven’t gotten that far advanced yet, but I am surprised to say my 4 yr old is already learning to read simple words.  She likes to pull out the Scattagories game to play.  I have to adjust it to play with her, so instead of categories I just roll the die and ask her if she can think of a word that starts with that letter.  Then she comes up with one and writes it out, it gets her to practice her letter writing and spelling in a fun way, and she’s the one who asks to play it!

Anyways today I was reminded how great Leapfrog’s toys are when my girls were playing with the Read Along, Sing Along DVD.  I bought it because Katrina is obsessed with anything musical, so I thought I’d take advantage.  And both of the girls love it.  You can either have the kids just watch the video which combines music and rhythm to get the kids to learn to read along.  The words for each of the 12 stories are on the video so they can read along that way, making it good for a class of kids.  Or you can also use the corresponding books for kids to follow along with the DVD.  It’s like the modern take on the old records and cassettes that I listened to as a kid that said turn the page when you hear the ding.  But it not only reads the stories like those, but it also teaches phonics and short vowel sounds which make learning to sound out unfamiliar words much easier.

This product is a relatively new one from Leapfrog so it may be harder to find used yet but you can find it on sale or on Ebay sometimes.  I figure when I’m done with it I will be able to resell it and make most of my money back from it.

I was reading in one of my magazines an article about how we should set an example to our children of going to vote and how if you vote they are more likely to as well.  But the way the story began really reminded me of how our children are watching everything we DO even more than what we say, and how we have to be so very careful to make sure our actions match our words.  In it it had this poem by a nun that was given to the author when her baby was born:

“Be careful where you go, young man, be careful what you do.  Two little eyes are watching you now- Two little feet will be following you.”

Isn’t that the truth, no matter where you are no matter what you are doing your kids are sure to find you and want to do it with you.  One day I was dropping my girls off at my moms for the day and Katrina really didn’t want to be left behind, so in an effort to make her not want to come with me I told her she didn’t want to join me because I’d be scrubbing the floors and ceilings.  And she says I want to help you!

The article goes on to say that some of this is obvious but when you’re so focused on giving the essentials-food, love, basic hygiene-it’s easy to overlook that those little eyes soak up so much more from you too.  Things you might not even be aware you’re transmitting.  Like how family members treat one another, and whether respect and affection are part of those interactions even when you are sleep deprived or stressed.  How strangers are treated.  How often please and thank you punctuate the day.  Or even whether you come to a full stop at a stop sign.

The kids might look oblivious, but they are watching.  It’s enough to make a mom self-conscious(which is probably a good thing).  Last spring we had a mom come share at our group about teaching your children manners.  And what she shared wasn’t what you might have expected about sitting them and teaching them here’s what you do in this situation or that one, but is was more about how we should be setting that example.  Instead of saying(or yelling) “eat your food”  we should ask them politely, “Please eat your food”.  Or can you please pick up your cup for mommy, instead of give me your cup.  It’s easy to forget that just because you are in charge it doesn’t mean you get to be bossy, instead we should be modeling the behaviour that we want them to inherit.  Which right now it’s self control and patience, which is being worked into mommy and child.  If they see you fly off the handle how can we expect any more from them?