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Helping Your Child Get Ready for School: Part 3
Language and General Knowledge
At school, children participate in many activities that require them to use language and to solve problems. Children who can’t or don’t communicate easily may have problems in school. There are many things you can do to help children learn to communicate, solve problems, and develop an understanding of the world. You can;
- Talk to your children, beginning at birth. Babies need to hear your voice. A television or the radio can’t take the place of your voice because it doesn’t respond to coos and babbles. The more you talk to your baby, the more they will have to talk about as he gets older. Talking with children broadens their understanding of language and of the world. Everyday activities, such as eating dinner or taking a bath, provide opportunities to talk, sometimes in detail, about what’s happening and respond to your child.
- Listen to your children. Children have their own special thoughts and feelings, joys and sorrows, hopes and fears. As their language skills develop, encourage them to talk. Listening is the best way to learn what’s on their minds and to discover what they know and don’t know, and how they think and learn. It also shows children that their feelings and ideas are valuable. Answer questions and ask questions, particularly ones that require more than a 'yes' or 'no' response.
- Make reading materials available. Children develop an interest in language and in reading much sooner if they have books and other reading materials around their homes.
- Monitor television viewing. Next to parents, television may be our children’s most influential teacher. Good television can introduce children to new worlds and promote learning, but poor or too much TV can be harmful.
Activities
Find activities that interest your child, and which can prepare them for school. Also, find activities which can fit into your normal routine. If an activity you picked out is too hard, your child may get discouraged. If it’s too easy, he may get bored. Or if your child seems uninterested, try another time. Often children’s interests change as they grow and develop. Try to give toddlers and older children a choice of activities so they learn to think for themselves.
Some activities are important for all young children. Reading and listening to music, for example, can benefit children from the time they are born. By modifying an activity, you can enable your child to continue to enjoy it as he grows and develops.
Activities are meant to be fun! Be enthusiastic and avoid lecturing on what they are learning. If your child enjoys the activity, their excitement for learning will increase. Finally, be sure to make safety a top priority.
Good Television Habits
On average, a child watches 4,000 hours of television by the time they begin school. Most experts agree that this is too much. But banning television isn’t the answer, because good television can spark curiosity and open up new worlds to children. Monitoring how much and what television children watch helps them, starting at an early age, to develop good viewing habits.
Here are some tips to help children develop good television-viewing habits.
- Keep a record of how many hours of TV your children watch, and what they watch. Generally, it’s good to limit the amount to 2 hours or less a day, although you can make exceptions for special programs.
- Plan with your children (starting at age 3) what programs to watch. After selecting programs appropriate for your children, help them decide which ones to watch. Turn the TV on when these shows start, and turn the set off when they are over.
- Watch television with your children so you can answer questions and talk about what they see. Pay special attention to how they respond so you can help them understand what they’re seeing, if that’s needed.
- Follow-up TV viewing with activities or games. You might have your child tell you a new word he learned on television that you can look up together in the dictionary. Or you might have him make up his own story about one of his favorite TV characters.
- Make certain that television isn’t regularly used as a babysitter. Instead, try to balance good television with other fun activities for your child.
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