My Baby Can Read?

I had told Miss B that on January 21st she would not go to school. I never really cared to explain why or said anything about MLK. I just assumed she would neither care nor understand the relevance anyway. I was so wrong.

On Friday, prior to the holiday she came home and said to me she wasn’t going to school on Monday. I mentioned to her that I had already told her about it, but then she went on to say: “We won’t have classes because it’s Martin Luther King Jr’s Day! He changed bad laws so that black and white people could ride the bus together, attend the same schools and sit in the same restaurants.” I was in awe!

Similarly to the MLK explanation, I have come across with innumerous situations in which she clearly explains some concepts I assumed she would not have the faintiest idea about it. The other day,  she decided to give me a Science lecture on gravity (“it’s the force that pull us down to the floor” she defined). Hubby and I even kid around that she is Wikipedia because she loves to voluntarily provide definitions. Another day, she explained to me why we have parts of the world that are night while others which are day time and how the earth revolves around the sun and why the moon would shine.

I swear I don’t remember knowing all that as a 5-year old…

Before you all think I am trying to make a case that my daughter is a prodigy, I am guaranteeing you I am not. I am actually trying to make a bigger point. So I will give you one more example that is not related with Miss B. I went to speak to her class about Banking as part of the Career Day activities. I put together a ppt explaining the route of the money followed since we deposited and then eventually got money out of the ATM. When I asked the class if anyone in the class knew that money walked, this little girl amazed me with a perfect adult-like explanation about the way money moved around, something I had never spoken to my daughter, the daughter of a Banker (or Baker, or so she thinks!). Man, I felt guilty!

The conclusion I come to is that we highly underestimate the potential of our kids have and how much they can grasp provided that you take the time to explain how the world functions. We are the best teachers they can have!!!

I even go further to pounder about a highly controversial topic: the many programs that teach babies how to read. Are we forcing them to do something out of their leagues and putting pressure on them unnecessarily so early on (It’s true some moms just do it to fuel their pride)? Or they can actually handle and we just assume they can’t? Sorry, I do not have the answer, but the more I observe how much and how fast they can learn, I would not doubt that babies are capable of learning how to read effortlessly!

I didn’t write my New Year resolutions anywhere (maybe I should do on another topic, is it too late in the year?), but this certainly goes to the top of my list: #1 – Take the time to teach your kid how the world works and be patient to address the many questions she may have (after all she is always questioning everything!).

P.S - Update from February:

Right before President's name she aske me if I knew that Barack Obama was the 44th President. She then continued to tell me that George Washington was the first and asked me if I knew "which number" was Abraham Lincoln. Oh boy, I guess, I will have to do my homework and go back to studying US History!