Raising Creative Children » early childhood

Help Your Creative Child Develop a True Love of Music

Lorelei — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 08:32:09 +0000

Inspire a Love of Music in your Young Child

There is so much emphasis on teaching young children letter and number recognition, that many preschools simply do not have the time to properly incorporate music into their program. Music education should be more than singing a few children’s songs, or chanting some fingerplays. Little children are capable of so much more! Just attend any concert put on by Suzuki music programs, and watch the three- and four-year-olds play their violins. It is breath-taking.

I had two close friends whose daughters were about the same age as my oldest child, and all the girls were taking music lessons – theirs on the piano, and mine on the violin. The two moms exhibited the extremes of parental opinion in regards to their child’s music. The one mom clasped both hands to her breast, and with a dreamy expression on her face proclaimed, “It just brings me such joy to hear my child practice! To think than any child of mine would have so much talent is a true blessing!” The other mom snorted, remarking, “Thank God for electric pianos! She can plug in the ear phones and I don’t have to hear it.” I was somewhere in between. I loved hearing my daughter practice, but after listening to ten-thousand twinkles, I was mighty glad when she progressed to the next level.

The benefits of Music for the Young Child

Music develops listening skills! Music helps children express their emotions. Music and dance can give children a healthy way to expend some energy. Creating music fulfills a basic need that many of us have long ignored. And finally, music develops neural pathways in the brain, that lay the foundation for reading and math.

Introduce your preschooler to wide variety of music. Let him listen to classical music, folk music, baroque, romantic, jazz, blues, and more. Have him sing, clap, dance, and move to music. Help him discover sounds. One day he might bang on the back of a pot with a wooden spoon. The next day try beating on an empty oatmeal carton with a rubber spatula. One day you might actually get him a drum. How does it sound when he hits it with his hand, as opposed to the drumsticks?

Here below is Jonathan, a preschool conductor. He is listening to Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony, and he doesn’t miss a beat. He knows this piece! He knows what’s going to happen next, he anticipates it, giggling gleefully. In the comments after the video on YouTube, professional musicians said they would have no difficulty following him, and they wished their own conductors were as enthusiastic. The video is precious, but what struck me more than how talented this little guy is, is how joyful he is! I want that joy for my grandchild! I hope all of you can give your young children joy like this.

If you can find a class near you, you might want to look into Music Together. I’ve just discovered it while doing an internet search. I don’t have first-hand information on this program, but I watched their promotional video, and it surely looks good. I contacted a local class in my community, and depending on the cost, may give it a try.

The most important tip of all – have fun! Music should be loved, enjoyed, experienced. It should never be forced.

Photo Credits:

Little Drummer: by Bev Sykes

When to say “No!”

Lorelei — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:14:39 +0000

Temper Tantrums

Whether you consider yourself to be permissive or authoritarian in your child-rearing style, it’s certain that at some point you will tell your child, “no!” It is very likely that your child hears this word many times a day. We say “no” when a toddler is about to stick a penny in the electric outlet, or in his mouth. We say “no” to an energetic preschooler running towards the street. We say “no” to the young child who wants to stay up late and watch just one more show on television. Sometimes, it may seem that all we ever say is “no”! Is there a way to get around this? No. Probably not! But the point of this discussion is to encourage us to think, before we shout this overused and under-heard exclamation.

Recently, I was at Wal-mart Optical helping my husband pick out new frames when a family came by with three grade-school aged children. The youngest might have been six. He was sitting in the shopping cart, screaming at the top of his lungs with a shrill pitch that made everyone think he had blood pouring out his eyeballs. The problem? He didn’t want to get his frames repaired, he wanted new frames. The parents were bent over him, anxiously trying to please him so he’d be quiet. They used every word in the dictionary, except “No!” Now if you’ve ever read the Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies, then you know the right way to deal with this situation. You leave the store immediately. You do not placate a child in a tantrum, but neither should you subject the entire population of the store to his inappropriate behavior. You cannot reason with a child in a tantrum. You should not EVER give in to a child in a tantrum. Take him out to the car, take him home. Send him to his room, or his cry-rug, or his time-out corner. Then later, when he’s calmed down, you teach him.

