In His Own Time

Read an article on one of my favorite blogs recently and it got me thinking of my worries about Jiale's concentration span when he was not even two years old. At that time I saw other children of his age being able to sit down for 'lessons' with their mums, but it was next to impossible to do such seat work with Jiale. I felt rather worried then, even having some concerns whether he was hyperactive. Yet, he did not really seem to be hyperactive.. just.. not able to sit down for 'lessons' with me. Given my parenting style, I chose not to 'force' him to do so, and just let him be.

Fast forward to a few months down the road. Now, there are so many times during each day that I see Jiale fully concentrating on whatever he is doing. Even though he does not have to go to school everyday and he has so much time at home, I still feel that he needs more time to do what he wants to..! Often when I tell him it's bedtime/bathtime/mealtime soon, he responds with 'no! play!', usually while fully focused on his 'work'. This 'work' might be his trains & tracks, blocks, a book, or one of his many toys. Each time, he is able to easily spend up to an hour engrossed, playing on his own.

Other examples of things I felt worried/stressed about, and eventually he showed me that there was nothing to worry about:

Spelling/ word recognition/ reading
Much as I would like to do proper 'lessons' with him, I do not wish to 'make' him sit down with me. As a result, though I do get a few opportunities here and there, we do not have a structured lesson format going on. What we do have is a 'rich' environment - I put up word charts, flashcards etc all around the house - on the fridge door, on the walls, on the doors, on the coffee table.. everywhere! And of course we have books everywhere and I read to him at bedtime and whenever he asks me to.

Now he can recognise some Chinese and English words, even when the words appear in different books or when I write the word on his doodle board.

Drawing
I have never 'instructed' him when it comes to art & craft. I just let him have free play with the materials. And recently, he has starting 'naming' what he is drawing. For instance, he drew a lion while I was busy with something else, and when I came back to him, he told me it was a lion without me prompting him : ) Still, I shall take care not to ask him everytime what he is drawing, as he is still young and it is perfectly reasonable that sometimes he just wants to scribble and might not be drawing anything.

Talking
Jiale is quite late in starting to talk. Nevertheless, he is talking a lot more nowadays. Later than many others, but that's ok with me : )

From these examples, I have learnt that there is no need to rush him if he is not ready, and probably it won't do him any good to rush him. Mummy shall just wait patiently, and in the meantime, provide lots of opportunities (time & materials) for him to play, play, play!