Teaching Babies to Read - How to Keep it Interesting
Many parents that begin a baby reading program are faced with the same question, "How do I keep this interesting for my baby? I don't want my baby to get bored."
I had the opportunity to answer this question for another mom who is facing this same dilemma. Here is her question.
Question
Hello, I would very much appreciate hearing about parents who have been implementing the Your Baby Can Read Program. My question is the following: If a baby is too young to show you that he understands the words, even through action, but becomes bored with the current video, should I stick with the same video till he can start communicating or should I move on to the next?
This is how we have been implementing the program. We show the video twice a day (while holding him,repeating the words, and having him do the movements), 5 days a week, and do one flap book and one set of flash cards once a day, also 5 days a week. On the week-ends, we focus on print, esp. in French (we are raising him bilingual because I am a native French speaker). He doesn't watch any other videos.
He is currently 3 months 1/2. We did the Starter video from day 1 (even though I realize he was too young to really get much from it) and did it for 2 months. Then we moved on two #1, substituting the Starter video twice a week for reinforcement. He gets distracted very easily during the videos (by anything, really, he is an only child and he watches it in a quiet environment)
This is how we have been implementing the program. We show the video twice a day (while holding him,repeating the words, and having him do the movements), 5 days a week, and do one flap book and one set of flash cards once a day, also 5 days a week. On the week-ends, we focus on print, esp. in French (we are raising him bilingual because I am a native French speaker). He doesn't watch any other videos.
He is currently 3 months 1/2. We did the Starter video from day 1 (even though I realize he was too young to really get much from it) and did it for 2 months. Then we moved on two #1, substituting the Starter video twice a week for reinforcement. He gets distracted very easily during the videos (by anything, really, he is an only child and he watches it in a quiet environment)
Answer
Definitely switch! He should love what you are doing and has no way to let you know he is bored except to not show interest. It is better for him to be exposed to 1000 words and master 80% of them than to show him 40 repeatedly. He will learn about language more quickly if he is exposed to many words. You might want to add some variety to his program by using the video slide shows on http://www.memoflix.com. You can sign up for free and view about 50 categories of words.
When my baby was just over one and could speak, he communicated that he knew new words after one or two viewings. The more you work with him, the faster he will pick up language. Please don't bore him. That could turn him off of the whole program. A baby needs to see a word around 15 times to master it. I don't know why YBCR wants you to view a video for such a long period of time. If you watch it 5 days a week then after a month you should move on to a new video.
When my baby was just over one and could speak, he communicated that he knew new words after one or two viewings. The more you work with him, the faster he will pick up language. Please don't bore him. That could turn him off of the whole program. A baby needs to see a word around 15 times to master it. I don't know why YBCR wants you to view a video for such a long period of time. If you watch it 5 days a week then after a month you should move on to a new video.
You might also like to introduce him to the Monki See Baby DVDs. They are entertaining, which keeps your baby from getting bored from the "teachy" style of Your Baby Can Read, educational, because they teach them reading and object recognition plus they're a whole lot of fun. You can mix up the Baby DVDs that you show him so he is continually learning but not getting bored.
Posted by Krista G. at 4/6/2010 5:00 AM 
Categories: How babies learn language
Tags: baby dvds baby reading program teaching babies to read memoflix.com
Categories: How babies learn language
Tags: baby dvds baby reading program teaching babies to read memoflix.com
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