That same day I was walking my dog, and saw a little two-year-old girl on the sidewalk, jumping up and down. She wore a sundress and lacey socks and shiny black shoes. Her wispy blonde hair was tugged back in a pony tail, but precious strands had come loose and were floating on the breeze with her enthusiasm. It was a joyous, carefree moment. But her father squelched it instantly, yelling “No! Don’t do that. Can’t you just walk like normal people?”

Both sets of parents did not know the correct use of the word. Both had failed to understand children, or the role of the parent. In both families there were hurt feelings and a lack of communication between adult and child.

So when do you say no?

As little as possible, and only when it’s absolutely necessary. If you say it all the time, your child will learn to tune you out. The best way to change your habit of overusing the word “no” is to just stop and think a moment before you speak.

Here are some examples:

Climbing Up The Slide

Your child is at the playground, trying to climb UP the slide. Every child does it. Most adults tell them not to. Is he going to hurt himself? Probably not. Is he hurting others? Not usually. Is he going to break the slide? Definitely not. So why not let him? This was a major peeve of mine when I worked at preschools and day care centers. There were sooooo many rules regarding the playground equipment! Children could not climb up the slides, they could not come down on their bellies. They could not come down head first. Walk up these stairs only. Walk down those stairs only. Don’t jump from the second to the bottom stair. Argh! Companies have been designing and developing playground equipment, trying to make them so safe that children can’t possibly get hurt (yeah, right, where there’s a will, there’s a way!) and still we feel compelled to restrict their creativity and imagination with a list of rules that would make the IRS cringe.

Throwing Sand is Fun

Your child is at the beach throwing sand. Do you really need to say “no?” Why do children like to throw sand? I don’t have a clue, but they ALL do it! They like to throw. Recently my granddaughter amused herself for nearly thirty minutes by picking up the annoying large green pods of the black walnuts and tossing them into the dumpster. She shrieked gleefully, “I won! I won!” every time she heard the satisfying thunk of the nut striking the heavy metal container. But we don’t like it when our children throw sand. We don’t want others to think our child is undisciplined. So we yell at our child (why not yell at the other people?) and threaten to take them home this minute if they don’t stop throwing sand! The last time I took my granddaughter to the beach, I tried a different tactic. The beach was not crowded. There was not a strong wind to carry the sand. I told her she could stand at the edge of the water and throw sand into the water, but not to throw it at anybody. I also warned her that she might get sand in her eyes. Then I left it up to her to discover. She gleefully threw fistfuls of sand into the waves for all of five minutes. That was it. She’d had her fun, and was ready to go on to another activity.

Suppose your child wants a piece of birthday cake for breakfast, and you want to tell him no, he needs to eat cereal. Is there really any less sugar in that box of honey-yummy-crunchies than the cake? It became a beloved tradition in my family, that the morning after a birthday, everyone could have cake for breakfast if they wanted to. And I rarely bought sugary honey-yummy-crunchies anyway. I am not in favor of letting children eat sugary sweets, but it is much easier just to NOT keep them in the house than to try to explain to a three year old why we only eat chocolate covered grahams after we’ve had a nutritious breakfast.

Another way to get around overusing “no” is to have clearly defined rules. I’ll go into more details about rules in another post, but for now, know that if you have a set bedtime, and your child asks to stay up late, you can just ask him the rule. “What is the rule in this house about bedtime?” Then the child can answer his own question. You’re not the big meanie saying “No”. Your child is learning to live by a set of rules, which is absolutely necessary to live in a society.

So remember, think before you answer. Do you really have to use the word “no”? If the answer is yes, then do it! Say it once. Say it with authority. Do not repeat yourself. If it seems appropriate at the time, you can explain to your child why you must say no. If your child throws a tantrum, then you discipline the tantrum. You do not change your “no” to a “yes”. If your child accepts the “no” well, praise him! Tell him how proud you are that he listened to you.

