Refrain from doing for a child what he can do for himself.- Organise your child’s things in appropriate containers and on low shelves.
- Whatever your child is doing, encourage him to work with one thing at a time.
- Help him become aware of sounds. Eg what begins with ‘a’ (say phonetic sound eg a for apple, c for cat, e for egg) this will also assist him at school with the I spy game and sandpaper letters.
- Aid your child in absorbing a sense of beauty: take a walk in your garden. Expose him to flowers, trees etc. Give your child the precise names. Eg ‘look at the colour o f the Hibiscus’
- Talk about the colours, textures, and shapes you see around you. Eg
- Provide paint, paper, playdough, pens, crayons, pastels for your child. Let your explore with the different mediums.
- Laugh a lot. Play with words.
- Always tell the truth.
- Apologise to your child when you have made a mistake.
- Understand what Montessori meant by sensitive periods. Know when your child is in one and utilise it.
- Tell your child what you value in them.
- Watch a sunrise. Watch a sunset.
- Share interesting news from the newspaper. Eg a baby elephant born in the Zoo etc . Alert your child to upcoming events. Eg in ten minutes, it will be time for bed.
- Help your child to maintain a calendar, or counting down to special events.
- Share your profession or occupation with your child. Have him visit our place of work.
- Teach your child the language of courtesy. Don’t let him interrupt. Teach your child how to wait after saying ‘ excuse me, please’
- Spend quality time with people of different ages.
- Give your child the responsibility of picking up after himself eg return toys.
- Hug regularly but don’t impose affection.
- When talking to your child, physically get on his level. Make eye contact.
- Talk to your child clearly without talking down. Communicate with respect and give your child the gift of language, new words and expressions.
- Sing with your child. Build a repertoire of your child’s favourites.
- Teach your child safety precautions. Eg plugs, how to dial 10111 etc
- Teach your child his address, phone number and your names.
- Count! Utilise natural opportunities that arise.
- Tell and retell family based stories eg ‘ On the day you were born……..etc’
- Look at family pictures together. Help your child be aware of his extended family, names and relationships.
- Construct your child’s biography, the story of his life.
- Assist your child to be aware of his emotions and feelings, to have vocabulary for emotions and be able to express them.
- Play games together. Through much repetition children learn to take turns, to win and lose.
- Together do things to help others. For example: Take blankets to the homeless, give toys to underprivileged.
- Speak the language of virtues. Talk about helpfulness, kindness and point out those virtues when you see them demonstrated.
- Refrain from giving your child too much ‘stuff’.
- Talk about right, left, turn, straight, north, west, south etc. so your child develops a sense of direction and the means to talk about it.
- Put up a bird feeder. Let your child have the responsibility of filling it. Together learn to be good watchers and learn about the birds you see,
- Express appreciation to your child and others and help our child to do the same. Send thank your notes for gifts. Young children can draw pictures.
- Help your child learn to eat healthy foods. Involve your child in food preparation.
- When food shopping, talk to your child about what you see – Talk about where food items come from.
- Provide your child with appropriate sized furniture: his own table and chair.
- While driving, point thing out and discuss – construction, bridges, trees ect
- Borrow books to read from our school library-
- Get your child pet and guide your child to take responsibility for its care.
- Whenever you go somewhere with your child, prepare him for what is going to happen and what is expected of him at the doctors, restaurant, friends houses etc
- Eliminate or strictly limit TV watching and replace with activity orientated things.
- Refrain from offering material rewards or excessive praise. Let the experience of accomplishment be its own reward.
ENJOY LIFE TOGETHER!
