I need to be more patient with Ana...
Mar. 20th, 2006 07:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
I just today realized how much she is working on learning, either because we want her to, or because she wants to.
She wants to learn how to sweep, how to wash dishes, how to fold clothes and put them away. (This is all good - nobody has any objections to putting her to work as soon as humanly possible, y'hear?) She's still working on learning counting and shapes and how to recognize shapes in nature. We're working on number and letter recognition. She's learning a variety of games, all at one time - tag, hide and seek, the hokey pokey, guess the word (a basic pre-reading skill). She's still working on basic manners - taking turns, covering your mouth, use your indoor voice, don't throw things in the house, don't eat desert until we're all ready to eat desert, don't get up from the table and wander around while eating, don't talk with your mouth full, say full sentences ending with a please, say thank you, say excuse me, don't whine... the list just goes on and on. (I hate it when she whines, and have been trying very hard to teach her not to do that.) She's been learning what to do when bad things happen - this is what you say if somebody takes your toy, this is what you do if you get pushed by accident, this is how you ask for help because throwing your toy to the floor is *not* acceptable. She's learning the basics of how to dress herself - put on your jacket this way, button your shirt that way, tag goes in the back (unless it goes on the side), you can unzip your jacket yourself. She's still working on the potty training. She's learning how to act around her sister - quiet when she's sleeping, don't touch her face, don't pick her up, don't lean on her, she likes it when you clap or sing, no she's *not* all done. She's learning how to act with her friends, and with children younger than she is. She's learning how to cut things, how to draw, how to paint, how to glue. She's learning basic safety rules - knives and scissors and stoves are dangerous, we always hold hands when crossing the street because cars can't see you, we DO NOT run away, we DO NOT open the window, we stay where we are if we get lost.
I have barely even touched the surface of the work she's doing, y'know.
The mind boggles. Remember how I keep telling people the depressing fact that they'll never be as smart as they were in the first three years of life? This sort of thing is why. She had to start learning all this stuff from the ground up!
I need to be more patient with her. This has to be stressful.
She wants to learn how to sweep, how to wash dishes, how to fold clothes and put them away. (This is all good - nobody has any objections to putting her to work as soon as humanly possible, y'hear?) She's still working on learning counting and shapes and how to recognize shapes in nature. We're working on number and letter recognition. She's learning a variety of games, all at one time - tag, hide and seek, the hokey pokey, guess the word (a basic pre-reading skill). She's still working on basic manners - taking turns, covering your mouth, use your indoor voice, don't throw things in the house, don't eat desert until we're all ready to eat desert, don't get up from the table and wander around while eating, don't talk with your mouth full, say full sentences ending with a please, say thank you, say excuse me, don't whine... the list just goes on and on. (I hate it when she whines, and have been trying very hard to teach her not to do that.) She's been learning what to do when bad things happen - this is what you say if somebody takes your toy, this is what you do if you get pushed by accident, this is how you ask for help because throwing your toy to the floor is *not* acceptable. She's learning the basics of how to dress herself - put on your jacket this way, button your shirt that way, tag goes in the back (unless it goes on the side), you can unzip your jacket yourself. She's still working on the potty training. She's learning how to act around her sister - quiet when she's sleeping, don't touch her face, don't pick her up, don't lean on her, she likes it when you clap or sing, no she's *not* all done. She's learning how to act with her friends, and with children younger than she is. She's learning how to cut things, how to draw, how to paint, how to glue. She's learning basic safety rules - knives and scissors and stoves are dangerous, we always hold hands when crossing the street because cars can't see you, we DO NOT run away, we DO NOT open the window, we stay where we are if we get lost.
I have barely even touched the surface of the work she's doing, y'know.
The mind boggles. Remember how I keep telling people the depressing fact that they'll never be as smart as they were in the first three years of life? This sort of thing is why. She had to start learning all this stuff from the ground up!
I need to be more patient with her. This has to be stressful.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Ana is smart
Date: 2006-03-21 01:14 am (UTC)Like in some families you eat your dessert when you want to eat your desert and to hell with other people. And you can wander around the table and eat - Helen Keller did it and she turned out to be a successful person.
Glad she likes working. Lots of kids do - Stephen Gutstein talks about master and apprentice.
Ana is smart.
Adelaide - who loves your Ana posts
Re: Ana is smart
Date: 2006-03-21 01:48 am (UTC)Helen Keller was forcibly prevented from doing this when Anne Sullivan arrived on the scene. Regardless of Sullivan's methods, most people would consider it rude to just get up and walk around, here and there, at dinner. It's distracting, and it gets in other people's way. Plus, Ana tends to try to bring food out of the kitchen, where it spills on the floor and all. Not good.
Re: Ana is smart
Date: 2006-03-21 06:03 am (UTC)Re: Ana is smart
Date: 2006-03-21 08:41 am (UTC)Otherwise it wouldn't be a culture.
Adelaide
Specifically...
Date: 2006-03-21 01:32 am (UTC)Adelaide
Re: Specifically...
Date: 2006-03-21 01:49 am (UTC)Ana is smart
Date: 2006-03-21 01:14 am (UTC)Like in some families you eat your dessert when you want to eat your desert and to hell with other people. And you can wander around the table and eat - Helen Keller did it and she turned out to be a successful person.
Glad she likes working. Lots of kids do - Stephen Gutstein talks about master and apprentice.
Ana is smart.
Adelaide - who loves your Ana posts
Re: Ana is smart
Date: 2006-03-21 01:48 am (UTC)Helen Keller was forcibly prevented from doing this when Anne Sullivan arrived on the scene. Regardless of Sullivan's methods, most people would consider it rude to just get up and walk around, here and there, at dinner. It's distracting, and it gets in other people's way. Plus, Ana tends to try to bring food out of the kitchen, where it spills on the floor and all. Not good.
Re: Ana is smart
Date: 2006-03-21 06:03 am (UTC)Re: Ana is smart
Date: 2006-03-21 08:41 am (UTC)Otherwise it wouldn't be a culture.
Adelaide
Specifically...
Date: 2006-03-21 01:32 am (UTC)Adelaide
Re: Specifically...
Date: 2006-03-21 01:49 am (UTC)