The more you can step back and allow your child to explore his world, the more you allow him to develop his innate creativity.

Books by Others:
Ten Days to a Less Defiant Child
Parenting with Love and Logic

Photo Credits:
Tantrum: Saad Aktar
Up the Slide: Kissy Face
Throwing Sand: CarbonNYC

Amazing Grace

Lorelei — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 00:06:48 +0000

Rhema Marvanne

Have you taught your child to sing? Music is an integral part of the young child’s experience. It doesn’t matter if you croak like a frog or Frankie Sinatra – just open your mouth and sing from the heart.

In the lesson plans I include four or five songs for you to teach your child. Some of them aren’t actually singable, but are instead “finger-plays” – a type of chant, usually rhyming, and always using finger and hand motions. Twos and threes especially enjoy finger-plays – think of the “Ensy-Wensy Spider” if you’re still not sure what I’m talking about, although that one is set to music.

Any child can learn to sing! It is easier than learning to play violin or piano, and Dr. Suzuki’s method has shown the world thousands upon thousands of tiny children who have learned to play either instrument with sensitivity and beauty. Singing is as easy as talking – you just talk on pitch!

Here is a precious news cast about a seven year old girl who brings joy to the lives of others through her beautiful, God-given talent. ReverbNation places her at the top of the chart for Christian Gospel singers. She filmed a scene for a new movie due to be released next fall, “Machine Gun Preacher”, about a drug-dealer turned Christian, who dedicates the rest of his life to saving children in war-torn areas.

The point here isn’t that we should push our children to excel, but rather that your child has the capability within him to do great things. It is up to you to provide a warm, safe environment and the freedom for him to explore and discover his own innate talent.

May you find your heart uplifted by this lovely little girl. I went straight to her website and ordered her CD for my mom!

May God bless you and your family,

Lorelei

D is for Dog

Lorelei — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 04:19:16 +0000

A Good Dog is a Faithful Friend

This week your child will learn about the letter Dd, and about dogs. Your child can learn that dogs make nice pets. Dogs are alive. Dogs have four legs, ears, and a tail. They may have long or short coats. They may be big like Great Danes or tiny like Pomeranians. They have long, cold, wet noses and sharp teeth. People need to eat right, exercise, drink plenty of water, and get enough sleep to be healthy. Dogs need those things, too!

If your child already has a dog, wonderful! If you’re thinking about getting one, how about now? Otherwise, can you visit a friend who owns a dog? Does your community have a dog park? It would be a great place to go for a field trip, to see a wide variety of dogs and talk with the pet owners about how they take care of their pet.

Dog Begins With D

We’re starting to add a few more concepts to each lesson- so this week we’ll also focus on the Diamond shape, the number four, and the color brown. Your child may practice writing the letter Dd on lined paper. If he is not yet ready for this, then he can try to form the shape of the letter Dd from play dough ropes. He will be counting to four, and sorting colors.

I hope you all have a great time this week!

“D is for Dog” lesson plans

Photo Credits: Top: by Vasile Tomoiagă Middle:GenBug Husky:Clyde Possum Golden Retriver: Sky Captain Two Dalmation: CuseGoyle West Highland Terrier:Randy son of Robert Basset Hound: Jelly Dude	Siberian Husky
Golden Retriever	songs: How Much is That Doggie In the Window? There was a Farmer Had a Dog Oh where, Oh Where has my little dog Gone?
books and more: Harry the Dirty Dog Clifford, We Love You Biscuit Storybook Collection Milo and Otis DVD	Dalmation
Westie Terrier	Basset Hound

Family Reunion

Lorelei — Tue, 25 May 2010 12:00:43 +0000

Cousins Are Forever Friends

We teach our children not to talk to strangers, and then, all of a sudden, because of something called “the Family Reunion”, that is exactly what we want our kids to do! The young child is often timid around strangers, even when those strangers are actually relatives that you just don’t get to see very often. So how can you help your child feel comfortable around his relatives, without forcing him to give hugs and kisses to such strange people?

