Vacation weeks are always interesting when your schedule gets switched up and the kids are home. As a working parent, I so want to just play with my kids but realize I need to work as well.
Teaching our children is a shared responsibility among parents, family, educators and even each other. Yes, our children are constantly learning, even in simple setting such as play dates and the kids need to abide by their friend’s parent’s house rules.
Our children are like magic mirrors in that they reflect us to us. A commercial on Nick Jr. asks, “Did you ever wish you were being recorded?” Well, with kids you are. They are recording everything you say and do and taking serious notes. You are always leading by example. My children parrot what I say, often to my amusement and other times to my horror.
How can we maximize our role as our children’s educators? Particularly when they are home for a week?
During our last Mom’s Talk, a parent commented that in a Brooklyn neighborhood, the moms in the community pitch in for after-school enrichment programs, and I wonder what that would look like here in Port Washington. If the school budget is slashed and programs are lost, would parents step up, pitch in and rotate to fill up the rest of the day for our children?
I personally loathe the thought of having to teach my kids math and science and will definitely defer to the experts there but wonder: Would more parent teaching benefit our children?
While no one knows your kids better than you, parents may not be best attuned to their learning styles. I thought I was my son’s best teacher until I saw him with his actual teacher.
The teaching responsibility is definitely divided. The schools' responsibility is to teach curriculum, while parents may lean more towards social responsibility. Still, not every subject and facet of our child’s development is black and white.
A friend of mine had planned to implement a daily interactive hour with her toddler only to find her patience whittled away at just under a half an hour.
This week off is a great time to experiment to discover just how effective you can be as a teacher to your children.
