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My son Mekhi surprised me when at 12 months old he pointed to the window and said “outside“. I was even more astounded when he’d ask “Who’s that?” whenever someone new entered a room. I suppose I can attribute his proclivity for language to reading with him on a daily basis. We have also refrained from ever speaking to him in “baby talk”. Although I know these things contribute to his language development, I remain impressed by his ability to understand and articulate the English language at such an early age. It truly is amazing how quickly children develop language skills and the capacity to understand the world around them.
Recently Mekhi has added Spanish and Chinese to his language library. I fear the title of this post may be deceiving, my son is not fully fluent in any language yet - but I know that he fully understands English and knows a few words in Chinese and Spanish. I attribute this to Dora, Go Diego Go and Ni-Hao, Kai Lan. He watches these shows fairly regularly on Noggin but I did not think the foreign languages were having an impact on him. I was astounded when I heard him counting in Spanish and saying hello in Chinese. Children at this age are like sponges and absorb everything like water. I am well aware that early childhood is the time of life when the brain can readily absorb new information and of course I want to encourage the learning process in my child.
Of course I believe that my child is exceptional and I think that all parents feel similarly about their children. Parents want to foster a love of learning in their children and encourage them to excel. Since I’ve become a mother I have seen numerous programs that tap into this parental eagerness. There are “teach your child to read” before they can speak DVDs, language classes for toddlers, and at the moment I am in the process of determining the road to take for my son. There are so many options - pre-schools/daycare that provide total language immersion, Montessori schools that offer lessons on a daily basis, and the plethora of cooperative schools that will also encourage my child to read/learn/grow etc. Many of these schools have entry requirements that rival college applications and the tuition too!
As I think about entry interviews, waiting lists, and most importantly shelling out all of that money for private "school" for my toddler, I have to wonder - are we pushing our children too fast? Are we allowing kids to be kids? Perhaps rather than pay expensive tuition or camp out overnight to get my child enrolled in the best public preschool, a better option might be to simply create an environment in my home that is conducive to learning. My son has at least 22 years of schooling ahead of him. Leaving him in his current environment, at the Y, where they are both accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and utilized the creative learning curriculum (encouraging children to learn through play), might just be the right place for him.
I am curious about the experiences of other parents so please feel free to share your perspective in the comments. I have found a few posts/blogs that reflect on educational choices too:
The SF K Files is an entire blog devoted to Kate's experience as the mother of a four year old seeking kindergarten for her child. The March 19th post that announces private school admission letters are arriving and encourages readers to share their experiences had over 1000 comments!
Laura, author of Global Mama writes an ongoing series about "Hunting For A Preschool" and provides an overview of various preschool education options.
Kimberly, author of Mom in the City recently wrote about Too Much School" after she toured a potential kindergarten/elementary school for her son. In her own words: "Don’t get me wrong – the school was great, to my pleasant surprise. It had many of the things that I hope for in a school – involved teachers who have been there for a long period of time; music and art programs; a wonderful library; etc. I visited four different Kindergarten classes. One was an inclusion class where approximately 20% of the students have low-level special needs and are integrated with the “regular” students. Then, there was the Talented and Gifted class.
