Joseph has always liked it when I sing to him. Lately he is singing a lot himself, and the other morning I was able to take a candid video of him singing 'Johnny' along with the recording of Edith Piaf (unfortunately it is too large to put on the Internet, but I will see what we can do.)
Most of the time his favorite song to sing is 'The Wheels on the..." I didn't fill in the last word, because Joseph fills that in himself with bus, car, bicycle, backhoe, dump truck, etc. This evening I was surprised to hear though, that he was actually getting the right descending pitch when he sang 'round and round.' Usually he tries to get different pitches, but it is often quite random.
Now, he is even starting to make up songs for which he has no reference. This morning when I was getting dressed he told me he was singing a song. I hadn't been paying too much attention to what he was doing (which I thought was just talking to his bunny.) I said 'oh, will you sing it for me?) And so he sang 'bunny brown, bunny brown, bunny brown' trying for different pitches with each 'bunny brown.'
Monday, April 30, 2007
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Sometimes Clouds Yell (a.k.a. Mythic Thinking)
This morning we were in the midst of a big thunderstorm, and this caused a bit of fear in our house. Both Joseph and Spot were scared by the thunder; Joseph looked at me as if he wanted to know what that horrible sound could be, and Spot just sat there shaking. I told Joseph "Oh, that is just the Clouds talking to each other, sometimes they yell." This seemed to mostly satisfy him, but then he noticed how scared Spot looked and said "Spot is scared." I just said "Yes, Spot is scared, but he doesn't understand that it is just the clouds talking." Then Joseph was O.K. with all the noise. After his nap in the afternoon, another bout of thundering began, and Joseph got a far away look in his eyes. I asked him "What was that?" to see what he would say. He said "The Clouds talking." For fun I took it further and asked him "What are they talking about?" He responded in all seriousness "Cars. Talking about cars." A little while later, of his own accord, he told me "The Clouds are riding around in Cars."
This was so neat for me, because it relates to the last book I read The Power of Play by David Elkind. According to David Elkind, children don't reach the Age of Reason until they are somewhere around 6 or 7. This is when they can reason things out like adults, and want more scientific type explanations for phenomena. Before the age of reason, children's mode of thinking is mythic, or syncretic, which means they understand the world in a more concrete way than do adults and older children. Elkind states that this is how young children want things explained when they start asking about the world, and recommends that this is how we should deal with the never ending 'whys'. I thought about this when I thought up my talking Clouds, and it worked like a charm. It was amazing to me that by the end of it all, Joseph had created his own Myth about clouds that involved cars. I suspect that I will use this method often in the future, because not only did it work really well, but it was a lot of fun too, for both me and Joseph. Now if only I can figure out what to tell Spot...
This was so neat for me, because it relates to the last book I read The Power of Play by David Elkind. According to David Elkind, children don't reach the Age of Reason until they are somewhere around 6 or 7. This is when they can reason things out like adults, and want more scientific type explanations for phenomena. Before the age of reason, children's mode of thinking is mythic, or syncretic, which means they understand the world in a more concrete way than do adults and older children. Elkind states that this is how young children want things explained when they start asking about the world, and recommends that this is how we should deal with the never ending 'whys'. I thought about this when I thought up my talking Clouds, and it worked like a charm. It was amazing to me that by the end of it all, Joseph had created his own Myth about clouds that involved cars. I suspect that I will use this method often in the future, because not only did it work really well, but it was a lot of fun too, for both me and Joseph. Now if only I can figure out what to tell Spot...
Boy, is he Smart!
On Sunday morning Spot was sitting next to me with those big, soulful eyes that he uses especially to let me know that he wants something. I said "I don't know what you want, Spot." So he went and got his half chewed piece of rawhide (too small for him to chew on anymore) and puts it by me feet. I said "Oh, do you want another Chewie?," to which Spot responded by jumping up and down all over the place and barking. He is so good at communicating!
I bet you thought this was going to be about Joseph. Ha-ha, gotcha!
I bet you thought this was going to be about Joseph. Ha-ha, gotcha!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
The Power of Play
I just finished reading The Power of Play: How Spontaneous, Imaginative Activities Lead to Happier, Healthier Children by David Elkind.
It is about the psychology of play, and Elkind discusses how important old-fashioned play is to children's development. By old-fashioned, I mean the kind of play that is not related to screens (Computer, T.V., etc.) He outlines the developmental stages of children, and discusses what type of activities are beneficial to their development considering these stages. Next he discusses how children's play has changed, and the possible effects that this could have on their development. Finally he gives ideas for parents to provide positive play experiences for their children.
Far from being a stuffy academic, Elkind offers understandable, as well as practical, information about the developmental stages of children, and how these stages effect what they get out of the activities in which they engage. He discusses that the advertisements for most computer games, as well as DVD's marketed to babies and young children, exaggerate their possible usefulness because they are not based on any real evidence. Basically they just appeal to parents fears of not giving their children an academic advantage (no matter how foggy the claims seem.) He also discusses how babies don't understand two-dimensional images on a screen the same way an adult does. This really makes a lot of sense to me. When I was learning to identify birds, I looked at some bird I.D. books with real photos, and some with just drawings. The ones with the drawing were always better and easier to learn from, because they took the average characteristics of the birds of the species. Sometimes the photos were extremely difficult to even see what the book was trying to illustrate, and I already knew what a real live bird is like! A baby does not, which is Elkind's point exactly. We need to provide real, not simulated, experiences for our children in order for them to enjoy, and learn from the world. Adults can often forget that for a child, the real world is full of magic, no matter how mundane it may be to us.
