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One of our morning show producers Rob has a little girl who knows her stuff. I could not believe she could fully recite our U.S. Presidents from memory in order from Washington and Adams to Bush and Obama. I don’t know that I ever even had to do that in high school! My daughter Callie is two and a half and I think she’s one smart cookie. She has a great memory and vocabulary but I haven’t even begun to get into the chronology of the American presidents. Does that make me a bad mommy? She knows George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. They’re on the quarters and pennies that most often fill her piggy bank. I know children are like sponges, but I didn’t think they were THIS able to absorb that much detail. Certainly not beyond my memory capacity. I’m blown- away amazed and had to watch it several times. So I had to ask how in the devil can you teach a two year old this, how young is too young and what kind of cues should you take from your child to know if they’re ready, or overwhelmed? Rob’s wife, Kim, helps tutor kids with LearningRX and clearly knows her stuff too. Like mother, like daughter. We are having Matt Owen from LearningRx in Chandler on the morning show to answer all those questions & show some examples of how such a feat is pulled- off, even with toddlers. It’s part of their ‘brain training’ mission, associating memory triggers with visual cues. It’s said to make a world of difference with kids who’ve had learning difficulties with traditional school methods. It can clearly work with our litlest learners too. Fascinating! Here’s a link to their website in case you’d like to read-up on this: www.learningrx.com/chandler/default.htm Very curious from other parents out there- what do you think about this? Too young? Tempted to try it on your toddler? Or just feeling dumber as an adult for not being able to get halfway through what this precocious toddler said “I’m getting bored” only to finish in about two minutes? Sound- off! Post your commetns here or email: morningnews@kpho.com and we’ll share your comments on the air! |
TEMPE TODDLER KNOWS HER PRESIDENTS!
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5 Investigates team
Nicole Crites
Marya Piani
Marcy Valenzuela
Catherine Anaya
Peter Busch
Chris Coraggio
some comments from Facebook:
Craig- I could name maybe 30. That’s stretching it, but I definitely couldn’t name them in order like this little sweetheart.
Arlton- She’s smart but doomed to be a future nerd. LOL Good work there teaching her all that!! That is amazing-How old is she?
Dennis- Very cute, I am not attempting it. I know Grover Cleveland served 2 non-consecutive terms and that counted as 2 presidents. Can she teach me to twitter though, I am still struggling with this.
Brandon- Developing a child’s mind can never start too early.
And more comments from our Valley MOMSTER Blog- a new social networking sites for local moms:
JustCallMecrazy:
I don’t get it! What is is the point of a toddler knowing this info? I really think it’s about the parent wanting to show-off their little “genius” in front of the world. It seems that so many parents these days are pushing their kids at younger and younger ages to know material that they don’t really need. “My Baby Can Read” ring a bell? Does anyone understand age-appropriate anymore? Seriously, will knowing how to read at age 2 get your child into a better college than mine? I doubt it.
AnthemSuperMom:
I actually LOVED the video clip, and from what I saw this is a sweet, happy toddler who is learning about the joy of learning. Does she really grasp the concept of “presidents” ?? Of course not!! However, she is building pathways in her brain for memory and visualization that I have no doubt will pay off down the road. It doesn’t feel much different than teaching kids their ABC’s, except this was much richer than rote memorization. What a sweetheart! I was thinking I could use some of those flashcards because I can’t recite the complete list of presidents in order! I’ll take any pnemonic trick I can get, thank you. Happy President’s Day!
KimmieCurry:
Noelle, the little girl in this video is my daughter, and I areally ppreciate the above comment that she is a “sweet, happy toddler who is learning about the joy of learning” because that is exactly what she is.In response to the first comment about “what’s the point” and “parents pushing their kids to show off their little genius” I just wanted to respond to that. The point is that she is learning at an early age, that learning can be really fun, and that when she accomplishes a difficult task that she worked hard on, she will feel good about herself and others will be proud of her. I didn’t sit and force her to memorize the presidents for hours a day. We worked on it for about ten minutes a day for a week, and then we would move on to something else like finger-painting with pudding or playing Chutes and Ladders.
Of course it’s fun for me to show her off because she is cute, and I love her and am proud of her, just as I am of all of my kids. I am just as proud of them when they color me a picture or figure out how to do a sommersault as I am when they recite the presidents.
And in response to your last question, “will my child get into a better college than yours?” I don’t know. I am not concerned with that. What I am concerned with is making sure that my child has a fun, happy, enriching childhood full of playing and learning. There is nothing wrong with developing a child’s memory and attention span, especially if they are enjoying themselves while doing it. Wouldn’t you agree that it’s better than plopping them in front of the television or letting them play video games?
If you’re worried that I’m a taskmaster who doesn’t let their kids have any fun, you can look at my blog currylikethechicken.blogspot.com and you will discover quite the opposite. In fact, right now my 4 year old son is dressed as a Transformer, reading books to my 6 month old, and my daughter Noelle is dressed up as Cinderella, standing on a chair, singing. Oh, and we’re on our way to Jump and Shout to play in the bounce houses. Happy President’s Day! (:
Blessedmomof3:
I think this brings such a viceral reaction in some parents and I have to wonder when did learning become such a taboo thing?
I agree that if a child is being straped down and forced to recite every state in the Union that would be a problem, (which I realize is far from the case in this situation!), but what is so bad about a mother sharing her love of learning.
I will also say that having a child who at 4 could recite the Presidents, I didn’t have to do much to get him to do it. In fact we did nothing!! Our son had an interest in the Presidents after he learned about them in pre-school. My father bought him a poster, we hung it in his room, which he wanted, and in a weekend he knew them. It was the same with the Beatles, and Grateful Dead and all the other subjects that he is an expert at. Someone opened a door, he entered and we let him go where it took him.
A lot of his freinds are the same way, some know every car make and year and have since they were three, some know everything about planes or dinasours. The moms I know just go where their interests and the childs interests take them. Knowledge is a wonderful thing, it is also a gift to a child and a parent. Thanks for letting me express my opinion! I love that about this site!