So Dixie (my friend who is heading all of this) asked if I would do something. I couldn't think of what. Dental hygiene is pretty straight foward and there isn't much to tell that people don't already know. So after some stewing I told her Children's Lit. And then she said people had told her they wanted to hear from me on dental stuff. So I added a few five minutes at the beginning about that. After a few schedule changes, it so happened that I presented this morning. And it went great! And I felt like I had such wonderful conversations with so many people and it felt so much more meaningful than most conversations I have with moms. I'm so grateful she started this!
Dixie actually couldn't make it today, so she asked me to give her some deets. And since I love to type things up, and I mostly typed it up anyway so that I knew what I'd talk about--I made a little handout for the moms and then sent it over to her with a quick email. I didn't polish it up, and I'm not going to for this blog post either. But I thought I'd save it on here and maybe someone else will be interested! After all our talk about traditions, we moved on to disciplining. Just quickly, I am still using popsicle sticks with very simple chores on them for when my kids misbehave. When we are home all day I have a whiteboard with smiley, smiley, straight face, frowny, surprised face. They get an 'x' through each face as they get in trouble. If they get to the straight face they have a time out. Frowny is a chore. Surprised is a big consequence that mom thinks is suitable. Often early bedtime. Anyway, that is a random offshoot conversation, but might as well put that here.
Early Childhood Literacy
· Asking questions—open-ended. Running errands together—ask
them things as you go along.
· Play games—Storyteller and Listener, or add upon
stories.
· Play make believe.
· TALK.
· Have your child see YOU reading.
· Establish habits—library, night time reading, reading
after afternoon snacks, talking about books at the dinner table, including book
references in their discussions.
· Traditions—family habits become traditions. Kids rely
on traditions to form their sense of self.
· Look for-Caldecott Awards, Newberry Awards, multiple
copies side by side in the library
Books for ages 0-2. (Audrey
Wood)
-Little Blue Truck
-Babies, Gyo Fujikawa
-Are You My Mother?
-Sometimes I Like To Curl Up
In A Ball
-No Room on the Broom
-Red Ripe Strawberry
Books for ages 3-5 (Mo
Willems)
-Pout Pout Fish
-Tops & Bottoms by Janet
Stevens
-The Little Brute Family
-Heckedy Peg
-Petite Rouge Riding Hood
-The Circus Ship
-It Looked Like Spilt Milk
-This is Not My Hat
Kindergarten (Kate DeCamillo,
Arnold Lobel)
-Magic Treehouse (esp boys)
-Roald Dahl-Enormous
Crocodile, Esio Trot
-Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
-Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa
-Mercy Watson
7-8 yrs. (Astrid Lindgren)
-Prydain Chronicles LLOYD
ALEXANDER. -Little House on the Prairie-
-The Ordinary Princess -Penderwicks
Lindsay’s Picks: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Walking Drum,
These Is My Words, Mrs. Mike, The Chosen, A Tale of Two Cities, Thief Trilogy
(Meghan Whalen Turner), Good Night, Mr. Tom, The Ranger’s Apprentice, Ender’s
Shadow
And here is the email I sent along with the one-page handout. It's pretty redundant. But she wasn't there to see how I expounded on the handout, so I tried to detail for her.
Real quick I’ll just talk through my presentation for those
who wanted to know:
5 minutes on Dental Hygiene: To answer any questions—
·
Kids do not have the dexterity to brush their
own teeth well until the age of 7 or 8. You can have them brush, and then go
over it again afterwards.
·
Mouthrinse is recommended for use by age 6. I
teach my kids to spit with water in their mouth, and then give them a simple fluoride
Act mouthrinse---all fluoride products help prevent cavities.
·
Mouthrinse for adults—use Listerine or Crest
ProHealth (on all products look for the ADA approval) so that you are getting
the antibacterial and fluoride component—cutting down on bacteria cuts down on the ability
for them to attach and create cavities in your mouth.
·
Soft bristle tooth brush (if you want to and can
afford it, an electric toothbrush is always the best choice)
·
Increased gingivitis when pregnant—always a good
idea to be using mouthrinse while pregnant.
