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My Dilemma:How do I Interact with my child?

My Dilemma:How do I Interact with my child?

The pressure of learning ABCs and 123s got me trying to cram it down her 10 month old brain. We bought building blocks for her to play with. Here I was as a first time mom sitting down on the floor trying to show her the alphabet and the numbers on the blocks. I was trying to “play” with her and show her these things! My heart was thinking:

I do not want her to be the only one who does not know the alphabet or know her numbers! So we best start early!

After ten minutes of failing, I succumbed to having her throw around the blocks. I even stacked up the blocks to show her how to “build”. My focus was on trying to have her “Build” and was not even catching on to the fact that she was experiencing a different level of Playing and Learning that I did not even notice or understand.

By far the only time I really had her attention was when I was reading a certain book that contained things to touch, and for me—animals to breath life into. What I mean is she was able to touch and feel different textures and I was able to “Moo” and “Quack” and “Pock Pock Pock—Cock a Doodle Doo”. She gravitated to this book and we had hours of fun. To her this was her play and learning time. She interacted and all was great. But one can sit down and read a book for so long before both of you gets tired of quacking and mooing. Little did I know that "touching" and "sounds" were a gateway to her learning!

My dilemma was How do I interact with my child?

She gets bored with toys and throws them around and does not exactly play with them. I simply did not know what she was capable of doing. Or how to go about "playing" with her. We'd do a couple of things here and there, but in reality I was at a loss. I had some experience babysitting, but as far as something on a daily basis? I was at a loss!

Another question I had was "What can I expect from my little one? "

Of course I play with her, but sometimes even it’s like I am reaching to the edges of my brain to figure out “HOW” to incorporate learning into all the playing that is age appropiate? Playing with my daughter on a daily basis gets difficult for me. As a first time mom I run out of fresh ideas easily. I needed inspiration!

I found help with Eebee's DVD Adventures, but would love to hear from real moms Too!

Sophie and Momma: Eebee's DVD Giveaway

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Permalink Reply by Angela on November 20, 2011 at 11:09pm

Hi! I'm not an expert by any means, but I have an almost 3-year. I was worried about that too when he was little; whether I was just entertaining him or really helping him learn something.

I have found that children pick up things that we don't even 'teach' them. You don't have to worry too much about making each play time a structured learning experience. If we just let them play and explore in their own way they will learn more than we can possible imagine! I think the biggest thing we can do to help their little brains is talking to them. Talk to the constantly about everything around them. That way the learn the language and who words correlate to objects, and such.

Babies that little ones (well and toddlers for that matter) have such a short attention span that they can only focus on things for a few minutes. If we try to get them to focus on an activity for too long they are going to get bored and cranky. You might be able to go over a few letters or numbers, but then have to just let her do whatever she wants for a while with the blocks. I found it helpful to try to show my little boy something once or twice, then drop it for a while and let him play, then come back to it later, and so on. That repetition really helps too.

All in all I would say don't worry about it too much! She is still very young and has much learning ahead of her. Don't get so worried about it that you forget to enjoy her now! She will learn and pick up what she needs to and soon you will amazed at all she knows! :)

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Permalink Reply by Gina Baker on December 9, 2011 at 11:24pm

I agree with Angela- do not worry too much about it. Kids will get bored with toys fast, that is their nature. As far as teaching them the alphabet and counting etc I have definitely learned one thing, it will be on their own time. However, we do point to alot of things and label them just the same. Baby signing is a great way to start communication, you would be surprised how fast they pick that up. My little boy likes to explore things, so we explore things around the house and I love the items that he picks up pretending they are a cell phone and a car. Again, don't stress too much, you are fine. If you want to know the average of what a kid should be doing, Dr Sears references are always great... but they will still do it on their own time. Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Cash Hanson on December 10, 2011 at 1:43am

Have you ever read the book " What to expect the first year?" You may enjoy it. Don't worry all kids throw toys LOL and I believe they are naturally equipped to be fast learners even if us first time mom's don't have it all figured out .

http://www.mompreneurmogul.com/