So, we have begun teaching Nikhil to read.
It is a very telling sign when the second letter your child learns to recognise is M... for MacDonald's!
When I decided to undertake this task, I printed out all the letters, capitals and lower case, in a good, simple font. I painstakingly cut out each letter and taped them, capital letter next to lower case, all over the dining room and kitchen, and ignored the strange looks from visitors (we've had lots of people coming to give us removals quotes).
Nikhil looked at them a few times, then proceeded to tear them off the furniture and eat them. Well, at least he's, ahem, taking them in...
But he has been learning well, albeit from other sources. He can now recognise 19 letters, and will key in the correct letter on the keyboard if you ask him to. He can also recognise a few numerals. The most valuable tool has been a program called Baby Smash, where the child can bash away at the keyboard and the letters appear large and bright, with a voice saying what it is. Function keys yield coloured shapes, so he now knows shapes like hexagons and trapezoids. Another great tool is a play dough set with alphabet cutters that my sister gave him for his birthday.
As much as I tried to avoid the "A for apple, B for ball" method, all the alphabet books we've found teach it that way. It's a problem, especially at this age. Nikhil will see a numeral, and say "Four! Four for...? Mommy, what's four for?" as if it's a letter to start a word with. Also, he knows D is for Dad, and B is for Brad, so he says "B for Dad!" and I'll have to say, "No, B for Brad." Then you can see his little brain thinking "That's what I said. Brad, Dad, same person!"
The great thing about teaching kids is that they are so eager to learn, they will force you to teach them. I have to admit, I've slacked off a bit recently (it does get tedious singing the alphabet song so many times) but Nikhil hasn't taken a break. We'll be rushing around at the mall and he'll point to a sign and say "Look! S!". Then I stop myself and point out the other letters to him.
And it's that excitement that has me wanting to homeschool my kids. The joy of learning something new, the satisfaction of discovering a proficiency - that's something I want to keep alive for all their lives.Because once they love learning, the subject matter is unimportant - they will always be able to learn whatever skill they need in life.
Monday, January 18, 2010
I'm back!
I have been absent for quite a while, I know. I would hate to feed you the regular blogger's excuses - holidays, busy with the kids, etc. So I'll tell you the truth.
I've been conducting a research study. I'm serious. So serious, in fact, that I am sharing the study with you right here:
Does sleep deprivation affect function? A study of the effects of prolonged interrupted sleep in adult females
Background: It is a well-known fact that sleep deprivation can lead to a multitude of physiological disturbances, so severe in fact, that sleep deprivation has been used as a means of torture in the past.
In modern times, however, women of childbearing age are often required to work in full-time employment while suffering the consequences of sleep deprivation, caused by looking after young children. This study aims to identify the functional areas affected, if any, by this sleep deprivation.
Method: Subjects were chosen from a small geographical area. They were female, married, with children under the age of 30 months, and employed in full time jobs. Subjects with concomitant disease states were not excluded from the study. A total number of 1 subjects were recruited. Average age: 30 years. Average weight: None of your business, Nosey!
After a full day of work, subjects were allowed to go to bed at 10pm every night. They were then woken at random intervals ranging from 30 to 90 minutes. They were woken by the sound of a child waking, as this was found to be the most effective way of getting their adrenaline and cortisol levels to rise rapidly and ensure they were fully awake within 0.48 seconds. Subjects were woken 5 to 8 times a night.
Subjects were kept awake for varying time periods, at random, between 5 and 120 minutes. During this time they were made to perform any combination of the following tasks:
> breastfeeding an infant, remembering which breast to feed from so as to avoid "foremilk diarrhoea" or affect supply
> comforting a toddler out of a nightmare
> finding a syringe and administering medication to a crying infant without allowing infant to choke or spit medication out
> switching on lights, going to kitchen on a different level of the house, making a bottle of chamomile tea, cooling it to a comfortable temperature, and feeding it to a child
> ignoring a smiling, cooing baby so as to teach the baby the difference between night and day
> allowing a toddler to kick fitfully, grab her breasts and tickle her eyes, nose and ears if she attempted to fall asleep during the allocated wake period
> change a messy diaper without waking the baby or allowing mess onto the bed.
The subjects were expected to keep up this routine for at least four months. During the first 6 weeks of the study, they were subjected to severe hormonal imbalances and fluctuations, causing such symptoms as emotional instability, weight gain, irritability, water retention and depression.
Results:
After 3 months, subjects began to show significant loss of function. Confusion and memory loss were the most prominent, characterised by subjects forgetting what day of the week it was (even after returning to employment), not knowing where they were at night, forgetting where they had left the baby, forgetting how many children they had, and performing the wrong tasks on the wrong children. Loss of memory also included forgetting the names of everyday objects, children and spouses.
