Some things i didn't know to do, like although I'm SURE he isn't level 5 or anything, but it says they could do puzzles before 12 months. He didn't even own a puzzle before twelve months, I wouldn't have thought to give him one. Their are a few questions like that, where he never had the opportunity to know the things, like I never even thought to tell him about colors before about 15 months. Well, other than through reading to him. I have read a lot to him since the day he was born. I wonder about the effects of things like that. If It makes a lot of difference how the parents worked with a child, or read to a child. We go to the library every week and have been as long as I can remember. I'm always at my limit number of books checked out. I bet if more parents read more to their children, they'd all be lots smarter. no?
As Dottie might say, the mistakes you make on this one pave the way for the next one! No one does all the things on that list, as it's a compilation - But one of the things I like about the list is that it guides parents on what activities to try with their kids, in a casual way. As for an "enriched" environment making kids smarter, I think the research shows that this is true, but too small to be a big deal. The bigger deal is that kids are happier when their "learning" appatite is filled. The bigger deal is that time spent together builds close relationships.
I love the way you are integrating what you are learning with things you know about your child - it's so great to watch the blinders that our culture puts on us fall away. Well Done.
Love and More Love,
Trinity