There are several steps you can take, to make sure that everyone enjoys the reunion, create some wonderful memories, and forge some new friendships for your child that may last a lifetime.

Introduce Your Child to Your Relatives

The first step is to introduce your relatives using a photo album. Take large, clear pictures of each relative, alone. Using a magnetic photo album, insert copies of the pictures into the pages, along with large, clear labels of each name. Magnetic albums are not good for your photographs. Over time, the colors will fade. For albums that you want to keep, you’ll need to look for “archival quality” paper, that is acid-free and lignen-free. But for a toddler’s picture book, nothing quite holds up like a sturdy magnetic album. That’s why you’ll make duplicate copies of your photos. One to put in your child’s magnetic picture book, and another to save.

Make A Picture Book of Your Relatives

Grandmothers Are Moms with Lots of Frosting

This magnetic album is your child’s. Let him look through the pictures often. Read the names aloud to him. Ask him to tell the names back to you. When that relative calls on the phone, get the album out, and point to the right picture. Let the relative say “hi” to your young child on the phone, and encourage him to say something back. When you go through the book again, tell him short stories about each relative. Some little thing that may help him put names to faces. Like, “this is Great-Grandma Biggers. She likes to paint, and has a swimming pool at her house. This is your Great Aunt Liesa, she lives on a farm with lots of cows.” The stories can get longer as your child’s attention increases. The idea is to make that person seem real, so when your child meets them in person, they won’t be total strangers.

Bring the album with you to the reunion. Let your child make a game of finding each relative in his book among the group that has gathered.

Plan Some Games Just For the Children

Organize some children’s activities in advance. You can ask every person attending the reunion to come up with one child-activity and one adult-activity. Getting together and talking may be exciting for the old folks, but the young ones will be bored to tears. Make sure they have fun, and they will want to come again!

Plan Some Fun Activities For Your Family Reunion

At one of our family reunions, one aunt brought a gallon of bubbles solution and a variety of wands and blowers. There were twelve young children there, who absolutely loved this simple activity. They took turns blowing bubbles and catching them, chasing the bubbles, and trying to catch them on their tongues. Another organized activity was a simple scavenger hunt. Later, someone brought out paper and paint, and yet another got them all in a circle for a game of duck-duck-goose. Nothing was difficult, but without pre-planning, it might have been challenging to come up with materials and games on the spur of the moment.

Maintain Your Child’s Daily Schedule

Don’t forget to keep your child somewhat on his schedule, even when on vacation. If he normally takes a two hour nap, and you don’t have him take a nap at all, you may be setting him up for a major tantrum when he gets over-tired. Nothing spoils the fun quite like a two-year-old acting like a two-year-old, and a bunch of older relatives giving you unwanted advice on how they never let their kids get away with that kind of behavior.

Avoid Hot Topics

Finally, if there are some touchy subjects that you really don’t want to talk about at the reunion, you might list them in the invitations in advance. Otherwise, try to think of all the annoying questions that really push your buttons, and brainstorm how you might answer them without causing conflict. Is there one relative that always brings up spanking? How do you usually respond to them? Is there a better way to handle that then what you’ve tried in the past?

When my children were young, my husband and I decided to homeschool them. Unfortunately, many of our relatives were public school teachers! As you can imagine, there might have been a lot of conflict at our get-togethers, but there wasn’t. My husband and I informed everyone in advance of our decision, and why. Then we went ahead and did it. We’d already earned the reputation for being a little “odd” because we didn’t let our children watch cartoons. I felt that most cartoons were violent, crude, scary, or perpetuating bratty behavior that we would not tolerate. So I had been censoring their television viewing habits for years before the homeschooling issue came up. At first, I remember hearing some relatives remark that cartoons were harmless, but a couple of years later they noticed how well-behaved and creative and intelligent our children were. Then when they heard someone else disparage children’s television programming, I heard those same relatives inform them proudly how we never let our children watch that stuff!

