Another Chapter 1 Entry

This is Ashleigh, and she said, "This was me trying to be cool!" It appears to me that she was successful!

She has written our second entry for chapter 1, and I believe you'll see that it's cool, as well. Enjoy.

Chapter 1 deals with how parents make efforts to help their children learn more effectively by buying learning games like Baby Einstein, and having their children listen to Mozart. The argument proposed in the chapter is that children do not need all of those aids; they just need to be children and play. I totally agree that children learn best though play and do not need all the fancy, high tech toys to learn. When I was little, I did not have all the toys that children have today and I did fine.

Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff wrote, “The baby-educating toy category is now a $1-billion-a-year business. Sixty five percent of parents believe that flash cards are very effective in helping 2-year-olds develop their intellectual capacity” (p. 3).
I see this with my dad; he assumes that the grandchildren already have received toys and teddy bears from the paternal grandparents, so he shops for his grandchildren to help them get an edge. I tell him that the grandchildren still will benefit from yet another simple toy that helps them bond with him, rather than making it look like he wants them to work. Children learn and retain memories through play.

I do not understand why parents today are so worried about their children being highly educated at a young age. Why is it such a big deal to get into the right preschool? Parents have to remember that these things are just marketing tools and they should reject those appeals to influence them in such a manner. Some parents need to just keep things simple for themselves. What they can listen to is their own innate common sense about what a child enjoys, and child development experts. It is amazing that a 3 or 4 year old can read, but I believe you are pushing your child too hard. While each generation wants to do things better, parents should still let children just play and explore the world. Parents do not need a lot of money to create the best, capable, healthy child; they just need to spend good play time with their child.

Today most parents are very busy; some are working at two jobs and have a hard time juggling everything. So they feel that since they do not have enough time to spend with their children, buying educational toys or materials will do the educational work for them. While that may be useful, it often depends on how old the child is.
I worked in a preschool for a couple years and the teachers never had lesson plans like they do in elementary schools. Why? Because preschool should be spontaneous and children at that age should be playing and just having a good time.

At the end of the chapter it deals with the three R’s, which are Reflect, Resist and Re-center. I think that this is a great concept to understand. The term reflect refers to when a person gets a new parenting idea; they study it and figure out if it fits with what they are already doing with their children. Then there is the concept of resist. It means stopping yourself from buying into the parenting idea. Lastly there is the term re-center. This concept means that the parents take time to let themselves know they made a good choice.