Teaching Your Preschooler a Foreign Language

My son is learning Spanish at his preschool. And while I do know a few words, I never really taught him more than counting. He has remembered most of the words he had been taught since they are words he can relate to, like body parts and songs.

Any parent can teach your child a foreign language- and learn one yourself. There are many online resources to help. These free online language courses can help the parent learn the language and then teach it to the child.

Your child may just learn faster than you will!

Young minds...

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Removal of Children's Cough and Cold Medicine

The voluntary removal of children's cough and cold medicines from pharmacies nationwide concerns me. I understand that there have been many adults that do not use medicines correctly, causing overdose. Of course, that concerns me. But what do they think parents are going to do- get adult medicines and give them to children? Yes, that is what they are going to do. This applies to children under the age of two, who should not be getting cough and cold medicines according to most children's medicine labels, but there are medicines like Children's Tylenol plus Cold that are appropriate for those younger than two.

What concerns me most is that doctors are saying that parents should not be allowed to treat a child. Are they taking away our parenting rights? For the large portion of parents that know how to read a label and use the correct measuring device, they are taking away our ability to help our child when they are sick. They will be forcing us to go to doctors for minor illnesses, probably leading to an large amounts of prescriptions for antibiotics our children do not need for things like respiratory infections that started the cough anyway.

This is not a preschool activity, of course, but an issue we should take notice and make a stand about.

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Math and Playtime

This past weekend, I went to the Florida Association for Gifted conference. One of the speakers explained how play was one of the best things to do with your child to increase their understanding of concepts. And when parents playing with their children it actually increases the level of play, as long as the parent is not instructing on how to play.

With that in mind, I found some great ideas for playtime activities that include math skills. Just because your child can count does not mean they understand math, just like saying the ABC's does not make them readers.

It is important to include math play as well as pretend play and book reading. Pretend play that includes money and measuring, traveling by looking at maps and reviewing distance, and cooking all are great activities to involve your child in learning math.

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