Games When Mum is Cooking

Cooking for six people every day is like having a cafe. =)
Linda McCartney

Maria -1y. 3m.

I try to spend almost all my time with our lovely baby. I don’t think it is an exaggeration as I work almost full time but she is little yet and demands lots of attention. So, basically we do all homework together: clean bath, remove dust, wash floors, iron shirts (seems very similar to Montessori development method ;)). Maria enjoys it very much and is very helpful. I’m sure, she would be very keen on cooking too, but as she is not tall yet and cannot see what is happening on the cooking table - she cannot perform cooking tasks yet. Besides, it can be quite dangerous due to the heat and sharp knives. So, one has to be creative to suggest such an activity to the baby that he does not disturb mum, when she cooks.

So, here are mine solutions:
1. Colourful Clay is good one. Mary tears a piece of clay and presses it over the paper. She also works out her fingers and studies colours simultaneously, which is very good for development.

2. Bag with Secrets. I give Maria my old bag with different kinds of small items like Kinder Surprise toys, small balls, musical box etc. Maria takes it all out, carefully studies, plays with the bag’s fasteners and puts all things back. Then, mum has to hide bag again so these things would appear as new next time.
3. Cereal drawing, which reminds me of beautiful sand imagination videos.

So, I put cereal on the tray and let Maria act. After her active drawing there is a good argument to wash the floor =)

4. Family Album is also one of the most preferable things to look through when her mum is busy. She loves to find herself on the pictures, recognizes other members of the family. When doing this, she speaks a lot and I try to support our dialogue. So, it is fun for both!

With these exercises, we achieve several goals: mum has cooked the dinner and the small one has spent time in exciting and efficient manner!

Methods to Develop Early - Glenn Doman

Method of Glen Doman was the first for me to discover. Mr.Doman is the founder of the Institutes for Achievement of Human Potential in US, works a lot with children, which have brain problems. He suggests that when stimulating one part of brains, we can achieve higher activity of the whole brain system. So, every child, according to his theory, can become a genius.

Here are my reflections on his method for developing kid:

1. It is well-known that the brains develop fast when we are small yet and, thus, one has to provide higher intellectual load when the baby is small. For better intellectual development, children also have to move more. Doman proposes to stimulate children crawling on his first days of life. -> Agree on the encouraging moving activity of the baby, but not when he is so small. I think baby’s organism needs to adapt to a new world. But pushing him to crawl so early can become an unnecessary stress.

2. Doman suggests that we should start teaching children as early as possible, right after the birth. Flashcards with the words printed in red colour, and dots for numbers to teach Math should be shown to the baby at least 6 times a day. -> I made flashcards for Maria when she was 5 m.o. and started showing them to her. Frankly, I could not guess what she is thinking about the whole process – there wasn’t too much emotions on her face. I have been doing it for several weeks but then I stopped mainly for time constraints (you need to be with a child for the whole day together).

And also it seemed to be that the aim to start reading early was not paying-off. To my mind, at that period of Maria’s age it was better instead to go outside, to study surrounding world with real things (I was showing her nature, different kitchen appliances, books, toys), to read poems, to make gymnastics, etc., which is not encouraged by Glenn Doman as these types of activities are considred to be a waste of time. Besides, in the education process the child becomes a passive learner, not an active thinker.

Definitely the experience with Doman method was valuable for me. I was again assured that the potential of children is endless (much depends on mum’s inputted effort), that moving activity is crucial for health and for intellectual development and that with repeating method you can basically teach child whatever you want. I agree with him that the lessons should be somehow organized, put on a systematic basis. But I would better do it on my own way, which seems to me more interesting not just studying boring flashcards several times EVERY day! Other good thing from Doman method trying - flashcards. We tend to look at them, to speak about things drawn there. I have cut some into pieces and now we are making puzzles out of them.