Tag: early childhood
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She Will Never Wonder If Her Voice Matters
I grew up with because I said so. Not once. Not occasionally. As a default. As the end of every conversation I tried to start. I learned early that my questions weren’t always welcome, and that asking too many of them had consequences. So I stopped asking. I stored them instead. I don’t know if…
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I Don’t Limit Screen Time. I Monitor It.
Screen time wasn’t a thing when I was growing up. The TV went off at a certain time. Kids shows aired at certain times of the day and when they were over they were over. The television regulated itself and nobody gave it much thought. Now the options never end. Something is always available and…
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The Math Didn’t Work in the US. It Did Here.
I paid off $50,000 in student loan debt in a few years while raising my son alone. I didn’t go out much. I didn’t buy things I didn’t need. I chose to be home in the evenings and on weekends instead of out. At the time I didn’t think of it as a choice. It…
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Flashcards Aren’t the Problem.
Cami had a set of 16 textured flashcards when she was an infant. I would say the word, let her feel the texture, use it in a sentence, and when I could, hold up the actual object next to the card so she could see both at the same time. That’s not memorization. That’s a…
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My Son Speaks Korean. He’s 23. It Started With Conversation.
JJ is 23 years old. He speaks Korean fluently and is currently enrolled to learn Chinese. Before Korean there was Japanese. Before Japanese there was Spanish, which he failed in middle school because he wasn’t interested. So I found a new school with a different language. He didn’t get here because he was gifted. He…
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Your Daughter Is Weird
1y 10m I was teaching at a school here in Cambodia with my daughter in my class. One of my students was 3 and speaking in broken one to four word phrases. I asked my boss if his speech was delayed. She said, “No, your daughter is weird.” The director of the school holds degrees…
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What a Trip to the Zoo Taught Me About My Toddler’s Memory
2y 4m This day, we were at the zoo. We have annual passes and go every few weeks or so. We were inside the café, where there’s a giant window looking out into the tiger enclosure. We saw the two tigers we usually see when we go. But that day, we also saw a third…