The incidence of minor car accidents increased.
Alcoholic tendencies increased.
Weight gain increased. On average, subjects gained as much weight as they had lost after giving birth.
Regarding waking up for the day, most subjects reported waking feeling tired and experiencing "gritty eyes", but were able to get out of bed and attend to morning tasks. These included all night time tasks, as well as dressing themselves for the work day.
Incidence of mismatched outfits and/ or inappropriate shoes increased. Subjects reported that this was not of great concern to them.
Ability to hold meaningful discourse with spouses decreased significantly, although most subjects became increasingly adept at making the appropriate listening sounds, and spouses did not report a perceived breakdown in communication.
Attendance at work was unchanged. Actual performance at work was unmeasurable.
Conclusion and recommendations: Protracted sleep deprivation has significant effects on the population studied. However, subjects were able to keep up the appearance of fully functional individuals.
It seems to be a design flaw that women must undergo this sleep deprivation at a time when their offspring are most in need of an alert, energetic, well-functioning caregiver. The researchers have a number of recommendations on the improvements which can and should be made to the next versions of Baby and Mother.
I've been conducting a research study. I'm serious. So serious, in fact, that I am sharing the study with you right here:
Does sleep deprivation affect function? A study of the effects of prolonged interrupted sleep in adult females
Background: It is a well-known fact that sleep deprivation can lead to a multitude of physiological disturbances, so severe in fact, that sleep deprivation has been used as a means of torture in the past.
In modern times, however, women of childbearing age are often required to work in full-time employment while suffering the consequences of sleep deprivation, caused by looking after young children. This study aims to identify the functional areas affected, if any, by this sleep deprivation.
Method: Subjects were chosen from a small geographical area. They were female, married, with children under the age of 30 months, and employed in full time jobs. Subjects with concomitant disease states were not excluded from the study. A total number of 1 subjects were recruited. Average age: 30 years. Average weight: None of your business, Nosey!
After a full day of work, subjects were allowed to go to bed at 10pm every night. They were then woken at random intervals ranging from 30 to 90 minutes. They were woken by the sound of a child waking, as this was found to be the most effective way of getting their adrenaline and cortisol levels to rise rapidly and ensure they were fully awake within 0.48 seconds. Subjects were woken 5 to 8 times a night.
Subjects were kept awake for varying time periods, at random, between 5 and 120 minutes. During this time they were made to perform any combination of the following tasks:
> breastfeeding an infant, remembering which breast to feed from so as to avoid "foremilk diarrhoea" or affect supply
> comforting a toddler out of a nightmare
> finding a syringe and administering medication to a crying infant without allowing infant to choke or spit medication out
> switching on lights, going to kitchen on a different level of the house, making a bottle of chamomile tea, cooling it to a comfortable temperature, and feeding it to a child
> ignoring a smiling, cooing baby so as to teach the baby the difference between night and day
> allowing a toddler to kick fitfully, grab her breasts and tickle her eyes, nose and ears if she attempted to fall asleep during the allocated wake period
> change a messy diaper without waking the baby or allowing mess onto the bed.
The subjects were expected to keep up this routine for at least four months. During the first 6 weeks of the study, they were subjected to severe hormonal imbalances and fluctuations, causing such symptoms as emotional instability, weight gain, irritability, water retention and depression.
Results:
After 3 months, subjects began to show significant loss of function. Confusion and memory loss were the most prominent, characterised by subjects forgetting what day of the week it was (even after returning to employment), not knowing where they were at night, forgetting where they had left the baby, forgetting how many children they had, and performing the wrong tasks on the wrong children. Loss of memory also included forgetting the names of everyday objects, children and spouses.
The incidence of minor car accidents increased.
Alcoholic tendencies increased.
Weight gain increased. On average, subjects gained as much weight as they had lost after giving birth.
Regarding waking up for the day, most subjects reported waking feeling tired and experiencing "gritty eyes", but were able to get out of bed and attend to morning tasks. These included all night time tasks, as well as dressing themselves for the work day.
Incidence of mismatched outfits and/ or inappropriate shoes increased. Subjects reported that this was not of great concern to them.
Ability to hold meaningful discourse with spouses decreased significantly, although most subjects became increasingly adept at making the appropriate listening sounds, and spouses did not report a perceived breakdown in communication.
Attendance at work was unchanged. Actual performance at work was unmeasurable.
Conclusion and recommendations: Protracted sleep deprivation has significant effects on the population studied. However, subjects were able to keep up the appearance of fully functional individuals.
It seems to be a design flaw that women must undergo this sleep deprivation at a time when their offspring are most in need of an alert, energetic, well-functioning caregiver. The researchers have a number of recommendations on the improvements which can and should be made to the next versions of Baby and Mother.
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