Well, in order to not give the wrong impression, I should say that Elkind is not completely against screen time. He says that in moderation it is okay, however we need to make sure that kids also have the time to play spontaneously. This leads to another thing that Elkind opposes that is hugely popular today: organized sports. Once again, he says that the evidence of the benefit for young children just isn't there, and also, that for older children a sports team in moderation is okay. However, he definitively states that the more emphasis on play, and not competition, the better. And the best of all, according to Elkind, is when kids are involved in spontaneous sports that the kids in the neighbourhood initiate themselves (with no parental involvement.) I couldn't agree more.
I have such great memories of spontaneous play in my own childhood. I am so glad that I didn't have to deal with being on a competitive sports team ( I did do fun dance classes) and I got lots of free time in the neighbourhood and my favourite place of all, the backyard. I have relatively few memories of T.V. but lots, and lots of memories of games, and play-acted scenarios that I played with my sister, the neighbour kids, and very often just by myself. I think my spontaneous play as a child, combined with the non-school related reading that I did, attributed heavily to the fact that I am an artist now. Childhood play is so important, and so often people blow it off like it is irrelevant. Let them play, let them play; they will become better people for it.
It is about the psychology of play, and Elkind discusses how important old-fashioned play is to children's development. By old-fashioned, I mean the kind of play that is not related to screens (Computer, T.V., etc.) He outlines the developmental stages of children, and discusses what type of activities are beneficial to their development considering these stages. Next he discusses how children's play has changed, and the possible effects that this could have on their development. Finally he gives ideas for parents to provide positive play experiences for their children.
Far from being a stuffy academic, Elkind offers understandable, as well as practical, information about the developmental stages of children, and how these stages effect what they get out of the activities in which they engage. He discusses that the advertisements for most computer games, as well as DVD's marketed to babies and young children, exaggerate their possible usefulness because they are not based on any real evidence. Basically they just appeal to parents fears of not giving their children an academic advantage (no matter how foggy the claims seem.) He also discusses how babies don't understand two-dimensional images on a screen the same way an adult does. This really makes a lot of sense to me. When I was learning to identify birds, I looked at some bird I.D. books with real photos, and some with just drawings. The ones with the drawing were always better and easier to learn from, because they took the average characteristics of the birds of the species. Sometimes the photos were extremely difficult to even see what the book was trying to illustrate, and I already knew what a real live bird is like! A baby does not, which is Elkind's point exactly. We need to provide real, not simulated, experiences for our children in order for them to enjoy, and learn from the world. Adults can often forget that for a child, the real world is full of magic, no matter how mundane it may be to us.
Well, in order to not give the wrong impression, I should say that Elkind is not completely against screen time. He says that in moderation it is okay, however we need to make sure that kids also have the time to play spontaneously. This leads to another thing that Elkind opposes that is hugely popular today: organized sports. Once again, he says that the evidence of the benefit for young children just isn't there, and also, that for older children a sports team in moderation is okay. However, he definitively states that the more emphasis on play, and not competition, the better. And the best of all, according to Elkind, is when kids are involved in spontaneous sports that the kids in the neighbourhood initiate themselves (with no parental involvement.) I couldn't agree more.
I have such great memories of spontaneous play in my own childhood. I am so glad that I didn't have to deal with being on a competitive sports team ( I did do fun dance classes) and I got lots of free time in the neighbourhood and my favourite place of all, the backyard. I have relatively few memories of T.V. but lots, and lots of memories of games, and play-acted scenarios that I played with my sister, the neighbour kids, and very often just by myself. I think my spontaneous play as a child, combined with the non-school related reading that I did, attributed heavily to the fact that I am an artist now. Childhood play is so important, and so often people blow it off like it is irrelevant. Let them play, let them play; they will become better people for it.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
A Beautiful Day
Today was a beautiful, though windy, day. I got to use my clothes line again, which Jim secured with some rope, so I got lots of laundry done in the morning.
In the afternoon we went to the park to fly Jim's new dragon kite. It was a bit too windy, so we only flew it for a little while.
Afterward we played in the park, and I took a walk with Spot. That is when I saw these pinwheels.
Spot is NOT a Flower
The last few weeks Joseph has taken to putting dirt on Spot in the garden, which is something that both Spot and I were mostly ignoring. Then yesterday morning I was watering my seed starts, and afterward I put down my watering can on the porch. Joseph thought it would be fun to chase Spot around the garden with it, so I shouted "Joseph, Spot is NOT a flower! Does he look like a flower to you?" Joseph stopped, looked at me, looked at Spot, and then said "Ja, Spot is... a flower." Then of course we laughed, but he didn't do it again the rest of the day.
Treasure Map
This week I was making a treasure map. The house is paper mache, and then I used magazine photos to decorate it. It is something I read about at
MotheringDotCommune.The idea is that you take pictures and collage them to make an image of what you want in you life. Last year I did one for the first time, but I drew it because I didn't have access to magazines (we were traveling.) I was really happy with the result, and it was neat to see how much it really did seem to influence my year. I put it away after our trip, and then didn't look at it again until about a month before this treasure mapping time. So I guess these things really do have power, even if you don't actively concentrate on them.
Click here if you want to make a treasure map of your own; don't be discouraged if by the rules it is too late. I think most of the power is in focusing on what you want, visualizing it, and then finishing the collage, drawing, or whatever.
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