We are programmed to worry. We moms, that is. The day we find out we are pregnant, it begins and it will never go away.
Currently, my worry is whether what I am doing is getting through.
Are they learning?
Are they having fun?
Are they going to grow up and be evil? Because sometimes it sure seems like it.
In all reality, they are still very young and the nice thing is that most of their learning still comes from playing and they do a hell of a lot of that around here. I may think it sounds like a pair of banshees but when I look up from my cleaning or cooking or cowering, I can see that 85% of the time, they are really just playing and having a blast.
The lessons and activities are going well in terms of attention. They both seem interested and excited when we start. Sometimes they get bored so we stop, sometimes they don’t want to do something so I think of something else that they do want to do.
But when I ask them later what starts with the letter “__” a lot of times they just shout out some random letter. Sometimes they get it right (O easily got D for doughnut correct. surprise surprise) and I feel all happy and prideful and what-not.
But when I asked today (note: the letters with pictures are up on the wall) O said “U!”. Whaaa?? I’m not even sure where she came up with that. So I just told her that’s silly and asked her again giving her some hints. M decided to chime in with the right answer and O started laughing like she was just joking around. She probably was just screwing with me but these are the times that make me worry.
It’s the same thing when I ask her about the sounds. “What sound does the letter “__” make? Or whatever. She’ll call out some random letter and half the time it’s wrong.
So I am left sitting there worrying a bit and wondering if I am doing something wrong. Thankfully, I have been told by a few people (not only other moms but also elementary school teachers) that what I’m doing is just fine and they will get it when they are ready. And I know that M is still a bit young for this and boys typically figure it out later. And O has always been the physical girl, learning language stuff later.
After all this, I have convinced myself that I’m doing fine, as are they, and as long as we keep it up they will do just fine. But…
I’m still going to worry. Because that’s part of my job. And I love my job. Not really the worry part. But the whole momma and teaching part. That part is awesome.
The Cave School of Learning 