Being a parent is a big, complex job! Today, November 8th, is National Parents as Teachers Day, so let’s take a minute to appreciate how important our role as teachers is.
Parents as Teachers
From the day they’re born, we spend much of our time teaching our kids to do things. We help them with the basic life skills, like eating, walking and talking.
Fortunately, my parents showed me how to eat ice cream at an early age, and that skill has served me well, my entire life!
They also taught me to wear clothes that already have spots (dots?) on them, so nobody notices the food stains. That’s still a handy tip!
More Things to Teach
Later, we help our kids learn the alphabet, and how to count, and identify colours. Take it slowly though, and don’t try to do it all in a couple of days.
My dad tried to skip a few steps, and showed me a calculator before I could count to five! Maybe he was trying to lure me into the wonderful world of accounting. If that was his plan, it failed miserably.
Even More Things
There’s always something new to learn, to we help our children with reading, writing and riding a bike.
If you’re smart, you’ll also show them how to cook, clean and do laundry!
Don’t Pass the Buck
Yes, it’s hard work being parents as teachers! However, you should do the teaching yourself, instead of trusting someone else. Never, ever pass the buck! And here is a literal example of what I mean.
I “passed a buck” to the Dollar Store, to buy a set of flash cards for my daughter, when she was about 18 months old. The cards had cute pictures on them, and short words, describing the pictures.
Unfortunately, some of the descriptions were not quite accurate. And by that, I mean completely wrong. For example, here are 3 cards that teach the colour grey. Hmmm…I know there are 50 shades of grey, but are these even close? They look like black, brown and yellow to me!
Thanks, Dollar Store, for proving that Parents as Teachers cannot be replaced!
National Parents as Teachers Day 2018
Remember, don’t trust the Dollar Store to teach your kids anything!
_________________________