Preschool Education & Everything Preschool

I was reading a post today on Bongo Mirror’s Reflections and Bongo Mirror was discussing the fact that a couple years ago she was reading a book that stated that Preschoolers would defend the fact that 1 (one) is the smallest number. I found that hard to believe… after all I was sure that my Preschooler, who would be starting Kindergarten in the fall, knew that Zero (0) was the smallest number. So, I asked my daughter, “Hannah, I have a question for you… What is the smallest number?” To my surprise she answered, “One.” I was truly surprised. After all, I have discussed the number zero with Hannah many times since she was two while teaching her Preschool at Home. So, I said to Hannah, “One? What about Zero?” She then said, “Oh yeah!!” She got it. But, I was very surprised that Zero wasn’t her first answer. She didn’t defend that one is the smallest number, however it wasn’t her first choice.

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It is infuriating when it feels like your child ignores the directions that you have given. As a parent, it’s frustrating to feel like your child doesn’t have the listening skills that she needs to be able to understand, remember and act upon what you have told her. But this is a normal part of the development process and one of the reasons that parents of preschoolers require wells of patience in order to assist their children in growing up with normal, healthy development. You not only want to teach your child good listening skills so that she can do what you say needs to be done but you also want to make sure she has those skills so that she will do well in school, get along with peers and be able to engage in appropriate social behavior in groups.

Here are some tips to improve your preschooler’s listening skills and to get her well on the way to being able to understand what’s said to her and to act upon it appropriately.

We are always wondering if our children are “normal”. We don’t mean to do it, but nevertheless, it’s something that we do all of the time. From the time that we first count those ten toes and ten fingers, we’re subconsciously (or consciously) comparing our kids to some ideal standard of what is “normal” and wondering how they measure up. And when it comes to areas of life that aren’t so easy to understand, we often have trouble figuring out what’s “normal” and how to deal with it. Often, this is the case when it comes to imaginary friends.

There is a myth which is widely associated with the homeschooled student and that myth is that he is going to have difficulty developing normal social skills. It’s true that children learn social skills primarily in the school environment, but this doesn’t have to be the only place that kids can learn how to socialize with peers and non-relatives. What a parent needs to realize is that children DO need to learn social skills by interacting with others outside of the home but that there are many different ways that this can be done.

Manners are something that we all want our kids to have and something which can be very elusive to teach. We all know a well-mannered child when we see one but it can be difficult to identify exactly what it means for a child to have good manners, especially at different stages of development and in varying social circumstances. While there are many different things which go into learning manners, these are the basic phrases that your child should be able to use appropriately in any situation to have the basics of good manners: