dynamic elf

aw :)

With you on the baby einstein movement. Of course, I'm not a parent, so everything is with a grain of salt, but I think those parents are missing the importance of exploration. If all they emphasize is memorization, they are going to have a perfectly adorable toddler-bot, but one who has no self-motivation or curiosity. Curiosity, not knowledge, is what drives science!

Flashcards. *shudder.* We're big hang-the-fuck-out people as well.
I totally agree with this sentiment, too:
"And, as with so much in life, the kids whose parents worry about this area the most tend to be the kids we need to worry about least."

And on technology, we've been Skyping with my sister in Colorado every other week or so, and Ingrid is now getting it, but sort of over-generalizes, as she tried to sit in Kate's lap on Sunday. I guess if your aunt in the laptop is waving to you, blowing kisses, and talking, why couldn't you snuggle up?

I love "stimulating but generally laissez-faire environment." Also, who the hell has the time for that? Also also, if vocabulary predicts academic success, your kid is going to be just fine :)

Some comments:

I'm not an anthropologist, but I do find the theory that our intelligence evolved to cope with complex social situations compelling; and my *intuition* is that challenging a child on an appropriate level socially is going to spark the development of an interconnected intelligence much more than rote memorization ever could.

I'm still sort of stunned to report that I *am* a teacher, and I believe that in my students I'm regularly confronted with the consequences of an entire educational system which has systematically rewarded them for rote memorization. Many of my students have never been challenged to integrate ideas in any significant way (and the smartest students have never been challenged at all, but that's a different issue.) It makes me want to kick things.

(So does the stuff about the effects of inequity.)

"It has never been able to afford rigorous scientific studies to document its performance." I find it deeply ironic that a program alleging to increase intelligence eschews science. My experience it that most people -- even very smart people -- are somewhat contemptuous of the scientific method; witness the number of "amusing" "duh" comments in re. scientific studies which confirm our intuition or political positions.

I know my parents took me in for an IQ test when I was pretty young (maybe kindergarten), for the purpose of getting me into some kind of gifted program -- based on the fact that I never attended such a program, I assume I "failed" the test. Make of that what you will in re. late bloomers (says the 33-year-old first-year.)

I find the emphasis on understanding the phonetic basis of written language interesting, as, of course, a large proportion of the world's population learns to read a language without phonetic elements (my recollection is that age to literacy is similar regardless of the conceptual underpinnings of the written language, and that comparative studies on the effect of different systems on later cognition found no difference, but I'm very far from being an expert on that.) That puts the wholly inappropriate and liminally racist comment about Austria having many more Nobel prize laureates than Japan in a different light, too. I realize it was meant as a throwaway comment on superbaby syndrome, but it really rankled.

My older daughter didn't learn to read until age 6, even though we read around her and to her all the time. I'm sure that would give some people conniptions, but we found out something with her, something I wonder if these parents would even consider trying:

If we let her do things in their own time, when she decided to do them she did them like a pro. Dropping the paci? On her own, age 8 months. Dropping nursing? From twice a day to none in less than a week. Potty training? Nothing to complete at age 35 months in less than a week. Reading? Nothing to second-grade level, less than four months.

Painless. Easy. No muss, no fuss, no agony. She never felt like a failure, which is good because she is a complete and utter perfectionist. If we'd put pressure on her, she'd be in counseling now!

Now we're adopting that same play and have fun philosophy with Foxy nine years later. She still has a paci she likes, but she uses it more like some people chew on pencils. She tapered off nursing rather than dropping it cold. Potty training may be a longer affair. But I refuse to make her and myself miserable.

Also, N regularly makes my brain melt. If you hear a shlurping sound around her for no apparent reason, it's that she's absorbing brain cells from my brain several states away. The sound is the brain cells integrating in her head. You'll know I just read a journal post. Read and snuggle... wow. :) :)

About flashcards: a few months ago, we got Simone some touch-and-feel flashcards of farm animals to look at on a long drive. She really really loves them, but she views them as unbound touch-and-feel books. Of course, we're ignoring the "talking points" on the back, as well as the naming of the object in four languages...hmm.