I recently read an article about different things that factor into your child's IQ. Everyone wants to believe their child is a genius.
My husband will tell you that I totally buy into all the things that can make my child (well, now children) smart. I bought the dvd's that can teach my baby to read. I have several different puzzles, books, flash cards, and school style books to teach my son the alphabet and numbers. I buy games to try to re-enforce learning. My favorite channels to turn to for cartoons are the ones that teach him things.
Honestly, there's only one thing we as parents can do to ensure our children are smart. We can teach them the love of learning. It's not hard. Encourage questions (as annoying as it can sometimes be). Spend time with your child learning something new by doing things like looking up a question on the internet or reading a book.
What age is the best time to do this? Well, now. Okay, it's hard to do this with a 7 week old who doesn't really have questions. But with a 5 year old, it's easy. The earlier you start, the easier it will be.
Okay. Maybe my advise isn't the greatest. My child isn't a genius. I haven't tested his IQ level so he really might be. But I do have a child who comes up with some fairly decent questions, who loves to read, who wants to cook, and who asks to do more school work. Albeit, his "school work" is easy since it's basically like coloring, but it's how preschoolers to do work.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Basic History Lesson: Halloween
Okay, I know I'm going to see many things posted on Facebook about this holiday. I understand that everyone has a right to their opinions and I respect that.
Here is how I see it:
Halloween started out as a holiday for pagans. Yes. Back in the day, the pagans we speak of used to celebrate the end of harvest and the beginning of well death. They thought that the world was going to be dead. They weren't that smart. We already knew that seeing as how they would test to see if someone was a witch by holding them under water for several minutes. If they drowned, they weren't a witch. If they didn't drown, they were. Brilliant, right?
Back to the history lesson- On this day, because the world they saw (all the plants and stuff) died, they would try to appease their gods by doing sacrifices and stuff. When you get a group of people together for any occasion, it turns into a party. We even eat at funerals and sit around and talk. That's not the best type of party, but this wasn't that type of funeral. They ate food, sat around fires, and told stories. Part of this story telling was wearing masks.
Later, when people lived in cities, not villages; the tradition started with the poor begging for food on this holiday. They went around house to house to beg for food. During this time, people were even more superstitious. People actually thought there were vampires and werewolves. To ward off the demons, they put out gourds with candles in them so it wasn't dark outside their doors.
In the US, it eventually became an actual celebration. People were now smart enough to know that winter was only a season and that spring would come. There was no need to sacrifice an animal. But we as people love to celebrate. So instead of sending out the poor to beg for food, we sent out kids to beg for candy. Instead of wearing masks to tell stories, we wore masks for fun.
And the term "trick or treat" was actually started in Canada in the 1800's some time.
For those of you who will still declare that it is a holiday about Satan. Please stop and realize that Christmas was the same holiday, but for a different group of people. These people were just further south where winter started in December instead of October. The reason we bring Christmas trees into our houses is because they thought they were protecting life by bringing it in the house and keeping it alive all winter. The reason that it's celebrated as a Christian holiday now is because Rome knew that they couldn't change everything about a new culture they took over, so the religious people would turn as much of it as they could into something religious if they couldn't outlaw it altogether.
I will once again dress my son up and this year my daughter. We will go trick or treating and get tons of candy. I will take pictures. We already got pumpkins and put candles in them. We will watch scary movies that I know my son can handle (they are his favorite scary ones already). I think it's important to show my son how to handle fear. Fear is natural and does NOT come from the devil. Even Jesus was afraid when he knew death was near, or at least it was preached by several pastors during Easter about the passage where Jesus begs His Father to not make Him drink from the cup. And even more important. It's fun. There's so much going on now in the world let alone just the life in my household that I think it's important set aside times to do things as a family and just have fun.
Now, you can disagree with me all you want to. I will not reply to people's posts or articles. This is just to show you that I have done research. I've dumbed it down the way I always do (it annoys my husband sometimes) since I really don't care for actual dates or names or places.
Here is how I see it:
Halloween started out as a holiday for pagans. Yes. Back in the day, the pagans we speak of used to celebrate the end of harvest and the beginning of well death. They thought that the world was going to be dead. They weren't that smart. We already knew that seeing as how they would test to see if someone was a witch by holding them under water for several minutes. If they drowned, they weren't a witch. If they didn't drown, they were. Brilliant, right?
Back to the history lesson- On this day, because the world they saw (all the plants and stuff) died, they would try to appease their gods by doing sacrifices and stuff. When you get a group of people together for any occasion, it turns into a party. We even eat at funerals and sit around and talk. That's not the best type of party, but this wasn't that type of funeral. They ate food, sat around fires, and told stories. Part of this story telling was wearing masks.
Later, when people lived in cities, not villages; the tradition started with the poor begging for food on this holiday. They went around house to house to beg for food. During this time, people were even more superstitious. People actually thought there were vampires and werewolves. To ward off the demons, they put out gourds with candles in them so it wasn't dark outside their doors.
In the US, it eventually became an actual celebration. People were now smart enough to know that winter was only a season and that spring would come. There was no need to sacrifice an animal. But we as people love to celebrate. So instead of sending out the poor to beg for food, we sent out kids to beg for candy. Instead of wearing masks to tell stories, we wore masks for fun.
And the term "trick or treat" was actually started in Canada in the 1800's some time.
For those of you who will still declare that it is a holiday about Satan. Please stop and realize that Christmas was the same holiday, but for a different group of people. These people were just further south where winter started in December instead of October. The reason we bring Christmas trees into our houses is because they thought they were protecting life by bringing it in the house and keeping it alive all winter. The reason that it's celebrated as a Christian holiday now is because Rome knew that they couldn't change everything about a new culture they took over, so the religious people would turn as much of it as they could into something religious if they couldn't outlaw it altogether.
I will once again dress my son up and this year my daughter. We will go trick or treating and get tons of candy. I will take pictures. We already got pumpkins and put candles in them. We will watch scary movies that I know my son can handle (they are his favorite scary ones already). I think it's important to show my son how to handle fear. Fear is natural and does NOT come from the devil. Even Jesus was afraid when he knew death was near, or at least it was preached by several pastors during Easter about the passage where Jesus begs His Father to not make Him drink from the cup. And even more important. It's fun. There's so much going on now in the world let alone just the life in my household that I think it's important set aside times to do things as a family and just have fun.
Now, you can disagree with me all you want to. I will not reply to people's posts or articles. This is just to show you that I have done research. I've dumbed it down the way I always do (it annoys my husband sometimes) since I really don't care for actual dates or names or places.
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