·
FLOSS kids teeth as soon as their individual
teeth touch each other.
·
Whitening tooth paste is not recommended as it
is very abrasive and can cause gum recession which can result in needing a gum
graft. If you would like to whitening, dental office trays or crest white
strips would be the preferable method.
On to Children’s Lit that we talked about. My main point
that I wanted to focus on was how much of children’s literacy is NOT about
reading to your child. While that is a bonus and wonderful, there are lots of
small things you can be doing to boost your children’s literacy. I have the
bullet points on the handout—but anything you can do create a dialogue or a
story. Make believe games that are stories. My kids and I play a game while
walking to and from school sometimes where I start out with one story segment
and each kid adds on until we finish. Any little things that create
conversation between you instead of simple ‘yes’ and ‘no’ dialogue is huge. It
increases vocabulary.
Another big one is having your child see YOU read. That is
proven to be more effective in life-long reading skills than reading to your
child. It’s pretty powerful to send your child the message that reading is so
important that you stop your life to do it and you LIKE it!
Establish
a tradition of literacy in your home. HOW? Simple
traditions start out as basic routines in your family. Reading before
bedtime,
or after school with a snack, or listening to audio books while in the
car.
Talking about books. Talking about them at the dinner table. And if your
child isn't into a book---MOVE ON and find one they like more!
My dad, when we got older and resisted reading things
outside of our comfort zone, went through our bookshelves and put sticky notes
inside the front cover with dollar amounts. If my brother needed gas for a
date, he could pick out a book and get a quick five bucks. Or pick out a
longer, deeper novel for $20. I just pulled out the book A Marvelous Work and a
Wonder and there was a sticky inside for $15. Haha! I know one summer my
brother really wanted something, and my dad paid for it—if he read the ENTIRE
Louis L’Amour Sackett series. I remember the paper on his bedroom door that he
checked off each book on as he read through the series. But I also remember my
dad talking to him over dinner about which book he was on, which characters
were awesome, etc. My dad likes adventure books—so a lot of books became topics
of human character and strength and persistence that he would discuss with us.
One
study I talked about was done by a pediatrician in Utah
who was studying the rate of suicides in adolescents. He said he has
come up
with about 20 questions and if a kid can answer those questions, his
risk of
suicide will go down 75%!!! THAT IS HUGE! These questions were things
like “What
did your grandpa do as a career?” “What is your dad’s favorite
activity?” Very
basic, simple, family questions that most kids learn at the dinner table
and at
family functions very early on in their life IF they come from a stable,
devoted family. To prevent things like suicide, what kids need is a
sense of
identity, a sense of self. Family traditions do that. Simple traditions.
When I heard about that study, we started the tradition of "telling"
stories at night. Once they are in bed we tell them one quick memory
from our life or that we remember about our parents. One of their
favorites has been our proposal story. For some reason they were so into
that! I mean, a quick kneel-down proposal by a duck pond inbetween
college classes. But they LOVE it!
Traditions like saying happy’s and sad’s at the dinner table
so you listen to your kids’ highs and lows from the day. Traditions like movie
night or FHE. One we do is a Back to School Feast at the beginning of each
school year and afterward have Father’s Blessings and unveil our family “theme”
for the year that the kids then have to memorize. Simple routines can be family
traditions—they create your family culture. My kids in the morning “get
dressed, make their bed, say their prayers” before coming down to the breakfast
table. That’s a routine that becomes tradition in our family. After prayer at
night we have a “Haws Hug” where we all group hug until we fall over or squeeze
til there are screams. It doesn’t have to be big things—simple things.
Reading
can be incorporated in those family traditions that
are helping give kids a sense of identity. Make going to the library a
planned
event. Picking out audio books for the van (Will is obsessed with Magic
Treehouse right now). Don’t stop reading out loud to your kids just
because your kids can read on their own! Read books out loud as a family
so
everyone can enjoy. Before the BFG came out, I read it out loud to my
kids and
then took Ruthie to it in theaters. Memories and books! Giving books as
gifts at
Easter, Christmas, birthdays—fun ones that they are excited to have!
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