As parents, we want to ensure our child’s overall growth. What do I mean by overall growth. I mean physcial, emotional, intellectual and spiritual growth.
We want to expose our children to new toys, activities and help them learn about new concepts and things.
In this article I am going to mainly focus on intellectual growth. How to teach your child without feeling any pressure.
Mothers feel a lot of guilt if they can’t spend time with their precious littles and have many questions such as, “How to teach my child”, “How to teach my child to read”, “How to teach my child to write” and so many other questions.
I have built a small model called the “10 Slots of 10 Minutes Each” to help parents specially mothers teach their little ones without feeling any pressure at all.
Now before you start to teach your child, I want to recommend a few things that can really help make the process of teaching very easy for you.
Remove distractions
Even before you start to teach your child make sure that the place is free of any distractions. What this means is that, if you plan to read a book to your little one then just keep that book. Remove toys, other books and things that might distract our little ones.
This will make it easier for your child to give you proper attention.
Simplify your routine
Parenting is not a set of rules that you need to follow to achieve a pre-determined goal. Parenting is a beautiful relationship that you build with your child. Do not lose these precious moments trying to follow a really tough timetable/schedule that you make for yourself.
If you are currently following a really tough plan and struggling to follow it, I would recommend that you simplify your routine and make it more sustainable.
I usually only plan the bed time routine and meal times. Everything else in between is just spontaneous and natural. This makes it very easy for me to follow my routine and still have several precious moments with my little boy.
Have reaslistic expectations
It is very important for us to have realistic expectations as parents. It is very unlikely that a child will give you one hour of undivided attention. Hence, do not be disappointed as a parent when kids don’t sit with you for an hour to do activities.
Learn about the most effective model to ensure child’s overall growth
Now assuming that you have taken care of the three above conditions, I now want to introduce you to a model that works for all parents, working parents and homemakers. I have called this model, 10 Slots of 10 Minutes Each. The model is very simple and helps you spend enough quality time with your little one without feeling any pressure or stress.
Here’s what you need to do
You need to find 10 slots of 10 minutes each in your day. There must be enough gap between the two slots. Each slot is going to be dedicated to one activity. I am going to now discuss the sequence that you need to follow. This is the most effective way to teach your child without stressing.
Slot 1 – 5 New Words a Day
This is a great activity to do with your little ones. All you need to do, is to introduce them to five new words every morning. Help them use these words in sentences and also show them visuals for these images. I have kept this as the first slot because then you can repeat the words several times during the day. This will help them remember the words forever. In a month your little one will know 150 new words and you will for sure feel very happy as a parent. You can use my product Audio Video Flash Cards to get access to 300 words that you can teach your child.
Note: You will be able to do this in just 10 minutes a day.
Slot 2 – Read a Book
Reading is the best thing that you can do with your child. Reading improves vocabulary, increases creativity and also encourages better communication skill. In this slot you just need to pick a book and read to your little one. When you read a book to your child do it with interest and expressions. This really makes a lot of difference. Again no stressing. Just 10 minutes of fun reading.
Slot 3 – Colour a Picture
Welcome to slot 3 for the day. I am sure you had fun learning new words and reading in the first two slots. In this slot you need to colour just one picture. It is important that you don’t give your child many pictures. Just one picture and a few simple crayons is all that you need. Giving multiple images can lead to distraction and a lot of time will be spent getting to the right image.
I usually draw something simple on a blank A4 Sheet for our colouring slot.
Slot 4 – Free Scribbling on White Canvas
This is definitely my favourite slot of the day. This tells me so much about my baby. All I need is a white sheet, pencil and a few crayons. Here’s what you need to do. You need to ask your child what would they like to draw and then keep drawing it for them on this white sheet.
For instance, my son who is crazy for cows wanted to draw a cow everyday for the fisr few weeks. He then started to add the clouds, the sun, mountains and now we are also drawing cow sheds. You will be amazed to see their imagination unfold before you.
I am sure that you are just going to love this one.
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Slot 5 – 10 minutes with blocks, puzzles and toys
This slot aims to build strong emotional connect between you and the child. In this slot you have to spend 10 minutes with your child playing with toys that he/she likes. By doing this you are signalling to your child that you are interested in things that he/she is interested in. The quickest and the most efficient way to win the love and trust of our little ones is to show interest in things that they are interested in.
Isn’t this still true for us?
Slot 6 – 10 Minutes of writing
Well don! You are almost half way. You have already spent 50 minutes with your child. The best part is that you will not feel any pressusre because you have enough gap between the slots and each slot is just for 10 minutes.
Slot 6 is about writing. Again focused writing is what I would recommend. What this means is that you just need to show your child one letter or one number in this slot. You can write this a few times and then draw a few things to explain your child what this is used for. For instance, if you are teaching how to write letter A, then you can also draw a few things that start with letter A. This makes it very easy for them to recognize and write the letter.
Slot 7 – 10 Minutes for asking questions for your child’s overall growth
This again is a very interesting slot. You have to ask your little one a few questions. Now you might be thinking, what kind of questions. These can be anything. For instance, you can ask which fruit has only one seed, which fruit has seeds on the outside, what is the capital of India, etc.
There is so much that I am learning in this slot.
Slot 8 – 10 Minutes of clay art and play dough
Sensory play is so important for our little ones. Play dough also encourages creativity and patience. You can make shapes, objects and also the words that you introduced to your little one in the first slot. I try and keep the things that we make for at least a week so that I can show them to my son a few more times before making something else with the clay.
Slot 9 – 10 Minutes of music and dance for your child’s overall growth
This is amazing. You are on the second last slot for the day and you have already spent more than an hour with your child. The best part is that you have not felt any pressure while trying to ensure your child’s overall growth. Plus your child has learnt a lot during the day. Also, your child is learning so much. You will feel so satisfied as a parent. I have kept this slot for the end because this is physically exhausting and our little ones get the best sleep after they are tired.
Slot 10 – 10 minutes of storytelling for your child’s creative growth
Repeat reading a book or simply tell a story to your child before you put them to sleep or while you are doing so. This keeps their curiousty alive, makes them more aware of the world around them and also helps you to build a strong emotional bond with your little one.
Congratulations! You have spent 100 minutes with your child. You have not only spent this time with them randomly, but you have spent this time doing productive activities with your child without making them realise that you are teaching them.
Following this will definitely help you ensure your child’s overall growth
The best learning happens in a stress free environment. You must build a strong emotional relationship with your child and create a happy joyful enviroment in order to ensure your child’s overall growth. The easier you make the learning the better the results will be. When I say easy, I don’t mean just for the baby, but I also mean for yourself.
This model, 10 Slots of 10 Minutes Each work for all parents, working and homemakers. You can easily find 10 minutes after every 1-2 hours of work. Finding and spending these small pockets of quality time with your little one can really help them grow both emotionally and intellectually.
Now you have all the tools that you need. You just have to act now.
Knowledge without action is of no use.
Hence, I highly encourage you to try this model and track the results for yourself. I am sure that what you will see will please you and give you a feeling of satisfaction like never before.
