Felt a certain sense of achievement when I managed to finish my assignment ahead of time. Not too bad for someone whose last experience at writing essays was at least 9 years ago. Definitely have to keep this momentum up since there will be 3 other assignments which will be due one week after another in August 
Well this is all worth it, since I will be able to put all these knowledge to good use for Kyle’s progress in the various areas of cognitive, emotional, social and physical development. Most mothers without the background or this knowledge that I have now, will probably be cramming their 16 month old child with flashcards. Excellent if you child has a fantastic memory and a good attention span, but forget it, if you have an active and physical kid who is more motivated by trucks, balls and activity based learning.
For someone who is studying to be a childhood educator, I am sure quite relaxed when it comes to ensuring that my kid learns colours, numbers and alphabets. I suppose many mothers are now driven to panic city after coming across the article in Straits Times recently; about a 2 year old boy who can read words off menus. Sorry to have to be sarcastic, I hope his mom have helped him developed a passion for learning and not just a passion of acquiring approval and praise for his excellent memory.
And what about the Baby can Read program? It has got its merits, but I have driven the CDs into the deep recesses of my drawers. This is another program that encourages rote learning, i.e., learning from memory.
Mothers can throw away their flashcards if they plan to teach their kid who is below the age of 2. Read my article in http://parachutetime.blogspot.com/ You can chose to refute Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, and stick to your tested method of flashcards (since your child seems to be learning from it). Not for me, I have no plans to question this well known cognitive development theorist, until I am certain that I can develop some credible tried and tested theory that will prove otherwise.
In the meantime, Kyle is allowed to relax to learn things at his own leisure pace until he turns 2.
