Monday 11 January 2016

Importance of What Your Child Plays With


I am always on the lookout for activities to engage Amina with. One thing that I and my husband agreed on was to NOT get electronic toys that have blaring music or flashing lights. I’ve seen how these toys overstimulate a child and they’ve had to be calmed down at the end of it. And there isn’t much learning happening either.. From what I’ve observed there is little work for the child to do. Instead it’s the toy that does all the work. 
Play is so important for a child’s development. It is through play that a child’s social, cognitive and language skills (to name a few) grow.
The other day I came across a study, where three types of toys were used to find out how each affected the parent-child interaction for the purpose of early language development. They used three materials- electronic toys, traditional toys and books. The parents interacted with the children with the toys for a certain amount of time. 
Well, guess what the results were? To quote the study, "Play with electronic toys is associated with decreased quantity and quality of language input compared with play with books or traditional toys. To promote early language development, play with electronic toys should be discouraged"
And I do agree with this. I believe parents are children’s first teachers from whom they learn. And what we do with this knowledge and how we go about it goes a long way in shaping them. 
The greater the interaction, the more children learn.
I prefer buying toys that would foster Amina’s creativity and imagination. She is at a stage where she loves to explore. And these budding, inquisitive minds need much more than just being plopped down in front of the screen. We have tried to keep only a small amount of toys around her at a time so that she doesn’t get overwhelmed, and she plays and gives time to each one. As of now, she has the traditional stacking cups, blocks and rattles. Other than that, I try to select objects from the house for her to play with.
In the picture above (sorry for the blurry image), I have filled the basket with items of different materials-  a cleaning cloth made of foam, a sponge and a cotton napkin. It was fascinating seeing her touch, feel and put things in her mouth! Of course, I was nearby to stop her from harming herself. She turned them over, felt them and kept hitting them on the floor. She was at it for a good 10-15 minutes. Along the course I kept talking with her, telling her about each thing she picked up and asking her to feel it. I concentrated on the verbs- touch, feel, pick, put and the material- soft, rough, spongy. At the end of the day she enjoyed the activity (at least I hope she did!) and we both got to learn new things from each other :)

Friday 8 January 2016

What I Learnt From My Daughter



Children can teach us so many things. Even babies.

Amina started sitting when she turned 6 months old. Before that she used to roll on her play mat, looking out for things within her grasp, and of course put them in her mouth. I would help her with certain tasks like sitting. I would sit her up for few minutes with cushions around her for support. This continued for few weeks till one day, she was able to sit for few seconds without any support! Oh the joy of seeing your child achieve something! Then one morning when she got up from her sleep, she didn’t just roll on the bed like she normally would. She just sat up. Yes, that’s right! She sat up as soon as she got up. Whenever I placed her down to play she would immediately sit up and look around happily. 
She then moved on to the next stage. Standing. I placed a small table and chair in her room. She would crawl towards the table, hold on to it's legs and lift herself up a few inches before letting go. She would then move towards the chair, hold on to that and lift herself up. She kept doing this till she was able to stand by herself. I still remember the smile that spread on her face the day she let go of her support and stood.

It just amazes me to see all these developments within a short span of time. Alhamdulillah she now can walk a few steps and has also learnt to climb down from the bed. She never gets tired of learning new things. No ‘Ah, its boring’ or ‘How long will this take? I am done with this’. She just keeps going on, repeating the same action, till she reaches a stage she is satisfied with. There is no stopping her and she keeps us on our toes!

And as I observe her there are few things I have learnt from her. There have been times in the past where I would take up something to learn. But just within a few days I would get all worked up that things weren’t going well and I would get frustrated…and just quit. I was quite hard on myself and truthfully I still am. And though I’ve always heard that practice makes perfect I didn’t really take it to heart till I saw a living example in my daughter. So this is the lesson I take home with me- Always try out new things. Keep practicing it. Keep repeating it till you get it right. Again and again. As you learn you are bound to make mistakes. Embrace them. Learn from them. Don’t try to avoid them. There will be times you will want to quit and give up. But don’t. There was a reason why you started it in the first place. Remember that reason. Write it down if you will. And keep going back. Practice makes perfect.