I guess I was getting overly frustrated with C the other day with the worksheets. I always thought he was a bit advanced for his age and teachers led me to believe so too since he was able to write his name right around 2 1/2. This led me to have higher expectations for him and I guess I felt I was letting him down because I didn’t focus on encouraging his abilities. So last week, I figured I would try to work on it with him. I do make time for that albeit sporadically. Even though he was learning to put together words “b” with “ig” to make “big” or other three letter words, it didn’t seem to be the light bulb going on the way that I thought it would. It’s a much slower process.  I happened upon this article warning parents to “Don’t start too Early”.

Basic points from the article that I will try to keep in mind:

1) Keep it fun and within reach. Positive experiences to build confidence. Don’t be too regimented.

2) Identify surroundings beginning with a certain letter. Point out letters and numbers – street names, house numbers, billboards, road signs, shop signs, advertising logos, food items.

3) Keep it short. No longer than 20-3o minutes. “Research has shown that young children are naturally far-sighted as their eyes have not fully matured to function like that of an older person. For this reason, to avoid eye-strain, a child should not focus on a book or a page for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. When they write, encourage your children to make big letters at this stage. Later on (when they start Grade 1) they can learn to write neatly between lines!”

4) Don’t be critical, just encourage him to keep improving.

I wonder what they mean by young children. I consider B young but he’s 8.