Yesterday while waiting (and waiting, and WAITING) at the dentist's office, I read a Parenting magazine that was about "making your child the next Steve Jobs"
And while they did mention such things as....
"why is the world pushing so hard for children to be smart rather than just be kids and play"
"they'll learn it eventually, don't stress if the neighbor kid can say the ABC's before yours"
and
"really it's the Emotional maturity and stability that is most important in having a happy life"
The main point was actually opposite all of that telling you things you should do with your kids to give them a "jump-start" in academics, or in other areas they are naturally good at, and thus giving them a better chance for "success".
they were:
talk, talk, talk to your children.
This is something that has always been super easy for me to do. I have a habit of talking to things that can't answer back. Like babies. I just talk to them anyway, as if we were having a conversation. This, at times, has been aggravating to Buggie. I once chided a toy for pinching his finger. He picked up said toy, threw it across the room and said "IT'S JUST A TOY!! IT CAN'T ANSWER YOU!!!!"
David always says I have a good way of explaining things to the kids so they understand complex concepts on their level.
the next thing to do was to read, read, read. We love to read.
It had criteria for different age groups stating what was considered "average" "smart" or "brilliant". They both met the category for "brilliant".
But this isn't because I sit around reading parenting magazines trying to figure out what to do to make my kids "brilliant". This is because
A. They came that way
B. All of this talking, reading, exploring, explaining we do is part of our play. I'm not quizzing them relentlessly until they memorize half of "The Grinch that stole Christmas" book. We're reading it for fun. I'm not scheduling Math facts into Belle's day. She plays with a first grader, who teaches her what a "addition sentence" is, and the next thing I know addition sentences are scrawled across all her scratch paper. Nor do I sit and give Keith a vocabulary lesson about what a "conundrum" is--he works with Daddy on the fish tank (because he likes it) and Daddy uses the word, and he picks it up. It's all PLAY.
Reading this article made me more committed to making sure they get to be kids, and scrawl their names across homemade valentine cards, and count how many ladybugs are in the book, and use their imaginations and engineering skills to build Lego towers and train tracks. And their art skills to paint with finger paints and get them all over the floor. And help measure while making cookies and get covered in chocolate.
I'm going to love them whether they are "average" or "brilliant". I hope they know that, and what it's like to have a happy, loving, eternal relationship. Because in my world, that's the greatest joy and success.
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