How to Teach Your Baby...

EVERYTHING!

Last week I finished reading the book - How to Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence by Glen&Janet Doman. In parallel, MrJ read How To Teach Your Baby Maths by the same authors and finished about the same time with me.

These are the 2 books that made our headlines everyday. Until today, we keep on discussing about the method used by Doman in teaching babies. Subhanallah. I thank Allah for giving us the opportunity to know bout them and their wonderful collection of Gentle Revolution Series.

Here are some of the excerpt of the book I read.

It's Good, Not Bad, To Be Intelligent [Chapter 4]

Indeed, it's very good.

"The difference between intelligence and education is this - that intelligence will make you a good living." - Charles Franklin Kettering -

From the book I read, I realized that many of us worship muscles but fear intelligence. We want our children to be strong but we fear them to be highly intelligent. We waited until it's too late to introduce them with learning. Education is boring, learning isn't.

Today we debated whether this intelligence is heredity in nature or whether it is environmental. That divides the world into two school of thoughts. Some said it's heredity and some said environment.

What say you? Find the answer in [Chapter 5].

Everything Leonardo Learned [Chapter 7]

Babies are born with a rage to learn. They want to learn about everything and they want to about it right NOW.

Tiny kids think that learning is the greatest thing that ever happened. The world spends the first 6 years of life trying to tell them that learning isn't the greatest thing in life and that PLAYING is.

Some kids never learnt that playing is the greatest thing in life and as a result those kids all the way through life believing that learning is the greatest thing in life. Those are the ones we call geniuses.

The truth is that little kids don't want to play and that they do ask an unending series of questions - and what superb questions they are.

"Daddy what holds the stars up in the shy?"

"Mommy, why is the grass green?"

"Daddy, how does the little man get into the television set?"

Those are brilliant questions - precisely the same questions that top-flight scientists ask.

Our answer, in one way or another, is, "Look kid, Daddy is very busy deciding what we ought to do in the Middle East situation. Why don't you run off and play while Daddy thinks."

And that VERY answer kills the kid's nature to learn.

Ok, let say we gave the kid a rattle or toy truck which he had never seen before in hope that this will get his attention.

First he looked at it (which is why toys are painted in bright colours).
Next he listened to it (which is why toys make noises).
Next he felt it (which is why toys don't have sharp ages).
Then he tasted it (which is why toys are made with non-poisonous materials).
Finally he smells it (we haven't figured out how toys should smell yet so they don't smell).

That clever and dicerning process of using every laboratory test available to him to learn everything there is worth learning about this piece of junk called a toy takes about 60 seconds.

But the child is not only clever, he is ingenious. There is one more thing he might learn. he might learn how it is put together by breaking it apart.

So he tries to break it. It takes about 30 seconds for him to find out that he can't break it. So he throws that away. This is why of course, toys are unbreakable.

The whole process takes 90 seconds.

The question is, " How long should anybody look at a rattle?" The answer should be, "As long as there's something to learn from it."

Everything a child learns in his life he learns through those five paths. He can see it, hear it, feel it, taste it and smell it.

Everything that Leonardo learned he learned through those five pathways.

All Kids Are Linguistic Geniuses [Chapter 8]

To a child born in Philadelphia tonight English is a foreign language. It is no more no less than German, Italian, Swahili and Urdu.

By one year of age, he understands a good deal and is beginning to say his first words.

By two year of age he understands a great deal and has rudiment ability to speak it.

By three years of age he understands and speaks it fluently enough to get by in almost any situations.

By six, he speaks it perfectly to his own environment.

If he's born in bilingual household where two languages are actually spoken, he speaks two languages. If three languages, then three - and so on, if not ad infinitum, at least as far as there are languages.

It is easier to teach a one-year-old a foreign language than it is to teach a seven-year-old.

That's because all tiny children are linguistic geniuses.

To be continued...

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I'll stop at Chapter 9 first, don't want to drag this post too long. It took me almost 2-long-week to finish up the book.[almost 400 pages] (I'll read this during pumping sessions at the office :-) Discussion with MrJ is on going till now. At first we planned to start a systematic learning program for Nadirah by her 5th month birthday. But then, after reading these 2 books, we realized that we need more time to prepare for the learning materials. In addition, our Brillkid Little Reader has been upgraded into new, more versatile and more flexible software. Mummy and Abi has to familiarize with the software before we go on board. Fuhhhh.. So many things to do and we're working 8-5 at the same time! Anyhow, I truly enjoy this journey with Abi - priceless. [Nadirah, when you read this later, you'll know that Mummy and Abi really2 want you to success in life herein and hereafter. Mwahssss]

The books actually teach us details on how to design a practical program with our babies. How to teach your baby Math/Read/Encyclopedic Knowledge - although these topics are included in How to Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence, but the details, preparatory work need to be done are all fully outline in it's very own individual book.

Bought these two books at Kinokuniya. Now I've started reading the book on the left.

GDoman Gentle Revolution Series are suitable for all parents with babies or going-to-be parents. The current book I'm on [How Smart Is Your Baby?] is very very vital for parents-to-be so that they can prepare themselves and start developing and nurture the coming newborn up to his/her full potential. Start it early and start it smartly! It is a great book for pregnant Mummies!

If you're stuck,
or you think your baby is not learning enough,
or you have no idea where to start from,
or you're looking for a guideline to teach your baby,
or you don't know what to teach,
or you think your baby doesn't like the books/flashcard you bought,
or your budget is too tight to send your babies to expensive classes,

then,

these books are the best place for you to start soul-searching and finding the answers for all your questions about you and your baby. From their research, if we want to teach our baby almost anything, teach them before six. Even better before 3! And most optimal period from newborn to two :-)

We've been thinking that probably we can use Doman's method to teach our babies to read Al-Quran. Of course we can! We'll see what we can do and Insya-Allah we'll share our experience later. Wish us luck!

The best ever line in this book that I like is:

"The truth is that the raising of children is too important to be left to anyone other than mothers and fathers."

And Rasulullah has actually said it earlier:

Sabda Rasulullah :

Setiap bayi yang lahir itu dalam keadaan fitrah ( beragama Islam). Oleh itu terpulanglah kepada kedua ibu bapanya samada ingin menjadikannya Yahudi, Nasrani atau Majusi

Hadis riwayat Bukhari

Masya-Allah. May Allah bless our journey to bring up our children and later our grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren to be a true Muslim. Amin.