learning

Not so long ago there was a little boy, in a little town. This little boy's parents were always encouraging him to travel down a good, moral, Christian path. Often, the boy didn't even fully know what was going on. The parents would pop in a cassette tape with some fun stories and groovy tunes. Before long, he found himself repeating the songs, and memorizing the stories. The stories told of things like being kind to your siblings, and befriending the bully, because maybe he just needs someone who will really listen. Over time, even though the boy grew older, and the stories slowly slipped from memory, the lessons they taught remained.

It is often said that people today are more 'connected' than ever. Social networks allow friends, colleagues, and a slew of others stay in contact and be continually updated as to what's happening. Some children's toys are able to chart the child's learning and provide a quick report on how the child is progressing. Books are multi-lingual and talk about anything from aardvarks to Zen. Yet with all the tools and resources, society seems to be growing more and more uninvolved and disconnected from it's most important members, the kids.

So who is raising your children? Do you use the latest and greatest learning methods that money can buy? Are the educational programs on television teaching them everything they need to know? How about the workers at daycare who are around them the majority of the day? Maybe it's the public (or private) school that you've enrolled them in. Perhaps it's a Sunday School teacher, or maybe a grandparent.

While all of the above things can be good sources of wisdom and guidance, nothing can replace the love, care, and nurturing a child receives from a parent. Don't outsource your responsibility.

A wise man's daughter once said that her dad didn't tell her how to live life, he lived life and let her see it. When your kids get old enough to reflect upon the past, make sure you've done your part. I hope and pray that their memories aren't filled with after school programs, soccer practice, and the taxi drivers known as mom and dad who took them where they needed to be.

Live life, and love your kids.

photo courtesy of jkunz

It is often said that infants are too young to understand what's going on. While they're in the beginning phase of life, they're just soaking it in.

This train of thought is a discredit to children everywhere. If you've been a parent for any length of time, you know that children are in fact very smart. They can pick the most secure locks, and manipulate almost any situation to achieve their desired outcome. So instead of writing them off as not being able to do much, why not teach a valuable skill?

Sign language was a great help with our oldest daughter. She was a calm infant to begin with, however, after she got the hang of a couple signs, many outbursts were avoided. With that in mind, I've put together my list of pro's and con's for teaching the little one sign language.

Pros

• Being able to venture out in public again without fear. Sometimes kid's are unpredictable, and I'm convinced that like many other beasts on this earth, they can smell fear. They know you're apprehensive about taking them into a sit down restaurant, and exploit the situation by screaming, throwing toys on the floor, and being altogether unruly.
• Entertainment. It's very entertaining to watch a child develop their fine motor skills. Seeing the look on their face when they can finally communicate is priceless.
• Pride. As parent's we're always teaching our kids something, either consciously, or subconsciously. Teaching a child sign language is an opportunity that comes along very early in their life. When they finally learn that first sign, you're able to step back and realize that you made it all happen.

Cons

• Being too hip and trendy. Although I haven't read much about it recently, teaching your kid sign language seems to be the cat's pajamas, and I just don't like that.
• Time commitment. It takes time, and our family is already busy doing stuff. The kid will learn to talk soon enough.
• ??? I can't think of any other cons. My experience has been nothing but positive. I really had to stretch to think of two cons, because really, it doesn't take that much time. Just start at mealtime. The kid needs to be fed, and it only takes an extra second to show them the appropriate signs (milk, more, all-done, etc.).

If you're a new parent, I hope you give signing a try. It will save a lot of headaches as your child transitions into being a full blown toddler.

Be sure to stop by dad blogs for another round of Fatherhood Friday posts.

photo courtesy of heymans 98ueijszth

photo courtesy of ilovemypit
The three year old loves video games, and I'm proud of it. I've often been told by popular media that video games are the root of all evil, and that they turn your kids into a pile of gelatinous goo, but I disagree. Video games have a great number of redeeming qualities, even for someone as young as three years old. Kids are able to develop more finely tuned motor skills, hone problem solving and observational skills, plus develop a sense of accomplishment.

Motor Skills

When I purchased a shiny new DS Lite a little over a year ago, my wife inherited the trusty old DS Fat. Shortly after this, my daughter became obsessed with PictoChat. For those of you who don't play Nintendo DS, this is a chat program that also allows the user to send drawings, hence the name PictoChat. As a result of the three year old spending time 'playing' with PictoChat, her fine motor skills have improved. On the DS, she is able to practice writing letters, drawing pictures, and navigating the various menus (which alone requires a fair amount of dexterity).

The three year old also enjoys Wii Tennis. She is to the point where she can choose her Mii and start the game, all while navigating via the wiimote. It takes a pretty steady hand, and a bit of patience to accomplish such a task. The Wii has helped push both her patience and control in the right direction.

Problem Solving

My daughter has a kiddie laptop that teaches the alphabet, and has a few simple games. One of those games is a maze type game where you are a mouse, and have to locate the cheese in the center of the maze. The game starts out with a very easy maze, and with each completion comes a harder maze. In the beginning, she was unable to complete even the most simple maze without some assistance. However now, she is able to navigate even the hardest of puzzles with ease, knows left from right (when she actually takes her time and thinks about it), and is very proud of herself for learning how to complete the maze.

Accomplishment

Nothing makes a geek dad like me more proud than when the three year old figures out how to do something with technology. She seems genuinely proud of herself, and that makes me happy… like the first time she legitimately won a game of Wii Tennis, completed the difficult maze all by herself, or built a PC from scratch so she could play some Dora the Explorer game. Well... building her own PC hasn't happened yet, but maybe by the time she's four.

Have your kids been impacted by video games?