Kumon....COME ON!

{...because she looks super happy.} photo by James Estrin/The New York Times

  
I just saw this article, printed in the New York Times, entitled Fast-Tracking to Kindergarten? and it made me want to cry. I was trying to picture my 2 year old, (with his arm finally freed from the fire hose hook up) sitting in Junior Kumon, in front of a work book, being yelled at to fire off answers to math problems by a cold, militant math teacher. Maybe I am exaggerating, but maybe not. I quickly shifted my mindset to my 5 year old who adds and subtracts nightly at the dinner table with Tater Tots, Dino Nuggets, Broccoli etc. It's still math...and he is doing it on his own, without me forcing the topic. 

As there is no data to support that early reading suggests increased success later in life, I have to imagine this over-tutoring in math runs an easily assumed parallel (because I am a brain surgeon). But to my point, I am NOT a brain surgeon, but a Mommy whose instincts are setting off alarms telling me that this phenomena is nuts. Parents are growing increasingly worried that their kids will fall behind this new curve- a curve they are inflating due to their own fears. People, you are perpetuating the problem...and in turn, creating worry in parents like myself who have decided to let their children grow-up in a more organic fashion.  And so the cycle continues...

You should probably put your kid back in the sandbox. They'll thank you for it later.

Here is the Article... enjoy. Fast-Tracking to Kindergarten?

The Letter of the Day is "M" for MESS!

I will say it right now. I LOVE SESAME STREET. Who doesn't need a Sunny Day, Sweeping the Clouds Away? The show is EDUCATIONAL right? My all time favorite Street Muppet is Cookie Monster. I was elated when Hay Hay began to show the same admiration for the blue, cookie-eating, raspy voiced character. Unfortunately, there's a hitch. Here is what my child has taken away from all of the Sesame-Ed with which he has been tutored... 

This has been going on for a LONG LONG time. I give up. It's hard to ask funny to stop.

Here's the real deal. See if you can tell the difference. My vacuum and I sure can't.

This Message Was Brought To You By the ABC Television Network

So, my one innate ability growing up - or Superpower - as I once called it, was my ability to memorize almost ANYTHING by sight or sound. As I got older, there was clearly kryptonite in my high school, as I seemed to have lost my special power. Like athletes have muscle memory, I have been fortunate enough to retain a small chunk of my ability in the form of remembering the words to possibly every commercial or sitcom theme from the 70s and 80s. Some of the major standouts were the ABC snippits in between Saturday morning cartoons, like Schoolhouse Rock, the Bod Squad and Time-for-Timer, "Look a wagon wheel!"

Recently, a friend of mine posted one on Facebook, and a light bulb went off in my head. "Holy Cow, I can watch my kids can benefit from the aweseomeness that was Saturday morning "educational" TV via You Tube!

My almost 2 year old obsesses over YUCK MOUTH, while my 5 year old loves Time-for-Timer's songs of "Hanker for a Hunk-of-Cheese" and "You are what you eat, from your head down to your feet.."

and I get to sing-a-long. Magic. I'm going to watch Family Ties now.

Yip Yip

Once again I am faced with doing what is right vs. doing what is easy. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends NO SCREEN TIME for children under 2 (or Google it and find articles like this). I find this virtually impossible in my home when my 4 1/2 year old watches TV. How the heck am I supposed to shield the other from the giant glowing window (does that what Hayden thinks it is?) hanging on the wall? AND, even more so,  how am I to make dinner at 5:30pm without knowing that my children are somewhat contained on the sofa? 

Ryder has had a re-appreciation for Sesame Street, which I have to say pleases me to no end. It has to be better than Phineas and Ferb for the baby. At least someone has deemed this show educational. Of course I am now not only freaked out about my zombie 15 month old zoning out on some Big Bird Elmo bonanza, but to add to my neurosis, the show advisory information on my Tivo says for ages 3+. Oye Vey. But again, apparently not worried enough to turn it off…cuz it’s EASY (like saying cuz). Plus, I get to enjoy the oldies but goodies that I had the benefit of being entertained by when I was little. Glad to see the Alien Family is still Yip Yipping their way through Sesame Street. “Brrring! Yip Yip Phone.”

And by the way, how come everyone can see Snuffleupagus now? I liked it better when big bird was deemed slightly crazy. And yes, I did wiki the spelling of Snuffy’s given name…I was way off.

Can you see him? I can. Crazy? I think not.