Have you ever noticed when children learn how to do something, especially something enjoyable, they rarely ask you to do it for them afterward?
Have you noticed how we celebrate saying goodbye to the bottle, goodbye to the nappy?
Once toilet trained – do they ask to be put in a nappy?
When they can ride a two-wheeler do they ask for the training wheels to be put back on? Of course not. And once they can drive they no longer ask for a lift!
When I first started teaching my very first employer, who was a teacher, said to me, “children are born to become independent.” It is true and if they don’t develop independence when we think they should we seek help immediately. But having said that, we also give them time to learn these skills.
I sometimes want to stay away from writing about literacy even though that is my passion for young children. I feel like there are many issues to discuss but this week at my work the director pulled me aside and said she had been reading an article on,”we are dumbing children down.”
I will outline the reasons so you can understand my passion and perspective:
- Children constantly ask for a story to be read – let’s give them their training wheels.
- Adults are busy and often defer reading to a child until later or may run out of time.
- Recognizing a sign like McDonald’s is the first indication a child gives you that they are able to read. They are saying that ‘M’ is equal to the spoken word McDonald’s. They are making their own way so will we stop them?
- Why do we want to delay reading when we don’t delay counting?
- Children should be given the choice of engaging with learning to read.
- I always ask the young children I am teaching if they would like to learn to read. It is always a resounding yes.
- Childcare providers do not usually have the time to teach a systematic literacy program.
- Some childcare workers are not trained in the steps of learning literacy.
- Private tuition at home is more effective than group tuition.
Some tips for developing good fine motor skills are:
Always provide thick chalk and crayons for drawing and thick brushes. It is trendy to have thin markers and pencils but these items make developing the correct pencil grip harder. Children clench their little fists more tightly because of the difficulty in holding such a thin item. The progression to a pencil grip is gradual and the thicker crayons and chalks allow the child to grip in a light manner in the early stages. You will notice their progression in their grip and then buy thinner crayons gradually but not extremely thin. These may be more expensive but worth it for the child.
Play dough is a must for children developing fine motor skills, as is using the pincer grip to open some pegs. Children can use pegs in play dough play as well as plastic knives and forks. If correctly supervised, play dough is the perfect material to learn howto cut with scissors because children can’t really see mistakes such as not cutting accurately and they also don’t compare themselves to others as much when using play dough.
Enjoy your week with your child or children and if you embrace a new activity to develop your child’s potential in reading please email me and let me know.
