Baby IQ

I liked the idea of teaching my daughter word association and encourage language through flashcards. I even got one for my daughter's appointed best friend for Christmas last year. Until then my friend told me about this book Einstein Never Used Flashcards-- Why Kids need to Play More and Memorize Less? I haven't read this book but what it mentions how kids learn from merely playing and all these hype about classes or flashcards is not really necessary. The intelligence of a child does not rely on these Baby Einstein or Brainy Baby DVDs. In fact, when we push our children into regimented academics too early, they will become less creative and less enthusiastic about learning. Hmm... makes sense!

I just received two sets of flashcards for my daughter's birthday and thought I didn't want them to be a waste so I decided to read again about this book.

Some interesting points made:

1. Schedule activities around play instead of squeezing play time around our activities. Guilty as hell about this one! Oops!

2. Toys are not the only things baby can play with. My daughter plays with DVDs, remote controls, water bottles just about anything she sees (not sure if this is good)! But, playing with simple things such as blankets, pillows to make tents for example, enhance creativity and imagination.

3. Join them in kid's play. Most of the time, I also let baby play on her own and let her figure things out while I am on the computer. Now that I am working, I really need to set some time with her and get into her world instead of just letting her in on mine...

4. As I mentioned in my former blog about playing, evaluate the structured activities by visiting babies' class to see how they play." Now, I finally got one thing correct!

5. Social interaction is still best for baby. It's one thing if your child is book-smart, and another if baby is socially inept. Kids learn about being sensitive to other people's feelings, values other people's opinions and needs. I don't think my baby has a problem with this as she always takes initiative and plays with other kids, she prefers older babies though (which I think is pretty normal).

I think flashcards are not really bad as long as this is not so much imposed on the baby. If I have a specific schedule where baby has to go through all the cards and punish her if she doesn't get it right, then that makes me a bad mama. But, merely showing her some pictures of objects around her is helpful, like reading her a story from a book. Just tried it this morning and she loves the photos on the cards and starts blabbing when she sees one. Like everything, it's about balance and not overdoing it, I guess.

But, I want to get my hands on this book and read more, it is a wake-up call!