Family Reunions Are a Celebration of Life

Family Reunions Are a Celebration of Life

Family reunions can be a wonderful way to build relationships. They can be a celebration of life, as we honor our elders and enjoy the newest generation. I have heard it said that the two most important things you can give your child are roots and wings. Roots, to know where he came from, and the freedom to fly from the nest when he’s ready. So enjoy your roots! And don’t forget to take some pictures!

Books for Further Reading:
Family Secrets: The Path to Self-Acceptance and Reunion
Great Games: 175 Games and Activities for Families, Groups, and Children
The Berenstain Bears Family Reunion

Related Articles on this Website:
Building Family Through Tradition
Traveling with Tots
The Family Meal

Photo Credits:
Cousins: photo by Phil Scoville
Great Grandma with book: photo by Tom Eppenberger Jr.
Bubbles: photo by Max Stotsky
Kissing Cousins: photo by Makelessnoise

Snow and Ice week

Lorelei — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:09:43 +0000

Snow Brings Smiles Like Magic

Welcome to Snow and Ice week! This week focuses on the properties of water when it changes to snow or ice, rather than on winter weather. Your can learn:

When the weather turns cold, rain changes to snow.
Sometimes snow is wet and sloppy, sometimes it is dry and powdery.
We like to play in snow, making snow angels or snow men.
When snow melts, it turns back into water.
We wear extra clothing to keep warm in winter.
Polar bear and penguins are animals that live in cold areas.
No two snowflakes are exactly alike.
Water freezes to make ice. Ice melts to make water.

Learn to Enjoy Winter

My First Snowman

If you live where it snows in the winter, you have a wonderful opportunity to teach your child! Winter can mean being stuck inside for months on end, depressed by the lack of sunlight, chapped hands, cracked lips, miserable, cantankerous children, OR… it can mean hot chocolate, snowball fights, adorable snowmen, ruddy cheeks, rosy lips, sparkling eyes, and cozy fires. It’s your choice. Love where you are, and live life to it’s fullest.

Know How to Stay Warm in Cold Weather

Winter isn’t fun when you’re cold. Our parents and grandparents knew about long underwear. Now, no one wears them. We prefer to crank up the thermostat and complain about high heating bills. Dress warmly. Dress your child warmly. Wear long johns around the house, and slippers or shoes instead of going barefoot. Keep the thermostat between 65 and 68 – you’ll save money and do your bit for the environment, as well.

When you send your child outside, always dress him completely. It doesn’t matter if you’re just running to the store for a gallon of milk. You never know when you might be stuck in traffic, or experience car trouble. A small child can suffer hypothermia very quickly. The American Academy of Pediatrics advices to dress children in one more layer than you as an adult would wear. This may include:

thermal long johns
turtlenecks
one or two shirts
snowpants
sweater
coat
warm socks
boots
gloves or mittens
hat

This week, you and your child will make snowmen, stage a snowball fight, go sledding down a small hill, and roast marshmallows over a campfire at the park. Enjoy the season! It will all be over soon enough.

Five-Star Picture Books for Snow and Ice Week

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Snow Globe Family by Jane O’Connor
Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton
Curious George in the Snow by H.A. Rey
Snow and Ice by Kay Daview
Diamond in the Snow by Jonathan Emmett
The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt
The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen
Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright

Quality Products for Snow and Ice Week (optional)

Free Worksheets to Download

All Kinds of Weather
Colors and Shapes
Cutting with Scissors
First ABC Practice Sheets
Snowflake Match

If you’re new to the lesson plans, you may wish to read:
Using the lesson plans
Calendar Activities
Play Areas for Encouraging Creativity

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Preschool Lesson Plans:Snow and Ice Week

Photo credits:
Top: photo by Andrew Eick
Bottom: photo by Eden Pictures