How boys and girls learn...with differences!

It's known that in milestones' growth, boys are behind girls mainly in speech cum language development. However, when they reach teens, the gap narrows and the boys will charge ahead with significant progress. Girls always surge ahead in the schooling years as they prefer to do more desk related activities and pay more attention to the teachers for a longer period of time. Girls are also able to learn quite a bit via auditory teaching. See this link for more information: http://www.schoolfamily.com/school-family-articles/article/855-how-girls-learn On the converse, the boys need visual tools and movement related activities to stay engaged. It is necessary for the educators, predominantly females to recognise this vital piece of information. For the boys to catch up and not fall too behind the girls, the educators need to factor in their innate learning predispositions and design activities that enable both boys and girls to maximise their learning potential. See this link for more information: http://www.schoolfamily.com/school-family-articles/article/854-how-boys-learn After reading these articles, I finally understand why my boy is able to listen what the teacher has taught despite being on the move. During circle time where the teacher shares stories or information, his hands prefer to be busy with piecing puzzles or building blocks. While this is certainly not encouraged in a mainstream environment, the teachers are perceptive enough to engage him creatively without sacrificing the content. However, sometimes, he does not do his written work properly. Could this be due to his distracted self during lessons?

Looking back and beyond on Growing Up

Having a boy who is 3 years old and counting reminds me that I am in a very unique position that probably my God and spouse know my struggles better as a mom. I could still remembered how instant time flies...1000+ days ago, I was still holding my little baby boy who looked so soft and feeble in my arms, whilst in the hospital ward. It seemed as of time came to a standstill and the air was filled with tremendous peace and tranquility...my boy simply existed and was totally dependent on me to further his existence. As time goes by, I see him gain strength from strength. You know you are a fully fledged parent when every small gesture of growth can thrill you to bits whilst every tiny difficulty yet to overcome can evoke powerful emotive responses from within you. Parenthood also makes me grow as an individual who is braver to speak up what's bothersome, even if the recipient may not like to hear the content in entirety. Watching how he grows from a baby to a curious toddler simply gives us a deep sense of thanksgiving. Till now, we are having fun showing him the tools to effective communication. He has also taken an interest to reading on his own. It is such beauty to hear a young child reading out aloud! Despite having inaccuracies in the pronunciation or even intonation, we often break into peals of laughter when he remembers the words and says them with gusto. This brings me the idea of building him up in reading and writing in a fun manner. The preschool is doing a great job in refining both his fine and gross motor skills. As a om only to him, I hope to use this space to learn how to nurture him into an effective reader and writer. As the saying goes, "Today a reader, Tomorrow a leader" ~ W. Fusselman Pushing academic pressures aside, I believe preschool should be the best period in unlocking the child's imagination and exposing them to wonderful texts that leave an indelible imprint in their minds. Hopefully, the use of great books, games and even activities can develop the child to be awakened by his innate desire to express himself through words. Children are a unique lot. Some express better via speech and they thrive in Speech and Drama workshops. There is another group who prefer to pen down their powerful thoughts and opinions. Very often, children often struggle in writing as they lack sufficient words and ideas to form sentences or even paragraphs. Also, there is a dearth of writing ideas that encourage a child to write passionately. From young, he is trained to write to be marked, or submit a writing piece with guided instructions. Where is the unfettered feeling of writing anything that catches your fancy? How about cutting some cool articles and give comments on what you feel? Share your experiences on anything under the sun? Like eating, cycling or even swimming, writing and reading are essentially what makes us human. We read to experience or understand something better; we write to share with others what is really deep in our hearts and minds. All in all, effective reading and writing skills will equip him to handle the challenges ahead. In my next post, I will share some resources on what a 3 year old can be excited about. I will select texts that may be gender appropriate even though both boys and girls will enjoy reading. I will also share what my boy is learning now that helps him in his language acquisition. To end, allow me to depart with this quote I found on the website, "Pausing to listen to an airplane in the sky, stooping to watch a ladybug on a plant, sitting on the rock to watch the waves crash over the quayside - children have their own agendas and timescales. As they find out more about he world and their place in it, they work hard not to let adults hurry them. We need to hear their voices." ~ Cathy Nutbrown www.quotegarden.com/children.html