Monki See Monki Doo
My daughter recently reminded me why babies can learn incredible things. You see, we have a treadmill in our garage. There is hardly a day that goes by that one of the eight members in my family do not use the treadmill. Because exercise is important in our family, my daughter, who is not quite 2 years old, thinks exercise is a natural and fun part of life. She continually tries to put on her sneakers, or whichever ones she can find, and quite boldly exclaims, "A run!".
In baby talk this means, it is my turn to run and you better let me. Everyone else gets to do it and I want to also. Well, how can we argue with that? So we put on her shoes and we allow her to think she is a big girl by walking very slowly on the treadmill for a minute or two. Is this drudgery for her? Absolutely not! She is just playing "Monkey See Monkey Do".
So what does this have to do with how babies learn to read? Simply this, if we do things in a joyful manner, babies will want to be a part of whatever it is we are doing. If they see us reading, they will pick up books and "read" also. We have the opportunity to mold and shape our little ones. We have the responsibility of creating an environment that is conducive to learning and exploring. This will cause a love of learning for a lifetime.
We play "Monki See Monki Doo" with learning to read. Gabriella sees everyone else in the family reading. And so, of course, she wants to read too. This is not a chore. This is not something she dreads. This is just a natural path of life. Check out our reading program at www.monkisee.com
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