"A child educated only at school is an uneducated child."
I have four small children. Between the hussle and bussle of working and my involvement in extracurricular activities, I get pretty tired. It can be easy to slack off in the area of parenting from time to time......especially if there is a good program on television. But what I notice about children is this: they have an innate desire to learn. To reduce their learning to the schoolhouse is a great injustice. Especially in this day and age where no child is "left behind." There is too much going on in the world for the teachers to possibly instill everything your kids need to know into them. Think back on your life, where did you learn your most important lessons?? For me, it definitely was not school. I have a good friend that is a teacher. One night I upset her (unintentionally) when I said that schools ought to teach kids manners. Her position is that parents ought to teach kids manners. I never realized until that night just how much pressure our teachers are under. It is our responsibility as parents to teach our children. Teachers merely serve to reinforce those things which we have taught. It takes a village to raise a child, and that is true, but the village starts at home with you. Talk to your child like you talk to anyone else. This helps their vocabulary. Leave the "Baby Talk" to the Teletubbies. Allow your children to read to you. Even though they can't read. Did you know that looking at pictures and creating stories is one of the first steps of reading? This is also a great way to learn shapes and colors (besides you can always "rest your eyes" when they read to you). Allow your children to help you with day to day activities. You will be surprised by how much they are learning when you don't even think you are teaching.
"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them."
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